The only car to drive The World's Steepest Street, on both sides of the world?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- The battle between Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand and Fford Pen Llech in Harlech, Wales is fierce. Both claim to be the Steepest Street in the World, both have held the title. Which one deserves it? We don't care. My 2001 Ford Fairmont AU has driven both of them! Has any other car done that? (if you know of one, let me know!)
Support HubNut via PayPal: www.paypal.com...
Delightful HubNut goodies can be purchased at hubnut.org
Or, support HubNut at / hubnut or via Channel memberships: / @hubnut
Want to help Hubnut for free? Don't forget to like the video if you like it, and share with your friends if you really like it! Thank you all. 
Авто/Мото
That was brilliant, and so HubNut - driving down both streets when they WEREN’T the record holder 😂. I’m willing to bet good money there isn’t anyone else that’s negotiated both roads in the same vehicle.
I have not driven this street, but I have driven over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Tyne Bridge in the same car
Ace!
Not many people can claim they've driven down both baldwin street and Fford Pen Llech using the same car.
especially in a shitbox like that!
@@H31MU7 its a S2 Fairmont with the 175kw vct engine. I would argue if your a man of class the fairmont is the best car to have.
If however your more a speed demon then the XR6 variant is the way to go.
So technically you can say that Betty has been down the steepest street in the Southern Hemisphere and the steepest street in the Northern Hemisphere… that’s a fantastic achievement 👍🏻
Much like getting stuck on beaches in both hemispheres 😂
Great stuff! I can tell you my first car (a Vauxhall Viva HC) couldn't make it up Baldwin St even in first gear!
I'm from Dunedin and the story goes (or so I've read), that the original city planners created the standard grid style pattern from drawings of the area, but they were based in the UK and didn't know the geography of the land. As such, Dunedin has many steep straight streets in the Baldwin St fashion. In North East Valley, where Baldwin St is located, there are other similar parallel straight steep running streets.
Another prominent street is View St near the city centre that has perpendicular parking which is quite steep and can be unnerving to the uninitiated.
I also remember when someone was killed riding a wheelie bin inside down Baldwin St, crashing at the bottom.
If it counts, I also drove a beige Ford sedan down the crookedest street in the world, Lombard Street in San Francisco. However in my case, it was a Contour (the U.S. version of the Mondeo).
I stayed at the castle cottage inn earlier this year (at the top of the steep street at the start with the white van parked outside) and saw the local bin lorry (massive) reversing blind backwards up that street after going down to collect the bins, the driver didn’t even seem bothered, I also drove my 998cc suzuki splash down that street completely by accident without knowing it was not a normal road in the rain the day before. It’s so much steeper than you can tell from a video, I’m 21 and I could hardly walk up it in the rain without feeling like I was gonna slide down same goes for the way up on the other side!
Wow what an interesting video!! Betty just managed to fit down and back up again the narrowest of roads in North Wales. Well done Mr & Miss Hubnut.👍👍🐲🐲
I walked up and down both those roads towards the end of last year. The steepest street is really hard work in both directions on foot let alone in a vehicle. I can't believe that it was open to traffic in both directions originally, sheer madness!
Well most locals avoid it unless they live on it. Plenty of idiot tourists though! 🤣
I remember when it was permitted to drive both ways on Fford Pen Llech, though I probably only saw a couple of cars going up (back in the '70s or '80s) and the view uphill from behind the wheel must be akin to being on the start of a rollercoaster.
@@MrFlazz99 It’ll have been around 1984 when I started going to that part of Wales regularly with my Parents. They retired to near Harlech around 2000-2005ish. I spent a few years in Barmouth too around 2006-2008. I wonder when the council made it one way though.
Always remember my Dad whenever he had a new car, he would test it driving up a road called little hill in the west midlands, Grand video really nice to see
That's quite an achievement. Probably first ever person and car to have done so haha. Enjoyed my visit to Harlech in the summer. Definitely a steep street, hence the sign!
Person, probably not! Didn’t Ian say that those kiwi’s came to check it out! Even if I’ve got mixed up (quite possible, I’m v tired!😴), Kiwi’s get everywhere, so some of them will have visited the other steepest street in the world as well! The car very much so 👍!
