quattro Magazine Feature: ACNW Maryhill Loops Road Tour and Wine Tasting at 18

[by: by Lorne Dyke, Event Master (ACNA member 24512)
Photos by Dmitry Antipov, Lorne Dyke]

The Audi Club Northwest Chapter delights in providing Audi Club members with driver’s skills (DS) training, high performance driving education (HPDE) experiences and social events in the Pacific Northwest. Our fall tour event combines elements of all three occurring in the Columbia River Gorge bordering Washington and Oregon.

In 1909 the successful railway lawyer and developer Samuel Hill started construction of Maryhill Loops Road at his own expense as a prototype for new macadam asphalt road design and construction methods. He tested seven different paving methods transiting steep river gorge grades and gullies. Sam Hill’s experimentation conveying large loads, examining roadway durability with various curve radii and gradients resulted in a 1913 contract with Oregon for the Columbia River Highway (portion of Interstate 84). In 1998 a 3.6-mile portion of prototype Maryhill Loops Road was refurbished featuring an 850-foot climb featuring 25 curves, including 8 hairpins, from an event staging area at base to a picturesque turn-around at the top. Today this private road is used for cycling, skateboarding and exclusive automotive events. Our ACNW event is NOT a hillclimb race, but it does provide Audi Club enthusiasts with an adrenaline inducing tour blending DS, HPDE and social skills in one package.

ACNW hosted its 18^th annual Maryhill Loops Road Tour and Wine Tasting event on October 18^th. The format featured timed interval releases for spirited ascents, monitored by volunteer spotters and trackers on radios, and drivers often accompanied by thrill seeking passengers. Once atop the hill, drivers followed one another in group parade style descents. This allows at least 10 runs each for the two run groups. Catered lunch in the staging area offered 36 drivers and 22 guests time to recharge, share stories and compare photos before afternoon driver’s meeting and runs.

After a great day driving Maryhill Loops Road, participants met at nearby Maryhill Winery. The winery, overlooking vineyards along Columbia River treated drivers and their guests to curated wine tastings and a four-course meal. Wine makers in eastern Washington AVA’s are winning many competitions with limited production Spanish and Italian grape varieties in addition to the traditional French Bordeaux and Rhone style wines that made this region popular.

Limited registration maintains a smaller event size, assuring the tour is safe and fun with an exhilarating driving experience followed by award winning Pacific Northwest wines with a catered meal featuring stunning views of the Columbia River valley.

Wildfire Risks and Safety Improvements

Previously held in September, ACNW rescheduled this event due to Klickitat County’s wildfire risk and Rural Fire District 7’s concern regarding their available response time at the rural Maryhill Loops Road. Although the event is primarily a social tour, cars were required to carry a secured fire extinguisher, restricted to licensed street legal cars with drivers and ride-along guests without helmets, absent any hillclimb race speed traps or timing gear, to maintain an atmosphere of fun instead of competitive driving. The event respected the county and Maryhill Museum of Art’s (private road owner) wishes for the safest possible event and scheduling for a time when fire risks are lower in the fall. ACNW will poll MotorsportReg.com members to vote on 2026 19^th annual event date options.

Like so many ACNA events, volunteers are crucial to hosting this destination experience! Our safety steward, Pat Martin provided continuous feedback on car intervals and road conditions, and our patrolling photographer, Dmitry Antipov, provided high resolution images for every driver. These were just two of the twenty volunteers that made our 18^th annual event fantastic!

ACNW’s inaugural event master, Carrie Stewart, previously organized a memorial bench honoring our prior safety steward, Bruce Fields at the picturesque hilltop turn-around. Carrie’s and Bruce’s ground-breaking work made this an annual event worthy of our core supporters and all-volunteer team.

To the Top and Back Down

This event draws a blend of enthusiasts who plan attendance each year and drivers new to the club, including some who have not yet driven on-track HDPE events. Drivers in the two run groups are selected based on experience. Our core group of returning enthusiasts often shepherd first timers with ride-along opportunities. The aggressive ascent uses all the asphalt (both lanes) as we incrementally reduce release intervals while driver’s dial in the 25 curves, especially those tricky 8 hairpin corners. Safety awareness is sustained with radio callouts at release, mid-point (our “Grassy Knoll”) and hilltop enabling individual car tracking with logs for each run. Large fire extinguishers at release, Grassy Knoll and hilltop were available should a vehicle off road result in a red flag condition and response. We insist on a centipede parade return to start during each run as other clubs’ events have suffered roll-overs during aggressive descents. Pat Martin radioed custom release intervals to accommodate differing driver / car ascent speeds and gaps. Dmitry Antipov roamed the hillsides (also in radio contact) armed with his Canon 5D Mark IV and Canon 11-24mm wide zoom, 100-400mm telephoto zoom, and 135mm Portrait Prime lenses for terrific high-resolution pictures. Audi Club North America supports our annual events by insurance coverage that several other clubs can no longer obtain due to incident claim history. ACNW proudly hosts this event in a manor to preserve safety and insurance availability that is critical to this event.

A successful 18^th year for ACNW’s Maryhill Loops Road Tour and Wine Tasting fostered many old friendships and created several new ones. Takeaways include more opportunities for improvement, as we evaluate technology for run release interval timing and car tracking with our volunteers. The ACNW Board of Trustees and our all-volunteer team are proud of this tour event and how it blends all driving and social skills at a historically significant road setting! Please consider joining us in 2026 for our 19^th annual ACNW’s Maryhill Loops Road Tour and Wine Tasting event.

To see this story and more, click here to access the Q1_2026 digital issue of quattro Magazine.