timothyrw

A couple of weekends ago I left the wife at home and drove down to the Smoky Mountains and then counter clockwise to the Foothills Parkway, then came around to the south side and drove The Tail of the Dragon and continued east over to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Driving all three of those in one day was fairly exhausting. The weather was beautiful and the traffic was fairly light, except for The Tail of the Dragon, which had a lot of Motorcycles, Corvettes, Miatas, and Civic Si's (plowing through the corners).

I thought it funny that there were photographers that sit on some of the corners with their websites in vinyl on their cars so when they take your picture you know where to go if you want to buy a copy:

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/orde...K000362&po=154

After all that driving I only drove about 150 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I don't think I drove one mile of straight and level road that entire day... here's a video of some very mild driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Corner's were pretty mild and at 5k feet elevation and trunk full of camping gear my car felt like it had the power of a Civic...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da4TxYix-Ok

There is a lot of truth to the old saying that driving a slow car fast is a lot more fun then driving a fast car slow. Driving my mustang in the city is not a lot of fun. Getting it out into some open roads reminds me of how much I LOVE this car! Also got to finally put the Potenza RE760s through some corners and I have to say I love them. The traction/wear rating (350)/price compromise is about perfect and I never got them to break the entire time. I took it pretty easy on the Tail of the Dragon due to the THP being out and visible. But the limit of my car is a lot higher with my few mods then I care to test on public roads.

I'll be taking the plunge and hitting a road course next spring...

Argonaut

Very nice. I've heard of the 'Tail of the Dragon' before, read an article on it once and I believe there is a web site dedicated to it. Supposedly one of the best public roads in the country. Someday I'll have to get down there.

That video makes it look like you were all alone on the road. Whats the story? Everytime I've been on the parkway its choked with RVs and Minivans.

Love the concept of the roadside photographers - some true entrepreneurs, cool.

Glad to hear you are planning on hitting a track next spring. Wish more Mustang owners would do that. Its such a great car - stable, good handling, nice power, etc. Every event I go to I'm searching for S197s and frequently I'm the only one, maybe one other. Of the non-ricers - Corvettes, any Porsche, and BMW are always well represented. There are usually a few SN95s and even Fox bodies but hardly any S197s, kind of disappointing.

timothyrw

The main reason there weren't any cars on the road was because I was in a sort of no-man's land. To the south of me the road was cloased due to a rock slide and the detour was north of me.

Also, it was a little early in the morning so there weren't many people going past the detour to drive to the lookouts before the road closure.

Youtube killed the quality of the video. I've got another section of road I plan on driving/videoing here in Indiana that is like a mini-version of the Tail of the Dragon.

But really, I need to get off public roads and on to a track if for nothing other then just safety purposes... all your track outing posts have got me interested.

For Indianapolis being the "racing capital of the world" there aren't many road courses around here! Lord knows we've got the land... here's the closest one I've found:

http://www.putnampark.com/

Argonaut

Yea, YouTube just destroys the quality. I've had that problem with them also.

I've heard guys talk about Putnam Park. They really liked it, pretty laid back. Apparently there is tons of run off and its a very safe track (as tracks go).

Pitty there aren't more tracks out your way. You can look for tracks around north america at: http://www.na-motorsports.com

I'm fortunate, I live within ~3 hrs of five tracks (Pocono, 2 at New Jersey and 2 at Summit Point). 4 hrs gets me to three more (Beaver Run near Pittsburgh, Watkins Glen and Monticello, NY)

jayel579

.....and Lime Rock, CT I found Mid-Ohio on my drive out to Indy for the MotoGP race this past weekend. I just might have to make the run one time.

Argonaut

I've asked many track junkies: "whats you favorite track?" There are only three answers: VIR, Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio.

Keep in mind this is all East Coast guys. I'm sure the West Coast guys have different opinion.

I like the idea of a road trip next summer to Mid-Ohio - anyone else up for it.

Nuke

I was talking to a coworker this morning and he mentioned the Tail of the Dragon and Deal's Gap and I politely nodded, never hearing of them. 15 minutes later I saw this thread. Cool coincidence. Thanks for the pics and video. I'll be adding this area to my list of "wanna's".

timothyrw

i'd be up for that!

jayel579

I'm for it!

Argonaut

All right - tell you what, I'm going to keep a little file with those interested in a Summer 2009 Mid-Ohio track day. When the schedule comes out, sometime this winter I imagine, I'll get back to you guys. Maybe we can make it a reality. That would be a lot of fun.