This somehow reminds me of when I was younger, my family used to rent a Falcon whenever we went on road trips. It's just such a nice car to travel in and explore strange, new worlds 😉😉
That took me back. As a child and until I was around 15 yrs old Harlech was our only holiday destination. We first caravanned on the site right at the bottom of Fford Pen Lech for a few years (until I was about 6 yrs old) when the couple who had built it up... sold up and emigrated to New Zealand. I recall walking up the other road you drove back up (Castle Hill?) and a fully loaded coach was stuck across one of the bends where there is almost a step on the inside. Needless to say he had burnt out his clutch and I presume had to roll back all the way down. Happy memories indeed.
Me too - every summer through my childhood, a week in Harlech, but I had relatives in the town (my Dad really is a Man Of Harlech). There used to be an old metal sign at the bottom of Ffordd Pen Llech stating the gradient as one in two-and-a-half and I grew up permanently puzzled that Guinness World Records didn't even recognize it as Britain's steepest road, let alone the world's steepest. Sheer anti-Welsh discrimination. Just opposite the top of Pen Llech, there's another road (Pen Dref) that goes right up to the top of the hill behind the town and is interesting to negotiate as well. I have driven up that one as I have family buried at the Baptist Church.
As for the other road (Twtil), I must have walked up and down it hundreds of times. I know what you mean about the inside of one hairpin bend where the road is vertical. It was a spectator sport for me, waiting for a car to drive up and seeing how much noise it made rounding the bends. Happy days!
@@MrFlazz99 You reminded me... and corrected me. I now recall my Dad calling it Twill Hill. The badly anglesised version of Twtil! The other road up to the top you mention I recall was next to Coleg Harlech and came out on quite a sharp junction. Somewhere up there on the top road my mum said there was a house owned by the Dockers. Lady Docker was bit of a goer in the 30's I think. The Dockers owned BSA and Daimler Cars but unsure if that was actually the case that their house was there. Do you know of the small cave tucked into the hillside somewhere by Twtil Hill. Seemed so big as a 4 year old but when I went back years later realised how small it really was!
Good to see you enjoying our precious AU.
I had a ute version and drove it around most of Australia. It was really good on fuel and relatively reliable once I got through the standard set of defects.
Well done all of you I’ve been down there myself and was biting my nails all the way down Betty you are amazing Ian should give you a valet for your achievement!
I just love Betty. She seemed to have so much power effortlessly going up that hill, and looks wonderful. So ironic she was thought of as ugly. I just hope you aren't getting her too salty on those winter Welsh roads.
I had an 02 fairmont in jet black and it wasn't a bad looking car, but the stock standard AU1 Falcons with those horrible hubcaps were atrocious lol
Athelstan Hill in Bitterne Southampton is quite steep especially in a 1969 Dyane6 with a tired traffi-clutch. Glad to have seen both your antipodean contenders in Betty 👍😊
I know it well
Is that the one on the A3024 by the traffic lights...Down the hill and then back up? Done that in a loaded 44t artic lorry but don't think that's the one that you mean...
@@SuperFIFTHGEAR It's nearby.. Junction of Peartree Ave and Athelstan Rd
I came across that one the other day, when driving around Southampton, quite a hair raising hill start at the end.
@@themightywrighty It's a mini roundabout now but used to be a T junction at the top. As you say scary if in a queue or in a manual Mercedes with foot op park brake!!
fantastic that you pronounnce it correctly..
Thank you very much‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼‼
Lovely to hear.
Really enjoyable segment, I remember watching the New Zealand video and thinking whoa thats a drop but the stone lined curves in this on must keep you on your toes.
Looking forward ti the Mrs Hubnut tour!!!
Our 1995 Ford Explorer Sport has what I imagine is the distinction of having driven both to the Grand Canyon and the Arc de Triomphe.
The winding descent immediately reminded me of Lombard Street in San Francisco, which I was able to drive a long time ago when my brother lived there and I was on vacation.
Lombard Street is on a 27° slope and has 8 sharp hairpin bends, if you can drive there one time with Betty you will certainly have an ultimate record.
Lombard Street in San Francisco is rumored to be the reason that the Morris Minor got a more powerful engine. The US dealers were complaining that the car was underpowered. The engineering department was notified of the complaints, and responded in writing that the vehicle passed all of their internal company tests before the design was finalized for production. The US importer then invited the vehicle engineers for a lovely dinner with the San Francisco dealer. He proceeded to give the erstwhile vehicle engineers a ride to dinner in a Morris Minor, after a drive to the top of Lombard Avenue to take in the view. The only problem is that the vehicle was completely incapable of driving up Lombard Street with a full complement of adults. Two of them had to get out and walk. And the next year, Morris Minor received a power bump 😉
Thank you for that wonderful video, I l, like you, have been to Dunedin in New Zealand but unfortunately didn't get to see Baldwin street.
