Slightly OT: I'm looking for Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway.

[Emission]

While reading Automobile magazine (Oct. 2002 - page 74) I came across a two-page spread titled "10 Best Places to Speed" in the world.

Luck would have it.... of the three located in the United States, one is only a couple hours away. Apparently, this "straight and level for miles" road parallels I-40 east of Barstow. It is/was used by most of the car magazines as a test road for top speed and acceleration runs.

A quick search on Google turned up phrases like this... "The stock truck was then taken to Mrs. Orcutt's driveway, a 5-mile long stretch of perfectly flat road in California's Mojave Desert, for top speed runs and coast down testing.

I have been looking on maps for days now and have not been able to pinpoint it. Does anyone know exactly where it is?

[Eric Coffey]

I have also head of this road, but it's location is somewhat of a mystery. Since it is an abandoned road, you probably wont find it on any map. I think it is somewhere off the old Route 66 (from I-40), about 25 miles East of Barstow, past the famous "Bagdad Cafe". Let us know if you find it!

[Jim T]

Wow, I haven't heard that term for a while!

That used to be a famous place where Road and Track (or maybe Car and Driver - isn't the Automobile editor from CD?) did testing of their cars. They always talked about it, and even had pictures, but it was a big secret as to location.

That was probably 15 years ago.

Do RT and CD have searchable archives on line? Maybe take a look - you might get some clues.

[juanbenae]

the desert and a strait line, sounds like you might get board in a p-car, where are all the turns. good luck in finding it though.

[emcon5]

I remember an article about a Gale Banks twin turbo Vette back in the late 80's talking about testing there, attempting to get to 200mph. They were pretty cryptic as to it's location.

Even a web search doesn't turn up much. This is all I could find:

"I-40 takes you past Bagdad (as in the Adlon film, Bagdad Cafe) and Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway, used by various car magazines for top speed runs"

and

"We packed our new state-of-the-art electronic testing gear, a radar gun, two ice chests full of survival food, and made the 200 mile trek from Los Angeles to Mrs. Orcutt's driveway in the California high desert" and later "Our performance tests were conducted at an elevation of 1,900 feet above sea level"

Hopefully this will narrow it down some.

Tom

[Emission]

The road is a private driveway (~4 miles long) - this means it won't show on many maps. *Sigh*

The owner (Mrs. Orcutt?) died about 15 years ago... but the road remains open (according to legend!).

I will post exact coordinates (GPS) when I find it. I am doing a Death Valley day trip with the BMW Club later this month. It will put me near the location, so I decided to try to hunt it down and find it.

This is Mrs. Orcutt's driveway today. Well, it really isn't anybody's driveway now. It's a 4-mile road to nowhere. You literally can't see from one end to the other. Whether you're going 200 mph or not, you wouldn't want to get out in that soft stuff on the sides


Here's the deal. Sometime long ago Mr. And Mrs. Orcutt settled in the Southern California high desert about 25 miles east of Barstow, where they made and sold adobe bricks. Using their own product, they built a nice small home, very much by itself, but only about a mile off old Route 66. But when the U.S. government built I-40 in the '60s, it ran right between the old highway and the Orcutt's house. The closest overpass, to get over the freeway, was more than four miles away. So the government's solution was to build a new, 2-lane, asphalt road from the overpass to the Orcutt's house. That's the only place it went. Still does (to its remains, anyway). The best part is that, for most of its length, it was built on a dry lake. So not only is it straight and relatively wide (for a driveway), but it is also very flat. The perfect place to make high speed runs in a street vehicle—crazy high speeds.

-this was all taken from this website:


Banks power

What I'm wondering is, if Mrs. Orcutt has a driveway like that, what does she have in her garage!?

[emcon5]

It may not be on a road map, but it should be on a topo map, as well as aerial photos.

If you have a fast connection, and some time, Go to http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com and poke around. With the hints above, you may get lucky. Start here, and look both ways on 40.

Tom

[Emission]

Thanks Tom!

I've got a very fast cable modem, so this should keep me happy (but not the wife).

I'll keep you all posted.

Knowing it is near the intersection of I-40 and old 66 should make it easier to find...

[Jim Garfield]

This is what's great about this board. An obscure
bit of trivia and somebody nails where it is.

You guys crack me up.

[Emission]

I found it!

Using the Terraserver, Mapquest satellite images, and hints from other sites and members, I was able to find the road.

It runs north of, and parallel to, I-40 (which runs just north of, and parallel to, old Route 66). In this image, I drew a red arrow to 'Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway.' You can clearly see I-40 and Route 66 in the image. The four parallel lines are (from the top): RR track, Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway, I-40, Route 66.

It has been officially re-named 'Memorial Drive' and is in the city of Newberry Springs, California. For scale, the entire road runs about 3.5 miles in length.

I am going to check it out at the end of this month (in the Porsche, of course). I will post pics.

[Jack Olsen]

Looks like it's about 3 hours from L.A.

Still, it might be a fun Saturday or Sunday morning drive, to get a group of 911's, take the Angeles Crest Highway up to the high deserts, and then continue all the way to the "driveway."



Then again:

The road is still straight and empty, but by now there are a few dips in it, and the asphalt seems to be reverting to loose gravel. I'm not saying I would have ever run 200-plus mph on it, myself, but I would seriously question trying to do it today in any sort of low-flying super coupe.

I'd love to join you guys on the trek. The ironic part is that I drove right through there last year when I brought the 70E back to Dallas from Seattle.

[emcon5]

The group thing would probably be the way to go. From the looks of that image, the "driveway" is only about 200 yards off of I40. I guarantee it is known to the local CHP, and a car on it would be in view of people on 40. Post guys 5 miles each way on 40 with cell phones as a distant early warning.

Assuming of course there is cell coverage way the hell out there. Looks like a truck stop at one end though, and it is fairly new. It doesn't appear on the topo map dated 1991, but is on the photo, dated 1995

Tom

[Emission]

I'm doing a one-day Death Valley trip/tour at the end of September with a group of 10 BMW guys (I'm the only air-cooled nut). We are going to check out the 'driveway' on the way back to LA.

It would be a beautiful drive for a bunch of air-cooled cars in November (following a drive up Angeles Crest - before the snow falls).

Hopefully, the road is still in good condition. I do wonder if it is visible from I-40 (not a good thing). I tend to agree it is only about 200 yards off the main highway...

[cegerer]

Looks like a nice 5th gear left kink near the end. Just before you deploy the parachutes. -- Curt

[cstreit]

Perhaps it is visible to the CHP, however, if it is truly private property (a driveway afterall) they could not write you for speeding... Trespass maybe, but not speeding...

Be sure to wave at any as you go by...

(I imagine they allowed R&T free reign there, perhaps you can print up some offical PP id's...

[Superman]

In my part of the country, tickets are avoided on private property only when there is a locked or lockable gate. If there is no gate, then troopers can still give tickets. Probably not speeding, but surely Reckless Driving or Failure to be Reasonable and Prudent.

[Emission]

Since the road has been re-named by the State, I bet it is no longer private property!