The Not NC500 Scotland Trip

[Housey]

A few weeks ago I was lucky to join a group of good friends together with a few new acquaintances on a road trip into Scotland. My friends and I had been bouncing it around for some time and when our Spa/Nurburgring trip became impossible we decided to plan a Scotland trip instead.

I have done the full NC500 route before and though this is a fantastic trip to do it doesn't really suit supercars. In some places it is very tight and very bumpy and once you get away from the west coast it becomes a bit average for large swathes of the route.

We wanted something that brought the best driving roads into focus and a friend had done something last year and swore by it. We took his route, tweaked it a bit and in doing so I think came up with the best possible driving this country offers and the equal of anywhere I'd argue.

Day 1

195 miles - 4 1/2 hours with lunch around half way


Day 2

231 miles - 5 hours with lunch of course


Day 3

222 miles - 5 Hours and I seem to recall....lunch


We used an App designed for Tesla but the advantage of that App and important for proper routing is it does not recalculate if you take a wrong turn, so you don't miss anything. We did add a couple of additions to this route to take in some additional local knowledge and that was worth it too as it provided some epic views and shots for photos. I can totally recommend this journey and promise you far far better driving routes and some equal vistas to the standard NC500 route.

More to come...

 

[Housey]

The App was "A Better Routeplanner (ABRP)"

It isn't that great but it did provide adherence to our route. I tended to use the in car sat nav to keep me honest and provide live traffic content as well as alternate routes if I wanted to get to lunch first.....or beers in the evening.

 

[Housey]

Sorry, posted this content before.

 

[Housey]

Looks great, the only bit of this I've done is the 'day 2' segment- really need to get up there more. Although it's making me think I'm going crazy as I swear I read a pretty much identical post a few weeks ago.

God I am getting old...

I didn't recall what I posted, remember posting the odd picture but not the maps. DOH! (I just did a search and found I had on the Merc thread).

 

[Housey]

Don't think I posted these ones....





Will leave the thread as maps might be useful. Ask questions will answer them happily about the route etc. We went very basic on hotels, nothing posh.

 

[Housey]

Between this route and the NC500 route, if you were going primarily for the scenery rather than 'driving roads'*, which would you do?

*apparently my other half doesn't appreciate that i'm clearly an undiscovered professional racing driver

To be fair both offer stunning views but I think the NC500 has more 'places to visit' off route because it's more well known. On the route we took there were moments of "wow will you just look at this" but think the NC500 offers more of them. In terms of roads and driving it's no contest, this route is better.

 

[Housey]

Definitely choose one of the better runs IMO - the bit through Rannoch/Orchy through to Fort William is always one of the highlights for me when I manage to get up there albeit often full of camper-vans and tourist traffic.

The Military Road was incredible, so was the Spittal of Glenshee both were on day 3 and both on their own would have made you happy on their own. Day 1 and Day 2 had many many like that too. We had 1 police stop, 2 guys done but small points (really unlucky) coming out of a town at 41 in a 30 as we all slowed right down when it got town/village and slow speed limits.

 

[Housey]

Some nice routes there.

How much ££££ do you think is in that last picture?!

Couple of million I suspect. Over £4M of cars on the trip at new prices.

 

[Housey]

One of the things, depending on route you use to get there and back, the NC500 misses out is some of the better bits of the Cairngorms. Was gonna reply along that lines to Kenai. Personally I prefer this route over the NC500 several bits like you mentioned are highlights for me at least personally.

Most of the lads on the trip have done a lot of road trips and all said this was up there with the best in terms of roads and the way you could enjoy them safely. Having walkie talkies did create the odd "wtf" moment when you decided to pass a slow line of cars on twisty roads because they could not hear the "clear, clear, clear, clear, clear I was hearing"

 

[Housey]

I honestly don't know how anyone got done speeding though at least the times I've been up there it has been rammed with camper-vans, etc.

Coming out of the smallest village IN THE WORLD we come to a slight incline. The 2 lads just gently pull pass a farm vehicle and in a side road to the right is 2 cop cars speed checking. I came past them as plod was having words and thought the worst. When they said 41 in a 30 I was relieved as on the approach to said village at the other end we were 'more'.

 

[Housey]

Does it not kill the fun having to drive so slow?

We had plenty of safe fun, we made sure we respected the villages/towns, built up areas and places with houses because no one wants to be front page news. There are plenty of open roads with great visibility and good surfaces where you can carry some speed without attracting attention. Personally like I do these days I had limits I would not pass on straight roads no matter how clear they were and enjoyed the twisty bits immensely.

 

[Housey]

On the run to Oban, I can't recall the specific element of road, I had an epic run with a couple of friends in their E92's and another in his 720. It was a long sweeping road, felt like long left, long right, long left, long right etc and I was 2nd in the run behind a mate in his very rapid E92. Roads were empty and for what felt like 15 minutes we just drove it like a track, me watching the E92 absolutely on the limit, mine more settled but E92 driver properly skilled. One of my best drivers ever, just so much fun and of course all at 60mph.....ish

 

[Housey]

a85 crainlarich to pass of brander. Round top of loch awe. Really nice bit of road know it well.

Yes that sounds like it might be the one, I remember it edged water.

 

[Housey]

Looks about right to me, you should have fun if it's not too wet and more fun if it is in an M5.

 

[Housey]

Thanks Guys

My only concern is with the Fuel issue up there. Any reason to worry...

Just keep your sat nav ready to locate them and appreciate you won’t always get branded or high octane fuel. We pull 15 + super cars into some little station in the middle of nowhere and people were coming over to watch and take pictures

 

[Housey]

We started from St Andrews, assembling the cars there the night before we headed off. Most were parked in the public car park on the sea front overnight, we had security to keep an eye on them overnight. A few more joined the following morning and off we went.

We used an app called A Better Route Planner (ABRP) and one of the guys with us programmed the route in and shared it with us, don’t ask me how. You need something with fixed routing else you will lose the route as your sat nav will reroute typically.

Hotels wise we went for convenience over poshness and though 3 of the drivers bought their better halves so went the posh route they ended up coming to our hotels for dinner as that was where the banter was.

Format was drive morning to a lunch, drive afternoon to a hotel with the odd stop when the visitors demanded it or the bladder.

 

[Housey]

I suppose it depends on what you're in and if you get lucky with the timing of oncoming traffic but I have never really had too much of an issue with overtaking things up there. Multi-car overtakes are very often completely 'on' with a bit of forward visibility and good planning.

With walkie talkies across a group makes those easier. Leader calls the road.

 

[Housey]

I've done a lot of (very) fast road drives in groups with this sort of thing going on. I'd rather be on my own, frankly. People make mistakes, bad calls, badly timed calls etc. Unless you're absolutely willing to trust your and some potential random 3rd party's life to that radio call, you should treat every overtake as if the radio didn't exist.

That might be different if you're in a group of people who you absolutely trust completely and have done many thousands of miles as just that group, but in general I won't trust it.

i did it twice in 4 road tours. It’s not something you rely on, it helped when stuck a couple of times that’s all. The people i trust are those i know well not those i just met also.

In most road tours ive done there are the few who can peddle and everyone else and those of us who can peddle tend to run together. Most of the time you’re just getting from a to b at normal traffic pace and when the roads and conditions allow you enjoy.