It was great to see Betty driving both roads.
Hubnuttery at its best! Will you receive an award, a plaque perhaps , maybe a a cup ? OR will you just present yourself with a Betty Mug (maybe world beating Betty mug is in the pipeline ). In all fairness the whole episode is very interesting. Thanks Ian. Bob ( Somerset)
I tried driving up one of those hills there in a 1977 Austin Princess sometime in the 80's. We got to a very sharp, very steep left Hand bend.The front drive wheels started bouncing as we took up the drive. I knew the car was struggling so I bottled out and went back down again...lol
There was a pretty steep street in Bristol, Vine Street IIRC, it was certainly the trickiest parallel parking I've ever done. Another fun and typically HubNut video, thanks.
It's Vale , not Vine, Street, in Bristol
A friend of mine has a cottage in wales that is up a steeper road than that but it is a private road. It even features a sign at the bottom that reads "Not suitable for motors" which if anything is you just daring you.
It's always been fun testing different cars on it. My Kia Pride failed to get up it at all, its cheap Chinese tyres couldn't get purchase (it was autumn and there were a lot of leaves and sticks) and I slid most of the down backwards. I've been up it in a Merc SLK230, a Peugeot 206, an RX8. an RX7, an MX5 and an MG F. Strangely the MG F was the best of the lot, it just glided up it with no fuss at all (mid engine for the win?). The 206 did very well too. The RX8 and Merc both went up reasonably well but with wheelspin and the traction control kicking in, the MX5 scrabbled its way up competently enough and the RX7 went up it with a sudden whoosh of boost and a lot of wheelspin so sheer brute force won the day for that. There is a very tight turn at the end which I've mastered to get round in one usually now - if you don't and get stuck you will have a very smoky clutch by the time you finish. Getting back down is a risky endeavor too, you can't allow the car to build any speed at all or you are NOT stopping. You need to go down it slower than walking pace.
I lived in Harlech for a few months in 1995. We lived on the highest road in town and I went to the primary school below castle, so I had to walk down then back up that road every day. I've probably never been fitter
Hi Ian that was a great video. Thankyou take care and hubnut family 😊 👍😊
It used to be two way, I have driven up several times. I have also seen a large articulated lorry stuck at the first hairpin on the up side, presumably following the satnav rather than common sense.....
Too much of that over here as well! Lorries getting stuck on overpasses on a roadway that says REPEATEDLY "PASSENGER CARS ONLY".
I love this commitment to the cause. You just need to take Betty to Edinburgh now so she can experience two Dunedins
I walked up Baldwin St a couple of years back .... fortunately there is a park bench at the top (summit?). While I was there someone attempted to drive a campervan to the top, gave up half-way and had to reverse it back down again.
I've been to Baldwin Street but not this one. Must visit. Then there is Lombard Street, San Francisco and Serpentine Street, Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. Not famed (for being as steep) but both worth a visit and both of which I've been to. Cool claim to have driven the same car up/down both. 👍
Nice one Ian, driving Betty on both steepest streets when the weren't the steepest streets. Definitely "Hubnuts law" on that. Anyway you and Betty have done them both. Have a word with Guinness for a mention for driving both streets when they were, then were not the record holders..
Wow! That's some achievement. You have to be the only person in the world who has done this. You should get in touch with the Wales local TV news channels, I'm sure this remarkable and unique feat would make an excellent "and finally . . . " segment. Congratulations and well done! 👍😃
I worked a winter in the water treatment works on the mountain. Always looked forward to Fridays and driving down the steepest road on my start of my drive home
Another candidate for steepest street is Ash Lane, in Nettlebridge, Somerset. There is a blue sign which proclaims it as 'Unsuitable for motor vehicles' although several people have houses on it and are clearly able to come and go in an ordinary car. It will appear on your satnav if you want to create a route through it. There is also an unofficial sign which proclaims it as unsuitable for motor vehicles in Polish and Romanian.
If your ever in South Wales valleys check out Bargoed Hill, hell of a steep road. You really have to boot the accelerator to get up that one, loads of fun.
