The road with the 250 km/h sign is not the N14, but the R360 to the north of Upington. This specific sign is about 12 km to the north of Upington just past the turn-off to the Kalahari Monate Camp. It is the road to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park / Rietfontein border post. There is a similar sign at the end of the 250 km/h stretch. I have driven that road several times.
@@jacohauptfleisch935 Read the comments, he does not live in Cape Town and if you don't like his videos don't act like a little spoiled child, just stop watching the videos.
Your best video bar none. I'm a saffa petrolhead and I've never heard of this facility before. Hope this video goes viral. Some amazing detective work here.
The road from Steinkopf to Port Norloth is 90kms long, and although it has a speed limit, it is literally an abandoned, perfect straight road. The Northern Cape has some of the best roads in the country because they are hardly used (only 4 of the 8 people there have cars).
The research work and presentation is again of outstanding quality. Only criticism I have is that the videos are short. I would love to see a longer format video , if that is possible
@@darnellengelbrecht4400 to be fair, there isn't a cycling lane on chapman's. but it's infuriating being behind a cyclist when there is a cycling lane. cyclists: "drivers are so inconsiderate!" city planners: "well, we'll build a cycling lane so you can ride in safety." cyclists: "we don't like it. we'll rather ride in the traffic and complain about drivers." bicycles are great; cyclists often aren't. (sort of like dogs: dogs are great; dog owners often aren't.)
@ those are some good points. The thing I hate the most is when cyclists ride on the opposite side of the road, into oncoming traffic 🤦🏽♂️. Having said that, the Western Cape is very tolerant of cyclists.
The Bugatti Divo and Chiron pur sport were also tested in the area and on the track. Very early Pagani Huayra prototypes were also tested but idk if they went on the track
The test track is owned by VW AG; I’m surprised that the pilot of that light plane didn’t get shot at, it’s well known that there’s serious security there
My dad worked for a road surfacing company (Tosas) and was based in Vryburg in NC for a while. They regularly ran into Porsche employees who were testing cars on those roads. The car makers obviously had a vested interest in keeping the sections of roads you talk about in good condition and companies like my dad's were there to help.
I would have liked to have seen a Top Gear episode or two based there, with Clarkson, Hammond, and May waxing lyrical about the experience, and perhaps their Grand Tour could do the honours. It would be great to have them here again.
This may be secret in SA but here in VW country engineers and designer talk about it freely. The vasility is also used to test plastics, paint and other materials exposed to intensive sunlight for extended time.
Dig a little bit on the upington airport. At 4900 meters it could land the space shuttle, and is the longest civilian runway in the southern hemisphere, or at least was when it was built.
Thanks for the video had no idea about the place. I see an oval dirt track to the south of the tar track close to the buildings. Plus a pretty long dirt track surrounding that
I know one of the engineers that work on that track. He go every year to inspeck the track surface. Was in the develoment and building phase very secret😅
Cute name you have. Nice presentation and good contens. I saw lower down, a commend by someone that the facility belongs to Volkswagen AG. I used to work at VWSA and we administered a weathering facility for VWAG near Upington - late 80's and the 90's. This was still initiated by Dr. Ferdinand Piech. I am not aware of such a big facility as you featured here belonging to VWAG but who knows. I left VWSA in 1998, much water has flown into the sea since then.
I think Hoedspruit was an alternative Shuttle landing facility. I think Upington was supposed to be a main airforce base for when we lost Nam. Didn't work out that way, because some people decided Jaw Jaw is better than War War.
Ehra-Lessien of South Africa... I'm wondering if it's long enough to do 500kph. As a couple of manufacturers seem to be aiming for that but don't have the track to do it on?!
Unfortunately i don't think so. This seems about 60% the size of Ehra-Lessien and the heat of the desert is not ideal. Ehra-Lessien is probably still the place to do it.
I know where this place is, in the Northern Cape. People thought I was a conspiracy theorist when I told them about this place. We've known about it for many years in the Northern Cape.
Porsche Centre JHB often see the guys who come to SA for testing passing by the dealer. They even had a first gen Cayenne standing there for a while that was used as a mule and general crew vehicle for testing. Apparently it wasn't exactly stock hahah. Just standing there looking at it covered in stone chips your mind would travel with all the stories it has to tell, and all the cars it saw and helped develop years before we knew about it.
