I hope to make a similar journey someday. However it won’t be in an R8 and I won’t be alone.

That’s pretty neat. Thanks for sharing!

Heck, we just got back from a trip to AK, and took our rig up to the Arctic Circle. I'll have to watch that guys videos, I swear we saw him driving up there.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_qe3UugEpH0?si=hGdPJaJ25lJyUqT1" width="5

His experience with Canadian customs mirrors every one I have had with them. They are assholes.


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I once met a fella who claimed that he and a buddy did the Alcan on Honda Trail 90s. While that may be fun, I think I'd rather have the Audi for that trip.

I wonder what he did to address octane. Maybe added somehow. I would assume it uses 91 or 93 or whatever.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
I wonder what he did to address octane. Maybe added somehow. I would assume it uses 91 or 93 or whatever.

He does not address it directly but likely a good bet he detuned it prior to the trip.
He makes one stop and was excited they had 91 octane he said he was expecting not to find it.

The vehicle is clearly tuned as he mentions his laptop and data logging a few times.
He also mentions when he makes it back to Fairbanks he is going to adjust the the tune/transmission for the trip back.

quote:

Originally posted by xanth:
Heck, we just got back from a trip to AK, and took our rig up to the Arctic Circle. I'll have to watch that guys videos, I swear we saw him driving up there.

How was driving the Dalton? I'm considering attempting that next summer with our Suburban, and I'd be interested to hear the details of your trip.

I made it to the part with a buster, dipshit, Gen Z tourist, walking up to Buffalo, far too close, videoing the pack. Even this R8 guy said not bright. He was a lot kinder with his words than I would have been. Got damn idiot! Pretty cool seeing the aurora borealis. I’ve always wanted to see it. He has some damn good footage of it with the R8 in the backdrop. Very cool video. Different.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:

How was driving the Dalton? I'm considering attempting that next summer with our Suburban, and I'd be interested to hear the details of your trip.

The road from Fairbanks to Livengood wasn't horrible, some dirt and rough spots, but once you get on the Dalton itself, all dirt.

We split up the drive a bit, took the RV up just north of the Yukon River (towing the JGC), to a BLM campground, then drove the Grand Cherokee the rest of the way (about 50 more miles one way). We got really tired of the bumps, roughness, truck drivers, ect. Driving the Grand Cherokee was obviously a bit smoother and easier. Stayed the night at the BLM campground, then headed home the next day.

The Dalton is rough, slow, long and tiring. It's graded on the regular, but there is such a short maintenance season, they don't get it all done, and there is so much truck traffic, it doesn't stay nice.

We only went up to Arctic Circle, so we didn't go all the way up.

The truckers drive fast, and reckless. They had no issues speeding past us, blind corner coming up or not, spraying rocks and debris all over our rigs. Saw a nasty truck wreck on the way back to Fairbanks that wasn't there when we drove up the day prior.

I'd check the weather if I was going again. There wasn't any rain on our drive up there, so we were dirty but that's it. Rained on the way back to Fairbanks, and I'm still cleaning mud off both my rigs. It's a thick, nasty mud that doesn't come off anything.

We just went up to the Arctic Circle, just to say we did, but there is limited services, nothing much out there, it isn't very scenic, and didn't see any wildlife. And I think the road just gets worse north of Arctic Circle.

Doing this trip in our RV is in my bucket list. Reading your comments on your other post, is the trip on an RV worth it? Or is it better to fly to Alaska and rent an off-road SUV equipped with a rooftop tent? Would you do the trip again with an RV?

quote:

Originally posted by xanth:
Heck, we just got back from a trip to AK, and took our rig up to the Arctic Circle. I'll have to watch that guys videos, I swear we saw him driving up there.

Thanks for the details! Is the road just rocky and rough or are we talking hundreds of miles of washboard?