I'm honored to have watched you and Betty drive both 👌
There is a village in Cornwall with a steeper main street but as it is only open to foot traffic, two and four footed (Donkeys), as too narrow and has steps in places, it probably wouldn't count. One end of the road my road is off is a 33% slope ,straight up the side of the valley, luckily only that steep for 75m, it has a 27% average over the 200m length of it. A loaded school bus struggles up it. The bottom is a blind junction on a bend of a main road so safer to only drive up. It was even more blind before the angled bridge and embankment of the closed rail line was removed.
I went down this route while i was in Harlech, knew nothing about this road and was superised how steep it was!
Back in the 1960s I drove UP Ford Pen Llech many times - it was two-way then. I went upon in a Morris Minor with three passengers - two had to get out! On more than one occasion I met a car coming down - quite hairy to stop and then do a serious hill start.
Only an AU Ford Fairmont can do that. I would have done it sideways with smoking tyres in my AU Ford Falcon 347 Windsor ute!😎👍.
Great video, thank you.
We love Harlech. Been down that street in our old LWB Transit bus and the bit where you say the corner is tight put a wheel on the dirt. Pucker isn't the word.
I did this with my Saxo (RIP) a few years ago. I moved from Wales to Dunedin. I took my wife on a tour of Wales, then shipped the Saxo. When we went to Harlech, there was a bunch of cyclists there. One looked a lot like Timmy Mallet. A year or so later, I looked up Timmy Mallet, and turns out he was doing a charity bike ride at the time.
And I owned the same Saxo VTR 3 times, I was owner 3, 5 and 7! She ticked over 100,000 miles in Dunedin. (the only mark 2 Saxo in NZ!) Written off now sadly, (rear ended by a Ford Territory) but I have the UK plates on my garage wall (have to hand the NZ plates back.) a great car, with the loudest exhaust... Baldwin st, at night, first gear, flat to the floor, I bet the people living on Baldwin St loved me.
I drove up and down Baldwin St. when I lived in NZ, and the guy who lives immediately across the road from me originates from Harlech so he knows Fford Pen Llech. We discussed the merits of their respective claims in the pub a couple of years ago
Great fun riding our Yamaha venture up Baldwin Street back in the 90s We certainly shot up that hill in 3rd gear
That is a lot of fun, great game, HubNut setting records in magical scenery, both 'down under' and 'up here' with the largest member of the fleet! Awesome concept, thank you.
And Wales is quite the backdrop, so many sights to take in! Cheers Mr HubNut 😎👍
I tried to make it up here in the wet in my rover 200 a while back... wheels spinning and rolling back down. Harrowing experience!
Have always loved north Wales - Snowdonia and the Llyn peninsula are amazing. Spent many years camping around there.
I remember when I was living in the Swansea Valley, back about 1989 (when I had a Mini Van), I came across a hill in Swansea town itself called Constitution Hill. I suppose, for length, it's a bit of a short-arse, but that just makes the gradient of the thing far more severe. It was intersected by three or four roads which, for safety's sake, were on a level plane, but that just made the drops even more cliff-like. Needless to say, I couldn't get up it in my Mini without burning the clutch, so I just went uptown Top Ranking.
Used to do delivery driving around there. Glad I don't anymore with those narrow steep roads and properties out in the sticks above Harlech it felt like hard work in a large van.
I can imagine, I bet you encountered many idiot drivers who didn't have the sense to slow down and stop before a tight bend to let you get the van around it. And then they'd look at you with a face as if you had been the one in the wrong.
Haha, ask me how I know. 😂
@@MrManBuzz Oh yeah. Been there done that.
But on the bright side, sat navs, 4g, address finder apps and Google maps have arrived and improved the job of the delivery driver immeasurably since I first started. They take you to the doorstep now.
I used to put a postcode in the satnav and hope for the best when delivering to places in the middle of nowhere in the dark. Being lost with a patchy phone signal a dodgy narrow 'road' wasn't fun.
@@leejohnson3209 Yeah, I'm a courier myself, I don't know how people managed before the days of satnav, trying to find houses in the middle of nowhere even with satnav can be stressful, but if I had nothing but a paper map to go off of, I'd be completely lost. And to think drivers weren't paid well or given any respect back then either, not much has changed in that regard but still.
I was there back in July. Lovely place and the castle is well worth a visit.
