Tail of the Dragon/Deals Gap - February 3, 2008

[Eric.]

Like Cody had said, "thrashing that tiptronic"

That was so me!

 

[Azuremen]

That was so me!

Truth

He'll be thrashing that Tiptronic.

I can just see him VIGOROUSLY pushing the stick up an down, pretending to toe and heel just for effect!

But I added the excellent comic element as well

 

[1X83Z]

..

 

[Azuremen]

I would love to take the drive some time... except I live on the other side of the country. I'm in Savannah, GA right now, but I have a rental Corolla with an Automatic. I could probably waste Doug still; well, till the rear drums faded and I spun off the road and died in a fireball.

One of the roads that is probably comparable that I have driven over here is this bit...

Agness to Gold Beach, the yellow highway there

And then this stretch going back into Oregon

197 to 199, following 199 up to Oregon

And a note... we came through Agness from the north, on one of those god forsaken un-name NF-xxx road... things. Awesome till we found a section washed out... my MR2 wanted to kill me for the punishment it had to suffer.

 

[sn00pie]

Question. What's the fastest you went through any of the corners? Did you have any corners that had like a "recommended" speed through them of around 35-40mph and if so, what speed did your car handle through it?

And yes, race car drivers are true athletes. I do professional go-karting, and after roughly 20 minutes, I can no longer feel my hands (they pull about 2g sideways) and my body is just pwned to say the least and I have to stop (had a 3 hour endurance race a few months ago, and couldn't do longer than 20 min stints).

You should be able to drive longer than 20 minute stints. What class are you racing? And are you relaxing your hands on the straights - or clenching on for dear life all the time?

 

[Joey D]

Hell, the A4's got another run in it!

Guys, really, whenever anyone can make it down, I'll be happy to meet there and have some fun, particularly Joey and Brad. It's only about three hours from where I'm sitting right now, which is a normal Saturday spotting cars for me. Of course that fails to take into account the drive back, but whatever.

It's 660 miles from my house to the Dragon, so I would have to make it a weekend or something. It doesn't look like I would bad able to do this semester though since I have this Saturday class.

 

[Eric.]

I would love to take the drive some time... except I live on the other side of the country. I'm in Savannah, GA right now, but I have a rental Corolla with an Automatic. I could probably waste Doug still; well, till the rear drums faded and I spun off the road and died in a fireball.

One of the roads that is probably comparable that I have driven over here is this bit...

Agness to Gold Beach, the yellow highway there

And then this stretch going back into Oregon

197 to 199, following 199 up to Oregon

And a note... we came through Agness from the north, on one of those god forsaken un-name NF-xxx road... things. Awesome till we found a section washed out... my MR2 wanted to kill me for the punishment it had to suffer.

If you don't mind to write me into your will for the MR2 and Celica? kthxbai

 

[MustangSVT]

You should be able to drive longer than 20 minute stints. What class are you racing? And are you relaxing your hands on the straights - or clenching on for dear life all the time?

At the 3 hour endurance race, I didn't see anyone running longer than at the very most 25 minute stints and I'm talking like 60+ people here (3 per kart).

There are very few 35-40mph turns on the Dragon, but I would take 20mph ones at 35mph, but not much faster. Keef could probably run it considerably higher. For the record I didn't push it [edit: as much as I could have], due to my passenger. Right after Keef did the Dragon he mentioned to me something like 'don't do the Dragon. You'll slow people like me down.'

Very understandable. I didn't realize that the Dragon had "20mph" turns. The one good B-road i found around where I live has the turns that are recommmended 60km/h and 70km/h and the most I've done on them is 120km/h-125km/h respectively. I didn't realize that this "Dragon" has what sounds to me like far tighter corners.

 

[1X83Z]

..

 

[YSSMAN]

Guys, really, whenever anyone can make it down, I'll be happy to meet there and have some fun, particularly Joey and Brad. It's only about three hours from where I'm sitting right now, which is a normal Saturday spotting cars for me. Of course that fails to take into account the drive back, but whatever.