Unfortunately it’s not because of our technical ability, but thanks for the info. I don’t think there are anymore Gordon Murray’s or Rory Burns left in SA.
Interesting. Back in the mid 2000s I spent 3 1/2 years working on a mining project in the region between Kakamas and Pofadder. I stayed in the same hotel as the BMW crew whenever I was there. They weren't at all talkative (understandably) but I did get to see the cars they were testing. The test track wasn't any kind of secret, in that everyone knew about it and it's location. However I didn't meet anyone who had actually been there.
I think you'll find it's Toyota SA rather that Toyota Japan that owns the facility and it's not secret as it's got signs announcing what it is at the gate onto the dirt road. Also it's basically a longish straight with a loop at each end and there's a dirt track which presumably they use for suspension testing and maybe dust sealing in new models🤷
Great Content.❤ Pls do a video on the possibility of us hosting a f1 Grand Prix in South Africa and what were the restraints of hosting it since the last 1 in 1993. I mean we host a whole World Cup in 2010. With Gayton pushing for it will it come to fruition and would it be consistent thereof?
I remember reading about this track on car magazine over 10 years ago about secret track for super cars and I think they mentioned that its privately owned, the secrecy is intentional, I believe that car magazine could give you the article
One of the other reasons is climatic. We have all sorts of climates but the the inland is hot, dry and high. It's great for torture testing vehicles...
Are my eyes decieving me or did I just see a Bugatti Veyron with Eastern Cape number plates.I hope it was only driven on a track,and loaded on a truck .The potholes.
they don't develop cars in south Africa, once the cars are developed they test in many countries to make sure the cars can handle the temperatures ect. Its also cheaper to test in our country. Most car guys have know this information for many year, this is nothing new to us. As you mentioned the VW group tests mostly here so it is probably correct they own it. So seeing cars like VW Audi Bentley Lamborghini Bugatti Porsche is common in this area because they all fall under the VW corporation
Can I go there with an old suped up car with upgraded suspension ,brakes and high performance tyres like Toyo Proxes R888R .The car I don't really have yet .And just tast drive it.I mean it is the only place in South Africa where you can legally drive at high speed .But then its to far from me .
I stopped watching at the part where you said we have the same fuel standard as EU, we most certainly do not, our 95 isnt even actually 95 and in EU they have 98 at all their pumps
A strange German SUV bumped in my car. He was one of about five in a convoy. My LDV had a light scratch. The German driver paid me the R5,000 I guessed the repair would cost me, on the spot, in cash. Somerset West. Clarence Drive gets closed regularly for car ads. Even for Top Gear segments.
If you've heard any other info about this track, pop me an email :)
Will you ever do a video on the ZA made Bugatti?
The road with the 250 km/h sign is not the N14, but the R360 to the north of Upington. This specific sign is about 12 km to the north of Upington just past the turn-off to the Kalahari Monate Camp. It is the road to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park / Rietfontein border post. There is a similar sign at the end of the 250 km/h stretch. I have driven that road several times.
He does not know it and dont care.
We may have been there but he does not know wat is 10km north of him
Fun Fact: Kathu; the town before Upington in the Northern Cape is the richest town in South Africa
I have been on that track.
South Africa Literally has everything you neeed in this World!
Apart from the worst government and the most useless thieving politicians on this planet.
That’s why we need to protect it so it can be as valuable as Switzerland 🇨🇭
Except electricity
Except a decent government
Except good roads
I can tell you one thing, I'm one of the 8 people that live in the Northern cape😂😂
Same BS story he tells his GF whel looking at the pretty mountains. Dont cross it as the Rooi Gevaar is waiting for you
@@jacohauptfleisch935 Read the comments, he does not live in Cape Town and if you don't like his videos don't act like a little spoiled child, just stop watching the videos.
😂😂😂😂😂
Liar. Nobody lives there.
I'm nr 2 of 8.
I hit this notification faster than a Hiace Ses'fikile hits pedestrians! Awesome content, keep it coming.
