Thursday--Dragon to Spartanburg
Rather than stop for a proper lunch break at Alcoa, we grabbed some fruit at a gas station and headed straightway to the Dragon. I wanted to get ahead so I could take some action photographs. I had driven the Dragon twice before, once with George in 1999 driving a Chevvy Z24 (ha!), then in 2000 with Irene in a Z3 2.8. Several sections test even the best passenger, so I had decided this year to do several solo runs.
Firstly I made a slow pass so I could study plan and elevation of the run (from http://www.tailofthedragon.com) to re-equate myself with the topography. For example, if you study the map below you can see where the streams crossing under the road at the 'Horns of the Dragon' cause the two dips at 4.4 and 5.0 miles on the elevation above.
Deal's Gap is the pass over the Appalachians that also marks the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. Shortly afterwards at the crossroads is the 'Crossroads of Time' gas station and shop.
We stopped at the Dam Outlook (2.5 mi) to say hello to Nathan, Zeegar
and others.
Nathan's Steel Grey forms the background for Zeegar's Atlanta Blue with non-BMW alloys.
I dropped Irene off with the bikers at Crossroads of Time, then went back for some more spirited runs and to find a couple of observation posts for photography. Driving an M roadster on the Dragon is so much more fun than a Z3. The Dragon is actually quite a fast road compared to some in the UK and all I had to do is to keep it in second gear and marvel at the torque as it powered away from the bends. I tried to avoid braking as far as possible and kept ASC on. The roads were damp and as I was only a few days into the M it would have been silly to take ASC off.
Carter Lee (and probably Roger Secrest). I couldn't get very high due to the muddy slopes
Robert Leidy. Unfortunately you don't get the sound track!
A new location at 'The Hump'
Nathan and Zeegar powering through with their
definitely non-standard exhausts
The photographs don't do justice to 'the hump'. There's an extreme camber on the inside of both bends, so if you take a (strictly illegal) racing line across the yellow lines, the car drops violently to the left, pushes upright again, then drops violently to the right, then upright again. Coupled with the G-force of actually taking the bends, it's quite common for passengers (if not already busy with screaming), to spew up and even drivers have been known to be sick.
It was about now I realised this wasn't the safest camera position
Reaching the Crossroads of Time is a chance for exchange of
experiences for roadster drivers and bikers alike, then a quick visit inside
to pick up badges, T-shirts, etc
Wet roads, fast cars, enthusiastic drivers, and now a temperature inversion!
It was quite late after finishing with the Dragon, so we took the relatively quick route to Spartanburg and the Marriott hotel. We checked in, showered, changed and unpacked, then went downstairs to say 'hello' to Amy and Wayne Lester who were manning registration. We then went out for a meal with Zeattle Dave and Cargogal.
We returned to the sight of Warthog's M roadster limping into the Marriott car park, seriously in danger of overheating at slow speed due to uncontrolled air flow across the engine compartment.
As the sign at the Crossroads reads, "Sometimes the Dragon wins".
Commendable attention to detail with the color-coded duct tape
Some time later the hotel fire alarms went off and we were treated to the sight of an extremely large Imola Red coupé with some determined-looking passengers.
