An ode to roads.

[Speedluvver]

Plotting an itinerary in the Alps in a few weeks. Anyone here familiar enough with this region to identify any glaring omissions or roads that aren’t worth the trek? I’ve rented a Miata for 2 weeks for about €1200, I’m assuming that’s the most fun I’ll be able to find for the money.


Day 1: 4.5 hours / 285 km
Pick up MX-5 in Munich
Glossglockner

Day 2: 4 hours 179 km
Passo Tre Croci
Passo Gardena
Passo Sella
Passo Nigra

Day 3: 4 hours, 172 km
Jaufen pass
Timmelsjoch

Day 4: 4.5 hours, 229 km
Stelvio pass
San Marco pass
Stay near Splugen

Day 5: 5 hours, 305 km
San Bernardino pass
Gotthard pass
Furka pass
Grimsel pass
Susten pass

Day 6: 6 hours 414km
Klausenpass
Romantic Road to Augsburg

Day 7: 3.5 hours 365km
Stuttgart
Porsche Museum

Day 8
Porsche experience hockenheimring

Day 9: 2.5 hours 247 km
Nurburgring

Day 10: 3 hours / 384 km
Nurburgring to Wurzburg


Day 11 4.5 / 413 km
Romantic Road Wurzberg to Munich

Days 12 - 14
Monaco
Col de Torini
Gorges de Daluis

Days 14 -19
Majorca
So Calobra

Days 20 - 25
Lotus Driving Academy
Goodwood Revival

Wow - what a trip - you haven't missed out a lot to be honest - and I apologise - I said I would send routes and totally forgot.... you have however got most of the good ones in for sure... You might want to have a look at Passo de Stalle on the Austian/Italian border, Passo San Antonio not too far from Golssglockner. Also, the Gavia Pass (near Brecsia) - its quite narrow in places but the scenery is stunning - they also do great broth at the restaurant at the top

If you have never done Stelvio before - do it, but it will be busy and frustrating...

 

[roundincircles]

The Stelvio is like 38 'U' turns but has to be done once, it's a tick box exercise.

Most people go to their local Supermarket car park and do 38 U turns to save the bother.

The Offenpas from Stelvio top, via the Umbrail Pass, to Zernaz was considered the best road in Europe by Topgear. It is fast and flowing.

 

[fatjase]

The Hahntennjoch pass is cracking but not sure how close you get to it on the drive. I drove it in a 2017 TTRS so a baby R8 if you like.

 

[GetawayDriving]

The Hahntennjoch pass is cracking but not sure how close you get to it on the drive. I drove it in a 2017 TTRS so a baby R8 if you like.

Ohhh this is a good one, and close. Thank you.

 

[GetawayDriving]

Does anyone have any experience renting cars at the Nurburgring? I see a bunch of companies offer fun stuff by the lap, but not sure which are best to deal with. Sadly no Lotus that I've found so far, but I expected a Porsche bias.

 

[TomE]

I’ve not used them but heard good feedback about RSR:

RSRNurburg | Drive the Nurburgring with RSRNurburg

rsrnurburg.com

 

[Porter]

You're welcome.

Curvature

Find twisty roads.

roadcurvature.com

 

[Porter]

^^^ for real.... if nobody has clicked the link I just shared, it will change your life.

Algorithmic identification of all of the twistiest paved roads in the OSM-mapped world.

And it does this... for the whole world:

 

[GetawayDriving]

^^^ for real.... if nobody has clicked the link I just shared, it will change your life.

Algorithmic identification of all of the twistiest paved roads in the OSM-mapped world.

View attachment 8013

And it does this... for the whole world:

View attachment 8014

This is great. When you first posted I was on mobile so couldn't fully appreciate. I had encountered this site before, but it was before the pandemic and before the update that reduces congestion and conflict zones. Much more useful now.

I've also used dangerousroads.org quite a bit, which is a more manual curation of roads. Click the interactive map for discovery...

