Tail of the Dragon, 318 curves in 11 miles! Options

[davec]

For all us East Coast Teenerites, there’s a small town in North Carolina called Hot Springs, where I took the wife and my /6 for our anniversary. Close by there is a road that goes over the Smokey Mountains to Tennessee called Tail of the Dragon

It's generally thought of as a super-bike road, but I couldn't resist terrorizing the locals, so, mid week, (weekends are too busy), I took a few passes. It was one of the most fun drives I have done in my “super” teener! The locals say if it can be done in less than an hour, you are pretty good, and I managed to match that.

Throughout the 318 turns, I felt that must be what it is like to drive an extended autocross. Having done only DE events, I wasn’t used to spinning the 2.7 up to 7500 rpm’s in second gear, shifting to third and shutting down for the next curve. I don’t know how you guys do it! If I can’t open up that horizontally opposed six on a drive to exceed all posted speed limits at least once, I feel cheated.

There's a web site with occasional live shots, and a weekly report on the participants and their bikes. If you are in the area, give this road a try. It was a great way to spend an afternoon, and a lot closer than a cross-country drive to the land where the ocean’s on the wrong side!

I got these pics from the web site: http://www.tailofthedragon.com/index.html