Tail of the Dragon Video
 

If the mods want to move this, that's fine, but I thought it would be found more interesting here than other sections.
I had the car on track at Summit Point for a session about a week after I got it. Lots of fun. It was pretty brilliant on the tight switchbacks of the Tail of the Dragon.

Sorry for the retarded camera angle. I thought I had turned the lens to make it horizontal...
https://vimeo.com/44642459

its no pro driver nor a closed course.

You couldn't pay me to drive on that road at night. Glad you didn't kill anyone or yourself filming that. The first bit during the daytime looked like fun, but I wouldn't push my car that hard out there. I've heard too many stories of invisible dirt & gravel that gets eroded from the mountainside and likes to collect at the apex of those switchbacks and send even the most skilled drivers and motorcycle riders off the cliffs. I'll probably visit the TOTD after my BRZ arrives and I get it broken in, however I'll definitely not be exploring the limits of adhesion of the tires when there are trucks and vans full of other people on the road not paying nearly as much attention as I am.

I cant wait to go back on August 1st!

It's actually not as dark as the video makes it seem. I could still see the turns ahead even if my lights were not pointed there. Dusk is the best time to run because other vehicles have their lights on and are spotted much earlier. But this was a closed course, of course.

I'm not actually driving hard and I am certainly not "exploring" the limits of my tires. I know them well, so I'm not experimenting out there (I do some professional race driver coaching). You'll see a lot of coasting, late turn-ins and apexes, etc., until I have a complete read on the corner. People driving there are generally very aware of what's going on, but I am also aware that they may not be aware.

This video is meant for your entertainment, to see the car handling real roads at speed. If it rubs some people the wrong way, I can remove it. As always, if you want to feel out the limits of your car, take it to the track. Autocross is a great entry to performance driving.

I'm curious as to what your definition of a 'closed course' is.

Yeah no kidding. Closed course, but there's oncoming traffic you're coming up on traffic?

Yes, a closed course in Mexico. Where I invited some friends to join me. lol
Are you guys not familiar with this road? I am not one of the crazies. You should see the bikers.
Let me remind you all that these tires HOWL if you look at them wrong. They squeal way below their grip threshold.

Mexico? But the thread says "Tail of the Dragon..." isn't that in North Carolina?

Alright, alright... I've locked the video. Mods can feel free to delete this thread.

I guess most people here dont understand why people drive from all over the country for those roads.

Once you go once, you get it.

This thread makes me LOL. I can't wait to go to Mexico this Sept. I'm thinking about going to NOPI nationals near Atlanta and thought I would run through the dragon on the way down.

Odd that this vid was locked? Driving the Dragon even at the speed limit looks and feels quick. Would have loved to check this out.

Why the lock?

Anybody who hasn't been to the dragon, here's the one I shot (driving relatively tamely). [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SihNJT8Jtrg"]Tail of the Dragon - BRZ - YouTube[/ame]

He was making a joke. The Tail of the Dragon is not in Mexico.

Because some people here didn't approve of the way I approached the road and it's not worth creating a potentially bad image for myself.

It does look like an enjoyable road ;)

What would scare me though is apparently a ton of OTHER people think that too, and drive it kinda crazy... and I'd fear one of them losing it around a bend and hitting me. YouTube seems full of people crashing, crossing the double-yellow in corners, etc.

When I went, either the day of or the day before a Porsche had spun out through the middle of a turn (thankfully nobody was injured), and a motorcyclist had died two days before.

http://www.tailofthedragonmaps.com/m...eaths_2011.gif

I use to street race back in the day, but moved all that fun over to the track and have way more fun there. So, I can never knock anyone who does it, cause I was there once. Just use enough judgement to not endanger other people is the only thing I ever harp on.

I don't know if "knocking them" is the right term for it, but IMHO the fact that you did it, survived it, but say the errors of your way make you the perfect person to advise to someone its not the right thing to do. I don't see any reason to sugar coat it, lay it out there (politely of course)

Good parents do that every day! :)

I drove like a lunatic in my younger years, not to mention doing like 30+ autocrosses. I thought I knew everything, not to mention being immortal of course.

Then I went to the track. A very rude awakening, lol. Street hooliganism and even AutoX just don't compare. You quickly realize how much you don't know, and how reckless you'd been. At least I did.

ahh c'mon guys.. condone or don't condone, watch it or don't watch it... but ask the questions before you hate.

I, personally, would love to see the vid... password?

