MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB
In the third part of our series documenting a tour of the French Alps in a new Macan Turbo, the near 440bhp sporty SUV crosses the border into Italy...
Macan Turbo fun across the French Alps.
Those of you who have been following my Alps tour road reports over the past couple of issues will remember me saying my Garmin sat-nav failed to display maps (though appeared to be receiving a GPS signal) when I rolled out of the French side of le Chunnel in the new Macan Turbo loaned to me by Porsche Cars GB for the duration of the trip. As many of you will be aware, the Macan Turbo comes complete with a comprehensive integrated navigation system displayed across a giant touchscreen user interface nestled in the centre of the super-suv’s dashboard. This is all well and good, but the route the 964s, 981s, 991 and 968 on the tour were taking deviated from the default option of ‘fastest way there’ by including specific detours along some of the best driving roads in the region. In other words, left without a preprogrammed graphic display to guide me, I had little choice but to simply try and keep up with the car in front.
The multi-lane motorways and twisty back roads down to Pomo hotel in Grenoble (a planned stopover en route to Les Loges Blanches, the ski resort in Megève we were heading to) afforded plenty of opportunity to play catch-up when I got separated from the pack. It was to be a different story when leaving Grenoble the following morning.
Despite all cars setting off in convoy, commuters and traffic lights sought to separate us. Though I knew our target destination, my duff Garmin ensured the planned route there would be something of a mystery, as demonstrated when I reached the summit of a mountain I assumed the Porsches ahead of me had climbed. They were nowhere to be seen. Looking at the Macan’s on-screen map,
I could see where my error was likely to have occurred, but wanting to take in the breathtaking views I was witnessing, I decided to hop out play with my camera.
Behind me, high up on the mountain top, a guy enjoying a smoke on a balcony called down from above. One of the few locals in residence outside ski season, he invited me to climb the worryingly rickety staircase all the way up to his wooden fortress to get a better view of my surroundings. In truth, other than a welcome cup of coffee, there wasn’t much more to see up there, or at least that’s what I assumed until, in broken English, my French host asked me if I wanted to take photographs of his wife.
Full disclosure: I’m not entirely sure if this was a direct ask or if he was saying out loud what he thought was a request from me when I was trying to answer what I assumed was a question about why I was pointing my camera around a deserted mountain top, such was the difficulty we had understanding one another. Suffice to say, I took this as my cue to leave.
QUALITY TIME
Up high and able to get excellent reception on the radio keeping me in contact with the pack, I was able to ascertain that while I was being entertained, the guys in the other Porsches in attendance had found themselves stuck on a mountain road thick with sheep. I wasn’t sure how far away they were, but reasoning now would be a good time for me to spend quality time further familiarising myself with the near 440bhp 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 I was lucky enough to be in possession of, I suggested I’d catch up with the gang later in the day.
The Macan Turbo’s powerplant is a variant of the biturbo V6 you’ll find beneath the bonnets of performance vehicles manufactured by Porsche’s sister brands, notably the fourth-generation Audi RS4. It’s also the unit propelling the 380bhp Macan GTS, but the Turbo’s extra sixty horses give it Rs4-baiting performance in a sensational SUV
package marked by a model-specific roof spoiler and front airdam, silver exhaust tips and colour-coded Sport Design door mirror housings. In the case of the example I was in charge of, lashings of optional carbon-fibre (including those £429 door ‘side blades’), gloss black window trims (£143), same-shade roof rails (£245), black badges (£168), black LED headlights (£618), Crayon paintwork (£1,676), speed-sensitive Power Steering Plus (£185), and many more significant upgrades, including air suspension with self levelling and ride height adjustment (£1,044), and Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (a £1,052 option complementing the standard Porsche Traction Management all-wheel drive system, with electronically variable, map-controlled multi-plate clutch, automatic brake differential
COL DU PETIT SAINT-BERNARD, BOASTING A 2,188-METRE ELEVATION LINKING SAVOIE, FRANCE, AND THE AOSTA VALLEY IN NORTHERN ITALY
and anti-slip regulation) push the base Turbo cost from £68,530 to a whopping £86,143, though as mentioned in my earlier Alps articles, £3,578 of that figure is commanded by the excellent Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB), while £804 gets you Sport Chrono and its handy mode switch. I wouldn’t recommend buying a Macan Turbo without either feature if you intend to engage in spirited driving. After all, 2,020kg is a heavy amount of Porsche to be throwing into corners at speed.
