Every petrolhead I know has a bucket list. Le Mans, the Nurburgring, the Mille Miglia and the TT all feature heavily, but there is one thing that is on everyone’s list: The Great American Road Trip.
This year, GTO Events have created what must be one of the most bucket-list-ticking opportunities in the world, combining not only a phenomenal road trip, but also VIP access to Monterey Car Week and the whole Pebble Beach extravaganza. The best thing about this? They have teamed up with Hagerty, so our customers get a huge 25% discount. But be quick – the tour is only a couple of weeks away, and there are very few places left.
The tour, known as the Road Trip USA, has an awesome itinerary: it starts with a welcome dinner and overnight stay at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay near San Francisco on Sunday 13th August. The 4-day driving tour starts on Monday morning, the route threading north across the Golden Gate Bridge, before heading inland. There’s an exclusive tour and lunch at the Keller Estate Winery, home to one of the finest private motor collections in the world, before heading up the old backcountry roads of Napa to the Meadowood Hotel, with its Michelin 3-star restaurant. The following day the tour visits Colussa County, one of the most unspoilt areas of California, before crossing the Sacramento Valley to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and that night’s stop: the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe.
The next day takes in some wonderful mountain driving roads through the Sierra Nevada and into Yosemite, finishing at Tenaya Lodge where there’s a BBQ, live entertainment and local craft beers to help you relax. The final driving day takes the tour out of the mountains, across the dusty central valley, and then a last blast through the Gabilan Mountains and into Monterey. The tour arrives late afternoon on Thursday 17th, where the accommodation is the best hotel in town: the Monterey Plaza, right at the centre of Car Week action, for four nights until departing on Monday morning. GTO Events have even arranged for VIP access, hospitality and forward parking for all major events including The Quail, Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and The Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca.
As with all GTO events, the focus is on style, fun and amazing roads. The tour isn’t timed, so you get to really enjoy the roads you’re travelling along. There’s a full concierge service, so you don’t even have to worry about your luggage, it just appears in your room at your next hotel. There’s also incredible value for money: eight nights’ accommodation in some of the best hotels in California is included, and for the five driving days of the tour this also includes all meals and superb wines with dinner.
Oh, and we forgot to say: one of the drivers already confirmed is racing legend Derek Bell.
So, if you have boxes to tick, then this could be an amazing opportunity. Learn more at www.grand-tour.co.uk and quote your Hagerty policy number when booking.
