What's the longest drive you've ever done?

[Flet]

I do love a good long drive.

My policy on the road is in line with Guy Martin's: never stop unless it's for fuel. If you need fluids, start drinking them at the 1/4 tank mark so your pee stop coincides with the fuel stop.

Living in Galway, my longest drives that I do semi-regularly are northern Donegal/Derry, Belfast and Wexford/Rosslare. 3-4 hour stints of which the west coast one is probably my favourite as it's a diverse sort of a run and due to the combination of the prevailing wind and good quality single carriageway it's optimal for hypermiling.

The longest drive I have done in Ireland is Mizen to Malin in shall we say well under 8 hours with one stop for fuel. 414 miles / 670km.

In Scotland I once did Cairnryan to Thurso via the Old Military Road and John O'Groats in preparation for starting the nice parts of the NW500 the next day. I think that was 376 odd miles/ 600km in 8-9 hours. No fuel stop but a few stops for pictures in the Cairngorms.

I've also done Cherbourg to central Germany in one haul which most recently was 580 miles / 930km with one fuel stop. Average speed was 110km/h so about 8.5hrs.

Vienna - Maranello was another big one (and actually a really enjoyable drive), 492 miles / 792km with one fuel stop. Don't recall how long it took but I think I left crazy early and was in Maranello for lunchtime.

Being honest I think 6hrs is about my threshold for good concentration, after that things get a bit blurred around the edges.

[ozy]

Living in a big country, I had the joy of doing this once...


Screenshot_2018-08-12-13-01-51.png

Changed job from Townsville in Queensland, and went back to Sydney, NSW. Took 3 days, roughly 8 hours a day. Only stopping for lunch then after the 8 hours, fuel, dinner and rest. Strangely enjoyable hypnotic experience, just me, the old Landcruiser and a radio for mile after mile.

Speed was not her strongest point .



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Edit: I would have done longer stints but after nightfall, on the long stretches between towns, Kangaroos are a real concern.

[Flet]

That yoke looks like not even a Saudi turning it 180' at 100mph with WOT could kill it.

[Mike205]

I've done Krakow to Paris in one go, that's approx 16hours and 1540km.

[Mark2]

i suck at this - id never be a truck driver. i start nodding off about 1.5 hrs in unless im in an interesting country with stuff to look at. i have zero staying power driving normally

[charlie]

Longest drive I do regularly is Wicklow to Donegal for work. About 600Klm round trip in one day. About an hour or two of work in between.
I did a number of car runs this year on the west side of the country in one day. Around 700 to 750 Klm.
I haven't driven on the continent that often but did drive from Cherbourg to south of Angouleme in somewhere between 7 and 8 hours. Took the scenic route for a bit of interest, ie stayed of motorways.
I'm finding I enjoy longer journeys more than I used to.

[nismoe]

Did this back in 2009 after the Top gear feature

Depart from Embrach, Zurich (I should mention 2 drivers for this so not quite exhausting as it reads!)

1: Davos - Flüelapass (2383 M) - Susch - Zernez

2: Zernez into Val Dal Spöl, turn right to Livigno (crappy tunnel)

3: Livigno - Passo d‘Eìra (2209 m) - Trepalle - Passo di Foscagno (2291 m) - Bormio

4: Bormio - Passo dello Stelvio (2760 m)

5: Top Gear Part: Down the North Ramp of Passo dello Stelvio to Franziskushöhe and back up

6: Passo dello Stelvio - Umbrailpass (partly unpaved, 2501 m) - Santa Maria

7: Santa Maria - Ofenpass (2149 m) - Zernez

8: Zernez - La Punt-Chamues-ch

9: La Punt-Chamues-ch - Albulapass (2312 m) - Filisur

10: Filisur - Tiefencastel - Thusis - Chur


600 odd km, 8 Passes, 12 hours

[ozy]

That yoke looks like not even a Saudi turning it 180' at 100mph with WOT could kill it.

slow, but will drive over or through anything. I got it to drive to Cape York on a 3 week camping adventure with the boys to the tip of Queensland...didn't happen, but someday I will have a mega thread for that trip.

