Great drives ?

[flatchat(Chris)]

Between The'68 Mustang,Cobra and GT40 I've covered most roads around Australia.
Some of the most memorable would the 15000klm round Aus. trip in the Cobra back in '95, we sure turned some heads in those remote regions.
The most nail biting was the 97 of 100 litres till the next fill station.
The 40 did a Brisbane,Melbourne,Adelaide,Brisbane trip some 5000klm .(the year of the ALMS) The drive through the Adelaide hills --hangover, 40oc heat, nose scraped almost every corner but the Birdwood Motor museum was a welcome retreat.
Once recovered we pushed the little 289 to the limits along those 1000klm stretches from Adelaide thru Broken Hill to Bris.
The GT has 50000klm since 2000
The cobra some 180000klm since 1995

OK go for it!

Chris
DRB GT40#17
302W G50 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Malcolm]

Back in the early nineties, my friend Neil and I drove my Dax Cobra from John O Groats to Lands End non stop. This would be the longest trip you can do in the Uk without zig zagging or going round in circles. It took a measly 17 hours and 863 miles. To make it more exciting the clutch had failed just as we arrived in John O Groats before we had even started the main event!

Highlights included a chase all the lenght of Loch Ness with a Jaguar, then blasting through Glencoe and Loch Lomond. The narrow lanes of Cornwall at 3 am were also very cool. Apologies to all in the sleepy villages who we might have woken up!

Lowlights included rush hour traffic jams on the Glasgow orbital motorway (remember no clutch)and losing my favourite baseball cap on the M6 as we drafted out from behind a lorry.

Ears were ringing for three days afterwards and it must have taken as long to get all the bugs and road grease out of my hair!

Top fun.

Malcolm

 

[flatchat(Chris)]

In my quest for tarmac (it seems) just returned from a trip to Germany/Italy -Munich,Fussen,Pfronten,Innsbruck,Milan,Venice.
The autostrada (Italy)4 lanes-2 of trucks @ 110klm/hr and 2 of cars @ 150klm/hr plus , all bumper to bumper for what seemed like 1000's of kilometres. It took 25hrs to do a 12hr trip through missed exits and back tracking plus approx. 200 euro($) in toll fees--Bloody Hell!--.
Venice has nice old buildings but stinks!!
Good experience, glad to be home.
Cheers, Chris! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[David Morton]

But I think that the lane discipline is superb compared with the UK. I find the Autostradas are brilliant except near the main towns and some of the confluences of the motorways on Sundays ie Milan. And when they have a prang on the a/stradas they really do it in style.
Dave M

 

Dave, if you think lane discipline in the UK is bad, you should come here (to NZ). Most drivers appear not to have a clue about slower traffic keeping left. Can be really frustrating at times, especially since our traffic police have been given orders to show no leniency on people exceeding the speed limits (in other words, to gather revenue for the government coffers...). Having said that, our traffic density away from the main centres is really low and we have some great roads for fast cars - just keep that radar detector switched on. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[John]

Don't know if the first story qualifies...

Me and my dad driving 24 hours straight from Virginia to Minnesota... around 1800 miles... no sleep... in a leaky beat up old Dodge Caravan minivan.

OK, so it wasn't a cool car! But it was memorable!


Cool car story... taking a long drive in the mountains in my twin-turbo Nissan 300ZX. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Also, first test-driving my '68 Camaro after putting in the new small block! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

Quick one day blasts:
Mt Nebo, Mt Glorius[sp] Malany, then a qucik highway blast back to Bribane
The gravel roads around Yandina on the sunny coast hinterland
The back roads (a mix of gravel and tarmac) from tewantin to wolvi (sunny coast hinterland) the noosa hill climb. All best done on a weekday, or late at night to minimise police, slow families, hoards of crazy bike riders.

Brisbane to Melbourne, inland, staying off the freeways, ohh heaps of cool driving in oz, just have to know where the police are bad, and have a good road map. (The Alpine way, over the snowy mountains, in summer was fantastic!!!)

 

How about this one? Highway 94 to Milford Sound - an absolute hoot in my Cosworth. I suspect it would be even more fun with a V8 reverberating off the valley walls.

 

Not car related but still was a blast to do .
1275 miles from SE Missouri to Daytonna Fl on
a 2000 Indian Chief in just under 24 hours ,
not bad when you stop every 150 miles for gas.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

The Great Ocean Road

 

[Peter Delaney]

Pete, you nailed it - the Great Ocean Road - winner by miles. It is the first of the really long distance trips planned for the 40, & if I get run over by the proverbial bus beforehand, instructions in my will are that me in my "small timber coupe" shall be taken from the church to the cemetary via the Great Ocean Road !! (The fact that it is just a thousand kms from Sydney is but a minor detail, & not my problem anyway) !!

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

 

[flatchat(Chris)]

Just when I was beginning to think that the price of fuel was putting people off from having a good drive /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

No caravans or busses in sight on the great ocean road eh!?

Came across this little cow/bull thingy in the NT /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Peter Delaney]

Chris, THE FORCE is with you !!

Now if a nice distracting little heffer had run past on the right or left of the pic at that moment, you could have had one or other of a really nasty pair of accidents - no bull !!

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Wow, look at the size of the horns on that!! Er the bull that is /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

The Great Ocean road is sadly not what it used to be. We were looking forward to it on the Grand Prix Rally earlier this year, but there were huge roadworks everywhere and the speed limit is now 80 kph, thanks to too many motor bike accidents. So it's still a great drive but slower. Regards

 

[Craig White]

The Great Ocean Road is spectacular.

I also love the coastal road from Cairns to Port Douglas. Just stunning scenery...it just doesn't get much better.

Would love to do either in the GT40. Or maybe even both. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

[ QUOTE ]
but there were huge roadworks everywhere and the speed limit is now 80 kph, thanks to too many motor bike accidents.

[/ QUOTE ]
Both MT.Glorious and MT.Cootha in Brisbane used to be fun for a quick Blat around the twisty's in either car or bike.
But the bikers never seem to get through a weekend without a serious shunt, especially on MT.Glorious. Hence, now there is always a huge police presence and restrictive speed limits. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[flatchat(Chris)]

Yeeehaa! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[flatchat(Chris)]

The fore front of a blast up the hill a cemetary in the background and civilisation in the distance -- anyone done any decent drives lately ?
(yeah its old)