Automotive Traveler's Editorial Director reviews his choices for the ten most spectacular drives and the cars that make the most of each route.
 I can honestly say that life's treated me pretty damn well. I had a run as a high school social studies teacher immediately after graduating college, I owned an automotive electronics specialty store for 15 years, and since then have lived the life of an automotive journalist combining my two life's passions: driving some of the world's greatest cars on some of this planet's most challenging roads. The journey led me to establish Automotive Traveler, an online-only digital magazine dedicated to the proposition that every trip is an adventure.
Many times over the years I've been asked about my favorite driving roads. Up until six months ago I had never seriously compiled such a list. I've updated my original selections, keeping eight and replacing two, based on dozens of trip notes and thousands of photographs I've taken over the last 25 years.
- The Inca Trail in a Ferrari 599
- The Vanishing Point Route in a Dodge Challenger
- The Nurburgring to Le Mans in a Ford GT
- The Furka Pass in Switzerland in a Chrysler Crossfire SRT6
- Route 66 in four classic American muscle cars
- London to Maranello in a Dodge Viper
- The Hafeet Mountain Road in the UAE
- The Alaskan and Dalton Highways in an Audi A6 Avant quattro
- The Normandy beaches in a WW II-era Jeep
- A832 in NW Scotland in a European Ford Focus coupe-cabriolet
If you'd like to share my impressions of each of these combinations, read on.
 In 2006, I put together a series of memorable drives, none more so than the invitation by Ferrari and Shell to take part in the Panamerican 20000 on the Lima, Peru to Quito, Ecuador leg on the Inca Trail in a 599 Fiorano. Unfortunately, on the leg's first day I tripped, fell, and in an effort to protect my Nikon, shattered my wrist in six places. Dumb move; a Nikon D200 body costs about $1600, my wrist attached to my body required $25,000 worth of surgery upon my return to the US. There was not enough Vicodin in all of Peru to quell the pain over a bumpy 200-mile trip to the hospital to set my wrist. Ouch! When I first saw the Dodge Challenger Concept back in the fall of 2005, photographing it before it was unveiled at the 2006 North American International Auto Show, I knew what would be the perfect drive: following in the tire tracks of Kowalski on the route of the 1971 cult classic flick Vanishing Point. The old US routes 6, 50, 93, and 95 through rural Colorado, Utah, and Nevada are the best 1,300 miles imaginable to put Dodge's new pony car to the test; especially alongside a restored, vintage 1970 Challenger R/T. The reincarnated Ford GT served up all the right heritage cues combined with all the amenities expected in a contemporary 205 MPH supercar. And in the summer of 2005, as part of a larger drive from London to Maranello and back (see entry six) I had the opportunity to drive the Ford GT from the Nurburgring in Germany to Le Mans in France. Best of all, as these famed races are held on roads open to the public, I had the opportunity to drive both at speeds that challenged all my abilities as a driver. Thankfully you can drive both courses for the cost of a tank of gas in almost any car. I'm a big James Bond buff and have cataloged and visited many of the film series' actual filming locations in the US and Europe. My favorite location is Switzerland's Furka Pass west of Andermatt. There, in July 1964 Sean Connery filmed the series' best known car-related scene where his DB5 shredded the tires of Tilly Masterson's 1964 Ford Mustang Convertible. I've yet to drive the route in an Aston Martin, new or old, thus far having to be satisfied making the run in a similarly sized 2-seat Chrysler Crossfire SRT6. I'm still waiting for the invitation from Aston Martin to make the drive in the new DBS. In another one of 2006's great drives, I drove from the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit to Chicago to LA on Route 66 with four muscle car owners for a feature produced for Motor Trend Classic. The four cars included a 1967 Dodge White Hat Special, a 1969 AMC SC/Rambler, a 1970 Mustang, and a heavily modified 1969 Chevy Camaro SS/RS whose previous owner was a GM suspension engineer. I've driven many vintage muscle cars but never did one drive so much like a brand new car as that Camaro. It was a simply unforgettable experience on the Mother Road. As part of the same trip on which I drove the Ford GT from the Nurburgring to Le Mans, I also drove a Dodge Viper from London to Maranello--home of Ferrari--and back. From London's crowded streets--driving from the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road--through spectacular Alpine passes, through the streets of Monte Carlo, this trip defined the meaning of an epic drive. That I did it in the quintessential American sports car made it that much more special. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is The Jebel Hafeet Mountain Road, generally acknowledged by driving enthusiasts as the eighth wonder of the world. It's 7.3 miles long and climbs 6,000 feet in elevation along its 60 corners. In the UAE, where 7-Series BMWs outsell 5- and 3-Series Bimmers, it would be great to be an A-list auto journalist and have Mercedes-Benz hand me the keys to a McLaren SLR, but in my case I had to make do with a BMW 323, which cost about $300 for a 3-day rental (before the collapse of the value of the US Dollar).  My first truly epic drive came in the fall of 1996 when I drove from Seattle to Fairbanks on the historic Alaskan Highway in an all-weather Audi A6 quattro station wagon. But that's not all. Even though it was early November in -30F weather, the ultimate goal was to drive the Dalton Highway all the way to Prudoe Bay and the North Slope oil fields. The drive north from Fairbanks was stunning in its starkness; just the road and the pipeline driving through a landscape that was lunar in its desolation. In 2004, on the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasions, I visited the beaches in Normandy and toured the French countryside in a 1944 Willys Jeep that was restored to War Correspondent specifications. What made this trip so memorable, besides being hit by a car and nearly killed in the German Cemetery at La Combe, was that I stayed in a chateaux near St. Mere Eglise that in June 1944 was home to war correspondent Andy Rooney and famed photographer Robert Capa. Many automotive editors around the world have noted that highway A832 in northwest Scotland is one of the world's great roads, and they were not kidding. On this trip, in the spring of 2007, my girlfriend and I ventured forth in a Ford Focus Coupe-Cabriolet--a Focus with a retractable hardtop not available here in the North America--and we were not disappointed. The car was a revelation, proof positive that a small car can be a rewarding drive, especially when the roads are as perfect as they are in this part of the world. It's a romantic drive not to be missed.
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