Together with Ford & BP/Castrol, veteran automotive journalist Steve Sutcliffe set out to experience the best Europe has to offer in terms of roads, behind the wheel of some very fast oval-badged coupes and hot hatchbacks.
Even though his trip started with the famous Transfagarasan highway in Romania, there will be other roads featured such as Blakey Ridge in North Yorkshire, Black Forest Highway in Germany or the Mountain Road in Mallorca, Spain, plus two another location in Catalonia and one in the French Alps.
The first video released by Ford Europe shows Sutcliffe take on the Transfagarasan in a yellow V8-powered Mustang Fastback, but future clips will have him drive the 2.3 EcoBoost version as well, plus the Focus RS, Focus ST, ST diesel and Fiesta ST – each chosen specifically for one the previously mentioned locations.
“It’s amazing some of the roads that didn’t actually make the list – but we weren’t just looking for twisty runs to please the petrol heads. We scored each route for thrills, quality of road surface, accessibility, hospitality, scenery, and food and drink,” said Sutcliffe. “Enthusiasts will know of some of the roads, like the Transfăgărășan Highway in Romania, but perhaps not the C462, in Spain. In some ways it would be nice to keep these roads to ourselves – but when roads are this good they need to be shared.”
Mark Truby, VP of communications for Ford Europe added that their goal was to share their knowledge of “the finest driving roads across Europe with people who love cars and love driving. It’s a true ‘bucket list’ not just for petrol heads, but anyone who wants to plan an amazing road trip.”
At the end of his Transfagarasan drive, Sutcliffe gave it a 10/10 for thrills, 9/10 for road surface quality, 6/10 accessibility (though that depends on where you’re coming from), 9/10 hospitality, 10/10 scenery and 7/10 for food and drinks.