Fantastic😁 Growing up in Chester as a kid I challenged my mum to drive down the cobbled surfaced Saint Mary’s Hill in the city centre - circa 37% - in her 1978 Chrysler Horizon😂. We lived! That road is now pedestrian only to prevent such antics 😂😂
I think you are right Ian saying that there can't be many cars to drive down both steepest streets. Good work Sir!
Hi to you both,,
Omg, that was a very big hill,I would not like to walk up it,,,, great video as all ways.
When I was living for a while in Los Angeles, I found a very steep street there as well: Lomita Drive. The reason I found it was that I had happened to find Cherokee Lane on the map - Cherokee Lane is also the title of a track by Tangerine Dream, so of course I was curious to check it out. It was always a bit of a mystery title for me. Anyway, I took my mountanbike up Coldwater Canyon Drive (another track on the same LP!) and then finally got to check it out. It was a very nice place, but not a mysterious as my mind had made it to be. To come back down again I had to continue to Lomita Drive, which is by far the steepest street I have ever come acorss - it was also quite long, so I had to stop a few times to let the break discs of the bike cool down... there was a serious risk of overheating, dispite a very slow pace. I imagined the break pads wearing out with fatal consequenses... At some point it all felt hopeless and I seriously considered either walking down with the bike beside me or go back up again and go down Coldwater Canyon Drive, which is not very steep at all. I challenge you to take Betty up and down that street! ;D
You're probably talking about Loma Vista, not Lomita Drive.
Brilliant video Ian 👍 my that was tight
I've done that run up and down Harlech in a Matiz, I laughed all the way round😁
Uniquely interesting well done you HubNutters.
Another great video has always Ian and miss hubnut and hublets and hubmutts
What a marvelous place and....that would be a great adventure to drive that road.....in the snow🤔
Well done, Betty🤩
It would be good being able to say you have driven down those two streets I can only say I have driven down the one in NZ , and my wife and son have walked up it.
Some achievement! What a great thing to say that you've done. Betty is a great story.
Visitors to Dunedin should also attempt Lancefield Street. Not quite as steep, but very narrow and winding, with tight hairpin bends. It allows two-way traffic, meeting a car coming the other way can be interesting in a couple of places. It's also a good practical demonstration of how the sharp inside apex is alarmingly steep, which the Welsh tried to get away with in their calculations.
A glorious video, don't forget not only has Betty driven the two steepest streets in the world, she has also been stuck on beaches on opposing sides of the world. Is there a third video to complete the Betty Hubnut global Trifecta?
Some years ago I walked up that road coming back from the pub at the bottom to my B&B at the top, and yes it is very steep.
I drove down this during the summer in our low slung Ford Focus estate, bottomed out slightly a couple of times.
Top job Ian. 👏👍
That was brilliant. Well done Betty. She is a keeper.
There was a very steep road leading to the "Berggasthof" I was staying in Malbun, Liechtenstein in the late 1990s. I cannot remember the gradient, but it was so steep that it was closed for normal traffic (most people took the funicular as it was 200 meters up the mountain), the hotel owner drove up there in her Subaru Justy 4x4.
Where no Ford Falcon has gone before. That is a tight squeeze.
Sweet! That was more like Lombard St in San Francisco, a rural version! Talk to the Guinness People, might be a record for Betty!
I guess we'll have to give it to Wales anyway seeing as you driven your Ffordd Ffairmontt in both. ;)
We drove up the Fford Pen Llech road once and we needed plenty of hill starts due to cars coming down. Wouldn't like to walk up it everyday.
Driving Betty around, you can see why Americans, Canadians and Australians loved larger cars. They give a great ride on the road. In the USA, we have a huge network of highways and it is so much nicer to cruise around in a large vehicle rather then a cramped car like a Toyota Yaris. My 1995 Cadillac DeVille was great on the roads with a soft ride that also disguised the crappy pot holes in some states
We used to camp near the base of Harlech every year. Those castle walls can be scary on a windy day!
I'd be 'inclined', to give Betty a well-deserved rest now.
Ha!
It's downhill from here
Ian, you need to now contact the Guinness World Records and get yourself and Betty an entry in the book as the only vehicle to have done both the hemispherically opposite steepest streets.🤔
Quite an "not quite the ..." achievement there. Looking forward to seeing the merch following this special bit of hubnuttery. 👍
Perhaps a new song, Hills of Betty needs writing and producing ...
