On the premiere episode of Epic Drives, Motor Trend technical editor Frank Markus heads to Norway in an Audi R8 Spyder to trace his Viking Routes.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Motor Trend executive editor Ron Kiino explores the roof top of America in a 2011 Lotus Evora, taking in all the beauty (and weather!) the Rocky Mountains have to offer.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Angus MacKenzie and Justin Bell take a Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 from Munich, Germany to Maranello, Italy. Along the way they push the limits on the Autobahn, gaze upon the Alps from the Stelvio Pass and dance with a Ferrari 458 Italia in the hills of Maranello.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Jonny Lieberman drives the one millionth Land Rover Discovery onto Moscow's Red Square. Along the way, he tours an "all-weather" Soviet car museum, meets a star of the Bolshoi Ballet, crashes the Kremlin, and turns up the heat in a decommissioned ZiL military truck.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Associate Online Editor Nate Martinez tours Japan's greatest driving roads in Subaru's new rear-wheel drive BRZ coupe. Along the way, he tears up the Toyo Tires Turnpike, climbs Mount Fuji, dances down the hairpins of the Nihon Romantic Highway and drops the hammer at the tight and twisty Gunma Cycle Sports Center.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Angus MacKenzie drops the top and explores California's beautiful hidden highways in a Ferrari California. Along the way, he carves up the golden hills of California's wine country, visits the famous intersection that claimed a Hollywood icon, and tames the wild corkscrew at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Senior Features Editor Jonny Lieberman has to return the long-term 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Wagon he has been driving for the last year. But instead of just handing the keys over, Jonny heads to Europe to throw a spectacular farewell party for the car. After a final toast of Belgian beer in Bruges, the CTS-V Wagon makes its way to Germany, where pro driver Johnny O'Connell gets behind the wheel to attempt a record lap around the legendary Nürburgring.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Angus MacKenzie pilots the thundering Mercedes-Benz SLS Roadster across Italy, retracing the route of the legendary Mille Miglia endurance race. Along the way, he meets up with racing legend Stirling Moss, the man who won the 1955 Mille Miglia in the iconic Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR with one of the greatest racing performances of all time. Stirling drives Angus across the Raticosa Pass in the new SLS and shares his memories of his own epic drive in the 300 SLR nearly sixty years ago.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Frank Markus goes in search of the ancient bullfighting traditions that have inspired the model names of nearly every Lamborghini. Along the way he traverses Europe's highest mountain pass, attends a bullfight in the French tradition (where the bulls live to fight again), visits a ranch that raises Spain's most fearsome fighting bulls, and ends his journey by facing a matador inside the exact same bullring where the car's namesake Aventador met his valiant end in October 1993.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Angus MacKenzie heads to sports car country in the new 2013 Porsche Boxster to rerun the historic Targa Florio route in Sicily, Italy. He retraces some of the more iconic areas and recalls some of the racing icons that made the Targa what it is today.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Motor Trend Technical Director Frank Markus saddles up a Ford Shelby GT500 and rides the Mohawk trail through the beautiful fall foliage of the northeast United States. In honor of the patron saint of all road trips Frank begins the trip at the childhood home of Jack Kerouac in Lowell, MA and gallops along the nation's first officially designated scenic tourist route on his way to Albany, NY.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Arthur St. Antoine ventures into the wild and dangerous Death Valley, CA. To explore this unforgiving and intriguing environment, Art enlists the off-roading prowess of the Ford SVT F-150 Raptor. Beginning where they say the moon landing was faked, Art takes you on a tour below sea level, through a Ghost Town and off the top of some huge sand dunes.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Jonny Lieberman and Justin Bell take the Twin-Turbo V12 G65 AMG on a mischievous trip through the lands of Sweden as they make their way to AMG's Winter Driving Academy and the Arctic Circle! Along the way they stumble across a fashion show in Stockholm, visit the 40 foot tall Gavle Goat and drift an SLK on a frozen lake. Will the G65 prove to be a capable vessel or will it leave them buried and stranded in sub-zero temperatures?
