These Are Your Dream Automotive Pilgrimages

These Are Your Dream Automotive Pilgrimages

These are your holiest of automotive destinations you desire to pay homage to, and the car gods will surely smile upon you.

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A photo of a truck racing in the Baja 1000.
Would you go bonkers for Baja?
Photo: Red Bull via AP Images (AP)

The world is home to a vast expanse of places to see and things to do, which most certainly can make anyone’s list of cool, interesting and exciting adventures a bit overwhelming. If you were to ask me or my other fellow writers about our specific “to-do” lists, I’m sure they’d run deep with automotive adventures. So we wanted to know, what automotive adventures grace your list?

That’s what we set out to answer last week, and from iconic race tracks to historic museums, you mustered up some incredible must-see-sites for your dream automotive pilgrimages.

So, click through the following slides to uncover the Jalopnik readers’ dream automotive adventures.

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2 / 16

Fantastic Fuji

Fantastic Fuji

A photo of race cars at Fuji Speedway in Japan.
Photo: James Moy Photography (Getty Images)

“I spent more time and money playing Pole Position than my parents did raising me, so I want to take a few laps of the real life Fuji International Speedway in Japan.”

The current home of endurance racing, Super GT and Super Formula racing in Japan would make for an amazing adventure.

Suggested by: earthbound-misfit-i

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3 / 16

Classic Chevrolet

Classic Chevrolet

A black and white photo of a Corvette in a race.
Photo: ISC Images & Archives (Getty Images)

“To the original Yenko Chevrolet in Cannonsburg PA, where my dad (1934-2022) assisted Don Yenko in making and testing his iconic Chevelles and Camaros in the late 1960s.”

This would be a pretty rewarding pilgrimage to make, let us know if you ever manage to do it!

Suggested by: Todd Simpson (Facebook)

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4 / 16

Stunning Suzuka

Stunning Suzuka

A photo of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
Photo: Mark Peterson ATPImages (Getty Images)

“Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. And if the rumors of next year’s race being moved forward to spring (near hanami season) are true, I’ll almost certainly finally make it a reality.”

Suzuka is another iconic Japanese racing circuit, and currently hosts rounds of Formula 1, the Endurance World Championship and GT World Challenge Asia.

Suggested by: gokieks

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5 / 16

Marvelous Monaco

Marvelous Monaco

A photo of F1 cars racing at Monaco.
Photo: Clive Mason - Formula 1 (Getty Images)

“Monaco GP then cruising Europe for a couple weeks and end it with 24hrs Lemans.”

If you’ve not dreamed of sipping Champagne on a balcony overlooking the Monaco Grand Prix, do you really even like cars?

Suggested by: @wrodie (Twitter)

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6 / 16

Superb Spa

Superb Spa

A photo of the Spa race track in Belgium.
Photo: James Moy Photography (Getty Images)

“My wife lived in Belgium getting her degree and being an au pair years ago so we are doing a trip out there and I will definitely see Spa and the Nurburgring, the autobahn and whatever else I can fit in between castles and whatnot. We are going to rent a car and do some countryside driving when the kid is just a notch or two older.”

Oh to see something with an engine rip it up Eau Rouge at Spa, what a dream.

Suggested by: markoff8585

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7 / 16

Brilliant Baja

Brilliant Baja

A photo of a Red Bull truck racing at sunset.
Photo: Red Bull via AP Images (AP)

“I wanna see Baja 1000, then ship my ride from the tip of Baja to La Paz and go as far south as I can, do some mountain climbing. Family tradition says I have to ride UP Lombard Street in SF on a motorcycle. Gonna set a land speed record at the salt flats in a few years, it’s in the bag I just need to make a little more money first to make it happen.”

That sounds like a few absolute dream trips. Let me know if you need a blogger to document your travels.

Suggested by: Nick Winterbauer (Facebook)

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8 / 16

Magical Museums

Magical Museums

A photo of cars on display at the National Motor Museum.
Photo: National Motor Museum

“The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. It’s been on my automotive bucket list for 25 years.”

The only person dreaming of a trip to Hampshire has their eyes set on this collection of almost 300 historic cars.

Suggested by: velvetelvis

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9 / 16

Incomparable Isle of Man

Incomparable Isle of Man

A photo of motorbike racers at the Isle of Man TT.
Photo: Linden Adams (Getty Images)

“I want to visit the Isle of Man mountain circuit, the Nordschleife, and a stop at the former Schlumpf Collection and the Gros Ouvrage Hackenberg.”

