Rosedale Chimney Bank is so steep that cyclists call it The Chain Breaker, but what’s it like to drive?

Claustrophobia and vertigo sufferers turn away now. The climb to Col du Chaussy in the Auvergne-Rhône Alpes is a narrow, steep and nerve-wracking ascent.

It’s named after a stairway to heaven but Tasmania’s treacherous Jacob’s Ladder can be a hellish drive.

You’ve heard of Sleepless in Seattle, but for Anthony Ingram it was breathless in Colorado when he took on the Independence Pass.

The route from the shores of the Pacific to Atlantic coast cuts right across the spine of the Andes over one of the highest mountain passes in the southern hemisphere.

You won’t find it in your satnav but with a bit of local help Will Gray discovers a switchback-strewn mountain pass to the biggest ice field in Europe.

If Clarkson, Hammond and May can manage it then so can you.

As you hustle through the hairpins of the Julier Pass, spare a thought for the snowplough drivers who have to manhandle their machines from switchback to switchback to keep the road open 365 days a year.

If you’re a Detourist and not just a tourist then avoid the crowded coast and head for the hills of Madeira reckons Simon Heptinstall.

Most people visit Franschhoek for the delicious wine, but the Franschhoek Pass is an even tastier treat for keen drivers, reckons Sudhir Matai.

The first official Alpine Pass ever built also happens to be the best for drivers, as Simon Heptinstall can attest.

Remarkable by name, remarkable by nature, this mountain pass in New Zealand needs to be on your southern hemisphere road trip list.

Mountain passes, coast roads, volcanoes and desert drives. Say hola to five of the best Detours in Spain.

This little-known Austrian road is likened by locals to a cable car – as it goes straight up a mountain. The route rises 5,000ft… in just seven miles.

Incredibly steep and probably more suited to sheep, the Hardknott Pass is a right of passage for drivers and cyclists, says Simon Heptinstall.

The Swiss are spoilt for choice when it comes to amazing mountain roads. Start with the Oberalp Pass and you can easily tackle a quartet of challenging drives in a single day.

A drive through Japan’s frozen north is a journey that’s alternately zen-like in its tranquil beauty and treacherously terrifying.

Don’t let the giant potholes and self-taught drivers put you off. A road trip across Georgia can be a breathtaking adventure of unspolit scenery and welcoming locals, says Zoe Whittaker.

Like Japan’s Irohazka Road, the Kaunertal Glacier road in Austria was once a pilgrimage route. Taking true believers from Kalternbrunn to Melagg in the Southern Tyrol the road was arduous and tested not just faith but endurance.

You don’t have to leave Europe for a tortuous, undulating desert drive. Southern Spain’s barren beauty is the setting of the Puerto de Velefique, a sensational mountain road with a bewildering array of corners, climbing through the parched landscape.