newbie2vette

Who out there has ran the Tails of the Dragon, pushing thier experience limit to the point of the Trans fluid reaching one white bar to the the Red area? I ran the Dragon over the Father's Day week (8 times), under manual and pushing it to the point I reach the trans fluid temp to one white bar.

Any maintenance I should do?

rmorin1249

Just one Tail. Check tires and fluids. Watch for motorcycles. Have fun.

solarstingray

will be there next weekend, => this was my evo x on there, such an amazing car we passed vipers like they were standing still,


hopefully the c7 will do just as well,

solarstingray

AWD with active center diff and acvtive torque vectoring on super stick 275s,


problem was who ever was in the back seat got sick inluding myself, my buddy who races for bmw was driving shouldnt have had such a big lunch LOL

jacksnorm

That's awesome, I'd love to go sometime this summer. I think I'd rather take my Mini Cooper. I never made it down there when I rode motorcycles.

Mr. Jones

OP what year is your car?
Z51?

Last time I was at the dragon I was driving my C5 Z51 6speed.
I did heat up the power steering fluid.
Had two runs up and down but was usually in a group and they were slow at times.

kp

Last time on a weekday with no police or traffic I beat it up in manual pretty good back and forth once on the Dragon plus foothills parkway. Didnt have the trans temp displayed and didnt use the PDR but never got any warnings. It was high 80s, I should have looked at it I guess. Eight times in a day would have had me getting sick lol.

non-z51 2016.

I doubt you need any extra maintenance, if it would have forced upshifts or went into limp mode I might replace the fluid if you plan on doing it again.

solarstingray

ill be there monday july 4th if any one likes to join, we have a hotel in downotwn greenville, for 3 night,

ZEEEE06

Passed Vipers like they were standing still?

solarstingray

the car was not stock, AWD in wet conidtions there is a big difference,


all he did was break the tires loose,


you can really push AWD cars in those conidtions, i wouldnt dare do that in my new c7 ill end up in a tree,

solarstingray

robert miller

Watch out for the law also. But over all a nice play ground but the motorcycle's guys are just dam crazy on it taking both lanes. Robert

kp

plenty of cars end up on the wrong side of the road too

Last time I was there (I have to take the dragon get to a job sometimes) it was bicyclist that that almost hit me head on because he was on the wrong side of the road.. I guess hoverboards will be next lol.

chrsschb

Ran it on a GSXR 600 back in 2009. Will be there for a few days next week in the vette.

gwalsh88

M7 Lots of Fun

mrbdas

Might have to do that when I check out wanna gofast in GA Sep 17-18

CriticalmassGT

I live nearby the Tail of the Dragon at the bottom of the Blue Ridge Mountains (Greenville, SC), and some lesser known fun areas to run. I was going to go, but these days there are police everywhere and seemingly at least one motorcycle accident a week so I stick to the lesser known runs. Tail of the Dragon has become too high profile for my tastes. I won't name any names for the lesser known runs as it's mostly local car clubs who run them, but if you search hard enough online you can find some of them for yourself. Some of them are just as fun, if not more so because they are less crowded and police presence is greatly reduced. North and South Carolina are full of twisty roads with great switchbacks, but some of them you can only find via word of mouth.

The best time to go is on a Wednesday during a non-holiday week. As someone else mentioned, watch out for Motorcycles, they love cutting into the opposite lane to make their turns, and they are shameless about it. The Tail of the Dragon is littered with Motorcycle fatalities, and several car fatalities as well.

Anyone going with an A8 should consider that we are reaching record temps here and up in the mountains too. Record Temps for Greenville this time of year is 99 (back in 1988) and in Ashville (about an hour up in the mountains right outside the Vanderbilt mansion) it's 91, 2 degrees off their record temps (also set in 1988). So keep that in mind. It's the hottest June we've had in a few years.

If you stay in downtown Greenville, make sure to check out the riiver / waterfall, and the shops (Downtown Greenville was built around the river/waterfall and has a plenty of walkways, art galleries, restaurants, etc.. It's probably one of the cleanest and beautiful downtown areas of any city I've seen. Though I haven't been since they started all the new construction for the high-end restuarants (this area is growing super-fast. 7 years ago it was a ghost town but in the last three years the population and businesses have exploded). They have a Ruth's Chris and I'm not sure if the Chop House is open yet, but it's worth looking into.

Stay away from Woodruff Rd, Haywood Rd, and Pelham Rd, around the interstate exits/entrances, traffic is horrendous at all times of the day and lots of accidents. One other thing. I recommend using the service roads instead of the Interstate when you head out. There's a lot of speed traps and again, a lot of traffic. (Though I was able to get up to 140mph the other day before I ran into traffic and had to slow down). Interstate 385 will take you right into downtown. In fact it ends right next to the convention center. (also heavy traffic there). The state has finally budgeted a huge amount of $$ for Road construction and repairs due to all the new businesses, just FYI. You may run into several areas under construction and have to take detours.

If you are taking a spouse, let her know up front that the Cheesecake Factory just opened a month ago and the lines are horrendous. (I hate the Cheesecake factory, and I hate waiting in lines even worse). If you need recommendations to a good steakhouse outside of the downtown area, PM me.
Hope this helps anyone looking to make a run soon.

Keep in mind that Semi's sometimes travel the Tail of the Dragon and by necessity they WILL take up both lanes in the turns. So be careful out there.

Oh yeah, Quick Trips have popped up everywhere (Top Tier Gas) Stay away from the independent stations that offer non-ethanol gas, they don't change their filters regularly and you're liable to have issues. There are a few Shell stations (not downtown that I know of), and no Chevron Stations. There's a Costco on Woodruff (Top Tier) as well.

managerman

I am headed down next week...going to run the dragon and a few other recommended "fun" roads!

-M

chrsschb

Toss me a message with what days you plan to be around if ya wanna meet up. I have a cabin rental behind the store.

solarstingray

we will be there july 4th day leaving in the morning, we can organize something on face book or direct text if you like?


our hotel is at the mariott in downtown greenville, any one is more then welcome to join us july 4th night for the fireworks,


thank you so much for the insight, my wife will be with me so wont be going to crazy,


also my best friend that is a police office for mauldin will be on his cruiser behind us,


we will be in ashville area on sunday july 3rd,


we head back to orlando tuesday july 5th,