I started hanging out at the local "Hot Rod" parking lot when I was 15. Had my first car on the street the day I turned 16 and probably drag raced someone that night. (This was 1985-86) We always did this in locations that were not utilized at night and had cars watching both ends of where we were running. Here's the thing. We didn't race on highways or through neighborhoods. Was it wrong, absolutely! There was a horrible wreck that stopped most of us in our tracks right around the time I turned 21. I had been racing Motocross, Stock Cars and Shifters as well as auto crossing for years at that point and realized that what we were doing on the street wasn't worth the cost in lives and property.

Having said all that, I still enjoy a nice road as much as the next person. If I find a nice back road or Mountain Pass and I'm in the right car (FRS, Mini, Mini Van, Hummer, F650, Freightliner. I'll pretty much drive anything!) I'm going to have a bit of fun. For the most part I lock the cruise at 5ish over the limit and roll on though.

Keep it safe. Find a local SCCA, NASA or other sanctioning body and get out to an autocross, track day or drift event and learn how to control whatever you drive.

Sean

Yeah, but I'm not their parent. I have kids of my own for that. Besides, there are enough people to tell them what they shouldn't do on public streets.





Same here, except I learned that lesson when I went to my first AutoX event. I prefer full road course though, since I like 3-5th gear.

Oh me too, even in my old age lol... but enjoy these days means getting the shifting perfect, braking and accelerating smoothly (not necessarily quickly), etc. Trying to reach that nirvana, fluidic "harmony" of flowing with the road. You all know what I mean.

Never, ever do I intentionally "drift" though or push anywhere near the point of the rear twitching or needing to be caught. Just graceful, smooth, dance...

Even if you love the big tracks, don't knock autocross. Everything you need to learn in the area of car control can be learned at an autocross between 50-60 mph. If you are just getting into performance driving I can promise you the first time you experience truly terminal under or oversteer, you DO NOT want it to be over 100 mph heading towards armco.

Understood. I just meant that it doesn't hurt to share your experience.

Apologies if I seemed to knock AutoX. You can definately learn FAR more in an AutoX than by driving crazy on the street. And competitive AutoX drivers are truly *amazingly* talented! I used to get soooo mad at people turning in runs seconds ahead of me with the same car, lol.

The nice thing though about the track is you get more time to experiment. Lap after lap, session after session, you can try braking later, accelerating earlier, whatever you want to do. You aren't being timed either (not officially), so you can relax and risk being slow since the point is to learn and enjoy, not set the fastest time.

That wasn't really aimed at you R8, lol. Just a blanket statement and a blatant plug for a discipline that has taught me SO much over the years.

Did it for about 3yrs nearly every weekend. Two run-ins law wise (only ever got one ticket, but it wasn't for street racing, I just didn't get slowed down enough and he cited me for speeding). The other case we were actually parked and watching some guys run, and the cops came from over the hill. Everyone jumped into their cars and bolted....as did I...



I still AutoX too...

I have more fun at the full tracks due to the adrenaline of chasing down other cars and what not. Love that stuff.

I've done both extensively and each have their own thrills and both can teach you things. I actually stopped driving on road courses for awhile because it was the same two tracks and honestly it got a little boring. There wasn't the adrenaline rush I had with autocross.

I've also driven on the dragon, like a lunatic at times, and will never do that again. I had a stainless steel brake line rupture on me (it had come loose from the strut since I was lazy on my WRX and didn't thread it through the strut hole...) and I think I needed a change of clothes after that one.

Again, it's not about you it's about all the other people on the road. I've seen one HD crash after leaning in too far and another run off the road but thankfully in an area with a rock wall. I've also seen a Subaru end up nose down being held up by a tree if it hadn't been there it would have been a long way down...

I agree, and personally I think the biggest lesson they teach is to set aside your ego. You learn zen paradoxes like "trying to drive fast only makes you slow" and "the fastest laps feel the slowest," lol. Trying to catch someone, or trying to go faster just creates mistakes. You focus on *just driving*, rather than beating someone, and things unfold as they will.

And that eventually I think carries over to street driving, and less of a need to prove who's skills or car is faster, etc.

Me personally, I've been tracking at the same track for 4yrs, so learning the track is under my belt. Driving fast now it more second nature rather than having to "try" to. I find it funnier that the cars in front of me are "trying" to get away and they themselves make the mistake, rather than just letting me past and getting it over with....lol.

I like to visit other tracks too. I've driven as far as 7hrs to run at another track. Now that my local track is closed down, I have no choice but to drive a little out of the way to stretch my legs.