I have started to read about the "Tail of the Dragon" or U. S. 129 on the Tennessee / North Carolina boarder. I have never traveled east of Knoxville, in my adult life and have not heard the term "Tail of the Dragon" applied to any highway / region before this week. The Dragon has 318 curves in 11 miles; up and down some major mountain grades.
There are other interesting drives in this region, on other highways on both sides of the state line.

I read that the best days are Tuesday-Thursday for lighter traffic. A link to a Miata group recommends driving all in 2nd gear, as often there is no time to be shifting around. Is this good advice? How much stress on C6 trannys? Driving the Dragon will heat up the brakes. The Miata poster could smell his brakes, at the end of his run. Is there any place where you need to come to a complete stop on an uphill or downhill grade?

All Vette driving advice for the "Tail of the Dragon" would be most welcome. I may go Dragon hunting the week after Labor Day.

Thanks,

Gburg

 

I ran the Dragon in a Solstice back in April - on a Thursday at about 10am, I saw maybe a dozen other cars going the opposite way, and was passed (I waved by) about a dozen sport bikes in the 11 miles. There was no one holding me up, and I was able to maintain a comfortable (not tire squealing) pace, which picked up as I went along and became more comfortable. I used both 2nd and 3rd gear, and kept my speed between 25 and 35, maybe touching 40. I never crossed the centerline, and still had lots of fun.

There are no places where you'd have to stop for traffic signals or stop signs, pretty much no cross streets (maybe 1 road that branches off) and you can easily get a nice rhythm going as far as gas/brake/turn/gas etc. Most of what I remember of the road would be a 90 degree left, a 100' straight, slightly downhill, a 180 degree right, exiting uphill to a 100' straight, repeat about 150 times. A Corvette should have no problem running the whole thing in 2nd gear.

I'd definitely recommend against really pushing it, especially on your first time through. Your choices, if you run wide, are usually either into a rock wall, or about a 2 foot wide shoulder before you'd go over the rock wall and down the side. There are few, if any, guard rails.

Still, I'd love to ride through there with a skilled rally driver steering...

 

This is what the car is made for. If you have the Z51 the brakes will cool a little quicker, and the oil cooler will make this a fun drive. There are tons of bikes down there, so expect a lot of bikes to see what you've got. Be a really dood driver, cuz the dragon is intense. Most people go back and forth a time or two to learn it, then go for it with some aggressive runs. I have done it on a motorcycle, and it is insane fun! go for it!

 

I did the Tail of the Dragon last year in my C6 Z51 MZ6. It was a lot of fun. I hit .9xx G's at one time when I had time to look at the HUD.

 

I did Deals Gap (aka, the Dragon) about two years ago. Go in the morning, if possible. Much less traffic.

Its kinda like autocrossing for 11 miles. Very few straights, just one turn after another. I remember about 2 or 3 miles into it just laughing my a$$ off that this was an actual road that the state built for regular use.

As for being overly aggressive, there are no records and you aren't being timed. But if you do go for it, remember to grab a piece of bodywork from the wreckage so you can nail it to the Tree of Shame at the Deals Gap Store.

 

Another such tail is the trip between Prescott and Jerome, the old mining town, here in Arizona. The route is called 89A (alternate) and it has a pack of curves. There is a sign in a Jerome store (the town is now an artist haven) stating that you just did so many curves. Since this is thru the mountains there are some really scary road edges down into the valleys.

http://www.azjerome.com/

 

The way I did it was to stay in 3rd gear and let the engine slow the car on approach to a curve. Remember you MUST stay on your side of the centerline. With sooooo many blind curves you haven't a clue what is approaching. Hell it might be a semi truck that is about to take the whole bloody roadway.
have fun...I sure did
ps. after a dragon burger take on the Cherola ( sp?) mountain road which is much faster ( and safer) and circle bck to the alcoa hwy and on to Knoxville
Barry from zip 44444

 

I have never driven the Dragon either and went looking for information about it. Found this linky which has some very good information in it.

 

Tuesdays through Thursday, early in the morning is the best time. Much after 9AM your going to run into the Tree-Huggers and slow Harley's. Late September is when I go up since the summer crowd is gone and the Leaf'ers haven't arrived yet.

Hwy 129 & 28 are awesome. With Hwy 129(Tail of the Dragon) you can hit up to 4th, but you better know what your doing. With Hwy 28 from Bryson, about 20 miles from Fontana Village it is a hairy 2nd gear world, then at Fontana Village you can hit up to 4th until you get to Deal's Gap. Deals Gap/Hwy 129 is the NC start of the Tail. On the Tail coming Chilhowee Lake(the Tenn Start), you go into very tight 1st/2nd gear turns with very steep inside grades that will bottom the front spoiler.

If you have a Z51 and a manual you will have no braking issues; Hard core fast runs on the "Tail" requires good heel and toeing to spare the brakes. If you have an automatic A4, regardless of a Z51/Base/F55 you may want to take it just a bit easy-with an A6 you can go in harder if you use the paddles.

