Well, I have over 1K miles on my silver EVO and I still have not really done what I enjoy most, which is hitting mountain roads hard. Most of the miles are from my daily commute to work in OC in pretty bad traffic. I have been too busy most weeknights and on weekends to take the car out for a proper shake down. Tonight after dealing with all the usual drama, I decided to take the car out for a spin. I live within 10 minutes of Mount Baldy, which some of you in SoCal might know. The whole way up the mountain is one lane each way. The lanes are very narrow and there really aren't any guardrails and not too many run-off areas. The first half of the climb is made of medium turns with a posted speed limit ranging from 25-45 mph. The second half to the top is made up of real tight turns at a very steep incline. I can't remember any speed limit signs, but if there were any, I would think they'd range from 15-25 mph.

I started my climb up there at about 6:45 PM and it was completely dark by then. On top of that there are no streetlights since it's a mountain road. The first part with the medium turns was a blast. I was going between 60-80 mph through there. The car felt as solid as a rock. I noticed a lot of loose rocks on certain spots and had to drive carefully as not to kick them up to the car. On the second part, I was hitting those switchbacks pretty hard and noticed the car barely understeer, but it still stuck like glue. I didn't try sliding around turns since someone could have come down the mountain at any moment. Even though I personally didn't think the headlights were too low prior to this drive, I sure noticed it today. I really couldn't see more than a few car lengths in front of me. I flashed my high beams every few seconds to get an idea of what's coming up. I also noticed that the engine sounded a little different, maybe a little more throaty. Maybe it was a combination of the altitude and the cold night air? I have gone up this road a few times in many different modified cars and no matter how good the suspension and tires were, I always ended up understeering heavily in the switchbacks. The EVO on the other hand was magnificent.

I know that I could have pushed a lot harder, but I didn't since I am still not familiar with the EVO's limits and it was pretty dark out there. All I got to say is that I have not driven a car that inspires more confidence than the EVO. It really felt like I was driving a rally car. I will definitely go back when I have some time during the day. In fact, I am not too far from both Angeles Crest and Big Bear Mountain. Both have twisty mountain roads way better than Mount Baldy as most SoCal folk already know. I just need to make some time for it.
Happy motoring everyone.

 

That's an awesome experience there. I can't wait to take my Evo out on curvy roads around here :-D

 

Thats very cool

^_^

 

GREAT story!!

If you want another challenging (and fun) road, take the back way down into Lucerne Valley(Victorville) from Bear Lake!! It is loose and tight with a couple of good open straightaways where you can pick up some excellent speed. I used to own a 2.5 RS with only suspension mods and an intake, and that back road was as fun as can be. The front way (from OC) to Big Bear is bad-@$$, too. The road to Mountain High is okay, also.

I wish I still lived in Southern Cali ,

Have FUN!!

Oni'

 

If you make it out to the East coast, come see us in North Carolina. We can show you some GOOD roads

http://www.tailofthedragon.com

 

Yeah, the headlights are too low for a dark mountain/country road. I live on one myself and it's rather annoying in the morning. Visibility is, literally, only a couple car lengths ahead and then it stops abruptly. If I knew how to remove that "feature", I would.

I need to do some research on it, though. I'm sure it's like that for a reason. I'm assuming the adjustable headlight level is useful in thick fog conditions or something. Dunno. I just know it's annoying as heck 95% of the time.

Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip. Sounds exactly like the road Mitsu engineers had in mind when laying out the EVO. :-)

Thomas Dorris

 

Nice

 

Actually, the other SoCal highway I am itching to get on it Ortega highway. It connects South OC with San Bernardino. I never been on it, but would definitely make the time now that I got the EVO. But the problem with this highway is that there are a lot of cops on it. There are supposed to be a lot of scary turns with very little margin for error. I guess a couple died about 2 days ago when their car went off the side of the cliff. I feel sorry for them, but that is the sort of thing that makes this highway a cop magnet. I guess I'll wait till I get a radar detector or maybe do a recon run and blast it on the way back.