The Dalton and McCarthy are on my list of side trips that I want to do that we didn't get to on our last trip. I'm not too keen on dodging crazy semis for hundreds of miles on a rough dirt road just to see the Arctic Circle sign, though, so if I'm going to do it I want to go far enough to see something that's worth it. I'd like to make it to Atigun pass or even down to the North Slope...I doubt I'd be willing to pay whatever crazy fee the oil company wants to take the bus to the ocean, so I don't think we'd go all the way.

The other thing I have to consider, though, is the Suburban has to get us thousands of miles home, too, so I don't want to beat it apart.

quote:

Originally posted by ador:
Doing this trip in our RV is in my bucket list. Reading your comments on your other post, is the trip on an RV worth it? Or is it better to fly to Alaska and rent an off-road SUV equipped with a rooftop tent? Would you do the trip again with an RV?

Our overall trip was well worth it. Idaho to AK back to ID, 5 weeks, in a RV. Well worth it. We went early enough to beat the crowds though.

From Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle? No, I wouldn't do it in a RV again. It was just too rough, too stressful, dangerous with the truckers on the road.

If I was doing it again though, I'd much rather do it in a Wrangler with a RTT or something similar. And if I was to do it again, in a Wrangler with a RTT, I'd more than likely just go all the way up Prudhoe Bay, just to say I did it.

Really though, there is just about nothing north of Fairbanks. The whole trip beyond Fairbanks is just for bragging rights!

I'd rather spend that extra time in a National Park, Anchorage, or Homer/Seward.

But, I am originally from Alaska, so I've spent lots of time there, so I have a bit of a different perspective.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Thanks for the details! Is the road just rocky and rough or are we talking hundreds of miles of washboard?

The Dalton and McCarthy are on my list of side trips that I want to do that we didn't get to on our last trip. I'm not too keen on dodging crazy semis for hundreds of miles on a rough dirt road just to see the Arctic Circle sign, though, so if I'm going to do it I want to go far enough to see something that's worth it. I'd like to make it to Atigun pass or even down to the North Slope...I doubt I'd be willing to pay whatever crazy fee the oil company wants to take the bus to the ocean, so I don't think we'd go all the way.

The other thing I have to consider, though, is the Suburban has to get us thousands of miles home, too, so I don't want to beat it apart.

More rocky and rough, with limited washboards. Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle was about 200 miles. Arctic Circle to Prudhoe Bay is another 300 miles. We only went to the Arctic Circle (yea, just for the sign basically) and I wouldn't do it again in a RV. Not sure I'd do it again, period.

If I had to, it would be in a Wrangler or something, but there is just a whole lot of nothing up there. It wasn't scenic, there weren't herds of caribou running around (my wife and daughter like the wildlife) not much to look at, not much traffic (incase of a breakdown) aside from the semis, almost no services (carry extra gas), and pretty slow and stressful, especially with the semis (those guys do NOT slow down!).

We did it, but neither I nor the wife would do it again. Being so isolated, we expected to see more wildlife, not so much. If we had seen some herds of caribou or something, it "might" have made it worth it. But nope. I'd much rather spend my time doing other activities in Alaska.

I've driven the Dalton up to approx. Pump House 5, probably about 30 miles short of Coldfoot and I really wanted to go farther. If I had known I was so close to Coldfoot I would've gone further; but with no map, relying on the GPS in the truck, looking at my gauges of miles traveled vs. miles to go being equal, I chickened out turned around and went back to Fairbanks.

Totally unplanned trip. My first year up here, it was May I had gone to Fairbanks hoping to see the Northern Lights. I don't know if it was from reading too many Jack London novels and stories or what, but I had this romantic vision of Fairbanks. Thought I'd hang out in town do the riverwalk, etc. What was the first thing I saw when I got off the highway and hit downtown Fairbanks? A drunk native come stumbling out of the marijuana dispensary, drop trou and take a dump right on the sidewalk. Nope, time to find something else to do for the weekend so I got a wild hair and decided to drive up the Dalton.