Sounds like a pretty special trans-European adventure you’ve got planned here!

Suggested by: geoff-vader

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10 / 16

Noble Nurburgring

Noble Nurburgring

A photo of two cars racing in Germany.
Photo: Thomas Frey/picture alliance (Getty Images)

“Renting an M4 to do some hot laps at the Nurburgring, followed by trekking around Germany to visit the auto manufacturers before ending up at Oktoberfest in Munich.”

Why travel all of Europe when you could have as much fun, if not more, sticking to just Germany!

Suggested by: @NemesisPrimeG1 (Twitter)

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11 / 16

Tremendous Talladega

Tremendous Talladega

A photo of the checkered flag at Talladega.
Photo: Sean Gardner (Getty Images)

“There’s several.

“Talladega/Daytona Nascar weekends, 12 Hours of Sebring, Petit Le Mans (somehow I haven’t went and I live like an hour away from the track), 24 Hour Le Mans, Literally every F1 race, WRC events in different conditions (snow, woods, desert), Indy 500, Goodwood, Pikes Peak Hill Climb (shame it’s all paved now) and it’s not automotive, but the Reno Air Races.”

Some excellent suggestions from this poster, and I’ll agree that a trip to a NASCAR race is something that I also need to tick off one day soon.

Suggested by: hotsauceisthebest

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12 / 16

Beautiful Bathurst

Beautiful Bathurst

A photo of cars racing in the Bathurst 1000.
Photo: Daniel Kalisz (Getty Images)

“The Bathurst race at Mt. Panorama remains on my bucket list. Lucky to have made some progress on the list, with more to go…

“✔️ I’ve driven the Tail of the Dragon, Hwy 1 from LA to the Olympic Peninsula, and the Moki Dugway in Utah (look it up).

“✔️ Drove the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse in Austria, the Stelvio Pass in Italy and the Grimsel Pass in Switzerland

“✔️ I’ve driven the Nürburgring and Spa

“✔️ Saw F1 at Monaco, Monza, Montreal and Indy; went to 24 Heures du LeMans

“✔️ Did the Dirtfish RWD Rally School

“More four-wheeled adventures lie ahead!”

That’s a hell of a list of automotive achievements you’ve ticked off so far! Good luck scheduling a trip to Bathurst in soon.

Suggested by: Dan Tackett (Facebook)

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13 / 16

Sensational Salt Flats

Sensational Salt Flats

A photo of a land speed record bike on the salt flats.
Photo: Associated Press (AP)

“Your picture sums it up for me, I’ve wanted to take a trip to the salt flats and go as fast as I can for as long as I can remember. Ideally, I would do it in an old hot rod or muscle car, but at this point, I would do it anything if it meant I got to go.”

A poster after my own heart.

Suggested by: slicks30r

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14 / 16

Incomparable Indy

Incomparable Indy

A photo of the 2022 Indy 500.
Photo: Chris Graythen (Getty Images)

“I go on my favorite pilgrimage every year... to @IMS for the Indy 500. Greatest race in the world on the world’s greatest race course. Nothing else compares. Other than that, I would love to see the Isle of Man races some day.”

Some of the best pilgrimages are the ones that are made again and again and again.

Suggested by: @RaginKrajun (Twitter)

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15 / 16

Glorious Goodwood

Glorious Goodwood

A photo of a red Ferrari at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Photo: Martyn Lucy (Getty Images)

“I have a short list that I’m finally starting to fulfill as I get into my 50s. I finally made it to the GNRS last year. I ran TROG with our club race car two years ago. I’ve run Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway coast-to-coat a few times already. I got to drive Highway 1 from SoCal to NorCal and through Big Sur. Being a Detroiter, I’ve hit just about everything around here.

“My list still has the following: Goodwood Revival, Goodwood Festival of Speed, Mooneyes Japan, Any of the trails in Moab, Drive up Pikes Peak (my last pass through there was during the week of the hill climb), TROG West, Cruise the SF Mission District with all the lowriders, get some speed on the autobahn (I have a 5 Series booked there for this summer). These are just the few that I think about on a regular basis.”

If you want to tick off as many automotive icons as you can at once, then the Goodwood Festival of Speed is a great place to start.

Suggested by: autojunkie

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