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As I posted before, this past weekend I went to the Tail of the Dragon for the first time. Even though I only had one day of riding down there, and we did get rained out half way through the Cherohala Skyway, I had an awesome time! No picture or video can really prepare you for how intense those corners are, I couldn’t believe how steep some of the banks were!
We had three (mostly) dry runs of the dragon, from the north, from the south, and from the north again. Temperature wise it was pretty decent, though mostly overcast and with scattered rain early in the day. Made the obligatory stop at the store, restaurant and the tree of shame. Then we headed off to the skyway, where we actually drove through several low clouds.
After the second run on the dragon I had some brake smoke and slight bluing of the rotors, which disappointed me since I didn’t actually use the brakes that much. I have powerstop z26 pads and centric high carbon rotors at all four corners, bedded the pads properly and up until then had no issues whatsoever (about 1500 miles on them). Did not experience any brake fade though and by the time we stopped at a pull of on the skyway the bluing was mostly gone. If anyones got suggestions for some more heat resistant rotors (pretty sure the issue wasn’t the pads) please let me know.
I’ll add some pics in a second post and close by saying if you haven’t gone and you’re within a reasonable distance you really need to go. I’m definitely planning on trying to make it a yearly thing for me.
We were kind of a motley crew LoL Beautiful scenery From the back We were being held up by a Mini Cooper, I got a little bored and waved at the photographer. Yeah... my buddy has an LT1 camaro and they are pretty quick. Couldn’t quite lose him.
After the second run on the dragon I had some brake smoke and slight bluing of the rotors, which disappointed me since I didn’t actually use the brakes that much. I have powerstop z26 pads and centric high carbon rotors at all four corners, bedded the pads properly and up until then had no issues whatsoever (about 1500 miles on them). Did not experience any brake fade though and by the time we stopped at a pull of on the skyway the bluing was mostly gone. If anyones got suggestions for some more heat resistant rotors (pretty sure the issue wasn’t the pads) please let me know.
I've run the Dragon before and I suspect your issue is that the brakes never had time to recover. In most instances there are long straights to allow air to pass through the brakes to allow them to cool off. The Dragon has so many turns, which makes the top speed so slow, that the brakes never get a lot of airflow to cool off. The only way to fix the issue is either to add more mass to the rotor (Big Brake Kit) or more airflow (ducts). Frankly I wouldn't worry about it. If your engine isn't overheating (assuming stock C5) you aren't working the brakes "that" hard. Air cools the brakes and it also cools the engine. A stock C5 can easily get to 290 oil temp after only two laps on track. Doubt you were that high.
I've run the Dragon before and I suspect your issue is that the brakes never had time to recover. In most instances there are long straights to allow air to pass through the brakes to allow them to cool off. The Dragon has so many turns, which makes the top speed so slow, that the brakes never get a lot of airflow to cool off. The only way to fix the issue is either to add more mass to the rotor (Big Brake Kit) or more airflow (ducts). Frankly I wouldn't worry about it. If your engine isn't overheating (assuming stock C5) you aren't working the brakes "that" hard. Air cools the brakes and it also cools the engine. A stock C5 can easily get to 290 oil temp after only two laps on track. Doubt you were that high.
Yeah oil temp maxed out around 240 i think. I know you are correct its just scary to see something like that. For certain, that road is the ultimate test of a car, short of taking it on the track, and it did very well.
Awesome post and great pictures! I ran it earlier this year for my first time and it is an absolute fun drive. Btw, if you never had brake fade I wouldn’t worry about them.
Dude, I was there this weekend as well! I'm in Rally Kings and we did a rally from Detroit to Knoxville and we rode the dragon Saturday and devils triangle on Sunday. What a blast that trip was! The pics and video do make it hard to see the elevation changes. Buddy of mine on the rally turned the gopro around so it was on him and his co-pilot and you could really see how much they were moving around. Gave you a better sense of the ups and downs of the drive. You can see here that my suspension is fully loaded! I fell in love with that road!
Dude, I was there this weekend as well! I'm in Rally Kings and we did a rally from Detroit to Knoxville and we road the dragon Saturday and devils triangle on Sunday. What a blast that trip was! The pics and video do make it hard to see the elevation changes. Buddy of mine on the rally turned the gopro around so it was on him and his co-pilot and you could really see how much they were moving around. Gave you a better sense of the ups and downs of the drive. You can see here that my suspension is fully loaded! I fell in love with that road!
Sweet looking Vette dude! What time were you there? I didn’t see you, definitely would have remembered lol. In hindsight, we should have hit Devils Triangle instead of the Skyway... might have outrun some of that rain. How was the weather throughout the rest of the day on Sunday? It was still raining when I left at 9:30.
Nice! I ran the Tail and the Skyway on Friday last week as well for my first time. There was very little traffic and perfect weather. Definitely a good time.
Sweet looking Vette dude! What time were you there? I didn’t see you, definitely would have remembered lol. In hindsight, we should have hit Devils Triangle instead of the Skyway... might have outrun some of that rain. How was the weather throughout the rest of the day on Sunday? It was still raining when I left at 9:30.
Thanks man! We were at the tail from 10:00 till about 11:30. There were 50+ of us all with rally kings **** all over our cars. Hard to miss, lol. The weather on Sunday was sort of crappy, especially when we did devils triangle. That run has a couple of crazy turns, but for the most part its quicker than the dragon. Roads more beat up as well. Both runs were a lot of fun, but I like the dragon better. It's a lot smoother.
My Dragon trip (pics inside)
