An ode to roads.

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✅ Million Dollar Highway
✅ Monument Valley

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The only problem is now I’m waiting hours for a tow truck in a secluded section of the Navajo reservation. It’s about to hit midnight. Suspension issue, wheel felt like it was going to fall off! Getting it towed to the nearest city, which doesn’t have anything close to a Lotus dealer. Will sort it out tomorrow.

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✅ Million Dollar Highway
✅ Monument Valley

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The only problem is now I’m waiting hours for a tow truck in a secluded section of the Navajo reservation. It’s about to hit midnight. Suspension issue, wheel felt like it was going to fall off! Getting it towed to the nearest city, which doesn’t have anything close to a Lotus dealer. Will sort it out tomorrow.

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Amazing photos, thanks for sharing 😍
Sorry to hear its ended like it has though.
Hope you get it sorted soon. I mean soon as well not soooon
 
✅ Million Dollar Highway
✅ Monument Valley

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The only problem is now I’m waiting hours for a tow truck in a secluded section of the Navajo reservation. It’s about to hit midnight. Suspension issue, wheel felt like it was going to fall off! Getting it towed to the nearest city, which doesn’t have anything close to a Lotus dealer. Will sort it out tomorrow.

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Oh man, that first shot of the mountain road with no guardrail!! 🤯😱😱
 
This is my favorite thread of chats on this website. And about the only thing that makes me resent my 2 young children 😬😜!

But one day I will get to do my 'Epic road trip' which is already mostly planned out in a file in my office! It is broadly based on your recent trip @GetawayDriving... Lots of passes!

And then I'm coming to America to tick off all those in the recent pictures!

And then I will wake up😢!

Done a few trips through Black Forest and West of Colmar in France and they are brilliant.
 
✅ Million Dollar Highway
✅ Monument Valley

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View attachment 9784

View attachment 9785View attachment 9786

The only problem is now I’m waiting hours for a tow truck in a secluded section of the Navajo reservation. It’s about to hit midnight. Suspension issue, wheel felt like it was going to fall off! Getting it towed to the nearest city, which doesn’t have anything close to a Lotus dealer. Will sort it out tomorrow.

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Nice twists but you can see what's ahead, on the Dragon you find out just before it hits you head on o_O I would love to hit that straightway on a Bugatti Veyron so I break the sound barrier!! :cool:
 
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  • #93
So, after the previous tire problem I noticed there was still a vibration in the wheel of the Elise that I’m driving. Not wanting to end up with another tow and fearing a bearing, I pulled off and asked a shop to Jack her up and give the front passenger wheel a tug looking for telltale play that might signal a bad bearing or toe link.

Turns out, it’s a “super blown” shock. And not the only one.

I’ve driven an Elise clear across the USA on blown shocks.

Suffice it to say, I am no longer concerned about my choice of sport suspension on Emira.
 
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  • #94
A short clip from my first run up Palomar Mountain at the West Coast Lotus Meet.



Huge props to the San Diego Lotus Club and West Coast Lotus Meet for their effort closing one of the best roads in California so we could all have this epic fun.

As for who was having the MOST fun:

 
A short clip from my first run up Palomar Mountain at the West Coast Lotus Meet.



Huge props to the San Diego Lotus Club and West Coast Lotus Meet for their effort closing one of the best roads in California so we could all have this epic fun.

As for who was having the MOST fun:

That is a ridiculous amount of fun! We need to do that here in UK at Harewood House hillclimb or similar...
 
Hi Justin. I would be interested in the list (perhaps you have a link) to the top 20 European driving roads if you are willing to share (The NC500 and the old military road ars absolutely epic BTW). Thanks
https://www.ultimatedrives.net/top-10-roads/ here u go. There‘s actually 21 on this list, with #14 numbered twice (I’ve told the site owners previously). I’ve done 7 of these roads over 4 Alps drive trips across the years, actually missed 3 planned passes (Furka/Grimsel/Susten) due to bad weather early closure on my last Alps trip in Sep/Oct last year, plan to cross out the 2 Scottish ones this year, and planning another trip to cover 6 in a Swiss/Riveira drive in 2024, and that should put me at 15/21. Have done it variously in supercars, M cars, and in Porsches, with me leading 6-8 cars convoys. There are many other great driving roads in the surrounding areas of the roads in this list, such as everywhere around the Dolomites, but following this list is a convenient scorecard for me. Keeps it interesting and have targets to aim for in life.
 
Brilliant, Justin. Thanks. What has been your favourite road or region so far? I haven't done any drives on the continent but looking at the Ultimate Drives list I am drawn to Romania...
Anywhere in the Alps is great, to be honest. You can’t go wrong selecting a few from the list to sting together a holiday. The mid-highlands roads between villages with endless chicanes are great for driving especially on quiet sundays while the high mountain passes are spectacular for their views though the continuous hairpins needs care. Munich is the best staging ground as you can get very good and reliable cars (M2s, P cars, Alpines!) at very good prices from honorable agencies. Switzerland has the best tarmac, followed by Germany and Austria, then Italy. The Italian South Tyrol and Dolomites region though has the most enlightened attitude towards spirited driving and so you will likely see a lot of interesting convoy groups on your drives. Like on a single Sunday, i encountered a Mini convoy, a Supercars convoy, an Air-cool convoy, and many more. On another day, we met a Mustang convoy. 30 Mustangs in an Italian mountain?, where did they all come from! When you then reach the top of the pass which is usually a rest stop area, it’s all good fun interacting with fellow gearheads. High mountain passes fully open only from mid June to Mid October though, so July to Sep is the logistically safest period to go.
 
I know it's listed in the original list on this thread, but adding my recommendation for the the Sea to Sky Highway in Vancouver BC (on the way to Whistler/Blackcomb). I drove it early Saturday morning to catch a small Cars and Coffee where Lotus Vancouver had a Nimbus demo Emira on display. It was 70 degrees with very little traffic at 7:30am and just sublime. High quality roads, stunning views, and tons of respectful car enthusiasts enjoying the same.

I mainly wanted to enjoy the experience, so didn't document too much outside of some low quality cell phone shots. I enjoyed it so much I'll likely do it again this summer and possibly a third time whenever I get my Emira and before I move back to flat Florida (sigh).
 

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  • #99
Love that road! And so glad this thread is back at the top. 'Tis the season...
 
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Did a quick thing.


What would you guys like to see on a website that showcased roads "for the drivers"? Itineraries? Photos? Rankings/ratings? This is just a list but I've collected a lot of media and experiences so I'm wondering what to do with it all.
 

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