[WolfpackS2k]

Finally had a chance last weekend to really thrash the car and see what she's made of. Took a long weekend trip to the mountains of Western NC/VA and Eastern TN. So many great roads and the GRC put on a good showing. I was honestly quite impressed with the level of grip the car displayed when driven aggressively on tight mountain roads. Many of the roads we drove on I hadn't encountered before (and even the ones I have, only a handful of times) and being on public roads with changing conditions and countless blind curves I was driving no more than 8/10ths (for the curves). And the car just stuck. Very little understeer in general and just a little bit of chassis rotation felt if one wasn't straight, when braking heavily. I set the AWD to 50/50 for most of the "hot runs" and the car's ability to hold a line with the throttle floored impressed. TC & Stability control were shut off (because...AWD!). No understeer under acceleration, even in very tight turns. Thermal management seemed fine with oil temps never exceeding 250°F (mostly in the 230-240 range, and would decrease quite quickly once driving was relaxed), no brake fade and thankfully no rear diff overheating issues (I wrapped the rear diff temp sensor with heat insulation in advance of the trip). Our armada consisted of myself, a 2023 Mach 1, 2023 M3 Competition, 2019 Camaro SS 1LE, 2021 GT 5.0 PP, lightly modified 2012 Boss 302, and track prepped & modified 2001 Z28. I did most of the leading and never had anyone complaining about pace. On a few of the roads I actually left everyone for dead. Granted it's far easily to haul ass on mountain roads with AWD and 300 hp than far heavier (and more powerful) RWD cars, even if they all had far stickier rubber. Still, I expected to have a harder time losing them. Though I'll admit the Camaro SS driver wasn't involved in Saturday's driving on account of slicing open his hand the night before with a machete (lol, don't ask). Also, for giggles, at one point I was side by side with the Boss and we did a 60-100 mph pull and he only got me by a car length.





The "named" roads we ran on were Back of the Dragon (Tazewell to Marion in VA - Hwy 16), The Rattler (Hot Springs to Clyde in NC - Hwy 209, sadly it rained heavily for half of our run) and Tail of the Dragon which was an absolute mess that weekend. Plus we arrived at the wrong time (miscalculated our route time and arrived 90 minutes too early). Was basically bumper to bumper with onlooking spectators everywhere and 2 active crashes along the route (a totalled Audi S4 and a motorcycle). Also did a good portion of Cherohala Parkway and some Blue Ridge Parkway (which was just to get from Point A to B, and/or enjoy the views). Altogether (by starting and ending in Raleigh) I did over 1000 miles of driving.

If I came away with any vehicle criticisms it's mainly the following:
-Seats' lateral support sucks
-Engine is far too quiet. Above 60 mph, with the windows down, you can't hear a thing.

Here are a few clips, from Cherohala & Back of the Dragon: