The Art of the Car Park
Photographer Agnese Sanvito sees art where other see utility. Her stunning shots of car parks in London and Vienna have been driven by a desire to preserve these buildings as they become more scarce. Take a Detour to them while you still can.
Detour Pit Stop #43: Lane Motor Museum, Nashville, USA
The USA is dotted with auto museums, most of which contain the usual suspects – muscle cars, chromed and be-winged 50s leviathans, Model Ts, Duesenbergs, Harley-Davidsons, maybe even an Italian supercar or three. The Lane Motor Museum doesn’t have any of those.
Detour #97: Cabot Trail, Cape Breton, Canada
At one turn Cape Breton Island will do a very passable impression of a southern California coastline, at another, you’d swear the west of Scotland has cut loose and floated across the Atlantic, reckons Gavin Conway.
Can you take the heat of these nine desert drives?
Shimmering heat haze, mesmerising mirages and an endless vanishing point are just some of the distractions of desert driving. Could you handle these hot, lonely drives?
Detour Pit Stop #42: Kersey Mill, Suffolk, UK
Kersey Mill welcomes classic car enthusiasts with hearty breakfasts and bumper burgers, says Charlotte Vowden.
Detour #96: Arizona's "Alps", USA
Thought Arizona was all arid vanishing-point desert roads? Dan Trent goes off-piste to discover a hillier, twistier side…
The World's Fastest Roads
Speed freaks and velocity-raptors of the globe, welcome to the world’s fastest roads.
Detour Pit Stop #41: The Madonna Inn, California, USA
The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo is possibly the most amusing motel for a pit stop on the legendary Pacific Coast Highway.
Detour #95: Nullarbor Plain, Australia
Cutting a path parallel to the Indian-Pacific railway, Gavin Conway explores the vast emptiness of Australia’s Nullarbor Plain as he drives from Perth to Sydney.
Detour Pit Stop #40: The Seafood Shack, Ullapool, Scotland
For the best and freshest seafood supper, make The Seafood Shack in Ullapool a port of call on your NC500 itinerary, says Detourist Charlotte Vowden.
A Lego Detour with photographer Dominic Fraser
Car photographer Dominic Fraser turned a lockdown diversion into an Instagram sensation thanks to his brick and click skills.
Detour #94: Oberalp Pass, Switzerland
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.
Case study: the supercars that come with matching luggage
Packing for a road trip requires a deft touch. It’s hard enough in a hatchback, but imagine having to squeeze a week’s worth of gear into the awkward-shaped spaces of a supercar. One percenter problems, eh? As fortune would have it these car makers for the rich and famous have got you covered.
Allan McNish, Le Mans winner
Three-times Le Mans winner Allan McNish has taken the chequered flag all over the world and still travels the globe as team principal of the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E team. But when it comes to his Favourite Detour, he's very happy to let country roads and a 1984 short-wheel base Audi Sport quattro take him home to the Scottish Borders.
Detour #93: Dempster Highway, Canadian Arctic
Following in the wheeltracks of the Ice Road Truckers, Gavin Conway tackles one of the most extreme drives on the planet: the Yukon’s Dempster Highway.
9 of the world's most dangerous roads
Statistics say most accidents take place close to home, but it’s not the local high street that gives us palpitations. It’s the perilous drops and narrow paths of the world’s most dangerous roads.
Detour Pit Stop #39: America's oldest surviving gas station, Pennsylvania, USA
Reighard’s has been pumping gas since 1909. It may not have been the first service station in the USA, but it’s the oldest that’s still filling tanks and cleaning windshields today.
Detour #92: By Jimny! It's the Gatesgarth Pass, UK
The Gatescarth Pass is a proper 4x4 adventure in the heart of the stunning Lake District – just make sure you plan ahead and read the small print first, says Dan Trent.
The scent of a road trip
Luxury fragrance brand Charabanc believes that the right perfume has the power to transport you on a road trip once travelled. Charlotte Vowden finds out what it takes to craft an automotive scent.
10 of the world’s weirdest driving laws
Every country has its quirks when it comes to driving rules. Most make perfect sense, but some are just plain weird as this list reveals.