You know you’ve had the absolute best drive in the Alps when you finally stop, get out of your Lotus, and look back down the road with the biggest grin of satisfaction on your face.
But have you ever stopped and wondered what other drivers are thinking when they see a small, low, sleek sports car zipping along the road at a rapid pace?
It’s a hard call trying to explain to drivers of lumbering poor handling SUV’s, just how rapid a lotus can be out on a busy open road, or when pressing on along a twisting, winding Alpine road, SUV drivers generally don’t understand the insane cornering and over-taking ability of a Lotus, and perhaps they could be forgiven, because having spent too much time behind the wheel of an SUV dulls the driving senses with the way that the majority of SUV’s perform.
Other drivers may even be thinking that a lotus is too fast for the road (We know they’re not) and a select band of lotus drivers know full well that they are one of the best cars to drive on the road, period.
Well, I say, to heck with what others are thinking, once you have taken the drive/s through some of the most spectacular, pristine alpine country you’ll ever find in Australia, there’s a hundred and one more reasons to tell your self, “hey, that was just a great fun drive”. The Snowy mountains alpine region of Australia is simply brilliant.
Please don’t miss-understand what I am saying here, I am not for a moment promoting dangerous or high risk driving, what I enjoy is being wide awake and in tune with the car, the road, the prevailing weather conditions, and knowing intimately what your car is totally capable of while driving briskly along your favourite stretch of mountain road… Wide awake and driving at 8/10ths, I wont say 10/10ths because that is stupid behaviour on a public road, except when participating in a TARGA style tarmac rally on a section of closed road.
When you mention The Snowy Mountains region, most people quickly add “Oh yeah, great place to ski”, huh, whaddya mean, I have absolutely zero interest in skiing, could not give a rats ass about it… My passion is driving the alpine roads in Summer and looking at the awesome scenery while stopped and having a well earned coffee.
The elan simply raced up the twisty winding ascent to dead horse gap, the ultra close ratio gear box really came into it’s own on this type of road, even though the lotus is only 1600cc, it left the big Healey 3000 for dead.
Mountain roads (In the late spring, early Summer and Autumn) are made for driving hard and fast when you own a lotus or any other thorough bred high performance sports car… of course, I know there will be the anti speed preachers out there who will frown and do some finger wagging, but they possibly do not understand the discipline and the high level of driving concentration applied when pressing on in your sports car on these magic Alpine roads… There is simply No place for any kind of distraction while driving.
The Alpine Larder at Lake Crackenback Resort is a great place to stop and chat over lunch and coffee, do the drive in mid to late Spring and enjoy the perfect weather on offer, warm sunshine with a cool mountain breeze, and the food is pretty damn good to.
With a car that has a superb handling chassis and suspension, brakes that stop you on a dime, a twin cam engine that loves to rev and hauls like a train, combine with an ultra close ratio gearbox, tyres that stick to the road like chewing gum, and you cant help but have an enormous amount of driving fun, even at low speeds when required.
And that’s the thing about the Snowy Mountain Highway, there are decent long stretches that provide interesting climbs and dips, and the straights mostly lead into well cambered corners and sweepers, there are also many tight sections with quick left – right corners, there are several kilometres of hot mix road surface providing fantastic grip if you’re driving on street legal tarmac tires.
The people and businesses in the Snowy Mountains provide enjoyment for visitors, at the Wild Brumby Distillery near Jindabyne, I found this carving of a Wild Brumby on its back with a bottle of Schnapps to it’s mouth, I tell people, this is how they teach the wild Brumby’s to drink in the Snowy Mountains.
At the northern end, The Snowy Mountains Highway begins at Adelong or Tumut just after turning off the Hume Freeway, and finishes on the Sapphire coast at Tathra, a distance of about 328Km, this road provides about 4 hours of driving enjoyment, and is well known to owners of high end performance cars as “The Best” driving road in Australia in the warmer seasons.
Drive the Snowy Mountain Highway, then reverse the trip and do all of the other roads that connect with it… roads like the Alpine Way back through Thredbo that lead into Victoria via Geehi, Khancoban, or the link road from the “T” intersection at Kiandra, there are two route choices, return via Cabramurra, or take the very steep descent on Goat Ridge road, which will take you via the Elliot Way to either Tumburumba or Corryong – Not hard to lose your self in the Alps for a few days.
On the Tathra side of the journey, take the Bombala road back to Victoria, (Gippsland) this is also a magnificent drive, yes indeed, the Snowy Mountains Highway has incredibly rich rewards for the enthusiastic sports car driver, there are few places like the Snowy Mountains where you get to enjoy both magnificent scenery and awesome roads with not much traffic if you pick the right time.
In the right car, with the right passenger, on the best roads and with the best weather… if all of your little motoring ducks line up, then you can consider your self in high altitude seventh heaven, if you know what I mean.
As always…
Keep safe and enjoy the drive.
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