Places you go to test your car and yourself

[tjoz]

Whether you have just installed new mods or to test your own driving ability; where do you go out to test out your car. Short of race tracks, the places you can test your car out are very limited; especially inside the suburban fringe (including the city).

Idea is to get a list of places where people go to get the most out of their cars and driving. Maybe something for the Vic part of the club to consider grading certain areas for other drivers (eg place c good for all drivers, place k for more experienced driving). Also opens up a lot of places within our state where you can go driving for the day or for a few hours.

Alot of these places can take a while to get out to but for what is out there they are worth it. I will start it off.



---

-Snake Valley

About 2 hours out from Melbourne just off the Sunrasia Hwy. West region of VIC. Long sweeping turns great for beginners. Speed limit is 100 until you get to the town which drops to 50. Pretty flat with very little inclines, lots of open turns where you can comfortably cruise around 80+

-Ottaway Ranges (off Great Ocean Road, Melbourne bound)

Western region of VIC, around 3 hours out from Melbourne. The road through this area is not part of the Great Ocean Road. Intermediate to Advanced driving conditions. Speed limit is 100 throughout. Fast and very tight turns, , narrow roads, high inclines and lots of blind corners. Beware of roadkill and falling debris from forest canopy. Do not travel through this section at night if you are a beginner you will shit yourself. High chance of accidents for less experienced.

-Forest (off Great Ocean Road, Ararat/Horsham bound)

Western region of VIC, 3+hours out from Melbourne. Two roads take you out to Forest. First road is the easier one of the two. Both are off the Great Ocean Road. Beginner to intermediate. Speed limit 100 througout. Mix of long sweeping turns to tighter turns. Wide roads. Speed limit drops in various areas along the way to Forest.

-Kinglake/Marysville

Eastern/Southern region of VIC. Roughly 90mins out from Melbourne. Tourist route so be prepared. All levels. Beginners may struggle, winter/summer seasons very tourist friendly. Speed limit between 60-100 in certain areas. Very tight roads, blind corners, steep inclines, narrow roads and big cliffs. Very careful in winter.

-Lake Mountain

Eastern/Southern region of VIC. Around 2hours out from Melbourne. Not as touristy as Kinglake/Marysville but similar conditions. Snow conditions, high speed limits and mainly steep inclines up to Lake Mountain. Need money if you plan to head up to the summit/lodge; $30 per car during snow season.

-Warburton (from Marysville/Lake Mountain)

Eastern/Southern region of VIC. Same amount of time as the two above just add an extra 30mins. Intermediate to advanced. Road is tight, inclines, hairpins; it has it all. Dangerous when wet/snow. Lots of cruisey areas too to break things up. Will test your transmission out if you have manual.

-Mt Donna Buang

Eastern/Southern region of VIC. Around 3hours out from Melbourne. Snow in winter, mix of dirt roads if you approach from Warburton. Mix of all three. Roads (only 2) in this area will run along and around the valley of the mountain and wind up to the summit. Careful of fog and snow. Need money in snow season to go up to the summit.

[chem0]

For performance parts, any normal road as long as you abide by the law; the test further potential, go to a track.

For Cosmetic/Audio mods? I dont know, where do kids test that stuff today? Chapel Street?

[tjoz]

For performance parts, any normal road as long as you abide by the law; the test further potential, go to a track.

For Cosmetic/Audio mods? I dont know, where do kids test that stuff today? Chapel Street?

Normal roads na. Some stuff you cant get from driving around the suburb you live. Roundabouts maybe. In my area there is one road with massive roundabouts, it good to drive through.

Sound, peak hour traffic. With a song called 'Gee'

[WTR]

Tim - I'm coming from a bike perspective .... so Mansfield to Whitfield.
Bairnsdale to Omeo. Omeo to Bright. Bright/Mt Beauty/Myrtleford/Bright loop.

And watch out for the bikes !!!

[tjoz]

Have you gone through Black Spur yet? Or Little Desert? I want to go to them places next and out past Mount Bulla. Mt Macedon alright for couple minutes around the back section but then its all farmland after that and boring.

The back of Angelsea is good too, the roads are all sandy but they are smooth enough and vary enough that its not all straight. I think its the network of roads throughout the national park. None of them are surfaced. In summer might be too dry though but after light shower its just like normal road.

Mountains are where all the good places are though and some coastal areas. Not Great Ocean Road though, too touristy.

[WTR]

Black Spur is over-policed now - not worth it, IMO.

[sleeper]

nice thread tim, very interesting

whats worth driving around myrtleford in particular? probably be there abouts around early december and i have rellies in myrtleford.

[ClubspecCustomDesigns]

hey boys ive spoken to a few of the rallirt boys and they wont to organise another heathcote drag day. Its a great cruise about the heathcote and you can all have fun on the race track.

[bobcrusader]

Some nice roads out where I am in Wonga Park/Warrandyte. We use the Warrandyte - Kangaroo Ground road on cruises a lot. 80kmh speed limit with corners posted at 55kmh.

[PYLee]

Nick ! instead of drag , why not an actual trackday ?

[ClubspecCustomDesigns]

Lets try and organise it, we need to get confirmed numbers and ill do some calling around. The driver dynamics the Bob mentioned last time sounds great

http://www.driverdynamics.com/trackdays.html

[tjoz]

With #1 before it was written off almost every weekend I took it up to the mountains. A few more places below:

-Burnt Wood or something like that. Actual town has Wood in its name. In same area as Mt Donna Buang about an hour out from Seville. Its east of Lake Mountain. You take Old Warburton Road I think.

-Another one dont know the name of it is the tourist route out near Flinders. You take the turn off from the main highway and its about 20k of single lane roads throughout the valley area. Only thing I remember from it is a rock with metal plate on it saying 'the Great Forest was cleared for this land when settlers came' something along those lines. I call it Buttercup Valley, cows everywhere. You can see the ocean from some of the hills. Its all farmland.

After tomorrow I have plenty time off I go find some more. Want to head out towards Tower Hill as there some good roads out there.