[dimitri]

Longest, "I'm going for a drive" was Sixmilebridge to Nordkapp return over two weeks

There were four long driving days on that spin, three of them were back to back at the start to get us to the Arctic Circle. Llaneli, Wales to Marl, Germany (922km and the eurotunnel). Marl, Germany to Vadstena, Sweden (1075km) where we got to the campsite with about 10 minutes to spare before the office closed. We were up at first light and drove to Pitea the next day (1036km).

[cianha]

Trabant. Mordor.



http://www.backroads.ie/forum/car-re...earth%E2%80%A6

[Cold]

I did 1,300km in one day a couple of years ago. That was Paris->Belfast->Dublin. It wasn’t that big a deal despite involving a lot of England which is the worst place in the world to drive pretty much. With the CL so just sit back in comfortable seats, turn up the stereo and truck on.

The stats from that drive:

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I’ve done San Francisco to LA and back in one day taking PCH in one direction. Probably also about 1,300km. A good day out, lol.

On a longer trip where there are transport stretches I would routinely plan 1,000km days. That’s fairly doable.

[davemx-5]

I've done Donegal to London in a day. Left Donegal at 8am and arrived at my old flat in Camden at 10pm.

Aside from that I've driven from Donegal to Marseille and back over 2 weeks on holiday with various stops in Le Man, gringon, Clement Ferrand and a few other places.

[foyler]

Surat Thani to Kanchanburi (bridge over the river Kwai ) in Thailand in the tinniest Honda City / Shitty Honda

Nearly died close to destination as another huge mostly unlit truck crossed over in front of me in the overtaking lane - a regular occurrence but sketchy as fcuk , especially after dark.

Basically think of that old mental turn off for Shannon ,but every 1000 yards or so and on the basis of might is right , so basically be prepared to take evasive action.

Think I drove further in SA but nathin as dicey or memorable as tbe above.

[Alfaguy]

Drove from near Estepona Spain to the Italian GP in Monza in 2001 stopping along the way at Nice and Monaco and back in my little Renault Twingo

Drove a VW Polo from Tralee to Southhampton once got the ferry to Santander and then drove it to the Costa Del Sol near Estepona to use it as my Spanish car after I sold the Twingo.

Done the Furball 5000 of course in 2006 which was a European tour of 5,000 miles in my TR6. Had to drive from Tralee to Brands Hatch first of course which was the starting point. First time using the channel tunnel. Stelvio pass I did not enjoy to much but visiting the Reims race track and Monaco was nice. We done a tour of the Lambo factory too.

Hired a Peugeot 206 in Frankfurt once and toured many countries Germany including a tour of Dachau tour. Italy for the Ferrari and Pagani factory tours and Venice of course. Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and a few more.

Then there were the myriad of journeys collecting classic cars and my motorbikes. I once drove to France to collect some car parts and to near Lands End in Cornwall to collect some alloys.

Drove the Porsche 997 to Belfast once to get it serviced at Agnews just for the fun of it.

Done a few tours of Northern Ireland when I was working on pulse in Dublin in my new BMW 318iS including a drive past Drumcree Church at the height of the trouble there to raised fists and jeers from the crowd sanding around it.

Of course I was based in Donegal a few times during the various foot and mouth/BSE crisis and that involved commuting usually weekly from Tralee to Ballyshannon in my 1994 Opel Vectra 1.7TD which used to nearly do 60mpg on those journeys - a superb underrated car that was.

Oh nearly forgot my motorcycle ride from Tralee to London and back in my new Suzuki Bandit 600S to see how things were coming along with my TR6 which was undergoing a major overhaul by a London based Triumph specialist. That still remains my longest motorcycle ride with the collection trip for my Thruxton R being the second longest.

[philb]

On the big USA road trip managed 950km from Vancouver to Klamath Falls, Oregon in the trusty Saab 900 N/A. The destination then, wasn't particularly intended, that was where I was exhausted.
My co-pilot didn't have full wallpaper so I was doing almost all of the driving. Had considered getting some truckers choice pills but we'd become well used to sleeping in the car at that stage.

Calais to Flensburg in my own 900 Turbo was nearly as long, 920km and at a much higher speed. That was a very long day and included replacing the alternator brushes in Essen. Full beans after that, glowing turbo and manifolds when we made a pitstop on the A7..

Flensburg to Trollhattan next day was not nearly as long, 650km. Don't recall that being a chore at all..