The Grossglockner: Porsche's Home Test Hill

Every car maker has a favourite test road. Porsche’s is a toll road in the Austrian Alps, and you can buy a day ticket for it.

The connection

The first Porsche, the 356 No. 1 roadster, was built in 1948 at Gmünd in Carinthia, where the design office had been moved during the war. Gmünd is on the south side of the Hohe Tauern. The Grossglockner High Alpine Road, opened in 1935, is the way over the top. Porsche tested its early cars on it and on the neighbouring Katschberg, and the family’s estate at Zell am See is close to the northern toll gate.

The habit stuck. Development cars from Porsche and other makers are still regularly seen here on brake and cooling tests, because few roads combine a sustained climb to 2,500 m with a long, steep descent and a good surface. If you see a disguised car on test plates at a lay-by, that is why.

Why it works as a test

• Altitude. The Hochtor tunnel is at 2,504 m and the Edelweißspitze spur reaches 2,571 m. Naturally aspirated engines lose roughly a quarter of their power up there.
• Descent. The northern side drops about 1,700 m to Fusch, which loads brakes in a way no flat circuit does.
• Heat and cold on the same day. A valley at 25 °C and a summit near freezing are an hour apart.

Driving it in your Porsche

The road is 48 km from Fusch to Heiligenblut with 36 numbered hairpins. It is wide by alpine standards, so the width of a modern 911 or Taycan is not the worry it is on the Stelvio, and the surface is smooth enough for a GT3 on standard ride height.

A few practical points:

• The toll is a day ticket, so drive it in both directions. The official site lists the current price.
• The road is closed at night, and hours shorten in autumn. It normally closes for the winter in early November, sooner if snow arrives.
• The cobbled climb to the Edelweißspitze is narrow and slippery when wet. Go up early, before the coaches.
• On the way down, use the gears and brake firmly and briefly. See our road trip preparation guide for more on brakes and fluid.

Make a trip of it

Gmünd is roughly an hour and a half from Heiligenblut by road, and has a private Porsche museum close to the site of the original works. Going north, Zell am See is 20 minutes from the Fusch toll gate. The full Grossglockner guide has the route in detail, and the 356 guide covers the cars that were first tested here.

It is late in the season, but the first half of October often brings the clearest days of the year. Check the webcams before you set out.