Col de Turini

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.