 

I'm in Westchester N.Y. on the Connecticut border and have tons of very tight and twisty roads. I've been taking my car there pretty much every night for fun and find the headlights are useless unless I have the brights on. Dangerous in fact especially when heading up hills. There are no street lamps so I feel like I need some rally light pods .

 

I have been on the Ortega many times and always make it a part of my plans when I visit SoCal. Unfortunately I am always behind the wheel of some loser rental car which detracts form the overall drive! It is definitely a no tolerance sort of road, and the stakes are pretty damn high. Beautiful vista's though as you look down on Lake Elsinore!

Another drive I like to take is highway 8 east out of SanDiego to the Cuyamacas and Mt Laguna. I think the road is called the Sunshine skyway or something like that. Its a really nice drive though, and theres a pull-off on the east side of the road called Kwaimai, where you will find a decent parking lot where the original road had to be shut down due to road conditions and rock slides. It's a big hang gliding launch point with a beautiful overlook down into the Anza Borrego desert below. Some memorials there for hang gliders who met an untimely demise....I can only imagine.

Further North you run through Julian, and last time I was there I headed out of town on a different route than I normally take, and stumbled onto one of the twistiest sections of road I have ever been on in my life.Once again the Toyota Camry rental left something to be desired!

You SoCal folks have some great roads, your gas I could do without, but the roads......

 

With my Evo so far I haven't noticed the headlight problem on extremely dark and deserted roads because I use my brights. They're real easy to turn on . Dark mountain roads eat up headlights on ANY car for breakfast. It's only a flick of the left wrist away! Anyways...sounds like a fun time. I'm a little further from the mountains so I've only hit them once...utter joy!

 

Ortega highway is AWESOME, it's just too bad there's always a bunch of slow muddling cars on there and you'll be stuck behind some loser for the entire trip. You want to take some roads out of Ventura which head out across the Angeles National Forest, those roads are much less travelled.

 

Yeah I was out by Malibu last Saturday and took Malibu Canyon Road on the way there, and Topanga Canyon Road on the way back because of their twisty nature. Both roads were full of freaking people out cruising, slowly. I was pissed off the whole way. One great drive I am dying to do in my EVO is to take the 5 up heading to Frisco, and get on this highway (I can't remember the name right now, but the famous Casa De Fruita is off this highway) that connects the 5 to the 101. It is one awesome highway for high speed cornering. It is about 3 lanes each way, and pretty safe compared to mountain roads. You could hit some of those turns way over 100 mph. From there I usually take the 101 to about Herst Castle, and get on Pacific Coast Highway from there till Montery Bay. That section of PCH 1 is unbelievably cool and isn't too crowded. I have done this drive in a couple of modified VW GTi's in the past and had some of the most thrilling driving experiences of my life. I can't wait to take a trip up north in my EVO. It wouldn't be a bad group drive in some fast cars.

 

Any more mountain excursions there in SoCal? I'd love to hear about it.

I used to live in Hermosa Beach, and one Sunday morning before dawn I took my '82 Porsche 928 out. My plan was to drive the Angeles Crest Highway from La Canada Flintridge to Wrightwood as fast as possible, and I began the run just as the sun rose. One hour and 58 miles later, I finally relaxed. I only saw about five other cars the whole distance.

And if you know Angeles Crest Highway, I'm sure you'll appreciate that averaging 58 MPH is no drive in the country. Most of the hour was spent at 100% -- either 100% acceleration, 100% braking, or 100% lateral grip.

And that was in a touring coupe with only 220 HP -- not nearly the mountain carving beast that the Evo is. Oh, how I wish I could take my Evo for a spin through the San Gabriel mountains.


I actually continued my journey from Wrightwood all the way to San Diego, back roads all the way, through towns like Idyllwild and Julian. I arrived in San Diego in time for lunch, having taken over five hours to get someplace that usually could be done in two, but I was smiling big time.

I only drove it that one time, but I remember that highway 243 from Banning to Idyllwild was a really nice mountain drive.

Have fun.