RE: Pure Driving Experiences: Stelvio Pass

[slikrs]

I did this a few years ago in the (at the time new) 350Z - even that was too big but the advantage of the R35 being forced induction should negate the power loss I suffered at altitude. Clutch cooked on the way up, brakes went too quickly on the way down (necessitating upgrades when I returned home ;-) )...

I did find a nice sweeping stretch of road off the back of the pass which was partially non-tarmac and can confirm that it was awesome!

Hairpins do get tedious after you've done a couple and I was following another car so could watch the various near misses with crazy cyclists doing race lines round downhill hairpins! Not to mention the bleeding camper vans!

Many better roads in Scotland (though I certainly found less popular routes which in the Alps and around Monaco which were up there with my favourite UK roads) and the UK in general and similar scenery in certain areas tool...

[garypotter]

Firstly the GTR looks great in that red, i normally hate red cars.
Secondly I think the Stelvio pass is also over rated a lot better roads as drivers roads in the UK but without the scenery.

[Kronstein]

Steve, the Stelvio's in Italy - it's the Umbrail that crosses into Switzerland.

North side is good fun but it's the South side that's a great drive with combinations of bend/straights/tunnels etc.

Not a bad advatorial, as advatorials go.

Edited by Kronstein on Wednesday 28th August 11:51

[booner]

I just got back from that area after a Eurotrip. I would say it's compulsory and an experience, but the roads either side or through the Black Forest were far more entertaining. I was unlucky as it was raining, cloudy, busy and we had a fully packed estate with four lads and a roof box..

I would say it's the kind of place where you drive it and look back and say... I just drove that (and took lots of photos!). One day I will return in my Corvette or whatever I'm driving at the time

Edited by booner on Wednesday 28th August 12:21

[Kronstein]

I'd say it rewards multiple visits and's quite addictive - you have every combination of bend/straight/kink but so many hairpins that it skews opinion if you're in a heavy/non- sportscar or if you get traffic. Other passes are more driveable in aggregate but are on a much smaller scale. Pretty rewarding if you're in the right car/R500 at the right time etc.

[DonkeyApple]

+



Hmmm.

[fwaggie]

What a boring video.

All talk and next to no action.

"Blah, blah, blah, car, road, blah, I'm showing you lots of panoramic shots because I was so slow driving the car"...

Can we get Chris to drive it properly please, with the only soundtrack needed - the car!

[paul_k]

Would be good if you could actually buy these tyres.
At present they are only available at inflated prices via the Nissan dealer network hence most people fit Bridgestones or non runflat instead.

[booner]

Kronstein said:

I'd say it rewards multiple visits and's quite addictive - you have every combination of bend/straight/kink but so many hairpins that it skews opinion if you're in a heavy/non- sportscar or if you get traffic. Other passes are more driveable in aggregate but are on a much smaller scale. Pretty rewarding if you're in the right car/R500 at the right time etc.

I'd agree. All I could think about at the time was "I wish I was in a Caterham".

[MulsanneKinky]

The car looks incidental to me.

I've only previously ever been on these roads as a kid... on a coach... with my parents...(!!). Even back then I thought the scenary was breathtaking given I was an inner London lad pre-EasyJet. This piece brought the memories flooding back. Stunning.

Defo a run for a Caterham (Trent's Dream Drive... looks a bit similar to me...) but I'd not complain if someone handed me the keys to a GTR and said "...go fill your boots, lad".

Edited by MulsanneKinky on Wednesday 28th August 12:26

[AER]

Max_Torque said:

(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............)

Yes, I remember all too well! I never would have figured at the time that my arse would grace the pages of PH though...

Edit: LOL, my sticker is still there at 2:37 from my last "Pure Driving Experience" on the pass!

Edited by AER on Wednesday 28th August 13:17

[VTECMatt]

I was fortunate to be the first up after the snow plough Bormio side, the elise is simply awesome up and down Stelvio, the twisty side even in an Elise can be tight and with traffic I imagine boring.

http://gallery.seloc.org/displayimage.php?album=52...

[VTECMatt]

I was fortunate to be the first up after the snow plough Bormio side, the elise is simply awesome up and down Stelvio, the twisty side even in an Elise can be tight and with traffic I imagine boring.



Loads of better passes IMHO !

[checkmate91]

fwaggie said:

What a boring video.

All talk and next to no action.

"Blah, blah, blah, car, road, blah, I'm showing you lots of panoramic shots because I was so slow driving the car"...

Can we get Chris to drive it properly please, with the only soundtrack needed - the car!

But it's typical of car show video footage and anyway Sutters is a pretty handy driver, he could have caned it if that was the brief...

[jacklewisno1]

I quite enjoyed that video, but agree that perhaps it wasn't the correct car. Perhaps next time turn the music down and let a bit more engine noise in there please!

[rich40]

DonkeyApple said:

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.

Your exactly right. To state the obvious, the ideas for these videos were put together by marketing types. Their strategy is simple. Have a list of "famous" roads. A list of "cool" cars and combine them randomly. Sorry, but they need to stop insulting their audience and put a bit more thought into it. Or better still consult someone that knows what they are talking about.

[canucklehead]

a GTR seems like entirely the wrong type of vehicle for this road, as others have noted.

a caterham or a mog 3-wheeler, or a caparo (!?), maybe an early 911. anything bigger is just hopeless (as the video clearly shows, what with the GTR negotiating the hairpins at walking speed) and likely to smack a cyclist coming the other way, which would ruin your holiday fairly quickly.....

speaking of bikes, the best vehicle is probably a bike - Ducati, Agusta, w.h.y.

[D.no]

As others have said - not the best piece of tarmac for pure driving nirvana (just about any route through/around Corsica would tick that box for me - especially the N196 from Bonifacio to Ajaccio), but with the right weather the scenery is bloody epic and simply demands that you slow down to take it in (no bad thing in my case!). Cyclists-a-plenty on the Italian side. Hats off to them. I've driven it twice in my 911, and not once thought that a Caterham would be better suited - mainly because of the considerations of the journey there and back.

Edited by D.no on Wednesday 28th August 20:36

[MulsanneKinky]

Spot on point about the Caterham to be fair...

[rtpsupersports]

I did it in a Morgan three-wheeler inspired special that I built, in 1999.
What better road to drift around the hairpins, and what a sense of achievement having climbed the highest mountain pass in Europe! (And developed bigger biceps too!)
I agree, there are better driving roads, like the Monte Carlo rally route, and the Targa Florio circuit, but the Passo di Stelvio has a special place in my heart.