My friend and I had a drive into Ambleside from the Kirkstone Pass in his mum's 1990 Astra 1.6 automatic. Even locked in 1st gear, the brakes were almost gone by the bottom and absolutely stank. Thank goodness Betty has big anchors.
Would've probably worked better to have Betty in reverse while rolling forwards down the road, using the huge torque and torque converter slip to keep the car slow haha
Yup, that road fried the brakes on my Mum's '86 Sunny despite my best efforts! When she asked what the burning smell was I said "the car in front"..
Love the Hat. Good to see hubnuts out in THE car.
Great stuff Ian! Think I asked you a while back. Surely you have just set your own Guinness World record??
I think Betty was the only car in the fleet that could of managed the severity of the inclines involved! Rocking the hat by the way👍👍👍👍
Elly has been over Hardknott Pass you know. 😉
All the times I've been to/through Harlech, never knew it was there. Maybe a new thread for Hubnut Videos - breaking World Records ☺.
Surely the road down from the great orme must be in with a shout? My friend couldnt get up it with her little old clio 😂
Have to say, Valerie the Valiant has almost certainly been up Baldwin street, (but cannot confirm for sure) and has definitely been down the one in harlec 😁
My XA Falcon got 75% of the way,that's when I discovered the limitations of the fuel pick up with quarter of a tank.
Aj Furrell, you have a Valiant in the UK? (I presume?) Thats awesome! Had a few Valiants/Chrysler Australia cars in the family, but not so unusual here in OZ!
@@andrewhofler I do, she lives in North Wales these days 😁
@@ajfurrell3744 Amazing another ex-NZ car is living in Wales too! You'll have to start a car club with Ian!😆
@@andrewhofler
I've owned a VF 770 Regal Coupe (318) and a VC Valiant (Slant). Show us yer Val Aj.
Very interesting
I used to go into North Wales a lot from Liverpool
I now live in New Zealand
That street would make a interesting Red Bull Soap box race event. I think all competitors would have to fit decent brakes.
I've taken my MG TF "Whiskey" up Porlock Hill in Somerset. Without a LSD, I had to throw it around the bends; which were like climbing a wall, to avoid a wheel spinning. Maybe you could give this a go.
Did that last year in a fully loaded Citroen C5 with a dicky clutch. No bother!
Porlock Hill is definitely not a drive for the faint hearted! I made the mistake of routing through there and got stuck behind a tractor going up the hill - it was interesting to say the least! I will say though, Porlock is lovely and the scenery was stunning, but then I also managed the Hard Knott pass with only mild PTSD.
LMAO I said mucky almost as you did! Brilliant video
Iive near Mow Cop, Cheshire and Station Bank is very steep, even a race held there is called the "Killer Mile"
The last time I went down there was with Learner plates in an Allegro. 84 was a good year
As a new student at Coleg Harlech, (now sadly closed)I made the mistake of walking up Ffordd Pen Llech so that I could do some shopping in the town. It's not a mistake made twice! To be fair though, most ways of accessing Harlech Uchaf from Harlech Isaf involve something of a steep ascent, though of them all the college 'Goat Track' was the least strenuous.
So very Hubnut to drive both contenders for the title, but while each had the title stripped. Well done, Ian! While not technically a "street", you should try the North Shore of the St. Lawrence River East of Quebec City to San Simeon in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Gradients in places exceed 30%. There is one corner in the town of Les Eboulement that literally could not be tighter. The inside of the turn is the corner board of a house. Yes, the pavement meets the foundation of the house on two sides. Vehicles must alternate in direction, because about the only car that could make the turn in one go is a London Taxi from Austin! I have done the drive in a 79 Ford Thunderbird, and yes, I did have smoke coming out of both front wheel wells. I have been on less scary roller coasters!
I think you need to drive up and down some of the streets in Lincoln. There is one called steep hill (clue is in the name) and there are some contenders off of Monks road too.
The second I saw the opening frames of this video, a line from " 'ullo John got a new motor?" came into my head. _What_ line is left as an exercise for the reader, as the school text books used to say...
If you have a regular road with a pothole most of the way across it (or in the centre maybe, you mentioned something about measuring it in the middle of the road) then the edges of the crater may have a gradient of close to 100%.
A RUclips gem, that video.
In time take the rest of the fleet to Fford Pen Llech(!!). Interestingly enough,I'm roughly a half-Hour's drive to North Wales here in PA.