NC500 (north coast road)
Discussion
sevensfun said:
Can't be them as very few supercars in the group 
This is a fair point! For what it's worth, in practice the sports cars - Boxsters, Elises, Cayman, classic 911, etc. - were actually much better for the trip. Great to drive, narrow, not too low, etc. The two M4s and the Morgan were also pretty good. The various Aston/Porsche/Maserati GT cars were OK but rather too wide and grounded out on some of the bumpy 'rollercoaster' sections. The Ferraris were far from ideal; too wide and constantly grounding out on the twisty and single track sections. Best all rounder was probably the Cayman GT4 (sadly not mine, I was in an Elise...still a great car to be in).
More generally I would say:
1. Do the NC500! It's as good as everyone says.
2. Don't drive too close together. We were warned not too and tried to be careful but still had one badly cracked windscreen and several with big chips in from stones being thrown up.
3. Walkie talkies were great. Helpful if passengers in leading group can call out sheep on the road etc. to drivers behind.
4. Camper vans are fine. We'd been told to expect that all camper vans were the sworn enemy of the sports cars and never pulled over or reversed into passing places but in reality they were fine; pulled over to let us pass if we were behind them, stopped in passing places if we met head on, etc. Lots of friendly waves...everyone played nicely and it was all good.
5. Petrol wasn't a problem. Plenty of places to get fuel en route and we all kept to a half a tank or fuller throughout. The only problem was the automated station in Lochinver - absolutely the most confusing thing ever! Our M5 driver wasted £80 prepaying on various random pumps before he was finally able to stick in £40 on the pump he was actually at.
6. Don't take a supercar if you have something else you could take instead (sports car, hot hatch, etc.). It's really not the right environment for one.
7. Do the NC500! It's as good as everyone says...worth repeating!
Everyone is back safe and sound and we all want to return...
Edited by chemistry on Tuesday 29th June 08:53
Edited by chemistry on Tuesday 29th June 08:56
chemistry said:
4. Camper vans are fine. We'd been told to expect that all camper vans were the sworn enemy of the sports cars and never pulled over or reversed into passing places but in reality they were fine; pulled over to let us pass if we were behind them, stopped in passing places if we met head on, etc. Lots of friendly waves...everyone played nicely and it was all good.
Don't forget this is an odd couple of years. Normally the number of campers from overseas is huge and they can be a little less 'accomodating' shall we say. sevensfun said:
chemistry said:
I couldn’t say. But I imagine if people did do that they would have gone early and sent somebody half a mile ahead to say when no traffic was coming.
Doesn't look like it, there is a caravan right behind them and a busy car park.
TheJimi said:
sevensfun said:
Great pics
Is that a load of cars driving or stopped on wrong side of the road On the bridge?
It would appear so.Is that a load of cars driving or stopped on wrong side of the road On the bridge?
Spring at Kylescu.
Edited by GetCarter on Wednesday 30th June 11:27
GetCarter said:
5 months of the year it's a car every 15 minutes. This time of the year it's pretty empty early in the morning. Having seen this lot before 7 am, I'm guessing it was an early start to take the pic.
Spring at Kylescu.
Doesn’t look like it considering the original pic has a caravan behind them and car park with several cars Spring at Kylescu.
Edited by GetCarter on Wednesday 30th June 11:27
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