philooo

What is the best place to live in the US or abroad when you enjoy driving and own a 996 ?

May be you could reply with the name of the place and rate the following points from A to F:
- Where is Porsche heaven on earth:
- Open road quality and variety:
- Track proximity:
- Running cost (gas prices, insurance, taxes):
- Weather conditions:
- Quality of life overall (safety, political, food and drinks...):
- Comment:

I hope this can be a fun thread and the rage against potholes and taxes can be kept low

rpm's S2

North Carolina - anywhere from mountains to sea.

- Where is Porsche heaven on earth: Tail of the Dragon and Virginia International Raceway
- Open road quality and variety: See above + many other mountain roads and windy blacktop through the Piedmont. And of course, the beach! Highway 12 in November after the tourists have gone.
- Track proximity: VIR/CMP/CMS/NCCAR... and not that far from Summit Point or Road Atlanta
- Running cost (gas prices, insurance, taxes): Low - car insurance is gecko low.
- Weather conditions: Perfect... but for that summer humidity thing. Rest of the year is like NorCal. Convertible weather nearly year-round.
Quality of life overall (safety, political, food and drinks...): Tops in the nation - particularly in Raleigh or Charlotte. Barbeque... and BBQ Runs. Politics? Well, we elected Jesse Helms and Barack Obama. Take your pick. We don't ask your business here.
- Comment: I grew up in Northern California and have lived all over, including Germany and the Northeast. But NC is my home now. Not the glitz of Newport Beach or the money of Connecticut, but good, real good. Nice people. And great PCA Regions - Hurricane and Carolinas! If the place had an autobahn it would be perfect.

fpena944

When I read the title of this thread I was going to chime in and write exactly what you just did!

rpm's S2

Shhh... maybe we shouldn't be telling anybody. Keep the roads clear for us.

Thundertub

LOL! Good thing I read all the other posts before posting mine: Asheville, NC. I don't live there, but I go there very often with the 996. Everyone else has told you why. Also it is always mentioned in articles in Road & Track and Motor Trend and Car and Driver, etc., as one of the top 10 places to drive a sports car.

And it was the home of the original moonshine-running pre-NASCAR guys. LOL!
Tail-of-the-Dragon, Route 64, Blue Ridge Parkway, Great Smokey Mountains, Chimney Rock (home of the scariest SCCA Hill Climb this side of Pikes Peak) and film location for the movie The Last of the Mohicans, Biltmore Estate, cozy wooden weekend cabins with stunning views, and on and on and on.

http://www.tailofthedragon.com/index.html

philooo

isn't the winter in the west part of NC, like Asheville a pain though ? quite snowy, no ?

beentherebaby

My vote is Bavaria... Oh wait that's not part of the U.S. is it?

Pac996

Germany. No other place like it. What do you get a ticket for on the autobahn? Running out of gas, driving too slow, passing on the right of any car. Everyone stays out of the faster passing lanes unless they are passing. Smoothest roads and best road engineers ever I'd venture.

Dennis C

As a relatively new resident of Colorado, I submit the following:

- Highway 74 between Morrison and Evergreen
- Highway 550 (Million Dollar Highway) between Ouray and Silveton, Colorado
- Pike's Peak highway (I personally haven't driven this one, but I've heard good things...)

Pac996

Nuernburg is where I lived then just south in Schwabach. Vunderbar gegend und strassen

Hapich

Isle of Man?

philooo

I wish I could hear about some resident of the Isle of Man, from what I heard, no speed limit on the back roads ! Germany autobahn is nice but speeding on the highway is a bit boring moreover most of them are only two lane. Living nearby the Nurhburgring should be quite fun for a year or two
But so far I think North Carolina take the cake with the mountain and the ocean, without the outrageous cost of living of California.

I saw a couple of rennlister from Asia, I wonder how good an it be over there.

gota911

Mark,

Are you going to Asheville this winter? If so, let me know when and maybe we can hook up for a cup of coffee one morning. I am working in Greenville, SC which is about 75 miles south of Asheville.

I would be glad to drive up to Asheville to meet you, assuming that my @#$%^&* Honda has enough power to make the climb up the hills/mountains to get to Asheville!

fpena944

I've driven it in "regular" cars a few times and its a scary road to drive on. Given all of the tourist traffic you can't do any performance driving unless you're part of the July 4th race.

So I would consider it a scenic road but not a driving road since you can't go more than 15 MPH most of the time anyway.

The guys who race that road are pretty daring!

Van

There isn't much good I can say about new york... Although there are 6 tracks within 5 hours of me (Lightning, Thunderbolt, Pocono, Monticello, Watkins Glen and Limerock).