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My three favourite drives of 2016

Image of Alisdair Suttie
Author: | Updated: 22 Dec 2016 09:36

2016 may not be popular with many due to various election results and the loss of so many of our most treasured celebrities, but it still has its stand-out moments for me.

Three of these centre on drives that have made the past 12 months a very enjoyable time.

My three favourite drives of 2016

Norway, Finland and Sweden in a Mazda CX-3

The year got off to a great start, with March being an early highlight. After a lengthy three flights to reach the very top of Europe, I got to drive a 500-mile route from the most northerly tip of continental Europe in a Mazda CX-3.

Now, the compact crossover may not have been the obvious choice for this epic voyage through the frozen extremities of Norway, Finland and Sweden, but it more than proved its mettle. Studded tyres certainly helped, especially when dodging out of the way of massive logging trucks.

Norway, Finland and Sweden in a Mazda CX-3

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As with many more adventurous driving conditions, inside the Arctic Circle is best tackled with a mix of enthusiasm and caution. After a while, we got into a rhythm and were travelling at a decent but safe speed.

The biggest hurdle to progress was overtaking slower cars and the occasional truck or bus. To achieve this, you need to plan well in advance to get a clear look down a long straight and then commit to driving through the swirl of dusty snow kicked up by the vehicle in front.

No winches were harmed in the making of this expedition

Pulling into Lulea 12 hours and 500 miles after setting off, what stuck in my mind the most was the amazing scenery. We’d been very lucky the weather was clear, so the Arctic was glowing in bright sunshine. It made the drive less challenging, but it also highlighted how spectacular this sparsely populated region is.

It also shows that an average speed of 50mph is no barrier to enjoying yourself when the road provides an opportunity to travel through incredible countryside.

Scottish off-roading in a Mercedes G-Class

The same can be said of another memorable journey that happened more recently and which you may have already read about – this entailed crossing from the east to west coast of the UK without touching a single open public road.

Scottish off-roading in a Mercedes G-Class

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Now, I’ll confess there was a little bit of poetic licence needed to complete this trip because it would be impossible without using three sections of tarmac that are normally used by all traffic. For this drive, we managed to wangle closed road orders so we were the only allowed on these lengths and they were extremely short strips.

the G-Class [...] took us somewhere you wouldn’t normally expect to be. And it did it in style.

For the rest of the 65-mile route spread across two days, this was off-roading of the toughest kind. Okay, no winches were harmed in the making of this expedition, but that has as much to do with the amazing ability of the Mercedes G-Class that we used.

The GL350 CDI is not a cheap car, but it’s one that’s firmly on my lottery wish list as it endeared itself so completely during this testing drive. Even on the iciest slopes and through muddy gloop that could swallow a man to his waist, the big G just kept on with its steady progress. It also did this with more comfort than you could feasibly imagine when miles from the nearest town or warm bed.

The big G!

No roads proved to be no problem for the Mercedes-Benz G-Class

As with the Mazda through the Arctic, what the G-Class provided was not the fastest drive or even the most hardy off-road conditions, but it took us somewhere you wouldn’t normally expect to be. And it did it in style.

The intensity of driving on a hillclimb, especially the Doune venue, made up for this in spades.

This is what a great drive is all about. Forget exotic supercars and glossy far-flung sun-soaked roads with the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other. Sure, they exist and they are wonderful, but there’s a whole lot more of the world to see and any car is the perfect vehicle to take it on with.

Competition driving in a Sylva Leader

Which leads me to my third favourite drive of 2016. This is the most personal to me as it was with my very own car, bought and prepared for the sole reason of taking part in hillclimb motorsport. For those who don’t know about it, hillclimbing is the oldest form of motorsport in the world and almost any type of car can enter.

My choice was a little-known component car called a Sylva Leader. It was put together in 1986 from a variety of bits from Vauxhall and Ford, along with a bespoke chassis and body. The result is a lightweight two-seat sports car that’s ideal for a spot of competition driving.

Competition driving in a Sylva Leader

Realising a dream in the Sylva Leader

It’s taken me two years to get the car sorted, mostly through not having enough time due to family and work commitments, but that only made getting the car to the start line all the sweeter.

With hillclimbing, there’s no chance to bed yourself in, you just have to push from the outset and build from there.

Some might think all that work for six minutes of hard driving over an entire weekend is not a great experience-per-pound ratio. However, the intensity of driving on a hillclimb, especially the Doune venue that’s rightly revered as one of the toughest there is, made up for this in spades.

Doune Hillclimb is a mix of very tight, hemmed in sections and fast-flowing corners that require total concentration to get right. I did have the advantage of previous knowledge of the track, but lining up in my own car was a very different ball game.

Any great drive leaves you feeling better about the world

As I trundled to the start line, thoughts of crashing and ruining my car flitted inside my helmet. However, as I approached the timing beam, they all disappeared and it was just about going as quickly as possible.

With hillclimbing, there’s no chance to bed yourself in, you just have to push from the outset and build from there. In the Sylva, we started with a 64-second run and ended the weekend slipping just under the 60-second barrier, which was my goal. Very chuffed with the result, and also with a longer list of improvements to make for the 2017 season, I left the Doune paddock on a massive high.

That’s what a great drive is supposed to be about. Never mind that I was 25 seconds off the pace of the top contenders in their single-seaters, the feeling is just the same. This is true of any great drive. It leaves you feeling better about the world, more connected with the car and the surroundings.

If you can’t think of a similar experience in the past 12 months, get out there and make it happen in 2017!

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