Subaru of America will attempt to set speed record on Transfăgărășan road

As the BBC Top Gear named Transfagarasan “the most spectacular road in the world”, other brands have decided to use the road to present their own models. Subaru of America has announced it wants to set a new speed record on the high altitude road in Romania, capital.ro reports.

During July 9-11, Subaru of America and Prodrive will organise an auto event on Transfagarasan, after setting speed records on other roads in Europe: TT Isle of Man in 2016 and Nurburing in 2017.

The race will have 82 km and will start at Cârţişoara with the finish at Vidraru damn. The event is organised with the support of the Romanian federation for Auto Sports, CNAIR and Transport Ministry.

In August 2015, Italian rally driver Flavio Barrone attempted to set a speed record on the distance between Balea Cascada and Balea Lac waterfall in a luxury sports car.

The attempt for the driver was to finish the 13 kilometres serpentine road in less than 10 minutes. Finish time: 9 minutes and 13 seconds, on a stretch of 13 km.

Flavio Barrone, rally driver: “It was an incredible feeling, really I never felt so great. I think it could have been even better, but I managed a good time, with the help of the co-driver and the team.”

The car used for the race was modified in order to speed fast on the 13 kilometres. The 630 horsepower engine propels the car from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in 3.2 seconds. Barone drove a Ferrari 458 Italia, a car with a specially painted body with Dracula’s canines and with one hundred bats.

About Transfagarasan road

It has a length of 90 kilometres and is located at the highest altitude in the country after the Transalpina road.

Transfăgărăşan was built upon the initiative of former communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The aim was to provide a strategic road across the mountains, to be used mainly by the army. It was the context of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet troops in 1968, when Romania became a target for the Red Army. Until the construction of this highway, the Făgăras Mountains (southern Carpathians) could not be crossed even on horseback.

Fortunately, the USSR invasion did not take place. Instead, we have a spectacular road, but which required unimaginable human efforts.

Transfăgărăşan was build during 1970-1974 and connects the cities of Pitesti and Sibiu. During its construction were used mostly recruits.

According to the stories, the miners who dealt with the explosives were holding close to each other, building a human chain of around 30 people, in order not to be taken away by storm and thrown into the abyss.

Three million tons of rocks were dug with the help of six thousand tons of dynamite. Besides digging into the rock, most work has focused on the strengthening of the slopes. Officially, dozens were reported dead, unofficially there is rumour about hundreds.

Transfăgărăşan road was ranked, two years ago, on the first place among the most beautiful roads in the world. Jeremy Clarkson, one of the then producers of ‘Top Gear’ said, after driving on Transfăgărăşan road, that it is the “most spectacular road in the world.”