What is the craziest, twistiest, tightest, two lane mountain road you've ever driven
06-04-17, 02:44 AM
#1
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
What is the craziest, twistiest, tightest, two lane mountain road you've ever driven
Without a doubt it was the "Tail of the Dragon" aka US 129, from the intersection of St Rt 79/129 in TN all the way to Deals Gap NC. That route to Fontana Dam was equally crooked, but with longer straight aways, which tested the brakes a bit more. Anyways, this was the craziest route I've ever put any of my cars through, I pushed my stockish Lexus SC300/5 speed to its limits, which was quite fun, because this car had rather low limits to start with. I mean its one thing if you're doing 25-30mph in my old car and holding on for dear life through some of these corners.
Yeah you aren't going to fly off the mountain with one mistake in an old car with lower limits like my 1992 SC300, you are going slower through the corners, you can catch your mistakes, you can slam on the brakes. Now if you're like that ******* who flew by me in a brand new Porsche 911 convertible that he just rented, well I'd say he's a lot more likely to fly off the mountain. He said he raced carts professionally, yet I think one mistake with that 400hp German rocket, going downhill, pushing the limit on that car with mongo wide tires, just great brakes, well its easy to get a sense of over-confidence in that car. IE when that car breaks traction, you are going WAY WAY WAY faster than what you anticipated, and your ability to "catch" the car when it gets away from you is much harder. That is what kills people with these newer sports cars/exotics, the handling limits are so damn high, when somebody loses it, they have no idea on what to do and end up crashing.
Yeah you aren't going to fly off the mountain with one mistake in an old car with lower limits like my 1992 SC300, you are going slower through the corners, you can catch your mistakes, you can slam on the brakes. Now if you're like that ******* who flew by me in a brand new Porsche 911 convertible that he just rented, well I'd say he's a lot more likely to fly off the mountain. He said he raced carts professionally, yet I think one mistake with that 400hp German rocket, going downhill, pushing the limit on that car with mongo wide tires, just great brakes, well its easy to get a sense of over-confidence in that car. IE when that car breaks traction, you are going WAY WAY WAY faster than what you anticipated, and your ability to "catch" the car when it gets away from you is much harder. That is what kills people with these newer sports cars/exotics, the handling limits are so damn high, when somebody loses it, they have no idea on what to do and end up crashing.
06-04-17, 03:15 AM
#2
Lexus Fanatic
Haven't been to the Tail of the Dragon (which, I understand, is also quite popular with motorcycles), or out West in the Rockies, but for me, several stretches of road notably stand out. First, U.S. 50 across parts of Central and Eastern West Virginia, particularly over Laurel Mountain, Cheat Mountain, and the Allegheny Front. Second, U.S. 33 further south across Virginia/West Virginia, particularly over the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap, Shenandoah Mountain on the VA/WV border, the Allegheny Front, and North Fork Mountain in WV. Third, U.S. 211, in Virginia, up and over Thornton Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains where it crosses Skyline Drive, and the next ridge to the west.....Massanutten Mountain. I also understand that U.S. 250, further south in WV, is also quite challenging, but have not personally driven it.
On a slightly different note, the worst mountain grade I've encountered, for steepness and length combined, is, without a doubt, U.S. 40 westward, descending Chestnut Ridge, into Uniontown, PA....the furthest west of the Allegheny ridges in PA, a few miles north of the WV border. There is an old resort hotel on the ridge's summit, with a golf course, pool, and a beautiful view of the city and the valley beneath it. Starting at the summit, the not-too-curving but formidable and steep descent goes on for three and half miles, past a runaway-truck ramp, at a near-continuous 10% grade. This descent can be very dangerous for large, heavy trucks, which must stop at the summit and descend with a Jake Brake or stay in first gear, at 10 MPH. Even in a regular car, I found it scary....particularly in the old 60s-vintage cars, when I first learned to drive, with the brakes and transmissions of that era.