No offense to the Miata drivers, but most of them that I saw there were slower than the Harley Drivers. Beware of the sport bikers, most know what they are doing, but there are the morons that will split lanes and go way too fast for their ability. Don't lane split, pull off quickly to let faster drivers by, and watch out for the rare, but very very stupid 18 Wheeler drivers

 

That is a good site.

Here is another: http://www.dealsgap.com

Gburg

 

Another good advice posting. Thanks comrads, as this appears like a road nobody should drive uninformed. At night or thuderstorms. I drive a stock base 2006 C6.

"...you go into very tight 1st/2nd gear turns with very steep inside grades that will bottom the front spoiler..." Bottom-out the front spoiler? Is that from an aggressive, hot run? What degree of bottoming-out?? I would not want that.

"...Hard core fast runs on the "Tail" requires good heel and toeing to spare the brakes..." I know nothing about heel and toeing. Seems very awkward. Besides I am a flatlander, I will not be that aggressive.
Especially on the first couple of runs / visits. What is "lane splitting"?
If somebody wants to go faster, they are welcome to go ahead. But, I will not pull over in those gravel strips very fast, especially on an uphill grade. Do not want to kick-up gravel on my rear quarter panels, or have to gun it hard to get out of the gravel. I do not like to stop on the upgrade of a R.R. Xing. because of roll-backs.

I drove a road last week here in Ohio, where I averaged 35-48 MPH, with two 70 MPH sprints. A lot of blind curves and hillcrests. Used a lot of brake to keep from running off the road. I do not expect to go faster than 48 MPH on the Dragon.

Gburg

 

It is a great drive


Actually had a headache when I finished it.


A word to the wise though.
DRIVE WITHIN YOUR LIMITS !!!!!

You will see skid marks going off the road all over the place.

I drove it as fast as I could, but also as safe as I could, not woth trashing your car, getting hurt or hurting somebody else.

You may be very safe, but watch for somebody who might come over on your side from the other direction.


With that said, I hope you enjoy it if and when you drive it. I know I did.

 

The very best advice..... ALWAYS STAY IN YOUR LANE..... enough idiots cross the lines without you going over to meet them.... then have a blast... Dragon - October 05.....

 

Gburg after you burn up the dragon be sure to do Cherohala Skyway, its not as violent but a very cool road. Continue south on NC 129 to Robbinsville, NC take hwy 165, The Cherohala Skyway over to Tellico Plains, Tn and wave as you go by .

 

One thing about the Dragon is that you can drive it as fast as you can and will never break the speed limit of 45mph.

Tom

 

In the C6 FAQ under "racing"...

 

One of my co-workers frequently goes up to do the Dragon, on his sport bike. He tells me there is a guy on a Honda Goldwing that will video tape your drive. He will video tape you from the front, while he leads and then video tape you from the rear, while he follows. About $60. He is call Yellow Wolf and has a web site

 

Coming in from the North run the curves are upward spiraling at the hairpin's apex(center point of the curve) Besides being a 1st or 2nd gear hairpin the road actually kicks up in gradiant and your spoiler will contact the road. The faster or how hard you are on the braking from underestimating your speed, determines how much you will much you will scrape.

Heel and toeing is the act of simultaneously braking, downshifting, and bringing the RPMs up to match the next gear's RPM needs. This adds in braking power by adding your engine's compression to help slow down the car. If you have a manual trannie, this is the surpreme skill to master. The A6 trannie provides this gas pedal RPM blip, the A4 does not nor does it provide on-demand down shifts.

Lane Splitting is the act of moving the car in to the opposite lane for the purpose of trying to hit a more favorable corner apex; hitting the corner's apex is the fastest way through a corner. It is illegal to do this since the road is two lane and more importantly it is a very, very stupid thing to do on a public road when you can't see around the corner. A motorcycle, on the hand, can split the lanes by driving down the center of the road, going between two cars to pass, or to use the oncoming lane to hit the corner apex. I have seen both methods used at the Tail and I can only shake my head at the stupidy of the act.

Moving over when there is traffic backing up behind you is proper and shows courtesy to those stuck behind you at any time. It assumes that you do this safely, but quickly. At the Tail, the pulloff's are covered in grass, but are few in number so keep the grannie driving for the weekends.

Average 48 MPH at the Dragon? No offense please, but I think most might be lucky to average the speed limit. These are seriously difficult roads at speed and not to be taken lightly. These roads are out in the middle of nowhere and if someone doesn't see you go off the road it may be a long time before anyone ever finds you. The last time I was there was after a two day training session with Johnny O'Connell and I was still white knuckled most of the time That said, going the speed limit(when you can go even that fast) those roads are just an awesome drive and not to be missed by any Corvette owner

 

IMHO, this is the best dragon-related site:

http://www.killboy.com/

 

Just one "ttt" since I added a couple of Dragon - vette pics to my original post.