Oz's greatest roads

Monday, June 15, 2009

Fang this lot with a babe riding shotgun.

Phillip Island
Ok, so it’s not a public road. But there’s still no finer piece of hotmix in Australia than the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit. It can get bloody wet down there, but no other track or road offers the same level of high-speed pant-stains – or the possibility of notching up some serious penguin roadkill.

Great Ocean Road
Australia's most picturesque driving road, taking in landmarks such as the Twelve Apostles, is also probably its most famous. Which means that every caravan-towing nan and pop wants to crawl along it at walking pace. Shame, as it’s a bloody fun if you luck into a clear run. Which is usually about 3am. Bummer.

Snowy Mountains Highway
The big daddy of fast-blast touring roads is this alpine highway, 370 kays of flowing and twisting fun between Gundagai in the north and Cooma in the south. In summer, it’s the best spot in Oz to stretch the legs of any serious performance car.

Reefton Spur/Black Spur
In the middle of Victoria’s recent horror bushfires and linked by the decimated township of Marysville, the Reefton Spur/Black Spur combo is legendary among petrolheads. No other Aussie road can match it for twisty, white-knuckled thrills.

Mt Panorama
For driving excitement, this scores a zero ’cos it’s a public two-way road, heavily policed and speed limited. But it’s also hallowed ground, with history oozing from the asphalt – and the ghosts of the 13 race drivers who’ve carked it on the track. Even cruising around the circuit at the 60km/h limit is worth doing.

To read the full story, buy the July 09 issue. On sale now.

Where's the best place you've ever driven? Let us know below.

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User comments

here are some other roads that should have made the list the road that takes you from cairns to port douglas, gyndier drive noosa hillclimb, mt buller road, targa tasmania route, nambour road to maleny, and the wollongong hwy where it goes out over the cliff this was used to film a section in the ferrari and shell ad.

Northern Territory roads aren't all flat or straight. On the Stuart and Victoria Highways there's some good straight stretches where you can see for miles ( 'see for kilometres' doesn't sound the same) . If they still have an open speed limit, then max the revs. The Pine Creek to Kakadu run has some interesting turns that someone with a sportier vehicle would no doubt enjoy.

oxley hwy.-kangaroo island.- broken hill to pt. agusta.-coast road from sydney to adelaide.pacific hwy.

Hey you missed one of the TOP roads I've ever found in Aussie... the Great Alpine Road from Mt Hotham down through Omeo then zigzagging along the river (the Old Omeo Hwy) to Bruthen - then you're almost at Bairnsdale! From a motorbike riders perspective this run is fantastic!

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