Talking of which, after bombing my way around local reservoirs and sampling the delights of the neighbouring twisties (and then getting the hell out of there when a jet fighter passed amazingly low overhead, causing worrying reverberations on the surrounding mountainsides and making me acutely aware of the ‘risk of avalanche’ signs punctuating the spot I stopped to take the photo on the opening page of this article), I made my way to Megève, where the rest of the group arrived a short while later. After an evening exchanging stories about the day’s adventures, we reconvened at
dawn to set off on an exciting drive along some of the area’s most thrilling roads, but not before stocking up on super unleaded and, in the case of Ian Harris (991 Carrera T) and Dave Barr-sanders (968 Sport), a valiant attempt to clean cars with what proved likely Megève’s least effective jet wash.
SNOW BUSINESS
Our journey took us from Megève in the direction of nearby Albertville, picking up the D925/D902 Cormet de Roselend mountain pass connecting Beaufort and Bourg-saint-maurice. Stunning scenery and fast-paced roads lined the way, as did the beautiful Lac de Roseland.
Conveniently located on the northern edge of this stunning reservoir is Bar Les Lanches, offering a welcome pitstop, cups of hot chocolate and an opportunity to breathe in the magnificent view which, of course, we did, before heading back out. In case of history repeating, though, we were soon stopped in our tracks by local farm animals blocking the road. This time, it was the turn of cows, who seemed to be just as enthusiastic about our Porsches as we were. After they were herded into a neighbouring siding, pedal to the metal and on we charged to the peak of the pass (1,968 metres above sea level), before regrouping and making our way further along the Tarentaise Valley to Bourg-saint-maurice, where we picked up the trail of Col du Petit Saint-bernard (Little St Bernard Pass), boasting a 2,188metre elevation linking Savoie, France, and the Aosta Valley in northern Italy.
The road was magnificent and the weather was firmly on our side. Carved through snow-topped peaks and ridges, the asphalt zig-zagged its way toward the border, presenting tight hairpins, sharp bends and fast straights one after the other. Peculiar landmarks also paved the way: at the summit, the road cuts through a 72-metre Iron Age stone circle, which once boasted a standing stone at its centre. Blink and you’ll miss it, though drivers will be forgiven for being entirely
focused on what’s going on behind the wheel, such is the need to maintain concentration along this amazing-butdangerous mountain pass.
Similarly, sternly focusing on the road ahead can also make the ‘welcome to Italy’ sign invisible (the remains of the French-italian border patrol station should be a giveaway), though you’ll soon realise you’ve arrived in the land of pizza and pasta when trying to order a brew from the local coffee house and realising your poorly practiced French is even less effective when communicating with these locals than it was when attempting to converse with the proprietor of Bar
Les Lanches. Ahem. What’s impossible to miss, however, is the bloody great sanitarium built on one of the pass’s highest points. Reportedly dating back to the eleventh century, this grim and imposing structure wouldn’t look out of place in a Hammer House of Horror flick. Put it this way, when we travelled this same route twenty-four hours later, and with the skies exceptionally grey and rain falling (as opposed to the sunshine we enjoyed when the photos on these pages were taken), this giant building looked about as bleak as a bleak thing can look. Add a dash of thunder and lightning and I have no doubt it would be truly terrifying.
La Brasserie Du Bathieu, a watering hole in the Italian town of La Thuile, was our drive’s end point, signalling the start of a return journey to Megève back the way we came. More next month. ●
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