Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 36

Thread: Great Roads

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Barcelona
    Posts
    33,489

    Great Roads

    On Saturday I was driving from Girona to Bolvir, 155km north up in La Cerdanya region of Catalunya. Along the way you drive on some great roads for the person who likes driving, and I thought, why not stop take some pictures and share them on UCP, if a thread was created we could see different great roads from around the world.

    So I did.

    The road I'm talking about is the Collada the Tosses, a 45km narrow stretch of tarmac full of tight corners and hairpins. It's on the N-260, from Ribes de Freser to Alp and it starts at 1100m above sea level all the way up to 1800m to finish off at about 1200m. If you start on the southern part it's very twisty and narrow. On the top (where the pictures were taken) it's a bit more open and slitghtly wider, but not much and it finishes off by getting narrower and twistier again. Mainly it's full of 2nd and third gear corners.

    I have more great roads that I will post later, but that's it for now.

    What about great roads in your part of the world?
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    brisbane - sub-tropical land of mangoes
    Posts
    16,251
    great idea ferrer, i have a tonne of these
    one of my favourites for any small agile car;
    lamington national park road
    (click for map)

    narrow, but smooth and well maintained, a very exciting winding road (newcomers get a surprise when it splits into a cutting randomly for one corner), it winds its way up to the resort where you can finish off with lunch and feeding the parrots.



    also a favourite of mine when down south, putty rd




    it's a long one but very worth it.. never boring. starts out in singleton, then you head into the foothills and the whole lot is a combination of big sweeping bends with big straights and some brutally tight and twisty turns. perfect for cars with a decent bit of power and high grip.
    Last edited by clutch-monkey; 08-19-2012 at 06:35 AM.
    Andreas Preuninger, Manager of Porsche High Performance Cars: "Grandmas can use paddles. They aren't challenging."

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    East Coast of the United States
    Posts
    11,994
    I don't have any idea how I found the road, but it was completely by accident.

    I had inadvertently set the GPS to find all the roads that didn't have tolls from Toronto, Canada to NYC.

    I doubt I'd find it again, but it had some awesome roads that wound around mountains. It was certainly very close to Ithaca because there was some nasty traffic we hit around there. But I also remember some gems, such a lot of very small villages and even a very small shop that specializes in British motorcycles. Good luck to them.

    Sure I took those roads in a Forester, but it was still great fun.

    I was also going down those roads at almost 70 mph, perhaps more.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Philadelphia, PA
    Posts
    954
    Great idea and it'll also show the varying landscapes from around the world and maybe educate some people such as myself. When i think of Spain, i certainly don't think of mountainous pine forests that resemble Oregon or Washington, i always thought it would be rolling brown fields of wheat or grass

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    5,456
    Epic Road Trip...CSB - Ultimatecarpage.com forums

    This was the trip I took last month in my car...

    A short vid of one of the drive....should've used Spot metering on the GoPro...
    http://youtu.be/CVAXv40U3H0
    University of Toronto Formula SAE Alumni 2003-2007
    Formula Student Championship 2003, 2005, 2006
    www.fsae.utoronto.ca

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Barcelona
    Posts
    33,489
    Quote Originally Posted by RacingManiac View Post
    Epic Road Trip...CSB - Ultimatecarpage.com forums

    This was the trip I took last month in my car...

    A short vid of one of the drive....should've used Spot metering on the GoPro...
    http://youtu.be/CVAXv40U3H0
    That looks excellent! Rather detroned the myth that America has no corners at all...
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    5,456
    I think some of the EU roads have more dramatic back drop(The Cherohala Skyway is pretty spectacular though, and Top Gear covered Blue Ridge Parkway), but there are some pretty nice roads in the south, of all places...

    middle US and the midwest though, pretty damn flat and straight....lol....hence driving 12 hours to just "drive" somemore...
    University of Toronto Formula SAE Alumni 2003-2007
    Formula Student Championship 2003, 2005, 2006
    www.fsae.utoronto.ca

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Eindhoven, The Netherlands
    Posts
    7,833
    One of my favourite roads, not too far away is this one:
    Wijnandsrade naar Nürburg, Duitsland - Google Maps

    It's quite relaxed driving combined with some beautiful mountain roads with hairpins and the lot. I was a bit too busy driving to take any pictures last time I went there though!