 

[TomE]

Looks great. The "winding roads" algorithm reminded me of Calimoto, a route planning and navigation app aimed at bikers, to find and share great twisty routes. I only heard of it a few months ago and have been using the free version - impressed so far.

calimoto

calimoto.com

Calimoto review | Smartphone motorcycle route planner

Calimoto motorcycle trip planner offers riders unique and powerful route navigation through an app on their phone. Full review of this TomTom alternative…

www.bennetts.co.uk

 

[Porter]

Looks great. The "winding roads" algorithm reminded me of Calimoto, a route planning and navigation app aimed at bikers, to find and share great twisty routes. I only heard of it a few months ago and have been using the free version - impressed so far.

calimoto

calimoto.com

Calimoto review | Smartphone motorcycle route planner

Calimoto motorcycle trip planner offers riders unique and powerful route navigation through an app on their phone. Full review of this TomTom alternative…

www.bennetts.co.uk

I tried Calimoto but it doesn't work so well for US roads (lack of content) or non-Apple devices (lack of usability/polish). Would probably be great for an iPhone user in EU/UK.

 

[JXJ]

Plotting an itinerary in the Alps in a few weeks. Anyone here familiar enough with this region to identify any glaring omissions or roads that aren’t worth the trek? I’ve rented a Miata for 2 weeks for about €1200, I’m assuming that’s the most fun I’ll be able to find for the money.


Day 1: 4.5 hours / 285 km
Pick up MX-5 in Munich
Glossglockner

Day 2: 4 hours 179 km
Passo Tre Croci
Passo Gardena
Passo Sella
Passo Nigra

Day 3: 4 hours, 172 km
Jaufen pass
Timmelsjoch

Day 4: 4.5 hours, 229 km
Stelvio pass
San Marco pass
Stay near Splugen

Day 5: 5 hours, 305 km
San Bernardino pass
Gotthard pass
Furka pass
Grimsel pass
Susten pass

Day 6: 6 hours 414km
Klausenpass
Romantic Road to Augsburg

Day 7: 3.5 hours 365km
Stuttgart
Porsche Museum

Day 8
Porsche experience hockenheimring

Day 9: 2.5 hours 247 km
Nurburgring

Day 10: 3 hours / 384 km
Nurburgring to Wurzburg


Day 11 4.5 / 413 km
Romantic Road Wurzberg to Munich

Days 12 - 14
Monaco
Col de Torini
Gorges de Daluis

Days 14 -19
Majorca
So Calobra

Days 20 - 25
Lotus Driving Academy
Goodwood Revival

The Red Rock Road (D2202) North of Nice, very good road, part of road trip I did a few years back in my Exige, happy days. Enjoy your adventure

 

[GetawayDriving]

A little clip from Grossglockner. Maybe the Emira could have hung with the 911 for longer...

 

[GetawayDriving]

Definitely dented the bucket list this week.

In the end completed:

Nurburgring
Romantic Road
Grossglockner
Stalle Pass
San Antonio Pass
Tre Croci
Gardena Pass
Sella Pass
Nigra Pass
Jaufenpass
Timmelsjoch
Stelvio Pass
San Marco Pass
San Bernardino Pass
San Gotthard Pass
Furka Pass
Grimsel Pass
Sustenpass
Klausenpass
Hahntennjoch

 

[VL3X]

Definitely dented the bucket list this week.

View attachment 8880
View attachment 8878
View attachment 8882View attachment 8883View attachment 8884View attachment 8886View attachment 8889View attachment 8887View attachment 8888
View attachment 8890

In the end completed:

Nurburgring
Romantic Road
Grossglockner
Stalle Pass
San Antonio Pass
Tre Croci
Gardena Pass
Sella Pass
Nigra Pass
Jaufenpass
Timmelsjoch
Stelvio Pass
San Marco Pass
San Bernardino Pass
San Gotthard Pass
Furka Pass
Grimsel Pass
Sustenpass
Klausenpass
Hahntennjoch

Epic!! I enjoyed following along on your IG stories and posts. I hope to be able to participate in a trip like that sometime. How do you even go about renting cars for a trip like that? Did you meet up with local car groups for the rides or was this organized yourself? I wouldn't even know where to begin once landing...

 

[lion shf]

TUNA!!

