Great article on tail of the dragon!

[re-rx7]

Well written on the fastest man on the Dragon.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/features/ferrari-458-speciale-dragon

 

[Siestarider]

I had already planned a trip up there when my copy of R&T came in. Today just back from 4 days cruising the south side of App mountains from east to west.

As fate would have it, I met a Tennessee Officer of the Law at the north end of Route 129, who happened to be holding a radar gun, waved me over and politely asked if I knew what speed I was running. I honestly answered no, because all my concentration was on the road and driving, not my instruments.

We had a great conversation, he had not heard of the article in RT, but when I reported a local named "the king" dusted a Ferrari 458 over the Tail, he smiled and said "we know him".

I ended up with a written warning citation, much better than a Deal's Gap T shirt. And genuine appreciation for Tennessee law enforcement. He also pointed out the best driving roads south and west from there on my map (out of his state of course).

What I learned over the trip is that my FIST is more capable a drive than I am a driver. In three days, no one approached my tail, but I approached many others. I usually pulled over to get a gap. A few decided to run, now that was fun. No one got away. This car's natural habitat is mountain roads. It is beyond competent, simply the best car I have ever driven in mountains, and that includes the fully restored 1969 Lotus Elan in my garage.

Yes, the Lotus is more agile, conveys seat information better, and has better power to weight. But the FIST has torque galore, better gear spacing, better mileage (I averaged 32.3 mpg over 1650 miles) and is far more reliable. And I can push the Lotus to its limits much more easily than I can the FIST. Maybe experience, but maybe the FIST is just better.

So its off the the track, I should be as good as the car is, and only track time will get me there. I love this car.

 

[Darmie]

I'm going up to see my sisters here from Texas. She lives East of Asheville I plan on riding through the gap on the way over. . Been there in the Miata and on the V-strom motorcycle. Use to live up that way years ago. It was always the go to place.

 

[Hypntick]

There are a few nice local roads in Asheville as well, have been up there on business recently and had a lot of fun.

 

[Sourskittle]

I loved moonshiners.
Tried to stay under 42mph on the tail. Got a ticket for 102mph in a 65. Lets just say I can't go back to North Carolina for another year, lol . Glad I shaved off 32mph before he clocked me...

 

[k757]

I just got back from there two weeks ago. I did go over the speed limit on the dragon/moonshiner/cherohala but avoided talking to LEO'S.

 

[JPGC]

I loved moonshiners.
Tried to stay under 42mph on the tail. Got a ticket for 102mph in a 65. Lets just say I can't go back to North Carolina for another year, lol . Glad I shaved off 32mph before he clocked me...

I'm surprised that you didn't spend the night in jail, lol...or did you?

 

[JPGC]

I just got back from there two weeks ago. I did go over the speed limit on the dragon/moonshiner/cherohala but avoided talking to LEO'S.

View attachment 2226

Nice pic!!!

 

[Sourskittle]

I was honest and he let me drive on. My GF couldn't drive a manual trans and I was like 3-4 states from home. $500 in lawyer/fines. 30 days in jail, and 1year suspension. Luckly. Florida doesn't talk to North cal about suspending. And since I was 4 states away, they waved the 30 days in jail.

Basically.... You pay a lawyer and court fees.

 

[Siestarider]

I noticed a guy shooting pictures on RT 129, did not catch anything else in my brief view, but searched the net last night and found a site that posts photos by date and time, and found my car. I will post a photo if anyone can tell me how to make a 5 MB photo a file small enough to post.

 

[Hypntick]

Download photo and upload to tinypic.com it'll resize it for you and you can link directly to it on here.

 

[Siestarider]

<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=jsj85w" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.tinypic.com/jsj85w.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

http://tinypic.com/r/jsj85w/8

<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=2ugz71h" target="_blank"><img src="http://i62.tinypic.com/2ugz71h.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

None of these look like they are working links, I am doing something wrong. Sorry folks.

 

[Siestarider]

Oh well, it did work. Thanks Hypntick