Houw 😦
Ya ne...Yakubian Apes will never change
😂😂😂😂😂😂.. Lol. Yah neh
Hau😂
😂😂you can't say that bruh calm down
Your best video bar none.
I'm a saffa petrolhead and I've never heard of this facility before.
Hope this video goes viral. Some amazing detective work here.
Same here, I've heard of the special test oval and have known and been on the no speed limit N14, but now I know where to find it on Google earth.
You aint a Saffa petrolhead if you havent been there to watch the tests. UA-cam is littered with people who have spied on many tests.
@@francoisdvanderwesthuizen Yes, it is closer to Vaalputs than to Vastrap.
Us 8 people all knew about it.
There's actually another section of 250kmh road running from above Upington towards the Kgalagadi National park...think it's longer than 55kms too
The road from Steinkopf to Port Norloth is 90kms long, and although it has a speed limit, it is literally an abandoned, perfect straight road. The Northern Cape has some of the best roads in the country because they are hardly used (only 4 of the 8 people there have cars).
The research work and presentation is again of outstanding quality. Only criticism I have is that the videos are short. I would love to see a longer format video , if that is possible
Only info posted is what was found on the internet. Doubt he ever been 100km away from Cape Town
@@jacohauptfleisch935still research. Why are you so angry though?
“Getting stuck behind a cyclist” just cracked me up. I do apologise 😂😂
Great content. Keep it up and I can’t wait the next one
The cycling thing is a true story, just try Chapman’s Peak at the wrong time on a Saturday or Sunday 🤦🏽♂️
@@darnellengelbrecht4400 to be fair, there isn't a cycling lane on chapman's. but it's infuriating being behind a cyclist when there is a cycling lane.
cyclists: "drivers are so inconsiderate!"
city planners: "well, we'll build a cycling lane so you can ride in safety."
cyclists: "we don't like it. we'll rather ride in the traffic and complain about drivers."
bicycles are great; cyclists often aren't. (sort of like dogs: dogs are great; dog owners often aren't.)
@@superjaseZAas a cyclist. Fuck roadies.
@ those are some good points. The thing I hate the most is when cyclists ride on the opposite side of the road, into oncoming traffic 🤦🏽♂️. Having said that, the Western Cape is very tolerant of cyclists.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The Bugatti Divo and Chiron pur sport were also tested in the area and on the track. Very early Pagani Huayra prototypes were also tested but idk if they went on the track
Great local content. keep up the good work!
I always look forward to your videos. You're slowly becoming the local James Pumpherey from Donut. A lekker local version of Up To Speed, I love it.
That's all I've ever wanted to hear :)
James has now got his own channel called Speeed.
The test track is owned by VW AG; I’m surprised that the pilot of that light plane didn’t get shot at, it’s well known that there’s serious security there
South africa never ceases to amaze me. 250km legal road. Crazy
nice one, i saw the mazarati mc20 being tested close to worcester ... had a special sticker that said 'test car no speed limit'
That's so cool man 🔥🔥
you posted!!!! such good work keep being consistent then you will get over a million followers
Good to see South African content
My dad worked for a road surfacing company (Tosas) and was based in Vryburg in NC for a while. They regularly ran into Porsche employees who were testing cars on those roads. The car makers obviously had a vested interest in keeping the sections of roads you talk about in good condition and companies like my dad's were there to help.
Vryburg is in the North West Riaan👀..
@ true. Got that wrong.
How did I not know about this! Great video!!!
Interesting and informative as always. We'll done sir!
I would have liked to have seen a Top Gear episode or two based there, with Clarkson, Hammond, and May waxing lyrical about the experience, and perhaps their Grand Tour could do the honours.
It would be great to have them here again.
Got the previledge of seeing the Electric G-class and a few other recent Mercedes being tested in Mpumalanga a few years ago
This is awesome content, quick and straight to the point. Lots of good information on here, i never knew we had a freeway that went up to 250 kmh 🏎️
Cool video bru. When I drove from CPT to Calvinia 13 years ago, the R27 from Vanrynsdorp to Vanrynspass felt like a test road, crazy.
