Col de Turini

The Turini is the stage that made the Monte Carlo Rally's reputation, run at night over the summit with crowds lining the snowbanks. On a dry spring morning it is a 31 km strip of tight, technical tarmac from Sospel over a 1,607 m col to La Bollène-Vésubie, less than an hour from the coast at Nice or Menton.

The drive

The climb from Sospel through Moulinet starts in a rocky gorge, then stacks hairpins up through pine forest to the cluster of hotels at the summit. The descent to La Bollène-Vésubie is the classic rally direction: steeper, tighter, with stone walls on the outside of each bend.

There is a third road off the summit, the D2566 south to Peïra-Cava and Lucéram, which is quieter and more open. Combining all three makes a loop you can drive in a morning and be back on the Riviera for lunch.

In your Lotus

Few roads are more obviously built to the scale of a Lotus. The corners are short, the straights are shorter, and a light car with quick steering covers the ground faster and with far less drama than anything large and powerful. Second gear does most of the work, which makes it a good road for hearing a Toyota 2ZZ come onto its high cam.