B4494 / A338 / B4100 Donnington / Wantage / Donnington
B4494 / A338 / B4100 Donnington / Wantage / Donnington
Submitted by: Pingu
How I found it: It's on the way home .
Useful tips: The B4494 is one of the best roads I have driven. When going towards Wantage, you get to the top of the Ridgeway and can see for miles.
Going North, the descent off the Ridgeway is testing as you exit a long straight avenue of trees, over a brow, then go round a sweeping blind lefthander. Then follows a blind sweeping left, followed by a sweeping right with very good visibility (only obscured by the bushes on the inside of the corner). The visibility of the rest of the road for about a mile as you descend around the blind left allows time for any cars hidden in the dip to make themselves visible before taking the right hander the way a right hander should be taken . The speed gathered on the descent can be carried into the plateau on top of the Ridgeway and through the fast chicanes, which have excellent visibility. Another sweeping downhill, similar to the first is followed by the descent into Wantage.
Going South, the climb out of Wantage is up a straight 1 in 7 hill for about half a mile, followed by the Ridgeway with the open sweeping bends and fast chicanes, before reaching the first of the two climbs up the sweeping left handers. Care needs to be taken as these corners are blind as the bushes hide any cars coming down the hill. Ideally, the corner would be taken starting on the wrong side of the road, but this can't always be done. The right hander at the top of the hill is blind and followed by a dip which is sometimes taken airborne by the unwary.
The rest of the drive is a joy. The roads are all of reasonable quality. There are no speed cameras. The whole loop takes about 30 minutes. It is a very scenic drive, and there is the possible to cut across the hill from the A338 to the B4494, going past Lambourne with all the horse training areas.
Where it is: Just off J13 of the M4
Estimated distance: 32 miles
How I found it: It's on the way home .
Useful tips: The B4494 is one of the best roads I have driven. When going towards Wantage, you get to the top of the Ridgeway and can see for miles.
Going North, the descent off the Ridgeway is testing as you exit a long straight avenue of trees, over a brow, then go round a sweeping blind lefthander. Then follows a blind sweeping left, followed by a sweeping right with very good visibility (only obscured by the bushes on the inside of the corner). The visibility of the rest of the road for about a mile as you descend around the blind left allows time for any cars hidden in the dip to make themselves visible before taking the right hander the way a right hander should be taken . The speed gathered on the descent can be carried into the plateau on top of the Ridgeway and through the fast chicanes, which have excellent visibility. Another sweeping downhill, similar to the first is followed by the descent into Wantage.
Going South, the climb out of Wantage is up a straight 1 in 7 hill for about half a mile, followed by the Ridgeway with the open sweeping bends and fast chicanes, before reaching the first of the two climbs up the sweeping left handers. Care needs to be taken as these corners are blind as the bushes hide any cars coming down the hill. Ideally, the corner would be taken starting on the wrong side of the road, but this can't always be done. The right hander at the top of the hill is blind and followed by a dip which is sometimes taken airborne by the unwary.
The rest of the drive is a joy. The roads are all of reasonable quality. There are no speed cameras. The whole loop takes about 30 minutes. It is a very scenic drive, and there is the possible to cut across the hill from the A338 to the B4494, going past Lambourne with all the horse training areas.
Where it is: Just off J13 of the M4
Estimated distance: 32 miles
Last edited by spokey on Tue 13 Mar, 2007 15:20, edited 1 time in total.
Ciao,
Spokey
Spokey
jackal on PH wrote:i love your profile... an endless pornographic paroxysm of the letters BMW
do you actually like driving at all or are cars to you just a manifestation of some sort of pathological mother complex ?
I did this road as part of my Berkshire Hunt cruise last year. It is FANTASTIC!!
Ciao,
Spokey
Spokey
jackal on PH wrote:i love your profile... an endless pornographic paroxysm of the letters BMW
do you actually like driving at all or are cars to you just a manifestation of some sort of pathological mother complex ?
- smartypants
- Joined: Tue 09 Jan, 2007 12:15
- Posts: 1210
- Location: Bracknell
If I lived out that way, I'd run that road ragged.smartypants wrote:I will try it sometime soon for sure
Ciao,
Spokey
Spokey
jackal on PH wrote:i love your profile... an endless pornographic paroxysm of the letters BMW
do you actually like driving at all or are cars to you just a manifestation of some sort of pathological mother complex ?
What, did they go over 35, Gary?garyw wrote:I did this route with some of the Porsche guys, it was a bit of a mental day, not sure I'd run it with them again..
Ciao,
Spokey
Spokey
jackal on PH wrote:i love your profile... an endless pornographic paroxysm of the letters BMW
do you actually like driving at all or are cars to you just a manifestation of some sort of pathological mother complex ?
We actually crept under two figures at some points
I started second from the back, we lost the rear car after 10 minutes and I was then the last car.. the guy in front of me had a similar idea and we decided to enjoy the road safely and distance ourselves from the lead pack, however we did receive quite a few hand shakes and requests of if we wanted a coffee
Not the best day ever, we did see the white horse on the hill though
garyw
I started second from the back, we lost the rear car after 10 minutes and I was then the last car.. the guy in front of me had a similar idea and we decided to enjoy the road safely and distance ourselves from the lead pack, however we did receive quite a few hand shakes and requests of if we wanted a coffee
Not the best day ever, we did see the white horse on the hill though
garyw
-
- Joined: Mon 14 Jan, 2008 09:51
- Posts: 47