Tail Of The Dragon

[timrock101]

Found a link to what looks to be an awesome road trip...www.tailofthedragon.com It is in Tennessee and North Carolina. 318 curves in 11 miles. WoooHooo, Here we go !!!

 

[AGR]

Found a link to what looks to be an awesome road trip...www.tailofthedragon.com, It is in Tennessee and North Carolina. 318 curves in 11 miles. WoooHooo, Here we go !!!

Tim: Isn't that cool?! I want to get over and run that road. You know; I spent some time (1967/1968) in Arlington Heights - used to hang out at the Randhurst Mall. Used to try to convince the patrons I ran the elevators. Nobody believed me. I was 12 at the time. (chair)

 

[FuNwaGoN]

Welcome to the South boys. The area you are speaking about is deals gap. go here http://www.dealsgap.com/ I have been there several times. The road is truely incredible whether you are on 2 wheels or 4. I have run it all out in an S2000(wasn't driving) corrado Vr6 w/mods(Iwas driving) and on a cbr600F2(my old bike) a yamaha R6 (shops bike) and a Ducati 900SS (was my friends) I will say this though BE CAREFUL cause the dragon will BITE you if you are not careful. Have seen it in person with guys sliding over the edge and bikes going of cliffs and all kinds of craziness. An accident that happened right in front of me involved one of my friends and a guy in front of him. We were hitting it pretty hard when we came up on a guy in a turn just as the front end of his bike was coming out from underneath him and my friend had no where else to go. Ended up riding over the guy and breaking his back. Suprisingly the guy gets up to see if my friend is ok. But my friend was gone. After a few minutes though the pain and shock started to set in. A few minutes after that my friend returns and says that he rode as fast as he could to a phone and called the cops and ambulance. By this time the guy could barely move. Cops said it was a no fault and that we were all lucky. the guy thanked my friend and went off in the ambulance. Another of my friends still has 2 nikes up there down some cliff. One is a CBR 900RR and the other is a R1. Insurance siad they were totaled and didn't want to have to pay a crane to come and get them out. BTW a mazda miata club runs it a couple of times a year as a group. Also I have been trying to plan a Protege run this summer. Just trying to get all of the details together before I post about it.

 

[changedman]

that is a really nice place. My friends and I are going to Pigeon Forge, TN and my friend is working in Raleigh, NC this summer. How close is this? I cant get driving directions to figure out where this place is.

 

[MP5Raycer]

I live in Knox and I have been there myself ..and I have seen the nastiest wreck there when a 2001 Prelude tried keeping up with the dudes on the rice rockets and tht prooved to be a big big mistake ..he help up for abotu 3 turns and then lost it and wound up rolling it about 7 times and shreading the car against the rocks ..and i dont think he made it .. that is a place that needs to be respected alot ..but is a blast ...

 

[LinuxRacr]

When I get my car fixed, I am so there sometime soon! I've been wanting to go for a while now.

 

[MP5Raycer]

here is a great one

CAN YOU SAY (owned) (loser)

 

[FuNwaGoN]

oh hell don't make me go digging for my pictures!!!! I know right where that is at too. as far as directions the site I provided above should be some help. It is up past Asheville. And I can tell you that from Raleigh it will take you about 4 hours to get there. I know because I rode my motorcycle from NC State with 4 other guys up there. Man was that a long ride. We got a hotel that night and were out at first light the next day. Will keep everyone posted on when the Dragon Meet is going to be. Linux it would be great if you could get up here for it. I am thinking like maybe july or august.

 

[LinuxRacr]

That would be sweet!! I am currently in the market for a beater car (one that has boost i.e. a 88'T-bird Turbo Coupe). After I have a dependable beater, then it's on!

 

[nattyboy513]

johnnymiata posted about this awhile ago... 381 curves in 11 miles, thats like one curve every 150 feet. i am going to the university of tennessee in knoxville next year and will be making a few trips out there

 

[timrock101]

Hey Greg, I was just at Randhurst Mall last night getting my long hair cut off, 18 years worth.lol. I remember you saying that you lived in Arlington Heights a long time ago. I would much rather live down in TN. My wife and I visited Gatlinburg in 1994, we loved it. Also hiked up to Clingmans Dome, boy were we tired.
I am planning on making the trip again this July, so if Y'all are planning a meet at Deals Gap, let me know, I would love to attend since I am planning on being there in July anyways.
I cant wait to conquer the Tail....ROCK ON !!!

 

[Grimace]

There are in-car videos of people who have run the gap over on the miata forum (www.miataforum.com, search in car talk.) It looks like a pretty crazy road. One day I hope to try it... in a nice RWD Mazda convertible...

 

[dmitrik4]

i'm headed down on May 14th with people from NASIOC.com...can't wait!

 

[dmitrik4]

got back from the Dragon last week...crazy crazy crazy! and fun fun fun! 2 wrecked subarus..one flipped SVX on the Skyway and an XT6-biker incident on the Dragon. also, a biker died on Friday on the Dragon...story i heard was he was pulling a wheelie, came down too hard, went over the bars into the woods. ugh.

the Pro kept up very respectably, esp considering she is bone stock.

some pics follow:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4290074039&congratulation_page=Y

if you have the chance, you should definitely go. it was worth the 12 hour drive from philly.

 

[loj68]

if you're gonna go, do it during the week cuz everyone I know who goes there says the weekends are squid heaven and it's packed with people and cops. I'm hoping to finally make it there this summer since I'm in Raleigh and I'm told it's around a 5 hour ride.....I won't be in the MSP though......it'll be strictly R6 action babeeeeeeeee!

Oh, and someone wanted directions.....one of the posts above had the link to the Deals Gap website and it has directions. Here's the direct link:

http://www.dealsgap.com/directions.php

 

[dmitrik4]

we got there late wed night and had all day thurs and friday to drive. actually, i didn't see a single cop anywhere in the area the whole time. it was great to be able to drive to the road and conditions without worrying about getting pulled for going 10 or 15 over.

everyone drives fast down there, locals included...and if they don't, at least they're courteous enough to pull over and let you pass!

it was definitely more crowded on sat and sunday, though.

 

[dj JINX]

Thats a sweet peace of road been knee draggin on the dragon a few times on my R1 and R6 We sould get a run there soon!!!