First Dragon Run of the Season

[OutaFocus]

One of the advantages of living less than an hour from the Tail of the Dragon is I can get there many times a year. Last weekend was the first time on the Dragon for the Fiesta and the first of the season.

We spent all day running the Dragon, the Cherohala Skyway and lot's of other great roads in the area. All together we did about 500 miles that day.

 

[BryanD]

Awesome! How'd you like the FiST out there? I find mine is an absolute blast. I'm only 4 hours away, so I take day trips fairly often up there.

 

[OutaFocus]

The car was great although it was so crowded I spent more time avoiding others than pushing the car. That Saturday there was 1. Roadsters at the Gap, 2. A Mazdaspeed 3 meet 3. A Volvo C30 group 4. An S2000 Group plus the thousands of bikes and cars you usually find there on a weekend.

 

[Ryephile]

Very cool

Love me some Tail of the Dragon.

 

[BryanD]

Yes it's always unenjoyable with how crowded it is on Saturdays. I like to get there around 7am, because that way you have the road to yourself.

 

[Sil3nt611]

The dragon is on my list of roads to drive, but I know it's so popular it will inevitably be crowded. I went out to Talimena Scenic Byway in Oklahoma/Arkansas this past weekend and there was almost no traffic. Not as curvy as the dragon, but you get more speed at a speed limit of 55 and the Fiesta ST can handle more than that. It has sections of tight corners too. It has a lot of scenic pulloffs too so you can stop and take in the scenery. If you're anywhere near there it's worth the trip. I'm sure there are spectacular roads over in NC other than the dragon too. I live in DFW, so this is my best day trip road.

 

[BryanD]

The dragon is on my list of roads to drive, but I know it's so popular it will inevitably be crowded. I went out to Talimena Scenic Byway in Oklahoma/Arkansas this past weekend and there was almost no traffic. Not as curvy as the dragon, but you get more speed at a speed limit of 55 and the Fiesta ST can handle more than that. It has sections of tight corners too. It has a lot of scenic pulloffs too so you can stop and take in the scenery. If you're anywhere near there it's worth the trip. I'm sure there are spectacular roads over in NC other than the dragon too. I live in DFW, so this is my best day trip road.

There's an ecoboost weekend being planned for September 23-25th at the Dragon this year. Plenty of time to prepare for, and I can gladly take you out on the times when you can really unwind with no traffic.

 

[MPA]

I'd probably be there every weekend if I lived that close.

I'm heading down near Gatlinberg in a few weeks for my Honeymoon, but convinced my wife that we should check out the fugitive dam one day to allow me to drive the dragon at least once (awesome, but not my favorite road in the area) and hit up Cherohala Skyway. I've been down there 4 times in the past 16 years - each time in Miatas - so I'm looking forward to driving the FiST down there. We'll be going on a weekday so that it's not too crazy.

This is from 5 years ago - I did about 600 miles driving down there for a day and a half. Sketchy-ist road was the Devil's Triangle due to the amount of dirt on the road from the huge dump trucks you encounter

 

[Ryephile]

There's an ecoboost weekend being planned for September 23-25th at the Dragon this year. Plenty of time to prepare for, and I can gladly take you out on the times when you can really unwind with no traffic.

Oh? Is there a link or more details yet?

 

[ShadowInDaNight]

The car was great although it was so crowded I spent more time avoiding others than pushing the car. That Saturday there was 1. Roadsters at the Gap, 2. A Mazdaspeed 3 meet 3. A Volvo C30 group 4. An S2000 Group plus the thousands of bikes and cars you usually find there on a weekend.

A few friends of mine went with the VolvoC30 group. Lucky to have the area close by....

 

[BryanD]

Oh? Is there a link or more details yet?

Not yet. Supposedly they're working out details for lodging discount codes and everything.

 

[JasonHaven]

I'm so glad I went during Thanksgiving weekend. Practically no traffic at all.

I don't like the sounds of the crowds. I'd feel too much pressure to keep up/get out of the way, and probably screw something up haha

 

[OutaFocus]

The Gap has two personalities. If you want the best driving experience, go on a weekday. It's less crowded and better for simply driving.
If you want more of a car-guy/bike-guy experience, go on a weekend. Weekends are like a a gathering. There are ample pull offs to let people by, talk to other car people, or simply take in the moving car show. Just understand that weekends are crowded on nice days. Hell, do a three day weekend, experience the Dragon on Friday and find out where other great (some say better) roads are in the area and drive them too.

 

[2Cool]

Last time I was up there was early May last year with my '15GTPP. Had been pretty much an annual thing for me since '12, with that year having a '13 Genesis Coupe Track, the next year a '13 Abarth, then in '14 my FoST. Need to find time this year to take the Fiesta down there.

Only video I have is part of the start of my first early morning run on the GT:
[video=youtube;PZDpjOsFcMI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZDpjOsFcMI[/video]

 

[BryanD]

Last time I was up there was early May last year with my '15GTPP. Had been pretty much an annual thing for me since '12, with that year having a '13 Genesis Coupe Track, the next year a '13 Abarth, then in '14 my FoST. Need to find time this year to take the Fiesta down there.

Only video I have is part of the start of my first early morning run on the GT:
[video=youtube;PZDpjOsFcMI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZDpjOsFcMI[/video]

Did you go out there with the Gen Sport guys? Jason Brown, Jason Gardner, Robert Wolff, and them? I usually go out with the gensport guys, because I have some good friends with genesis.

 

[2Cool]

Did you go out there with the Gen Sport guys? Jason Brown, Jason Gardner, Robert Wolff, and them? I usually go out with the gensport guys, because I have some good friends with genesis.

Nope, when I had my Gencoupe I was there with some Mustang friends who had driven over from Mustang Week at Myrtle Beach. I had seen they were organizing the event on the forum, but couldn't make the run with the group. I have had the same user name on forums for all my cars, so you can find traces of me everywhere, heh.

 

[Sumo64C]

I live local to deals gap as well, but there are many other local twisty roads to be enjoyed in the ST. Western NC is paradise for the fiesta ST....sooooooooo many twisty roads

 

[7thson]

I'll be down there next weekend for Zdayz. I don't own a Z, but it's my favorite area event. It's quite an insane gathering, and all the cars are highly modified. I'll be taking the Miata because I like nothing better than making Z owners respect a "girly car". Besides, in its current form, it's a lot quicker than the FiST. I'd certainly be up for a FiST weekend at Deals Gap, or in the Boone area.