CURVES HUNTER: Open Season
Edited by Alessandro Marrone / Photos by Curves Hunter
The lockdown the whole world has been forced to go through in recent times brought a bit of awareness in us, we’ve all discovered how precious freedom is. It’s not something you have to take for granted, but nevertheless the frantic times we are living in make us forget that closing the door behind us and roam with no particular destination is something vital for our brain and our spirit. Everything stopped on a random day and our lives changed completely, but deep in our hearts we immediately started dreaming about the day we would have been able to get our freedom and safety back. From day one, our magazine has always been focused on giving you interesting cars, but also experiencing the best driving roads, thus creating the most emotional experiences. Freedom on wheels means get your car and pick a location that will be able to create memories to cherish.
That’s what captured my attention as I stumbled into an Instagram account named CurvesHunter. This guy really embraces the ultimate driving experience as we intend it, because at the end of the day it is the combination of factors that define the whole thing and here you can tick all the boxes every self-respecting car guy should tick and drink from the chalice of inspiration with his wonderful images.
So quarantine finally gave me the chance to sit at my computer and have a chat with him. This is what he said.
Hello everyone, my name is Jordan, I’m 29, I’m from France and living near Cannes on the French Riviera. I created the page Curveshunter on Instagram and I drive one of the last ever made 2013 Abarth Punto Supersport.
I guess I started to be passionate about cars because of my parents, both of them were car people which inherently reflected on me. I remember when I was a kid having to spend 2 hours every Sunday watching the Formula 1 races on TV – which back then – I really didn’t enjoy. I would have preferred watching my cartoons instead. With this starting point, and the arrival of “Fast and Furious” and the first “Need for Speed Underground” later, it all started growing on me. Since then, I’ve always been attracted by motorsport and sports cars.
Did your passion for photography (and videomaking as well) come after driving beautiful roads, or was it already there?
As a car designer I’ve always been attracted by different type of visual art such as drawing, 3D modeling, etc… and I always liked taking pictures. When I bought my first DSLR I started photographing everything and obviously cars and landscape were part of that. Now after more than 12 years with a camera in my hands I finally join together two of my biggest passions: driving and photography! Plus, now I am more and more interested in creating movies to put alongside my still photography.
Attacking hairpin bends or enjoying the scenery?
Definitely maximum attack (it’s written on my car!), but most of the time when I go to shoot a road I always do multiple drives. First up and down the road to enjoy a pure and fast drive and then up and down again and stopping on almost every corner to take photos or fly my drone. Of course, the scenery is important too and when I spend a full day on one road for a shoot there is a lot of moment where I just stop and enjoy the moment and the view.
How much does the right car matter while driving on an epic road?
I think everything depends on the person, but for me, if I want to fully enjoy a good road, I want a car that will be fun on it. Everything is also about the character of the car, I like unique cars the most, something raw, having something that stands out and be more special than your everyday car. No need to have 700 hp but I definitely don’t want a 2 tonnes car. Something light with the good amount of power, that’s the way to go!
How many kilometers have you done with your Abarth?
I am just above 85,000 km by now.
What other car you would love to take during your adventures?
Porsche GT3 would be the dream car for curveshunting. It is for sure a weapon on alpine roads like these. If I think to a more reasonable vehicle what I envisage as a next car is a Lotus Exige Cup or a Cayman GTS.
What is a “Curves Hunter”? How long have you been hunting for best driving roads?
Someone passionate! It could be with a car, a motorbike or a bike but a Curves Hunter is someone who loves the feeling you can only find on a proper driving road.
For me it started even before I had my driving license, I was 15 and already knew by heart a mountain road near my house. I was practicing driving there with my parents between 16 and 18 and I was just waiting to get my driving license to drive it on my own. Since then, I never stopped and I have been lucky enough to travel a lot and explore the finest roads in Europe.
If you had to explain what you do and what you love to a person out of this world, how would you do that?
That would not be easy, but I guess I would show one of my shot and the landscape you can find with those mountain roads and everyone would understand it. As we say “A picture is worth a thousand words”, so that’s the reason why I created Curveshunter, to share my passion, the view and the stories behind the best driving roads in the world.
Tell our readers some of the great drives you experienced so far.
Hmm it’s difficult to choose, so many nice memories and roads around.
The first that come to mind goes back to the winter of 2017, a late afternoon drive up the Gavia pass in the Dolomite. An empty road, covered with snow and with no one around and a sunset at the top of the pass. Just one word: EPIC.
