World's Greatest Driving Road!!! [pics]
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World's Greatest Driving Road!!! [pics]
Sunday, September 03, 2006
World's Greatest Driving Road
Just have a look What they have created in a desert...
The Jebel Hafeet Mountain Road in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the greatest driving road in the world. Stretching for 7.3 miles and climbing nearly 4,000 feet, it boasts 60 corners and a surface so smooth that it would flatter a racetrack. It could easily be described as the eighth wonder of the world, but almost nothing is known about its creation.
The road is cut into the Jebel Hafeet mountain, the highest peak in the United Arab Emirates , the oil-rich Persian Gulf state. The mountain spans the border with Oman and lies about 90 minutes' drive southeast of the thriving city of Dubai . It looks down upon a dusty, desert landscape that belies a nation of astonishing wealth.
*source
http://www.interesting.vaty.net/2006...ving-road.html
Awesome just awesome!!
World's Greatest Driving Road
Just have a look What they have created in a desert...
The Jebel Hafeet Mountain Road in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the greatest driving road in the world. Stretching for 7.3 miles and climbing nearly 4,000 feet, it boasts 60 corners and a surface so smooth that it would flatter a racetrack. It could easily be described as the eighth wonder of the world, but almost nothing is known about its creation.
The road is cut into the Jebel Hafeet mountain, the highest peak in the United Arab Emirates , the oil-rich Persian Gulf state. The mountain spans the border with Oman and lies about 90 minutes' drive southeast of the thriving city of Dubai . It looks down upon a dusty, desert landscape that belies a nation of astonishing wealth.
*source
http://www.interesting.vaty.net/2006...ving-road.html
Awesome just awesome!!
im hitting that the minute its done 
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http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=109278
A bizarre history lesson
The Jebel Hafeet Mountain Road must have cost $100 million to build, but its origins remain shrouded in mystery. You can buy an enormous guidebook detailing the hydrogeology of the local spring, or the DNA of the resident butterflies, but info on the road itself is almost impossible to find.
Desperate for more information, we seek out the manager of the Mercure Hotel that opened at the top of the mountain three years ago. Rajesh Kapoor reckons that the road "was completed about a dozen years ago. I think the architect was Swedish because we had a Swedish guest stay who claimed that her husband was responsible for it." But that contradicts a claim made in a natural history guidebook that says the road was built in 1987.
Official sources suggest it was built as a honey pot for tourists who travel from nearby cities to sample the mountain air. But with the exception of the surprisingly mediocre hotel, there's almost nothing here. The road culminates in a huge car park, but the tatty café is unworthy of custom.
Perhaps the real, unspoken reason for the road's existence is to be found a mile from the hotel. There, sitting on top of the mountain, is a huge palace belonging to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the current ruler of the Emirates. His face also adorns a huge banner announcing the entrance to the road and it's under his watch that it was constructed. This incredible feat of engineering is actually no more than a giant driveway. It's enough to make Bill Gates green with envy.
A bizarre history lesson
The Jebel Hafeet Mountain Road must have cost $100 million to build, but its origins remain shrouded in mystery. You can buy an enormous guidebook detailing the hydrogeology of the local spring, or the DNA of the resident butterflies, but info on the road itself is almost impossible to find.
Desperate for more information, we seek out the manager of the Mercure Hotel that opened at the top of the mountain three years ago. Rajesh Kapoor reckons that the road "was completed about a dozen years ago. I think the architect was Swedish because we had a Swedish guest stay who claimed that her husband was responsible for it." But that contradicts a claim made in a natural history guidebook that says the road was built in 1987.
Official sources suggest it was built as a honey pot for tourists who travel from nearby cities to sample the mountain air. But with the exception of the surprisingly mediocre hotel, there's almost nothing here. The road culminates in a huge car park, but the tatty café is unworthy of custom.
Perhaps the real, unspoken reason for the road's existence is to be found a mile from the hotel. There, sitting on top of the mountain, is a huge palace belonging to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the current ruler of the Emirates. His face also adorns a huge banner announcing the entrance to the road and it's under his watch that it was constructed. This incredible feat of engineering is actually no more than a giant driveway. It's enough to make Bill Gates green with envy.
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From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
Yes, it is a impressive sports car road, but there are some roads in the Alps and the Great Smokies than can rival it....as the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. ( And the Pikes Peak road has no guard rails ).