On a slightly different note, the worst mountain grade I've encountered, for steepness and length combined, is, without a doubt, U.S. 40 westward, descending Chestnut Ridge, into Uniontown, PA....the furthest west of the Allegheny ridges in PA, a few miles north of the WV border. There is an old resort hotel on the ridge's summit, with a golf course, pool, and a beautiful view of the city and the valley beneath it. Starting at the summit, the not-too-curving but formidable and steep descent goes on for three and half miles, past a runaway-truck ramp, at a near-continuous 10% grade. This descent can be very dangerous for large, heavy trucks, which must stop at the summit and descend with a Jake Brake or stay in first gear, at 10 MPH. Even in a regular car, I found it scary....particularly in the old 60s-vintage cars, when I first learned to drive, with the brakes and transmissions of that era.
Last edited by mmarshall; 06-04-17 at 03:38 AM.
06-05-17, 09:24 AM
#3
GMR (Glendora Mountain Road) for me.
Not only was it narrow, you had to watch out for idiot cyclists (who in their right mind would want to take their bikes on this road) who uses the same road as you, falling rocks on the road that you can lose traction, and motorcyclists/other cars swinging wide coming from the opposite lane.
I like to enjoy the twisties and drive within my limit, but the overzealous drivers make it too dangerous to enjoy.
Not only was it narrow, you had to watch out for idiot cyclists (who in their right mind would want to take their bikes on this road) who uses the same road as you, falling rocks on the road that you can lose traction, and motorcyclists/other cars swinging wide coming from the opposite lane.
I like to enjoy the twisties and drive within my limit, but the overzealous drivers make it too dangerous to enjoy.
06-05-17, 09:57 AM
#5
drives cars
For what it's worth, I am taking the IS on an epic drive this weekend - planning to drive MO-76 from southwestern MO up through Branson. I've heard it's an awesome driving road with good views and some twisties, and from looking at it on Google Maps, I can say it looks promising. Will post back here afterwards!
06-05-17, 12:15 PM
#6
Lexus Fanatic
For what it's worth, I am taking the IS on an epic drive this weekend - planning to drive MO-76 from southwestern MO up through Branson. I've heard it's an awesome driving road with good views and some twisties, and from looking at it on Google Maps, I can say it looks promising. Will post back here afterwards!
06-05-17, 01:53 PM
#7
drives cars
I will keep that in mind though, might amend my route just a bit even.
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06-05-17, 05:22 PM
#8
Lexus Fanatic
There is a place in North East Maryland called Turkey Point where I used to go fishing for stripped bass and the road is pretty twisty at times especially if you are going fast.
One Christmas when I went to visit my parents outside of Chattanooga I missed the turn to get on 72 to go to Alabama and had to go down a bit and ended up in the mountains on a very twisty road, kind of made me nervous up there at night with a car loaded with stuff and possible ice on the road so I slowed it down, there was a town in the mountains/road that was all decorated with Christmas lights, they even went above and across the road, pretty cool looking.
One Christmas when I went to visit my parents outside of Chattanooga I missed the turn to get on 72 to go to Alabama and had to go down a bit and ended up in the mountains on a very twisty road, kind of made me nervous up there at night with a car loaded with stuff and possible ice on the road so I slowed it down, there was a town in the mountains/road that was all decorated with Christmas lights, they even went above and across the road, pretty cool looking.
06-05-17, 07:15 PM
#9
Lexus Test Driver
Rogers Pass and Kicking Horse Pass on the Canadian side of the Rocky Mountains. While there have been some widening and leveling in the last 10 or so years, still treacherous with some sections at over 10% grade.
06-06-17, 11:14 AM
#11
To date for me the *craziest* is probably a section of Route 66 between Kingman, AZ and Needles, CA. This isn't necessarily a crazy fun driving road so much as a beautiful stretch of road. The crazy part is when you get to a mountainous area which goes on for miles. Two very narrow lanes and extremely tight turns require you to drive anywhere from 5-15mph at any given time. Maybe 20mph in some sections if you're lucky and if you have a relatively short wheelbase car. Most of my speed was well below 20mph in my SC300.
