Wednesday 28th August 2013

Pure Driving Experiences: Stelvio Pass

The latest Dunlop sponsored video sees an epic Stelvio drive experienced in a pretty epic car

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So far in the Dunlop series of videos, Steve Sutcliffe has been in Britain for some great B-roads and Germany for an autobahn blast. For today's fourth instalment, the ante has been upped; he's on the Stelvio Pass with GT-R. Two icons for enthusiasts the world over, and the ingredients for a great Pure Driving Experiences video.

The combination of the GT-R's 560hp, 4WD and dual-clutch transmission sees it rocket out of the Stelvio's hairpins with huge speed. Tyres specially developed for the GT-R with Dunlop, the Sport Maxx GT600, no doubt boost confidence as the pass narrows and climbs.

Whilst the speeds aren't even half of those encountered on the autobahn, the Stelvio certainly delivers as another pure driving experience. Video number five will be along soon!

See the video here

 

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Previous videos:
Dunlop Pure Driving Experiences: Hardknott Pass
Dunlop Pure Driving Experiences: Crickhowell
Dunlop Pure Driving Experiences: A6 Autobahn

 

[Gingerbread Man]

Why is my access denied? Sob.

[rottie102]

One of the most overrated roads in the world
There are more entertaining roads within M25

[rossw46]

Within the M25, really ?

That looked pretty epic to me.

[Scottie - NW]

Gingerbread Man said:

Why is my access denied? Sob.

same here???

[150bhp]

Me too...

[DonkeyApple]

Can't helping that's the wrong car for that road by quite some margin.

[copperman05]

After doing the EVO Alpine Assault this year with petrolhead nirvana, out of the 15 passes we did, the Stelvio was the least impressive...

[moto_traxport]

rottie102 said:

One of the most overrated roads in the world

Agreed. It is "compulsory" however.

[anonymous-user]

Although considerably less spectacular to look at, the wider, less steep, "Eastern" approach is i think a lot more fun. On the side Steve drives, frankly what you need is a Caterham, as anything bigger/heavier just makes the tight hairpins feel like a chore. The only time i've ever driven it, and actually found it fun, was when the pass was actually still shut, blocked by a couple of hundred m of snow banks on the last few yards up to the pass top:





Most of the rest of the time, it's just too busy to really let rip.


(back in the day, the '3rd' way off the top into Switzerland used to be an unsurfaced, tiny, and narrow way down, practically a rally stage, and a LOT of fun............)

[DonkeyApple]

A Caterham was the exact type of car I had in mind when I wrote that the GTR just didn't seem like the right type of car to find any enjoyment. I reckon the most fun would be in the least powerful Cat. Roads like this are solely about the hairpins, getting round them and linking them up perfectly. While a GTR is clearly phenominal by the time you are having 'fun' you are moving at speeds lethal to the driver and those around.

[CAPP0]

Max_Torque said:

Although considerably less spectacular to look at, the wider, less steep, "Eastern" approach is i think a lot more fun. On the side Steve drives, frankly what you need is a Caterham, as anything bigger/heavier just makes the tight hairpins feel like a chore.

Couldn't agree more. I drove it last month, for the first time, in a car with a poor turning circle and it was, as you say, a chore. A first and second gear chore at that, due to the length of most of the legs. Also, with the safety barrier plates lining each leg, you can't see back up the hill, and given the need to swing out to get round a RH (inside) hairpin, there were several slow-speed encounters with those descending.

It was always on my bucket list, but having ticked it off, I doubt very much that I'll head back.

[Salom]

Great advert for Dunlop and Nissan, 'ch-ching' goes the Pistonheads til..;)

[handbraketurn]

he said mega

[Garlick]

Salom said:

Great advert for Dunlop and Nissan, 'ch-ching' goes the Pistonheads til..;)

It's a Dunlop promo (hence we mark as sponsored and carry a whopping logo) but it has nothing to do with Nissan.

See here: http://www.pistonheads.com/calendar/suggest.asp

Pays the bills you see, but we only accept deals like this if we feel the content is worth watching

[chevy-stu]

Had fun driving up through Stelvio for the first time in the fog at with Petrolhead Nirvana tour back in 2010. Agree there are more fun roads, but the scenery and bleakness of of it is what makes it..

[Asterix]

The other side down to Bormio is the better road.

[zeta3]

ridden several times through the Stelvio pass (guzzi lemans 3, guzzi v35 imola, honda xr600r). Wonderful landscape, amazing view, utterly fast weather changes. But not a dream drive road, on both sides, although the ascent from bormio to the top in my opinion is much more amusing and less dangerous (watch out in the totally dark, crude rock tunnels).

I cannot imagine an amusing drive in a Nissan GTR: after a few times, accelerating from 20-30 miles at the hairpins' apex, to 100 before a hard braking , dodging out bikers, camping cars, cars and last but not least the police, doesn't seem that fun!

[Salom]

Garlick said:

Salom said:

Great advert for Dunlop and Nissan, 'ch-ching' goes the Pistonheads til..;)

It's a Dunlop promo (hence we mark as sponsored and carry a whopping logo) but it has nothing to do with Nissan.

See here: http://www.pistonheads.com/calendar/suggest.asp

Pays the bills you see, but we only accept deals like this if we feel the content is worth watching

I wasn't criticizing at all, just complimenting you on your revenue generation techniques..

[tony993]

It doesn't look like a good drive to me, but I'd be quite keen to (try to) cycle up it.

Thanks for explaining Garlick - I was going to say, "I hope you're getting paid to run these ads". & yes, it was worth seeing.

[fade2grey]

I did up umbreil & down stelvio in the maserati, can't say umbreil was a good idea! but we survived lol. I dunno how you got rid of the cyclists though!