Tail of the Dragon & surrounding roads

parshooter said:
Question for those who've done this. Since it's so popular, does traffic get congested or does it flow like you want it to?
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It really depends on the day for sure, plus the time of day. Keep in mind that its a public road, so you can never predict it exactly. There are times where no one gets in the way and you have a straight shot. One things for sure, AVOID DOING IT ON A SATURDAY OR SUNDAY! Running it at night time is best but you should wait till you've run it a few times before doing this unless you can take it easy. Another tip for night time is to have a more experienced driver infront of you and follow them, using their headlights to help see what's coming and their brake lights to know when to brake, really helps but make sure your brakes are good and the person infront of you trusts your driving skills. I did this when I took a Honda CR-Z out there and I followed my buddy's modded Mazdaspeed 3, that was great...smoked the brakes but they cooled off and worked just fine afterwards, LOL!

Sat and Sun are for sightseerers, they all come out of the wood work, so your best bet is to tackle the road early in the week. I will say that last year we ran it on a Thursday afternoon, around 1-ish and our lead car got a ticket for doing 63 in a 30, $257 dollars. I got lucky because I was the lead the car for the whole trip except that particular time, I guess I've done some nice things for people in the past, LOL!
 
I know its last minute but if anyone wants to go and join a small group on our run the invite is out, we arrive Wednesday Oct 5th around dinner time and leave on Sunday morning, various routes planned for each day too, along with a new road....the Snake, 489 turns in 33 miles, should be a good one :props:
 
Just did the dragon a couple weeks ago, so much fun except for last two miles. Myself and about 9 other cars and bikes got stuck behind a couple of harleys on a pleasure cruise at 15 mph. We were coming to complete stops in the corners. Very frustrating as we passed pull-off after pull-off.

For those that don't know the roads, we found a free map that showed all the different loops.

Beautiful country down there. Have a safe run.
 
ILsolsticelvr said:
Just did the dragon a couple weeks ago, so much fun except for last two miles. Myself and about 9 other cars and bikes got stuck behind a couple of harleys on a pleasure cruise at 15 mph. We were coming to complete stops in the corners. Very frustrating as we passed pull-off after pull-off.

For those that don't know the roads, we found a free map that showed all the different loops.

Beautiful country down there. Have a safe run.
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Thank you very much!

Well today is the day, its 3 a.m. and I'm getting ready to hit the shower and check everything and head out, also pulling up some addy's for restaraunts we will hit, good to have an address for the GPS ahead of time as you usually don't have cell service.

Yeah it sucks getting stuck behind hogs for sure but the worst is getting stuck behind hog trikes or worse even, hog trikes with little trailers. I mean I'm all for having a good time down there and its a public road but my God! I will make a thread with lots of pics and stories, hoping to get some AutoGeek noobs to come out with us next year, or some vets that have done it and just wanna go again, either way, I'm ready to head down to God's country in about an hour!!
 
I just had a waffle and a side of sausage patties. I just got into Tennessee and its Hardee's time, another place not found in Illinois.

Wait till I take a pic of my car in the parking lot here, the background is awesome!

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Looked more impressive from inside Hardee's looking out

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Klasse Act said:
I just had a waffle and a side of sausage patties. I just got into Tennessee and its Hardee's time, another place not found in Illinois.

Wait till I take a pic of my car in the parking lot here, the background is awesome!

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You don't have Waffle House? I have one to the east and one to the west of my house, a mile from each.
 
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...from the Charahola Skyway!

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The Snake SUCKED!

It's not because it was 2.5 hrs away and we drove through a monsoon during rush hour when we left...a route that took us too far out of our way but the road quality sucked! Was surely NOT 489 turns and didn't seem like 33 miles to me either and I couldn't even get myself a patch to show that I endured it either, couldn't have been a bigger waste of time.

The good thing about it is that I get to tell people about to save them the hassle. I mean if your close to it you can check it out, there were "some" sections that were ok, one uphill hairpin that you could plant your nose into for sure, there was even a house in one of the apexes, LOL.

I will have a thread made for this trip but I can tell you this, I'm over 2000 miles on the trip right now and not home yet, too much driving this trip, lesson learned though.

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Sorry to hear that you're disappointed. Guess driving somewhere to go driving is really a crap shoot. Unless it's a closed circuit, I don't think I'd take the chance of driving a few hours to drive a public-access road. Too many variables to go wrong. I do want to drive the Double Nickel (here in OH) one day.
 
parshooter said:
Sorry to hear that you're disappointed. Guess driving somewhere to go driving is really a crap shoot. Unless it's a closed circuit, I don't think I'd take the chance of driving a few hours to drive a public-access road. Too many variables to go wrong. I do want to drive the Double Nickel (here in OH) one day.
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I think you mean't the triple nickel, LOL!

You are right about it being a crap shoot but because of my experience others can benefit for sure. I wasn't even able to get a patch to prove I did it either, out of season according to the people who run a store in the middle of it, sucks. On the other hand the route 30 drive was awesome for sure, we will be doing that one again without a doubt.

On a side note although I love my car and it handles the Dragon well I don't like how it feels going around big sweepers and especially going downhill. The car is tallish and has a 65/35 weight bias and stock suspension other than a 28mm rear bar, plus I have no track experience or driving schooling, I think I need to invest in myself but there's NO way to grow a larger pair but I'll keep my ears open on the latter, LOL!

Advice????
 
Advice on what? If it's driving school, I don't think I'd spend alot of money on it unless you plan on racing. There are videos (YouTube, DVDs) and books to learn from. Try AutoX, it's a blast and you'll learn about your car too. You won't need to modify your suspension until you can out-drive your car as it is.
 
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