This was really my first time pushing my car that hard anywhere but an autocross, as well my first time pushing it on a road that isn't flat as a board...

Things that were awesome:

DSC - alot of you should reconsider turning this off. I'm no pro, and when there's 1200 motorcycles driving the road your on (which you've only driven a handful of times) you have to make unanticipated corrections constantly. I, and everyone else left DSC on. It works. Very well. The outside often got onto the yellow line which is very slick, and the dsc just pulled it right back in. It gave me enough room to enjoy the drive, but when I needed it, it and the ABS were right there. Now i see why they outlawed it in F1

Chassis - The 50/50 really shines here. You want oversteer, it's there at your will. You want understeer its there as well. I came so hard into a few turns that I thought there was no way the car would come through, but it did. Every time.

Brakes - Didn't use them much, but I did notice fade after several consecutive runs (9 miles each and about 15 minutes). The ABS is patient, not too premeptive.

Gears - Our cars are geared perfectly for this road. Top of 2nd between 55 and 65 mph was the average on the straights, and 30-35 in the turns. Shifted maybe 4 times a run.

Motor - Since the revs are nice and high, it pulls strong. There's just enough TQ there to balance the car out just right

Things I didn't like:

Tires - given that mine are shot, they worked good up to a point, at which they just got too hot and lost grip.

Other People - too slow....

If you have doubts about you car, take it there. You'll get out and hug it like I did :D

 

We'll I gota say the Ventus tires held up pretty good, better than expected. It wasn't until the enb of the 3rd run, where the tires were super hot that I started sliding all over the place... :D That and the fact I don't have DSC... I gota say the Eibach springs help out alot too, didn't have as much roll. I gota say after the dragon, my next upgrade is going to be the sway bars...

The only mishap I had was the paint on my calipers chipping off...

 

I didn't get any pics of the hug, but I did get some strange hand gestures ...

As for the whole post, well said.

 

Stupid question: What's "the Dragon"?

 

Just about the best road to drive on in the USA

http://www.tailofthedragon.com/

 

Thanks for asking, StewC625 and for the link 'splainin' it, expo1
Thought I was the only one on the Board who didn't know. :o
Looking forward to lots more 'tales' from the Tail. (arrgh!-sorry).

 

OH! I know this road!

I went to the BMW M5 Driving Experience in at the BMW Performance Center in Spartansburg SC. The format is a full day of performance driving school and track driivng, followed by a full day of touring driving (or preceded by - they take each "class" and divide them into two groups - one does track one does touring).

On our touring day, we headed north out Spartansburg and drove to Asheville to tour the Vanderbilt estate there, and in the process drove the "tail" - I just didn't know it was called that - they called it by it's number.

Stew

 

Deal's Gap has long been a favorite among the Miata crowd as well... I wish I kept my 'I Slayed the Dragon' sticker from my old Miata . I guess that gives me an excuse to earn another one, rotary style .

 

Me too. Already on my christmas list. Want the Eibach springs too now, but they're a bit expensive so I think I'm just going for a Borla and the RX8Store sways bars.


One weird thing [or not so weird, I guess], I noticed:
I had 4 people in my car for about 175 of the 200 miles we drove, and having that much weight over the rear tires seemed to helped a lot with the body roll. I only felt it on the curves I almost took myself out on. It was a lot more noticible with just two of us in the car, however, even on the sweeping curves on the mountains.

 

hey now, that's going a bit far. I love the dragon, but just dont disregard the Santa Monica Mtns. Ferrari used to test their drivers/cars on these hills. It's a left coast favorite.

 

Just out of curiousity, don't the local police know about this and wouldn't they be looking for people like us who flock from all over to drive dangerously on this road? I would love to drive that course, but I feel like it would be going right into a speed trap.

 

I'm sure they do. But imagine all the income generated with so many like us coming into the state? Sure they'd make money of tickets the first couple of months or so, but once the word gets out and people stop going there its not going to make the local community happy. Atleast thats what I feel.

 

According to two local 8 owners, the cops only go up there when there is an accident, and even then speeding is not a problem, the only thing you will get stopped for is for crossing the double yellow line other then that you are free to ride. Most of the locals are pretty cool about it too, they will pullover to the side and let you keep going...

 

1) To be perfectly honest, if it weren't for tourism, it would just be a semi-truck grave yard. IN MY OPINION, the police are there, but not quite in force as you would expect. Their boss is the County Sheriff...an elected official. The difficulty given to the hundreds of thousands of visitors is directly proportional the commerce of the area. Take Bike Week at Daytona....sure, there's lots of cops there, but how many MORE tickets do you think they could write if they wanted?

2) Pulling someone over on an 11-mile twisty-turny road would be inherently dangerous. You would have a 20 car, 30 motorcycle pile-up in seconds...

Again...this is my perspective.

As far as the performance of the car is concerned, it was a dream for me...not to mention the 85 MPH run back to Jacksonville, where the car purred like a kitten.


My name is Razpewton Neckbone and I approve of this message.