Its only about a ten hour drive down from Michigan, I think... Plus, if we're near Gatlinburg, I'd love to visit there again, it really is a nice place. I'm sure I'd burn up the breaks on the Jetta, but it would be fun. I should leave the exhaust broken so my car can at least sound "cool" and match the 'TOPGEAR' plate...

 

[Megasoft Office]

Mmmmm... brake fade.

Definitely know what that's like on my 1800kg sedan.
Pressing the pedal at 160km/h gives me a very distinct smell, as well as vapourizing all brake feel for an hour. Strangely enough, my pads last quite a bit longer than my sister's 1200kg Corolla :?

 

[JCE]

Well obviously we all would probably need some vented and sloted rotors and some seriously good brake pads before trying that. Especially me if I bring a Camaro with its sponge rear drums.

 

[daan]

It's only about three hours from where I'm sitting right now

Do you have to drive for 3 hours to get to any good driving road? Are there really that few good, driving roads in the US?

 

[JCE]

Do you have to drive for 3 hours to get to any good driving road? Are there really that few good, driving roads in the US?

Do you want to even know how long I have to drive to get to a good one?

I'm here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...-96.992455&spn=0.23774,0.462799&t=h&z=11&om=0

 

[YSSMAN]

Do you have to drive for 3 hours to get to any good driving road? Are there really that few good, driving roads in the US?

Depends, I think. There are some good roads within 10-15 minutes from my home near the river, but to get something EPIC like this? Yeah, you often have to go looking or make a trip to the "good stuff."

East of the Mississippi there are some really good roads out there, but between the river and the Rockies, there isn't much goin' on. As for the West coast, yeah, I think some of the rest of us can vouch for the good drives out there...

 

[land sea air]

Do you have to drive for 3 hours to get to any good driving road? Are there really that few good, driving roads in the US?

honestly it varies widely depending on where you are, there are quite a few fun roads in my area, unfortunately most of them have patches of bad road where speed has to be low. Out west things are so flat I can see an hour drive to get to anything resembling a corner being reasonable.

The tail is so famous because its like our 'Ring, except without the straights and with more cops

also, it's a 9 hour drive from my house

 

[Keef]

Question. What's the fastest you went through any of the corners? Did you have any corners that had like a "recommended" speed through them of around 35-40mph and if so, what speed did your car handle through it?

There are very few 35-40mph turns on the Dragon, but I would take 20mph ones at 35mph, but not much faster. Keef could probably run it considerably higher. For the record I didn't push it [edit: as much as I could have], due to my passenger. Right after Keef did the Dragon he mentioned to me something like 'don't do the Dragon. You'll slow people like me down.'

The speed limit on the Tennessee side is 50mph, and 30 in North Carolina. I didn't see any "recommended speed" signs at all. During our night time stints I was taking all the corners and straights of the twistiest section in second gear. I'll guess the tightest corners were taken at ~35mph because I was below 5500rpm in second (where VTEC engages) and I'd top out in between corners at around 60mph, which is the end of second gear. There were very few spots in that tight section where I'd get up to about 70. Most of the commuters we encountered hardly got up to the 50mph limit and went lazily through turns at about 20mph.

We only drove the road really hard during the safest time--at night. About midnight, to be exact. On one of the runs I remember passing a pickup, a bike, and a Magnum, which was at full throttle . We chatted with some bikers at the Inn and the group agreed that the road is safest at night. The biggest danger is other cars and riders, because it's actually a challenge to make yourself stay in your own lane aronud the tight corners. Not only is it the law, but even the sportiest of drivers look out for others and make sure to stay in their lane as best they can. In fact, I noticed the commuters were the worst offenders of the rule.

 

[Philly]

That road is a day, 14 minutes, 2650 miles and 13 states away from the GTI, unless I managed to get it out here next year. I guess Kyle, Azure and I could have a cross country road trip to represent. Or we could have a West Coast version down in Crescent City.

Do you have to drive for 3 hours to get to any good driving road? Are there really that few good, driving roads in the US?