On this Episode of Epic Drives, Arthur St. Antoine brings Maranello's all-wheel drive super sled to the Big Island and who better to accompany him in this tropical paradise than Jessi Lang! Captian Cook, Coffee and fiery volcanos line the roads of this Epic Drive.
Join host Arthur St. Antoine and MT colleague Carlos Lago as they visit the embargoed island nation of Cuba—where they discover a time capsule of classic 1950s American cars, the world's best cigars, and the unforgettable hangouts of writer Ernest Hemingway.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Arthur St. Antoine pilots the blazing 520-hp 2013 Audi S8 sports sedan through the Rockies on a final Winter 2013 fling. Along the way, he encounters 14,000 ft peaks, pro skiers, old mining towns, the trail of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and even a vintage site that makes him chicken out!
For this latest Epic Drives auto adventure, Arthur St. Antoine straps into the fastest Jaguar sedan ever built, the vicious new 550-hp 2013 XFR-S, for a unforgettable sweep across the deep South—including high-adrenaline encounters with wild alligators, drag racing's greatest-ever star Don Garlits, New Orleans' anything-goes French Quarter, and the outrageous Circuit of the Americas Formula 1 racetrack in Austin, Texas.
On this episode of Epic Drives, Arthur St. Antoine and the 2014 Subaru Forester 2.0XT venture to the predator-filled plains and forests of South Africa in search of elephants, lions, leopards, and the most ambitious prize of all: an up-close encounter with the rare and dangerous white rhino. Along the way, Arthur puts Subaru's all-new Forester crossover through grueling paces normally reserved only for the most purpose-built SUVs. Will St. Antoine bag his rhino? Will Forester (and host!) survive?
On this episode of Epic Drives, Oregon's lush forests and laid-back cities shudder in the roar of quad exhausts when host Arthur St. Antoine arrives with the baddest Benz of them all: the new $296,000, 622-horsepower AMG SLS Black Series. When AMG's screaming-yellow monster cuts loose, cheese explodes, beautiful girls sing, and the foothills of Mount Hood tremble in awe.
On this episode of Epic Drives, join host Arthur St. Antoine as he takes to the wide-open spaces of Big Sky Country in one of the world's fastest and most outlandish supercars, the 691-horsepower Lamborghini Aventador Roadster. From behind the wheel to horseback to the pilot's seat of a Cessna, Arthur explores the best of Montana—then unleashes Italy's raging bull toward the horizon for an unforgettable blast to The Big Two.
Traveling halfway across the world to Adelaide, Australia, host Arthur St. Antoine meets up with MT colleague (and Aussie native) Angus MacKenzie for an insider's tour of some of the unique wonders of Oz - including wheel time in a curious, turbocharged two-seat sports pickup found nowhere else on earth, the Ford Falcon XR6 Ute!
Does Nevada's infamous secret base, Area 51, house UFOs and little green men? What's it like to experience 5+ g's in a tumbling aerobatic plane? Do pilots actually race WWII warbirds at 500 mph just 100 feet off the ground? And does Bentley's awesome, 567-horsepower W-12 Continental GT have the right stuff to outgun a stunt plane in a drag race? Join host Arthur St. Antoine as he pilots Bentley's heroic supercoupe into the vast Nevada desert to explore all of the above—and see if the ContiGT improves his luck at the high-roller tables of Vegas, too.
From its thunderous, 577-hp supercharged V-8 to its massive brakes and bodacious bod, Holden's wicked new HSV Gen-F GTS stands alone as Australia's ultimate performance sedan. Once again making the 7500-mile trip to Oz, host Arthur St. Antoine joins Motor Trend's native Aussie, Angus MacKenzie, to wring out HSV's four-door beast on the writhing roads outside Sydney. From there, it's on to "the Nurburgring of Australia"--the treacherous Mount Panorama Circuit at Bathurst--where the GTS cuts loose around the famed race track in the company of one of its most successful Bathurst competitors of its time.
In the Sixties, Chevy's star-spangled Corvette ruled as the undisputed car of choice for NASA's pioneering star voyagers. Now, nearly 46 years after his historic Apollo 7 flight, astronaut (and Corvette aficionado) Walt Cunningham joins host Arthur St. Antoine to revisit the shrines of America's space program in Chevy's latest and greatest ground rocket, the awesome, all-new 2014 C7 Vette. From the towering rocket gantries of Florida's Kennedy Space Center to the hallowed ground of Houston's Mission Control, Cunningham and St. Antoine return to NASA's glory days--also taking time to savor some classic Vettes from the star-struck Go-Go that was 1960s America.