I actually once saw the testing of a highly wrapped up BMW 7 series about 2 or 3 years ago in the middle of Johannesburg CBD
Gerotek is also down the road in Pretoria West
Great content man👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
This may be secret in SA but here in VW country engineers and designer talk about it freely. The vasility is also used to test plastics, paint and other materials exposed to intensive sunlight for extended time.
I noticed Theirs a dirt track next to the oval circuit can someone plzz create the circuit on AC I'd ❤ to race on it
Heard about this track a couple years ago from a safa workmate
Dig a little bit on the upington airport. At 4900 meters it could land the space shuttle, and is the longest civilian runway in the southern hemisphere, or at least was when it was built.
Cool video bro 👍
Thanks for the video had no idea about the place. I see an oval dirt track to the south of the tar track close to the buildings. Plus a pretty long dirt track surrounding that
Don't know how this video popped up on my feed but this was good. Very interesting.
Thank You for the feature 👍
We appreciate your work :)
@@skadonkza Fantastic, lets see what develops regarding info in the future
MindBlown Already
I know one of the engineers that work on that track. He go every year to inspeck the track surface. Was in the develoment and building phase very secret😅
See if you can dig up more on the track that was in paarden eiland, looks like you can still see a corner today, i am not finding much
Why did you not mention Haakskeen pan?
Don't forget Gerotek wers of Pretoria. I was fortunate enough to do endurance testing for VW over a 4 year period here. Best job ever.
Cute name you have.
Nice presentation and good contens. I saw lower down, a commend by someone that the facility belongs to Volkswagen AG. I used to work at VWSA and we administered a weathering facility for VWAG near Upington - late 80's and the 90's. This was still initiated by Dr. Ferdinand Piech. I am not aware of such a big facility as you featured here belonging to VWAG but who knows. I left VWSA in 1998, much water has flown into the sea since then.
I wish car manufacturers can come to Lesotho for terrain testing and above high altitude testing also with cold weather testing 🇱🇸🥺
link to the airplane vid?
They should come to Pretoria for suspension and sanity testing with the MILLIONS OF F>>ING SPEED BUMPS
Got to see the white Veyron at D apron at O.R.Tambo when they flew it back out of SA.
Top content as always
Was that not the old airport with longest straight in Southern Hemisphere and where the Spaceshuttle could do emergency landings?
I think Hoedspruit was an alternative Shuttle landing facility. I think Upington was supposed to be a main airforce base for when we lost Nam. Didn't work out that way, because some people decided Jaw Jaw is better than War War.
Yeah, we should be really proud that it gets kak warm here....
I saw the Pagani Zonda testing here many years ago
Ehra-Lessien of South Africa... I'm wondering if it's long enough to do 500kph. As a couple of manufacturers seem to be aiming for that but don't have the track to do it on?!
Unfortunately i don't think so. This seems about 60% the size of Ehra-Lessien and the heat of the desert is not ideal. Ehra-Lessien is probably still the place to do it.
I bet it could be done in the winter, this place gets quite cold then.
Just today, I saw a GTX being tested in Pretoria
My friends and I found Verneukpan in the NC on a roadtrip and pushed my dad's Forester to its top speed with mismatched tires 😅
Great video
I know where this place is, in the Northern Cape. People thought I was a conspiracy theorist when I told them about this place. We've known about it for many years in the Northern Cape.
Porsche Centre JHB often see the guys who come to SA for testing passing by the dealer. They even had a first gen Cayenne standing there for a while that was used as a mule and general crew vehicle for testing. Apparently it wasn't exactly stock hahah. Just standing there looking at it covered in stone chips your mind would travel with all the stories it has to tell, and all the cars it saw and helped develop years before we knew about it.
Unfortunately it’s not because of our technical ability, but thanks for the info. I don’t think there are anymore Gordon Murray’s or Rory Burns left in SA.
I was today years old to learn that the N14 was really that long, from PTA to Springbok 1,189km
Damn this was cool!
Never knew that we had our version of the Autobahn
Interesting.
Back in the mid 2000s I spent 3 1/2 years working on a mining project in the region between Kakamas and Pofadder. I stayed in the same hotel as the BMW crew whenever I was there. They weren't at all talkative (understandably) but I did get to see the cars they were testing.