My truck at the time was a relatively stock Ford F-150. Truck was leveled with Bilstein shocks and 33" BFG All Terrains and most importantly had the optional 38 gallon fuel tank. The Dalton is rough and road conditions can vary greatly, go from very smooth and solid to cresting a hill and becoming very soft and loose on the backside. It's a sobering experience when one relizes, "If I put it in the ditch, I'm on my own, no one is going to be there so pull me out, there's no cell service to make a call, yeah let's just take it a little slower and easier to keep it between the ditches." It was also surprising to learn that moose can run at 35mph. The truckers are a wholenother issue, oversized loads and they kick up a lot of dust, passing them takes a serious check of how much your ball sack fills your jeans.

The scenery is amazing, varies from dense spruce forest and moutains to open tundra with about everything in between. At one stop it was the only time in life I've experienced complete silence; no wind, no animals, no braches rustling, nothing. It actually got spooky after a few minutes. It's just amazing to look over miles and miles of wilderness that hasn't been touched by man and then in direct contrast see the pipeline.

When I do it again I'll actually plan it out. The Jeep only has a 22 gallon tank and gets worse mileage. So I'll have to take a look at distances and see what's possible and also be bringing extra fuel. I do want to go all the way up to Deadhorse just to see it. They do have a shuttle to actually take people out to the Arctic Ocean, reservations in advance are suggested. Also reservations in advance for Deadhorse are pretty much required. Available rooms can be totally taken up by oilfield crews. Coldfoot is the only place along the route where you can get a room.

Originally the goal of the trip was to get a picture of the truck next to the arctic circle sign. Kept driving and driving and never saw it. On the way back I decided to pull off into the Arctic Circle Campground and that's where the sign is, in the parking lot of the campground off the highway.

A 'Burb will be fine on the trip, just pack and prepare for the trip. Learn from me and actually plan for it. It's a little more involved than driving down to the corner for a sixpack.

Audi R8? I'm amazed he made it out of Ohio.

I will say that when we did our drive around AK last summer, Fairbanks was probably the least exciting place we visited. The city was kinda meh, the campground was a buggy swamp, and Chena Hot Springs was...creepy. Having seen the landscape in that area, I imagine the first section of the Dalton not being particularly exciting. After Coldfoot though, when you get into the mountains, I'd expect it to get more interesting.

My favorite area up there that I've visited so far is everything from the beginning of the Matanuska Valley down to Valdez. I want to spend more time in that area for sure. Thompson Pass is one of the most amazing places I've ever seen, and McCarthy is definitely happening on that trip. I'm also considering driving the Denali Highway between Paxson Lake and Cantwell. And we have to get down to the Kenai peninsula as well. I'm probably only going to have between 4 and 5 weeks for the whole trip, so we're going to have to prioritize.

If we don't do the Dalton it won't ruin the trip for me, but it's always been something I've been curious about and someday I'd like to do it just to experience it for myself.

He just released the third video, and things went...badly. Took out his thermostat housing with a rock and had to get towed back to Fairbanks and overnight parts from the lower 48.

Dude is my hero. I've done plenty of roadside/parking lot repairs over the years, but that R8 water pump looked like an absolute nightmare. He got it done, though...while lying on his back in parking lot dirt with parts store loaner tools.

I've always wanted a German car (specifically a BMW 5 Series Wagon), but every time I work on one or watch somebody else work on one, I'm reminded why I don't have one.

One of the guys I used to ride with rode the Dalton all the way up, on a motorcycle, not a dual sport or adventure bike, a Kawasaki Vulcan, it's not a bike you'd want to take off a nice paved road IMO, but he's nuts, Rode all the way from CFL to the end of the road in AK, and back..

If you like trips of this nature read the musings of Durango Dave. He rode his Harley up to Alaska, the link has his story on a Motorcycle Board, lots of pictures and pretty good write up..

Like here on SF, people interject so you have to read through the thread for DurangoDaves posts

Link To Alaska on a Motorcycle.