From idyllic seaside oyster bars to hidden tank museums and spectacular twisting roads, California's Marin County, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, offers a feast of dazzling sights and world-class driving. With help from our friends at the California Highway Patrol, who temporarily shut down some of Marin's choicest two-lane roads, host Arthur St. Antoine guns the thrilling, Formula 1-inspired McLaren 12C Spider at full throttle-soaking up the scenery, the sunshine, and secret gems you won't want to miss.
The 2014 model year marks the final stand for Toyota's feisty FJ Cruiser sport/ute. Before it disappears, host Arthur St. Antoine takes the burliest FJ ever—the all-new Trail Teams Ultimate Edition—into the sprawling deserts of the American Southwest, where he encounters Sahara-like dunes, missile-testing ranges, miles of wide-open trails, mind-boggling hardware straight from a Hollywood sci-fi flick, and a place few people have ever visited: Trinity Site, the original Ground Zero, where in 1945 America exploded the world's first atomic bomb.
On this special episode of Epic Drives, host Arthur St. Antoine shadows a stunning rally route from Tacoma, Washington, to Pebble Beach, California, aboard a modern interpretation of one of the most legendary muscle-sports machines of the 1960s, the brutal 427 Cobra. Lovingly recreated by Factory Five Racing, the ferocious Mark IV Roadster boasts all the hallmarks of the original: mega-horsepower V-8, alluring curves, thundering side pipes, fat tires, minimum weight, and zero amenities. Taking the wheel, Arthur encounters freezing rain, breathtaking vistas, historical treasures, and an untamed beast of a machine that's pure, raw, and unforgettable. To celebrate the world famous annual classic car pilgrimage to Monterey, Motor Trend is bringing you its own week dedicated to classic cars! Get ready for "classic" versions of your favorite original shows including Ignition, Head 2 Head, The J-Turn, Epic Drives and two special editions of Wide Open Throttle coming to you live from the Infiniti Performance Pavilion at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
It's known as one of the most dangerous roads in the world: the rough, desolate two-lane Dalton Highway that shadows the Alaska Pipeline from Fairbanks to the Arctic Ocean. Host Arthur St. Antoine takes up the challenge of this infamous byway in a 2014 Toyota 4Runner SUV, driving from the Canadian border all the way past the Arctic Circle to the alien oil fields of Prudhoe Bay. Along the way, he encounters dog mushers, floatplanes, thundering big-rigs, bears, wrecked vehicles, and a landscape unrivaled for its challenges, remoteness ... and beauty.
The sprawling western state of Utah boasts not one but five unforgettable national parks--and on this far-ranging episode host Arthur St. Antoine visits them all in the latest edition of one of the most popular pickup trucks on the planet. Mars-like terrain, outrageous mountain-biking, 420-hp jet boats, skies filled with epic stars--Arthur explores all this and more in a ten-day tour of a landscape unlike anything else on earth!
When one of the world's most outrageous sports cars arrives in one of the most dramatic and picturesque settings on earth - Canada's Alberta Province - a high-octane journey is guaranteed. But host Arthur St. Antoine does much more than simply wring-out this very special GT-R. While exploring the Canadian Rockies, he delves deep into a cave, climbs a glacier in a huge snow coach, takes several wide-eyed passengers on full-throttle launch-control blasts, and even tries out Nissan's ultimate speed machine in "ranch" mode! It's a round-up you won't want to miss!
This rugged and naturally beautiful part of the country is also a bit of an enigma to outsiders, which is why Justin is compelled to go and meet the people, to see if the stereotype is true. That they are talented coffee drinking hipsters, that embrace technology (in fact, create a lot of it) while respecting the organic nature of the past. So from wooden bicycles, racing sailboat, pioneering architects and driving into the clouds, Justin gets stuck into the local scene and emerges with a fresh respect for the people and their skills.