The winding switchbacks of Jebel Jais are worthy of a bucket list drive

Few roads can instil a sense of majesty for petrolheads and the Jebel Jais mountain pass in the United Arab Emirates is one of them. Hot off of a Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT epic drive in the region, Peter Frost details how South Africans can materialise the experience.

Image: Peter Frost

It’s multi-lane highway all the way from Dubai to Jebel Jais, trucks, entitled Prados, drifting Tiida taxis. Where are these legendary mountains then? An hour later, off to the left, finally. Highway becomes B-road, quickly becomes country road. The crazy cliffs of the Hajar Range appear and ahead, suddenly A-grade blacktop again. The snaking road disappears into a confusion of cliffs, archaic rock farragoes swallowing the tar. Select Sport+, listen as the Porsche imperceptibly changes down twice (change times have been significantly shortened). The V8 thunders in the canyons and makes a beelined for the chaos. As it had followed the Al Bayh valley floor, so the road now angles steeply upwards. A sharp left-hander and the full extent of Jebel Jais is revealed – 34 kilometres of switchback zigzag spaghetti blacktop up 2 000 metres, science fiction, implausible, surely impossible. 

Each well-cambered bend begs to be attacked. Dual lanes most of the way to the top mean there’s little chance of even the foolhardiest muppet overcooking it. And the Turbo GT is a decent wingman; all that torque is available between 2 300 to 4 500 r/min, meaning it’s the easiest thing to calibrate your inputs, always with satisfying results, whatever the revs or speed. Start slow, work up – feed the power, understand the delivery, next time a shade more, next time the full monkey. Porsche’s traction control is as competent as its launch control – if things get lairy on the exit, a quick correction, nothing to see here, next and next and next. =

Read the full Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT experience here.

Getting to Jebel Jais

Most of the world’s airlines fly into Dubai and there are often excellent special offers. From there it is an easy hour’s drive up the coast on a multi-lane highway to Ras Al Khaimah. South African residents need a UAE visa before flying, obtainable online, which costs R3000. Something to keep in mind before touching down is that Tthe UAE drives on the right-hand side of the road. Hire car companies are plentiful, most operating from Dubai.

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