The tail of the dragon is no fucking joke

Mook

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UnaBomber said:
We were up near tail of the dragon for a nissan car meet weekend. Obviously he was driving way too fast for the conditions and went off the road, down a 10 foot or so drop and dead into a tree. Both driver and passenger are ok. The passenger was airlifted to hospital with a broken femur that had been broken in 6 or 7 places. The driver had multiple broken bones in both feet and many bumps an bruises.

I ran with his car in the mountains all weekend. The only reason I did not go on this run was my car was out of gas and the closest open gas station was 28 miles away. As soon as i got word i hopped in a buddies raptor and hauled ass up to the accident scene. Its was 25 miles including all of the tail of the dragon. That ride was more intense than anything i did in the GTR all weekend

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and after

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they both should be dead no questions asked. I dont understand how they were not more fucked up in the accident. Standard GTR safety equipment. All airbags deployed
 

Mike K

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Apr 11, 2008
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I know it may be a massive eye sore but guardrail is probably warranted for most of the twisties and may have prevented situations like these. It's sad and I hope the ddriver and passenger make full recoveries.

I think from the position of the state/ municipalities the easiest way to prevent stuff like this from happening is not driving like an ass. I mean it's a GT-R so we can all probably draw the same conclusion and something tells me if you were to ask the driver he might admit that he wasn't just on a leisurely Sunday stroll.
 

HYPROPULSION_R

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May 19, 2010
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Taking the Mustang there this summer, This will probably hang in the back of my head the whole time.

Just take it easy up there. Keep the car within your limits and do not cross the double yellow. If you're going too fast to keep the car from crossing the double yellow...slow down.

I repeat...do not cross the double yellow.

I've gone up there 3 times and seen a ton of accidents.
 

Donnie

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One of the groups I'm with has been going every year since '07. We've only lost three cars and one bike in that time, but it's never good having to run down from Fontana to watch a good buddy getting pulled, unconscious and bloody from their car by THP... Nor is it fun seeing another buddy's immaculately prepped, award winning autocross racer getting hauled, crushed, up the side of a hill... With the door pocket filled with his passenger's blood.

The Dragon and the Hellbender are NO. FUCKING. JOKE. Tread lightly, or the Dragon will bite you.



/Veteran 28&129 runner.
 

Pressure Ratio

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Like 35 or 45mph and heavily patrolled.

I would not say it is heavily patrolled at all. First off it has parts on two different states. We saw one state trooper on the North Carolina side in the three days we were there last year.

I think from the position of the state/ municipalities the easiest way to prevent stuff like this from happening is not driving like an ass. I mean it's a GT-R so we can all probably draw the same conclusion and something tells me if you were to ask the driver he might admit that he wasn't just on a leisurely Sunday stroll.

Very few people on that road are on a leisurely drive. Most are there to rip through there pretty quickly. You can tell by the bikes and cars that are there. Most cars you can see many suspension mods, sticky tires and even full out race cars with street tags.

It is a wild experience. When we watched the GoPro footage of our trip you can see we all slowed down in sections where there were tight turns, big drop offs a foot of the road and no guard rail. :noes: But we didn't crash and still had a blast. One pass up we had a Porsche club chasing us. Sounded so wicked hearing them behind us. We had slowed in a couple of sections to let them catch up again. We are making this a yearly trip for sure. I can't wait!

Just take it easy up there. Keep the car within your limits and do not cross the double yellow. If you're going too fast to keep the car from crossing the double yellow...slow down.

I repeat...do not cross the double yellow.

I've gone up there 3 times and seen a ton of accidents.

Crossing the double yellow is almost guaranteed to end up bad. So much traffic on that road. It is rare you are not crossing paths with other drivers almost constantly.






The "Tree of Shame" is always a good reminder of how dangerous it is. Even if you don't see a crash . This thing as parts added and removed every year.


honda_hoot_treeoshame.jpg
 

Donnie

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I would not say it is heavily patrolled at all. First off it has parts on two different states. We saw one state trooper on the North Carolina side in the three days we were there last year.

NC side is not patrolled, unless you bump into a Sheriffs Deputy which is rare. THP makes a point of loading down the TN side though. I've never been there, even on off-peak times, where there wasn't excessive enforcement.

I usually try and stick to 28 though, that shit is my bread and butter- So nfg.
 

Pressure Ratio

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The one NC trooper is all we saw. Well besides the ones around a crashed bike. With the tow truck.



Moonshiners 28, Diamondback, Six gap and Cherohala Skyway are all work checking out. We even went out east more and checked out the Blue Ridge Parkway in the George Washington National Forest. Much longer, sweeping turns then the Tail of the Dragon.
 

HYPROPULSION_R

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May 19, 2010
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NC side is not patrolled, unless you bump into a Sheriffs Deputy which is rare. THP makes a point of loading down the TN side though. I've never been there, even on off-peak times, where there wasn't excessive enforcement.

I usually try and stick to 28 though, that shit is my bread and butter- So nfg.

yup, 28 is fun. we call that the Franklin run. We get lunch at Cafe Rel then go back to Fontana.
 

Donnie

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I think of 28 as "the shit". Nice long straight-aways beginning and terminating in sweepers and hairpins of varying technicality. Something for everyone and every car, and far easier to run hard on as compared to 129. (I'll plead the fifth on what type of speeds we hit on our ballsier bender runs... lol.)

I only find myself doing the Skyway every other year or so. It's more of a cruise than a run and though the scenery is amazing, it's on the far side of the long end for my tastes. You've got to set aside a quarter or more of your day and half a tank of gas for that bad boy.
 
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