Pre dragon dam

Angeles Crest (WOW)

Redondo to El Segundo

I can’t wait for my new sled!

 

[GetawayDriving]

Epic!! I enjoyed following along on your IG stories and posts. I hope to be able to participate in a trip like that sometime. How do you even go about renting cars for a trip like that? Did you meet up with local car groups for the rides or was this organized yourself? I wouldn't even know where to begin once landing...

I started with a list of roads I knew I wanted to hit, and then starting looking for cars at the airports all around the area. I checked Munich, Frankfurt, Milan, Nice, etc looking for anything fun. Because of the amount of miles I was going to put on the car, I was going to be stuck with the major rental houses. Exotics or classics have low mileage allowances and are out of my budget.

I saw Sixt had MX-5s out of Munich, which was absolutely perfect. So I booked an MX-5 and now knowing I was starting in Germany, added Nürburgring, “The Autobahn”, Romantic Road, Hockenheimring and Stuttgart to the itinerary. I figured I’d split the reservation into 2 parts, renting something German for Germany and using the MX-5 in the alps. That saved me a little money and granted a bit of extra mileage. I choose an Audi TT coupe for Germany (shoutout @lion shf )

When I actually got to the rental counter, there was no TT coupe. They offered me an Audi Q7 or BMW 8 series. They couldn’t fathom that I wanted something small lol. They finally confessed they had a TT convertible if I was willing to pay a little more, and I caved. I’m so glad I did for reasons I’ll get to in a moment…

When it came time to swap the TT for the MX-5 I was nervous because I had my doubts they would have any, and the reservation said “or similar” but there isnt much similar to an MX-5. My instinct was right, no more MX-5s in the fleet. The only manual vehicle of any kind was a T-Roc. They tried to give me a Mini Cooper convertible and that was… ok, but not really a sports car and not a manual for a category called “small sports convertible”.

At this point I offered to upgrade to a BMW M3 or M4 competition. They had 5 of them sitting in the lot, but they said they were all booked and the best they could do was a 4 series convertible. I originally took it, but then noticed it was a 420d. Not the sportiest config for mountain roads (and it was HUGE damn the BMWs have grown). Also, despite being a land yacht the convertible top on this one also wouldn’t go down with my one piece of luggage in the trunk. Huh.

At this point, Sixt was pretty sick of me. I had been back to the counter like 4 times. But I made them a final offer: I said you were willing to give me a free upgrade to the 4 series, slide me right back into that same TT convertible I dropped off 3 hours (!) ago which I know works well for me, and I’ll be out of your hair. They agreed.

Still disappointed it wasn’t a manual, but the TT was a pretty great car for this trek. Comfortable, fit a bunch of luggage for a small form factory, small enough for these roads, handled quite well actually. Reasonably economical. I enjoyed my time with it quite a bit. I had never once considered a TT and still likely won’t but I do appreciate them now.

Anyway planning the trip I just dropped pins on the map and strung them together jumping from next closest to next closest. I’d try to find an Airbnb close by, and found some spectacular ones for just $100/night max. Tried not to drive more than 4 hours per day, which was about right.

Didn’t coordinate with any groups or plan any meet-ups but there were plenty of enthusiasts along the way, many eager to chat. The Lotus group at Stelvio, several vintage rolling rallies, a Ferrari group, a Shelby group, and an insane amount of Porsches in general.

 

[VL3X]

I started with a list of roads I knew I wanted to hit, and then starting looking for cars at the airports all around the area. I checked Munich, Frankfurt, Milan, Nice, etc looking for anything fun. Because of the amount of miles I was going to put on the car, I was going to be stuck with the major rental houses. Exotics or classics have low mileage allowances and are out of my budget.