    I loved this one as well even though the road is horrible it just feels very adventurous. For the most part it is 1 lane only, with 1 lane tunnels of multiple kilometers length and everything. You just need to take it real slow though!

    Arolla, Evolène, Zwitserland naar Sion, Zwitserland - Google Maps
    Last edited by drakkie; 08-20-2012 at 12:57 PM.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Western Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    11,112
    Quote Originally Posted by clutch-monkey View Post
    great idea ferrer, i have a tonne of these
    one of my favourites for any small agile car;
    lamington national park road
    (click for map)

    narrow, but smooth and well maintained, a very exciting winding road (newcomers get a surprise when it splits into a cutting randomly for one corner), it winds its way up to the resort where you can finish off with lunch and feeding the parrots.
    Video of the above mentioned roads.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF_Oua87kfY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF_Oua87kfY[/ame]
    Weekly Quote -

    Dick

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Barcelona
    Posts
    33,489
    Second great road of my area.

    In this case they are the 16kms of the GIV-6703, more popularly known as Els Àngels, because of the church that lies on top of the hill. This road is widely used as a rally special stage and the western part used to be a utilised in hillclimb events. The direction I usually take is from west to east, and this actually matters, because the road is clearly divided in two parts.

    Starting from the west the first 10 kms start as a narrow and twisty smooth road that actually gets narrower and twistier as you climb. In some places in can even be difficult to fit two cars, side to side.

    The last six kilometers (once you've passed Els Àngels) are faster and much more open, but the tarmac is much bumpier. A car with a stiff suspension can easily be unsettled and it's not unknown to block wheels under braking (less of a problem with modern ABS). This is exacerbated by the downhill nature of this part, which increases inertia.

    All in all a sort of a split personality road.

    Els Àngels #1 (1st part, narrow and twisty but smooth)
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Barcelona
    Posts
    33,489
    Els Àngels #2 (2nd part, fast and bumpy)
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Philadelphia, PA
    Posts
    954
    Quote Originally Posted by RacingManiac View Post
    middle US and the midwest though, pretty damn flat and straight....lol....hence driving 12 hours to just "drive" somemore...
    My mom owns a Subaru so they send her a short little magazine every month in the mail to update the goings on in the Subaru world such as rally-cross and whatnot (like she cares) but i thumbed thru the June issue and they actually had a nifty article about a curvy, sporty road they found in Missouri

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Californian by nature, living in Teggsas.
    Posts
    4,130
    I am from Northern California, so...

    Highway 1
    California SR 35 / Skyline Road
    Morgan Territory Road

    All while listening to:
    Authority Zero
    Incubus
    Voodoo Glow Skulls
    The Verve


    There aren't any worthwhile roads here in E. Texas.
    Last edited by jcp123; 10-07-2012 at 11:59 PM.
    An it harm none, do as ye will

    Approximately 79% of statistics are made up.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    10,227
    There are no great roads in the Greater Toronto Area.

    Confirm/deny RM? I once found a link of good roads in Ontario and none were near here.

    The closest "fun" road is very weak; the Bayview extension which runs in the eastern part of Old Toronto in the Don Valley.

    In Scotland I did not take much time to dick around in the car, but there were tons of beautiful small-ass, poorly maintained B roads between towns in Angus.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    3,560
    In Perth there are not a lot, though there are a few in and around Mundaring Weir and Bickley Valley, otherwise you have to head a long way out of town.

    To the south of Sydney I used to love the Royal National Park, then the coast road to Macquarie Pass, or Kangaroo Valley
    Chief of Secret Police and CFO - Brotherhood of Jelly
    No Mr. Craig, I expect you to die! On the inside. Of heartbreak. You emo bitch

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Greatest Sports Car Ever Made By Japan
    By r34_296kw in forum General Automotive
    Replies: 159
    Last Post: 08-21-2007, 05:09 AM
  2. Which car is best for bumpy roads?
    By silverhawk in forum Car comparison
    Replies: 28
    Last Post: 04-18-2006, 05:42 PM
  3. Further Monitoring On UK Roads
    By Alastor in forum Miscellaneous
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 11-16-2005, 05:09 PM
  4. Supercar Engine Poll
    By Turbonutter55 in forum Technical forums
    Replies: 355
    Last Post: 01-23-2005, 08:53 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •