# Col de Turini
D2566 / D70 · Alpes-Maritimes. France (Europe).
Source: https://porschetrails.com/trails/col-de-turini/

- Length: 31 km (19 miles)
- High point: 1,607 m (5,272 ft)
- Driving time: 1 hour
- Season: Year-round (snow possible December to March)
- Toll: Free
- Coordinates: 43.977, 7.392
- Character: Hairpins, Rally stage, Technical

The Turini is the stage that made the Monte Carlo Rally's reputation, run at night over the summit with crowds lining the snowbanks. On a dry spring morning it is a 31 km strip of tight, technical tarmac from Sospel over a 1,607 m col to La Bollène-Vésubie, less than an hour from the coast at Nice or Menton.

## The drive
The climb from Sospel through Moulinet starts in a rocky gorge, then stacks hairpins up through pine forest to the cluster of hotels at the summit. The descent to La Bollène-Vésubie is the classic rally direction: steeper, tighter, with stone walls on the outside of each bend.

There is a third road off the summit, the D2566 south to Peïra-Cava and Lucéram, which is quieter and more open. Combining all three makes a loop you can drive in a morning and be back on the Riviera for lunch.

## In your Porsche
The 911 made its rallying name on these roads. Vic Elford won the 1968 Monte Carlo Rally in a 911 T, Björn Waldegård won for Porsche in 1969 and 1970, and Jean-Pierre Nicolas won in a privately entered 911 in 1978. Those were narrow, short cars. A modern 911 fills the road, and a Cayman, Boxster or an air-cooled 911 is closer to the right scale. Second gear does most of the work, and the rear-engine traction out of each hairpin is exactly what the rally drivers were using.

## Watch out for
- Gravel and pine needles collect on the inside of the hairpins, especially after rain.
- The summit holds ice in the shade well into spring.
- The road is closed for the rally in late January and for local hill climbs on some weekends.