Lancia Motor Club

General => General Chat => Topic started by: Harvey on 20 February, 2009, 08:50:44 PM



Title: Your favourite drive
Post by: Harvey on 20 February, 2009, 08:50:44 PM
The AGM thread has started a discussion on where in the country are the best driving roads. Rather than deluge that thread, I thought we'd start a new one and canvass everyone for their favourite spots - county, region, particular stretch of road.

So, who'll start us off with a driving gem?


Title: Re: Your favourite drive
Post by: lancialulu on 21 February, 2009, 07:18:19 PM
How about the D2204 from Nice to Saorge!

Did it once and ended with a broken cambelt. Then did it twice in a hire Twingo - great fun! Shame didnt have our fulvia as it was made for it.

Tim

PS the wild hare stew and views at Saorge made it worthwhile.

Tim


Title: Re: Your favourite drive
Post by: fay66 on 22 February, 2009, 01:12:21 AM
Hi Tim,
That's cheating  :o lovely drive over the Alps and the Sestriere Pass from Pinarola and through Briancon to Grenoble ;D even if it did make Fay sweat a bit.!

Brian
8227 8)


Title: Re: Your favourite drive
Post by: sparehead3 on 22 February, 2009, 12:41:18 PM
Brian ... yes, I'll vote for that one ... we went the other way tho :) Integrale temperature did go the highest I'd ever seen ! Probably not 'cos of the speed, more like the number of times we kept stopping.


Title: Re: Your favourite drive
Post by: peterbaker on 22 February, 2009, 06:30:06 PM
Ive had many competitive runs over the Col du Turini on either chains or studs during various Monte Carlo historics. Most interesting was the 1956 Sunbeam 90 MK111 which was great uphill but thanks to worn out brakes was near death coming down. Fastest was the Fulvia Sedan, great up and down. My daily drive in Switzerland starts in Sion and climbs fourteen kms to Cran Montana. Its hars keeping up with any of the locals who revel in bad weather. Even so I rate my favourite as any winter rally run over Eypnt in Wales. I managed a third overall on the Gremlin driving a Fulvia HF thanks to my local navigator. 


Title: Re: Your favourite drive
Post by: sparehead3 on 23 February, 2009, 12:56:37 PM
From the other thread : the A466 Tintern to Chepstow is very good ! We took the integrale out yesterday and drove it ! Mind you the whole of the Forest of Dean is pretty good ! Sounds like a Bristol Area trip for a summer evening .... !

Hats off to you Brian for the recommendation ... made for a good Sunday trip :)


Title: Re: Your favourite drive
Post by: Harvey on 23 February, 2009, 01:16:13 PM
The B3081 from Ringwood to Shaftesbury is quite good fun with a great zig-zag section which reminded me (a little) of crossing the Alps. It's my new favourite route back to Bath from Christchurch on Sunday evenings. For an interesting drive, I like to set the sat-nav to "shortest route" and see where it takes me - normally country lanes galore!


Title: Re: Your favourite drive
Post by: SteveGales on 23 February, 2009, 09:41:17 PM
Hi all

As you can imagine finding a decent local road nearby living in Solihull (S/E B'ham) is pretty hard.

A favourite run, well at least up until Saturday (more about that later), was out along the A45 towards Coventry then turn off towards
Maxstoke, Shustoke. Once through Shustoke you head out along the B4116 towards Atherstone. About 7 miles of quiet, open, flowing
road, good visibility and a couple of good straights to overtake safely.

This road was ideal for the integrale and indeed the Fulvia ,at a steady 60ish. I gave the Delta a run last Saturday and noticed a
new (lower obviously) limit. Down from 60 to 50, then coming back another route ,new limit, 60 down to 40 (!).

Needless to say I was suprised and muttered something un-printable. Now I can fully understand the need for reduced limits in villages
and would be fully supportive if I lived in one , same goes for built up areas /schools etc.