I have a good road about 100 yards away from my house, but it's lined with houses all the way down, so it isn't that great. For us city folks, it'll probably take a couple hours to get outside town and into whatever hills there are. I sadly have yet to find a pretty good road within an hour.

 

[Azuremen]

That road is a day, 14 minutes, 2650 miles and 13 states away from the GTI, unless I managed to get it out here next year. I guess Kyle, Azure and I could have a cross country road trip to represent. Or we could have a West Coast version down in Crescent City.



I have a good road about 100 yards away from my house, but it's lined with houses all the way down, so it isn't that great. For us city folks, it'll probably take a couple hours to get outside town and into whatever hills there are. I sadly have yet to find a pretty good road within an hour.

Down the coast is always a great drive, even just for looking at stuff. Though I have to get a working MR2 and you guys will need Azenis so I don't drive through you

On Daan's comment, it really varies. My parents house is out of Spokane at a bit, and there are dozens of good paved and gravel roads for messing about on.

 

[Philly]

Summer tires sound fun. I'm looking for some good roads in the mountains just east of Seattle so I can throw my car into a ditch have some fun tossing the car around and learning performance driving.

 

[Slicks]

US129 is over 3,500 KM from my house.

West Coast version, perhaps?

 

[Joey D]

Pacific Coast Highway perhaps?

 

[Philly]

Street races are about the only interesting things on Pac Highway. That road has no corners. I bet there's something out in the hills in Oregon.

 

[Joey D]

Street races are about the only interesting things on Pac Highway. That road has no corners. I bet there's something out in the hills in Oregon.

That's a bit disappointing to hear...I always wanted to drive it.

 

[Azuremen]

Street races are about the only interesting things on Pac Highway. That road has no corners. I bet there's something out in the hills in Oregon.

There are wonderful roads if you go inland a bit. Trust me, I spent half a day on them. Also, the highway on the Washington side of the Columbia is a lot of fun as well.

That's a bit disappointing to hear...I always wanted to drive it.

Its a pretty drive, but Philly is right - not great corners and its loaded with tourists.

 

[Philly]

That's a bit disappointing to hear...I always wanted to drive it.

It depends on what Pacific Highway you are talking about. Pacific Highway goes through industrial Kent, and there isn't anything there but ricers and STIs. 101 would be a great drive for the scenery and for a nice long relaxing drive.

There are wonderful roads if you go inland a bit. Trust me, I spent half a day on them. Also, the highway on the Washington side of the Columbia is a lot of fun as well.

I'm looking for something in the Cascades that I can head out to at night and be back by like 4. It looks like there might be some decent roads in Oregon. 6, 53 and Foss Rd. carve through that big hilly group up in the Northwest corner of the state.

 

[Keef]

The best roads are the ones nobody has ever heard of. And most of them are in the Appalachian mountains. All the roads are old and were built with old technology. Out west they just plowed holes through the mountains and tried to make the majority as straight as possible, but here in the east the roads are like the Nurburgring. Except tighter and twistier.

 

[Joey D]

The best roads are the ones nobody has ever heard of. And most of them are in the Appalachian mountains. All the roads are old and were built with old technology. Out west they just plowed holes through the mountains and tried to make the majority as straight as possible, but here in the east the roads are like the Nurburgring. Except tighter and twistier.

Well I plan on driving through the northern part of them in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine this summer so I hope there is some awesomeness.

 

[Keef]

There will be awesomeness. Except that the police in those states are like the ones in Denmark.

 

[YSSMAN]

Its a pretty drive, but Philly is right - not great corners and its loaded with tourists.

Is it bad that one of my favorite drives is the stop-and-go traffic of Ocean Drive in Miami at night? To do that in anything remotely "nice" would be awesome...

If anyone decides to come around to Grand Rapids, we've got some decent country blasts that are worth it. Nothing too special, mostly rolling hills and curves down around the Grand River out to the farmland... Otherwise we've got Grattan Raceway. Thats about it.