 

You mean 85 MPH - 120 MPH, I still can't believe I made it home in 12.5 hours... :D

 

Most of my posting re: my 4th Dragon / "Deal's Gap" event will be in either the lounge or the NE forum. And I had a long drive back home so I have a lot I want to post but will try to keep it to the relevant minimal info. But - that said - I never use DSC at the Gap - not last year with 1500 miles on the car or this year. It seldom comes into play. My main goal driving the Gap is to 1) not kill myself by keeping the car on the road and on my side of it 2) not hit any motorcycles / cars joining me in my lane (only going the other way) 3) not kill any wildlife [still feeling bad for killing a squirrel on my early Sunday morning run - but I missed the other 5] 4) improving my driving skills 5) have a blast. There's been a couple times flying at a curver that might be signed "10MPH" at 50-60 and going full brakes that I thought I might end up at the bottom of the hill, bottoms up. That was mostly from my first runs on all seasons in the Miata several years ago. It has good brakes. The 8 shines so much more than the Miata here - the brakes are just the beginning. I can appreciate the ABS a whole lot more thanks to the 8's power and weight (as compared to a Miata)

I'll add just this in the post: the yellow lines never seem to come into play for me, and if the tires are drifting a bit that's just when the fun begins. I generally drive the Gap full throttle or full braking. There's a couple switch backs where I ease off a bit and I don't really care if I hit 65 or 75 in the couple straights that are long enough to allow that. I just let the RPM beep ramble on until I get to the next turn. Once you get comfortable with the 8 and the brakes ratchet up a bit until you are hitting the brakes about 50 times per run. And yeah, in the Miata world we generally discussed the 'Tail' as 'the Gap' - although I did often wonder about that since Deal's Gap is really just the piece at the Crossroads of Time.
Last: Thanks goes out to Brian (epitrochoid) for igniting the rotary group to challenge the Dragon and to Randy (raz) for doing such a great job at organizing a well run event[the Mansion is great!], to Bonnie (Raz's daughter) for putting up with a bunch of weird rotary fanatics for 2+ days[and no doubt hours of planning by Raz] and DaveT for getting great prizes and to the VENDORS who donated those prizes!! It was a great Gap experience for the first timer and this 4th timer. The Miatas at the Gap never had it that good!!!

 

Ditto to the above posts....But a little to add....
I have to admit this was the first time that I have driven a car to this extreme...and I learned a lot. I am sure there were many times where I could have handled a turn better or added some power during an apex, but I think I did alright. The DCS is a life saver, I know I made the light come on and I can't imagine taking these corners at the speeds I did without some help from the car. The biggest lesson I learned was to trust the car. With that in mind I slayed the dragon with a few drifts and only a couple close calls. Lifting a front tire off the ground in a corner was a new experience thats for sure. The closest and scariest moment of the weekend was definitly the motorcycle that crossed the yellow lines in the apex of a turn, lucky for him I was on my toes and missed him by less than a hair. If my hand had been out the window I literally could have given him a high five.
What a weekend, Florida will just never be the same and turning the steering wheel will just not be as fun on these flat lands......

My adrenaline is still pumping....5 runs on the dragon, I will never be able to ride a rollarcoaster and have fun again!!!!!

 

I have much to say, but I can sum it up well. I love rear wheel drive, the car tucks in so well on power cause of the LSD, DSC came on a few times for me, and I was dissapointed with some of my fellow RX-8 guys braking mid turn and going too slow. I am going to do it again soon with another buddy, I'm lucky I only live <3 hours away. My tires were the only thing that complained. Thanks for putting it on raz!!!

 

it's not for everyone, but at least if you figure that out 3 miles into it, you can back off.

I highly recomend everyone do several auto crosses if you want to get better. theyre cheap and effective, but the dragon is a different level. you need to at least be familiar with your car at the limit, if not trained professionally. I heard people say "I heard my tires squealing so I knew it was time to back off"....and sometimes panic can kill you.

 

about how long does it take to drive the tail from beginning to end?

 

Don't worry Bliss, people who've never been out here don't know that there are thousands of "Hwy 129" in CA. There's a reason CA the motorcycle capital of the US (it also happens that the US is the biggest motorcycle market in the world). Problem with the East Coast is that California is soooo far away. They have to make do.

11 miles, 11 shmiles. LA 8s should check out Hwy 33 for fewer cops and longer ride. You can "tail" it all the way from LA to SF, and SF to Oregon with the right maps.

 

it takes between 12 and 18 minutes if you dont get stuck behind a shitty buick, if you do it can take damn near 40 minutes.

the particular section of 129 called the dragon is only 11 miles. there are roads just as curvey all over the entire area. It would take you a week to drive them all.

what I want to drive is the beartooth highway (i think??) in western montana...

 

Thanks for bringing your girlfriend!! :D :D

 

The thing about the Dragon's Tail that's different is that over the entire length of the 11 mile 318 curve section that there are zero(0) side roads, or intersections, or driveways to contend with. Others must agree that it's special, as I saw plates from 28 different states in the 2 days of our event.

 

sleep...need sleep...
but... have been to Mulholland Dr in the LA area - aka 'canyon roads'. Did it in a very new 86 T'bird Turbo Coupe rental car, which did very well in that day given it's weight. The brakes smelled badly by the time we got 'down' - to the end. Don't have any idea how far we drove but I imagine it was 12-15 miles each way up and back. A blast. What was better: running canyon roads in a rented 86 Vette convertible. You could almost reach out and grab rocks off the sides of the mntns as you went around curves. But yes back in the east there is little to compare. I've found some good side roads in Arkansas and even here in MD - but there's always too many roads or driveways on them, or too narrow and 'country' like, etc.
Besides the canyon roads, CA has (US) Pac Coast Highway 1. THAT' s a nice ride up through Malibu - want to take that up to Monterrey some day!