This road however has maybe half a dozen houses and one pub along its whole length ,all set back from the road.

When I got home I checked the Warwickshire County Council website, following major consultations (??) and Department of
Transport guidelines ,120 that's ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY limits on A/B roads will be altered by April 2009 across Warwickshire!!
All in the name of 'safety and lower emmisions', being cynical more opportunities for mobile speed camera sites ?

It makes you think what's the point in owning a performance/ sports car nowadays as you really are perceived as public enemy number
one. For a minute I thought about selling the cars but then they would have won, so I've started looking for an Alfa GT, 3.2 V6
(obviously) to replace Margaret's 156 !!

 Sorry to hijack the thread for a 'rant' but it maybe worth starting a new thread covering this subject as I think it will be only a matter of
time before other council's follow suit.

Anyway the B4116 is still a nice road .

Steve



Title: Re: Your favourite drive
Post by: fensaddler on 24 February, 2009, 12:06:08 PM
The key is of course to be aware of the consultation (cue memories of Hitchikers Guide - 'It was only on Alpha Centauri, you've no excuse...') and respond with reasoned objections to the changes.  The real power is with residents of course - if a resident writes in and says it should stay at the higher limit, then you find the change is scrapped.  There is about one arterial residential road in Walsall which now retains its 40 limit, and the resident in question was a car enthusiast, and being a deputy headmaster, also articulate enough to make his case...


Title: Re: Your favourite drive
Post by: Dilambdaman on 07 March, 2009, 12:23:59 AM
Four years ago I had reason to drive from Haywards Heath in West Sussex to home just north of Eastbourne via the A272 and A22  (around 20 miles) sometimes four or five times a week late in the evening. Now, whilst not perhaps my favourite drive it lent itself to some very interesting and challenging high speed motoring. I did the same trip this evening and was astonished to find that the speed limit changed an incredible 16 times! 16 times in 20 miles!

I witnessed a good number of drivers ignoring the set limits by sometimes driving faster and sometimes slower than the prescribed speed. What was also obvious was that they were, by and large, driving at a safe speed which leads me to believe that most of us don't need to be nannied in this way.

This was born out recently close to home where there is a mile of unrestricted country lane separating our village from the next. There has been a campaign to restrict the speed on this section to 50 mph so the highways authority carried out an extended speed check and found the although derestricted, the vast majority of cars were doing close to 40 mph. They also stated in their report that if past experience was anything to go by, then drivers will always drive up to a set speed restriction regardless of whether it is safe to do so..

The chances of getting caught speeding these days is pretty slim except by the hateful cameras so most drivers seem to ignore set limits. It never ceases to amuse me that if you are driving at the prescribed limit you will very soon have a car or two on your tail looking to overtake. What price then a £1500 Thema 16v Turbo to leave them for dead on reaching the dual carriageway? Only down side is Margaret wondering if I will ever grow up!

Robin.



Title: Re: Your favourite drive
Post by: sparehead3 on 30 March, 2009, 08:17:22 AM
A39 .... Minehead => Porlock => Lynmouth => Barnstaple ... at least two parts have 1 in 4 hills, numerous hairpin bends (managed to ground the cycle carrier) ... just need to do it in the integrale rather than the passat. Best avoided in the holiday season ...


Title: Re: Your favourite drive
Post by: frankxhv773t on 02 July, 2009, 08:34:40 PM
A507 Baldock to Buntingford in north east Hertfordshire isn't bad. It has some big fast sweeping bends, tight twisty bits, a couple of good hills to get a run at and just one village in the middle to slow you down. The road surface has been well maintained in recent years and not a single revenue camera in sight.

Frank


Title: Re: Your favourite drive
Post by: Dilambdaman on 02 July, 2009, 11:33:53 PM
A month in France with the Thema recently was absolute heaven. The Vendee was, relative to GB, deserted and the roads in first class condition. Don't you just love it?

However, they do seem to be having a love in with roundabouts and traffic calming measures.

Robin.