The test track wasn't any kind of secret, in that everyone knew about it and it's location. However I didn't meet anyone who had actually been there.
Toyota Japan has a secret test track in KZN , it’s close to my Hood. We grew up knowing about.
I think you'll find it's Toyota SA rather that Toyota Japan that owns the facility and it's not secret as it's got signs announcing what it is at the gate onto the dirt road. Also it's basically a longish straight with a loop at each end and there's a dirt track which presumably they use for suspension testing and maybe dust sealing in new models🤷
Hola Ska, nice video
Great Content.❤
Pls do a video on the possibility of us hosting a f1 Grand Prix in South Africa and what were the restraints of hosting it since the last 1 in 1993. I mean we host a whole World Cup in 2010. With Gayton pushing for it will it come to fruition and would it be consistent thereof?
ua-cam.com/video/cG3tOiaugeI/v-deo.html Gotchu x
@ Thanx that was quick😹
SUBSCRIPTION KLAAR!
Quality video 👌
I remember reading about this track on car magazine over 10 years ago about secret track for super cars and I think they mentioned that its privately owned, the secrecy is intentional, I believe that car magazine could give you the article
love it!
I have the map and aerial photography showing the test track dating 2003.... If one digs a little one may find out when this track was built.
track probably belongs to Toby Venter
The Porsche 918's were tested in north west, GP, EC, WC and NC
Other cars that were tested there that u didn't mention was the CGT, Divo, SS 300+, Pur sport and chiron sport
Well i am Swedish and i’m watching
One of the other reasons is climatic. We have all sorts of climates but the the inland is hot, dry and high. It's great for torture testing vehicles...
Kakemas is not pronounced like that haha. Think of it as "Kaakemas", that is all. Love your videos!
Are my eyes decieving me or did I just see a Bugatti Veyron with Eastern Cape number plates.I hope it was only driven on a track,and loaded on a truck .The potholes.
Interesting 😎🤔
The veyron waz registered to Ec
It IS owned by a private company and is likely leased to whoever uses it -guy who looked somewhere
The Area 51 of the motor world...
Volkswagen, Yes. Testing vehicles for decades and leaving them in the desert for months.
Upington the hottest town lol okay come to Phalaborwa feel what warm feel like.
Technically we also pay to drive on these "roads" 😅
It´s also known as Route X...
I klapped the notification bell
they don't develop cars in south Africa, once the cars are developed they test in many countries to make sure the cars can handle the temperatures ect. Its also cheaper to test in our country. Most car guys have know this information for many year, this is nothing new to us. As you mentioned the VW group tests mostly here so it is probably correct they own it. So seeing cars like VW Audi Bentley Lamborghini Bugatti Porsche is common in this area because they all fall under the VW corporation
Can I go there with an old suped up car with upgraded suspension ,brakes and high performance tyres like Toyo Proxes R888R .The car I don't really have yet .And just tast drive it.I mean it is the only place in South Africa where you can legally drive at high speed .But then its to far from me .
Okay I did see this road before
It's not a "secret" and also a huge stretch of road where there is a sign saying "speed limit 250 km/h", been there, done that, plenty ...
Saw this Road on Reddit
My first time ever seeing this yoh
wait what this is new to me 😲😲😲
Nice content, good video keep it up.
dan corder without the beenie
Taxi going at 170 in a single lane 😂😂😂
It's really owned by Mercedes Benz. They're playing everyone.
The track is owned by Daimler
Just Google it...
Think USA, space shuttle etc.
Because it’s kak warm in SA
Noble?
i guess someone for got to renew their air license XD only in south africa hey!
I stopped watching at the part where you said we have the same fuel standard as EU, we most certainly do not, our 95 isnt even actually 95 and in EU they have 98 at all their pumps
I see them in Namibia all the time
A strange German SUV bumped in my car. He was one of about five in a convoy. My LDV had a light scratch. The German driver paid me the R5,000 I guessed the repair would cost me, on the spot, in cash. Somerset West. Clarence Drive gets closed regularly for car ads. Even for Top Gear segments.
No DNA just RSA🇿🇦🏆❤