I'm for fixing the spot you referred to the right way the first time, cost somewhat set aside. If you do it right, you won't be screwing with every year for years to come. Once and done!
For me that would be, digging out the clay as far as needed to get to a hard base which can allow for proper drainage. Then use or don't the fabric - since you already have why not use it, then build up the drive in the area where you dug with the proper stone and so on until you have a fully compacted area with crown, AND any needed ditching or culverts, or both.
Clay is crap for drainage and will mess with your mind if not addressed. I've lived in our VT property since 1986 and seen it allow a driveway that was installed by the former builder/owner literally bounce up and down when walked on in front of the garage bays and other sections during thaws and in Spring.
Like you I have higher land above the garage area turnaround and the hydraulic pressure over the years from improper drainage has knocked down a hollow block wall along the bank adjacent to the garage two times over the last 20 or so years. With the hollow block it was required to put 2 courses of blocks into a trench then use fabric from the top of each row of blocks tied back into the bank, stone covering and filled and tamped into each row of blocks. Then plastic pins hammered into the top of each block to allow the next course to move slightly and to retain the wall's offset from row to row.. We ran drainage tile with a sock along the entire length to keep fines out from the trench across the drive to daylight. It didn't do a thing, once the water built up behind the wall it just pushed like a glacier against the wall and broke it into a pile of random block in front of the bay doors. It might have taken 8-10 years to break apart. All due to clay's inability to allow water past it further into the underdrive areas.
The drive is over 400 feet to the top of the turn around in front of the garage bays. Recently I added a couple of strategic sections of 18" plastic double lined culvert, essentially, 40' total, and it has worked wonders. I worked with the excavator to determine where to install them and one is where the drive starts to turn and head straight down to the town road. I have a ditch lined with 6"+ jagged stone to catch the water run off from the drive and from the high land adjacent to the drive. Last summer I had the excavator back to swail the ditch shape to allow the drive to take priority over the high land when torrential rains come and have twice completely ripped out some of my higher elevation ditches. This time the damage was extreme in a July 1st storm that blew out a State highway 5' culvert at the end of our road and the State road. It forced the State to close the highway, rebuild the roadway and the ditches. The repair work at my ditches behind the house and barn took 10 days, 8 hrs/day and over $20,000 in machine and stone work. Yikes!:confused3:
Fortunately the culverts installed along the front drive held off everything and very little damage occurred to the main drive, for once. It had along with the entire drive(s) surfaces been recoated with local stone then rolled/compacted earlier in the Spring.
We installed a few strategic catch basins, filled with large stones/small boulders to stop the flow of water so it is less likely to blow all the stone out of the ditches behind the house/barn/shed areas on it's way to level ground. Hoping it will hold the next monster storm....
If it were my place I wouldn't even consider concrete or asphalt until your drainage problems are solved, not just patched up. Neither will reduce water flow- it will direct surface water and rain/snow runoff to where it will flow following what grade you finish it with.
I'm NOT saying never to concrete or asphalt; I am saying just not now. Once it's fixed and has a couple of years of 4 full seasons, maybe then, if still wanting to do it...
There must be people in your local are who you could consult with for a fee to see if what you plan to do is likely the job solution and follows known best practice parameters for you part of your State.
