gtimk5
30-10-2006, 06:30 AM
When I left Brackies yesterday I had the choice to go back to Hobart straight down the centre or to head up the north west and then down the west coast in some of the most rugged parts of Tassie. The later seemed a lot more attractive for a change though the trip straight to Hobart is approx 300 Kms and very straight and boring the west coast is 480 Kms and has some of the windiest continuous roads you could dream of. I chose the later to learn some more of my GTI and was very surprised with what I did learn.
The west coast doesn't have very much traffic and is pretty isolated. I didn't exceed 120 km/h the whole way as police are my worry these days. Early on into the drive I hit a pothole coming over a crest which, when I got home I found yet another damaged sidewall on a Conti. Very disappointing, thats 3 sidewalls in 16,ooo kms. At $410 a tyre I think I might try Yokohamas...
When I got into the windy mountainous stuff I also found it much nicer to have a squirt with the traction off as the dropoff in revs coming out of all those 25 km/h hairpins was a bit disconcerting. The wheelspin was very controllable and fun! Although the road surface was dry as the thick snow was bunked up along the sides of the road. It looked surreal.
The reccomended speed signs for the corners were ignored and I put the GTI into all those corners at wotever I felt like with total confidence and never once did it cause me any alarm.
So when I arrived home I had covered 480 kms, averaged 91 km/h with a poor 9.1 ltres per 100 kms. Mind you, that is the most mountainous region in Tas and I did drive it very hard in some of those targa areas. The Queenstown stage has 100 corners in something like 9 kms. Of those a lot are 25-35 km hairpins with a couple of 15 km ones thrown in to keep you honest and awake!
My favourite would be Mount Arrowsmith. The targa stage is targas longest at 47 kms! Awesome road with the snow on the sides up to 1 metre deep!
And, out of interest, after running down the west coast to Queenstown my distance to empty was 175 kms. Now Queenstown to Hobart is 190 kms. I covered the 2 longest targa stages very hard and then used 6th gear a fair bit once the road straightened out, sat on an indicated 120 km/h and got home while the distance to empty showed 80 kms! :)
Fantastic car and made for those types of roads! Now I am off to find out the price on tyres! Bugger!:(
The west coast doesn't have very much traffic and is pretty isolated. I didn't exceed 120 km/h the whole way as police are my worry these days. Early on into the drive I hit a pothole coming over a crest which, when I got home I found yet another damaged sidewall on a Conti. Very disappointing, thats 3 sidewalls in 16,ooo kms. At $410 a tyre I think I might try Yokohamas...
When I got into the windy mountainous stuff I also found it much nicer to have a squirt with the traction off as the dropoff in revs coming out of all those 25 km/h hairpins was a bit disconcerting. The wheelspin was very controllable and fun! Although the road surface was dry as the thick snow was bunked up along the sides of the road. It looked surreal.
The reccomended speed signs for the corners were ignored and I put the GTI into all those corners at wotever I felt like with total confidence and never once did it cause me any alarm.
So when I arrived home I had covered 480 kms, averaged 91 km/h with a poor 9.1 ltres per 100 kms. Mind you, that is the most mountainous region in Tas and I did drive it very hard in some of those targa areas. The Queenstown stage has 100 corners in something like 9 kms. Of those a lot are 25-35 km hairpins with a couple of 15 km ones thrown in to keep you honest and awake!
My favourite would be Mount Arrowsmith. The targa stage is targas longest at 47 kms! Awesome road with the snow on the sides up to 1 metre deep!
And, out of interest, after running down the west coast to Queenstown my distance to empty was 175 kms. Now Queenstown to Hobart is 190 kms. I covered the 2 longest targa stages very hard and then used 6th gear a fair bit once the road straightened out, sat on an indicated 120 km/h and got home while the distance to empty showed 80 kms! :)
Fantastic car and made for those types of roads! Now I am off to find out the price on tyres! Bugger!:(