Hit the Tail of the Dragon today in the s4

[ojmcneill]

Loved it. Awesome road. Also the roads around it. We drove over from gatlinburg and I highly recommend the drive.

[AKPS4]

Are you completely stock? Recommend upgrading brakes with SS lines and higher temp fluid if you go here. Have heard of lots of horror stories.

[ojmcneill]

Yeah. Fully stock. Didn't push too hard today although there was very little traffic.

[BernanksBeard]

Ha, I've been tearing up the roads around here since Sunday, New Found Gap rd has been amazing when you have no one in front of you. Been able to have enough fun using the hill and engine braking to slow down. Not enough room or visibility to apex corners and brake hard. Newly tuned and enjoying the high rpm power. Found some race gas at a Shell in Pigeon Forge!

[artz66]

Are you completely stock? Recommend upgrading brakes with SS lines and higher temp fluid if you go here. Have heard of lots of horror stories.

Used to take my corvette there about 6-7 years ago and never had any problems with brake fade or anything. I would think a 2012 s4 would be more capable than an 06 vette.

[whts4]

Loved it. Awesome road. Also the roads around it. We drove over from gatlinburg and I highly recommend the drive.

Have you driven Rt 28 from Deals Gap to Franklin, NC? If not strongly recommend it. Another great road is Rt30 off of Rt64 before Cleveland, TN. Take Rt30 north off of Rt68 to Rt315 to Rt68 (turn right) to Rt165 (Tellico plaines) then Rt360 (north/left) to Rt411. Turn right on 411 over lake to RT72. Right onto Rt72 to RT129 and left up to the Dragon.

PS, since you live in Lexington, Ky you should drive Rt27 home instead of I 75. Pick it up near Harraman, TN and drive it north...a really nice curvy road with good pace that will take you thru some truly scenic areas.

[schirm]

I have done TOTD multiple times and all of the roads around there in my S4, so much fun. I went one time with the APR guys behind their SC R8 and there was not a single person on the road, hardest I ever pushed my car.

[ojmcneill]

Loved it. Just got back to Lexington actually. It was perfect: Great weather, we went on a Tuesday and basically had the road to ourselves minus a few bikers. The blind curves are one thing but on portions you can see traffic's clear coming at you so that was a lot of fun. In all actuality I rarely pushed it and probably drove 40 or below for 90% of the time and it was still awesome.
It truly made my trip.

[Victor Newman]

Used to take my corvette there about 6-7 years ago and never had any problems with brake fade or anything. I would think a 2012 s4 would be more capable than an 06 vette.

Nope, too much weight if you're actually driving spiritedly down the mountain. I cooked my stock brakes in the NC mountains and immediately went overboard on a BBK

Nice lookimg Vette

[AKPS4]

^Agreed. The Vette is far more capable stock for stock. Our brakes are crap for any spirited driving.

[SouthernBoy]

I drove the Dragon's Tail in 1968 in my '66 SS396/360HP Chevelle. At the time, it was not the road that it is today... as in the popularity to bikes and cornering machines. It was primarily a tourist attraction back then, but was still a very beautiful drive. We did the entire drive one day while we were in Gatlinburg. Saw four bears and have pics of all of them. One was just walking down the other side of the road, holding up traffic. While the Tail of the Dragon is now referred to as eleven miles of that road system, we drove 110 miles that day on it plus other connecting roads. On heck of a drive and I have pics of parts of it. Back then, sections had a 55 MPH speed limit and there is no way some of the curves would support that speed. There were sections that ran next to a river where the curves were so tight, I had to downshift to first gear... and the speed limit was 55.

My Chevelle had excellent brakes because when I ordered it in March, 1966, I ordered the sintered metallic lining option for the car. These pads (the shoes each had eight individual metallic pads) worked better when they heated up and would last well over 100,000 miles. Still had them on the car when I sold it at 83,000 miles. Went by Fontana Dam and into Cherokee, NC. Have wanted to hit this road again but the crowds and traffic are probably prohibitive most of the warmer times of the year. Glad the OP had a great week of it.

[Victor Newman]

There is no shortage of "unpopular" roads that are just as good or better in the NC mountains. The way I scope out good mountain roads (or good roads anywhere for that matter) is gogole maps. Switching between regular map view, terrain, and satellite is an easy way to see how curvy, what elevation change, and how "busy" or empty a road is, along with what is along the road (trees and fields, or 1,000 neighborhoods). It's also a good way to see if that killer curvy road with elevation change out in the middle of nowhere is actually asphalt or dirt before riding out there. My rule of thumb is to check satellite view for center lines. That pretty much tells you whether the asphalt surface is decent or not.

Reminds me of that Top Gear episode where the guys came over and checked out the road "everyone was talking about" that they had to drive that ended up being the Blue Ridge Parkway. If you want good roads, you've got to get off the beaten path.

[SouthernBoy]

There is no shortage of "unpopular" roads that are just as good or better in the NC mountains. The way I scope out good mountain roads (or good roads anywhere for that matter) is gogole maps. Switching between regular map view, terrain, and satellite is an easy way to see how curvy, what elevation change, and how "busy" or empty a road is, along with what is along the road (trees and fields, or 1,000 neighborhoods). It's also a good way to see if that killer curvy road with elevation change out in the middle of nowhere is actually asphalt or dirt before riding out there. My rule of thumb is to check satellite view for center lines. That pretty much tells you whether the asphalt surface is decent or not.

Reminds me of that Top Gear episode where the guys came over and checked out the road "everyone was talking about" that they had to drive that ended up being the Blue Ridge Parkway. If you want good roads, you've got to get off the beaten path.

I haven't been on Skyline Drive in 48 years but am planning a short run in the next few weeks just to see it again.

I'm with you about finding good roads. We have a lot of them where I live, which is about three miles east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As I remember the drive my wife and I took in Tennessee, those roads were pretty amazing. The mountains are quite a bit higher there than those here in my part of Virginia. And Gatlinburg looked like a beach resort stuck in a valley between two mountains.