I saw Sixt had MX-5s out of Munich, which was absolutely perfect. So I booked an MX-5 and now knowing I was starting in Germany, added Nürburgring, “The Autobahn”, Romantic Road, Hockenheimring and Stuttgart to the itinerary. I figured I’d split the reservation into 2 parts, renting something German for Germany and using the MX-5 in the alps. That saved me a little money and granted a bit of extra mileage. I choose an Audi TT coupe for Germany (shoutout @lion shf )

When I actually got to the rental counter, there was no TT coupe. They offered me an Audi Q7 or BMW 8 series. They couldn’t fathom that I wanted something small lol. They finally confessed they had a TT convertible if I was willing to pay a little more, and I caved. I’m so glad I did for reasons I’ll get to in a moment…

When it came time to swap the TT for the MX-5 I was nervous because I had my doubts they would have any, and the reservation said “or similar” but there isnt much similar to an MX-5. My instinct was right, no more MX-5s in the fleet. The only manual vehicle of any kind was a T-Roc. They tried to give me a Mini Cooper convertible and that was… ok, but not really a sports car and not a manual for a category called “small sports convertible”.

At this point I offered to upgrade to a BMW M3 or M4 competition. They had 5 of them sitting in the lot, but they said they were all booked and the best they could do was a 4 series convertible. I originally took it, but then noticed it was a 420d. Not the sportiest config for mountain roads (and it was HUGE damn the BMWs have grown). Also, despite being a land yacht the convertible top on this one also wouldn’t go down with my one piece of luggage in the trunk. Huh.

At this point, Sixt was pretty sick of me. I had been back to the counter like 4 times. But I made them a final offer: I said you were willing to give me a free upgrade to the 4 series, slide me right back into that same TT convertible I dropped off 3 hours (!) ago which I know works well for me, and I’ll be out of your hair. They agreed.

Still disappointed it wasn’t a manual, but the TT was a pretty great car for this trek. Comfortable, fit a bunch of luggage for a small form factory, small enough for these roads, handled quite well actually. Reasonably economical. I enjoyed my time with it quite a bit. I had never once considered a TT and still likely won’t but I do appreciate them now.

Anyway planning the trip I just dropped pins on the map and strung them together jumping from next closest to next closest. I’d try to find an Airbnb close by, and found some spectacular ones for just $100/night max. Tried not to drive more than 4 hours per day, which was about right.

Didn’t coordinate with any groups or plan any meet-ups but there were plenty of enthusiasts along the way, many eager to chat. The Lotus group at Stelvio, several vintage rolling rallies, a Ferrari group, a Shelby group, and an insane amount of Porsches in general.

View attachment 8926

Amazing! I might have to make a solo trip out of it next year.

 

[TomE]

Fantastic.

I’ve done a few trips with the “drop pins and join the dots” approach. Often takes you off the main routes, sometimes hilariously taking you down a goat track or bringing you 15 miles down a road to a deep ford (tricky in an Exige!).

Hire car negotiation can throw up surprises. Landing late into Rekyavik I got a fully loaded Landcruiser instead of an Audi Q4 SUV. Ideal for off-roading. Also got a Mustang convertible from San Diego to San Francisco.

The TT is a great little car. My brother had a Mk 1 when they first came out and is now on his fourth.

 

[GetawayDriving]

Fantastic.

I’ve done a few trips with the “drop pins and join the dots” approach. Often takes you off the main routes, sometimes hilariously taking you down a goat track or bringing you 15 miles down a road to a deep ford (tricky in an Exige!).

Hire car negotiation can throw up surprises. Landing late into Rekyavik I got a fully loaded Landcruiser instead of an Audi Q4 SUV. Ideal for off-roading. Also got a Mustang convertible from San Diego to San Francisco.

The TT is a great little car. My brother had a Mk 1 when they first came out and is now on his fourth.

A Mustang is the perfect car for the PCH. If you ever do it again, Hertz inexplicably rents 900hp Shelby versions.

Iceland is one of my favorite places. This past year I decided to do a drive inspired by my all-time favorite band Sigur Ros, a 24-hour drive around the ring road on the summer solstice, where there’s 24 hours of daylight. (They did something similar that was live streamed a few years prior). I rented a new Defender for the journey. Loved it, but rented a Jimny a few days later for the “Ring Road 2” through the West Fjords and that Jimny was so incredibly charming I would have rather had it for the larger trek.

In Iceland I’ve had great experiences with Blue Car. Use them exclusively now.