The wider, sticker tires than stock, an LSD and a modified suspension were underused on this section of Route 66. The dropoffs were very sharp and very close. At lot of those turns were better taken at 15mph. This isn't a "fun for driving" mountain road so much as it is a fun route that is more about the scenery and the experience of traveling on this old road which used to be one of the only ways to travel westward to southern California by car. The technical part of it, especially in a long car with a long hood, is about navigating each bend safely rather than feeling the best the car can offer you with every turn of the steering wheel.
Some technical favorites of mine in southern California are Latigo Canyon (heading towards Malibu) and several sections of Mulholland Drive and Laurel Canyon. Also many of the mountain roads up near Newcomb's Ranch ("The Snake") near/in the Angeles Forest.
The most fun and technical road to date has to be the Pacific Coast Highway from around Monterey through Big Sur or thereabouts. Once you're on it you're locked in for a while until another turnoff that leads to the I-5 shows up. You want plenty of gas in the tank and after dusk you NEED an offline GPS unit in order to see the direction of the next curve in the road due to the thick coastal fog that sets in. Having a friend in the passenger seat to note the angle of the next curve to you is also a good idea. You really cannot see more than a few feet in front of your headlights when the fog is aggressive. Additionally, if your car came with dim headlights from the factory, an HID upgrade and fog lamps are recommended.
All that said, driving the PCH is a lot of fun. The highest speed on some straight-ish sections might have been a brief 40-45mph but most often the average speed was 20-30mph. Some aggressive curves required 15mph. And there are so many curves to enjoy.
Like Aron9000's car my SC300 my isn't one with the ridiculously high limits of a modern $100k+ sports car but it's still not that hard to over drive a section of road if the limit is still pushed too far. With 350-400hp I imagine it will be even easier to do so especially without any traction or stability control.
The wider, sticker tires than stock, an LSD and a modified suspension were underused on this section of Route 66. The dropoffs were very sharp and very close. At lot of those turns were better taken at 15mph. This isn't a "fun for driving" mountain road so much as it is a fun route that is more about the scenery and the experience of traveling on this old road which used to be one of the only ways to travel westward to southern California by car. The technical part of it, especially in a long car with a long hood, is about navigating each bend safely rather than feeling the best the car can offer you with every turn of the steering wheel.
Some technical favorites of mine in southern California are Latigo Canyon (heading towards Malibu) and several sections of Mulholland Drive and Laurel Canyon. Also many of the mountain roads up near Newcomb's Ranch ("The Snake") near/in the Angeles Forest.
The most fun and technical road to date has to be the Pacific Coast Highway from around Monterey through Big Sur or thereabouts. Once you're on it you're locked in for a while until another turnoff that leads to the I-5 shows up. You want plenty of gas in the tank and after dusk you NEED an offline GPS unit in order to see the direction of the next curve in the road due to the thick coastal fog that sets in. Having a friend in the passenger seat to note the angle of the next curve to you is also a good idea. You really cannot see more than a few feet in front of your headlights when the fog is aggressive. Additionally, if your car came with dim headlights from the factory, an HID upgrade and fog lamps are recommended.
All that said, driving the PCH is a lot of fun. The highest speed on some straight-ish sections might have been a brief 40-45mph but most often the average speed was 20-30mph. Some aggressive curves required 15mph. And there are so many curves to enjoy.
Like Aron9000's car my SC300 my isn't one with the ridiculously high limits of a modern $100k+ sports car but it's still not that hard to over drive a section of road if the limit is still pushed too far. With 350-400hp I imagine it will be even easier to do so especially without any traction or stability control.
Last edited by KahnBB6; 06-06-17 at 12:22 PM.
06-06-17, 05:09 PM
#13
Lexus Fanatic
Is that Palomar road open to the public? From what I understand, a large space-obervatory is at the summit, where access is restricted.
06-06-17, 08:28 PM
#15
somewhere in canadian/alaskan border was scary as sheet. no guard rails and strait drop offs with 8ft wide roads and beautiful views to distract...crazy scary in parts even driving 30mph