In 2014 I have spent two full days on the Grossglockner pass in Austria. The night was short as I woke up for sunrise at around 5am, but a part from that, it was an amazing driving experience.
In 2015 I drove 7,000 km in 3 weeks through Norway, from Oslo to Nordkapp and back again, it was a lot of driving but so much worth it. It is hard to beat the Nordic landscape.
My first time on the Stelvio pass is an unforgettable memory too. It was my first “big” solo road trip and it was also one of the reasons why I started Curveshunter. I have to say that my last trip there was also a great memory. Being alone and having an empty Stelvio to enjoy a sunrise, not too bad right?!
Any particular occurrence happened there?
Always, that’s the beauty of a road trip, no matter how much you’re planning ahead, everything can happen. Like in 2014, when I woke up after a night on the Dolomite to discover that everything got covered by heavy snow during the night and I was running on sport summer tires.
But also some great moments meeting some like-minded petrolheads, discussing some great drives and having quick runs on these roads.
What’s your favorite driving road?
That’s also really hard to choose, it depends if we are talking about the scenery or actual driving, I really enjoyed the Grossglockner High Alpine Road in Austria, expensive because you need to pay an entrance fee to get in, but it opens to a wide and perfectly smooth asphalt road with amazing sweeping corners and some of the best view on the Alps. If I have to name a few more I would go for the Sustenpass (and the whole area) and the Col de la Bonette in France.
Tell us 3 roads you haven’t had the chance to drive yet.
The top 3 on my wishlist are the Transfagarasan in Romania, Maloja Pass in Switzerland and Irohazaka in Japan.
A particular situation you wouldn’t have lived if you weren’t out there?
On some of my trips I started driving at some really inappropriate time in order to arrive on the pass as early as possible in the morning. In Switzerland for example, the roads I wanted to visit were far from where I was living, so I decided at the last moment to spend the night in my tent and sleep between the Furkapass and Grimselpass. Those early mornings and rough nights are completely forgotten the following day. A lot of people visit those roads during the day every year, tourists, drivers, hikers and so on, but when you can be the first of the day to put your wheels on those driving heavens, that is a special moment. In that moment you can have a complete, unique and magical experience that I am happy I was able to live.
What’s your ultimate road trip like?
I would pack a good car with camera gears and everything needed to go for at least one week of driving on great roads. Spending the days driving or hiking and creating photos and videos. And alternating my nights between sleeping in a tent and sleeping in typical mountain style hotels. Having my head full of amazing landscape everyday that’s definitely what the ultimate road trip seems like to me.
Can you share some secrets about your working plan?
Like mentioned before, in the future I would like to add more and more video content to my feed, it takes more time, more planning and more resources, it is a new challenge but it opens the possibilities for great content. So, expect to see more short films about great driving road coming “soon”. I am also planning to add a bit more photos with cars, having shots of great roads but also great cars on them.
Pick: car, road, soundtrack and co-driver for the perfect escape.
Neon Yellow Porsche 991.1 GT3 (perfect to stand out in photos) going back in Icelandor Norway for the amazing landscape, Alt-J album for the mood and my girlfriend as co-driver.
What’s next?
I am currently planning some trips, some of them will be short ones like in the gorges du Verdon, but after that I am planning a multiple days solo trip up to the col du Galibier passing by some other great cols along the “Route des Grandes Alpes”: La Bonette, Izoard etc… I never been yet to the Galibier so I am really looking forward to that. I am now planning the shots I want to do there trying to make the most of that trip. After that I also have another spectacular road to go but this one I keep it for myself for the moment.
Projects for the incoming summer season?
Everything will depend on the quarantine situation, my initial plan was to organize the first test version of a “CurvesHunter Day”, gathering some friends to go for a week end road trip in the region, but with the uncertain situation everything is kind of in the making. Other than that, I have some shooting planned with really interesting cars, so I am really looking forward to create great content there. On a more personal side I will of course keep driving around and having some little break from time to time at the seaside.
Say hello to our readers!
I wish to say a big thanks to Auto Class Magazine for the opportunity of this interview and I wish all the best to all the readers for their upcoming trips and car adventures! I can add that everyone is more than welcome to contact me on Instagram to say hi or if you have any question about a road or your future road trip, I’m always ready and glad to help people about our common passion.