The Dragon Post Trip Report
 

Total Distance including Dragon runs: 1,789 Miles
Top Speed: 99.4 MPH
Gas Station Junk Food Consumed: A shitload!
Funny Moment: Got called a Hose Head by a Harley Rider! LOL, he got it! ;-)

Day 1:

Well... I had a great trip down to the dragon. The trip didn't quite happen as I had planned, but it worked out in the end and actually worked out for the best.

I originally planned on two days on the Blue Ridge Parkway, leaving Thursday morning, then finishing up Friday down at the Dragon with Saturday meant for the dragon runs. Google however must plan on piss stops every 15 minutes for 5 minutes each, because I did the entire Parkway on Thursday. It wasn't easy, I was pushing it, but. Google time on the Parkway equaled nearly 18 hours. My time on the parkway equaled 10 hours. 479 miles and what a drive! Holy Crap! What an amazing drive! Do it once! You will not regret it! The Parkway is no slouch for twisties, but the beauty is what it's there for. Especially the southern end with the highest point of just over 6000 feet. That's where these photos were taken around sunset on Thursday:

http://lancewilliams.net/images/misc/DSC_8384t.jpg http://lancewilliams.net/images/misc/DSC_8380t.jpg

About an hour or so after I got those shots, I was approaching Robbinsville, NC where I had reservations for the next night, since I thought the Blue Ridge was not ending until the next day. They had an opening so I was able to crash Thursday after 14 hours of driving. I have to say, the Z is quite a comfortable ride!

Day 2:

The car was trashed from 700 miles of driving yesterday, but there's a self-serve car wash in Robbinsville that I took advantage of. I brought my bucket and wash gear so sprayed the car down and got to work. Had her all shiny and new for my first ever trek on the Dragon! Headed north on US129 out of Robbinsville. It quickly get's twisty, but the speed limit is 55 with mainly sweepers. This is about a 15 mile trek to the start of the Dragon. You know when you are getting close to the Dragon! Signs warning truckers to turn around are prevalent and after crossing the Cheoah bridge, there's a climb through some warm up bends. This takes you to the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort (Pic Below):

http://lancewilliams.net/images/misc/DSC_8387t.jpg

and shortly after all hell breaks loose! This is the craziest road I've ever been on bar none! I made 3 trips through the dragon. The first one I took it easy just to see what it was all about. The return trip (southbound) I set my video camera up in the cockpit and hit it a bit harder. After that 2nd trip, I headed down the Cherohala Skyway which is another fun, scenic drive that I'd compare to the Blue Ridge. I finished that off, found a gas station with some food and after a nice conversation with some folks from California, headed back to the Dragon for my third run of the day.

For this run, I set the video camera outside to catch the LF wheel and suspension work. I was a bit more adventures this run, but still didn't work the engine that hard, keeping it in 3rd mostly. 2nd gear really would have been ideal. Maybe next time with an oil cooler.

I'll have the videos up soon, although video just doesn't give you any sense of being there, other than seeing the bends. I can say from someone who watched a lot of similar videos, watching videos of the dragon is one thing (and quite boring actually). Being there, driving it is a whole different animal!

Oh and for fun... Some picks of the Z at the Bristol Speedway!

http://lancewilliams.net/images/misc/DSC_8413t.jpg http://lancewilliams.net/images/misc/DSC_8415t.jpg

There's a Z event in May. I highly suggest we make it a point to be there as a group! Much fun will be had fursure! ;-)

Videos:
These are long videos guys, thus I kept them off Youtube. By keeping them off Youtube I unfortunalty can not embed them here, so I'm just including links to the vids. Honestly this is probably like having to go watch your relatives vacation home movies as it's quite boring, at least in my opinion, if you weren't there. Both vids are well over 15 minutes in length as I included nearly the entire 11 mile run in both. But here they are anyway (at least for me to watch). ;-)

Video 1 = Interior (if it stutters, click pause and allow it to download)
http://lancewilliams.net/videos/tail...on%202009.html

Video 2 = Exterior (if it stutters, click pause and allow it to download) - can't help the wind noise, so I turned the sound down a bit.
http://lancewilliams.net/videos/tail...0exterior.html

US129 Photos:
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/Thum...75116&g=00&s=0
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/Thum...116&g=00&s=375

Still waiting on Kill Boy...

Bristol FTW!

That's awesome... I need to learn how to use my Canon properly... lol.

Yeah, I'm a big NASCAR fan and have yet to go to a race. I just walked right into Bristol and snapped a few pics. I almost got locked in as they were shutting down when I was there ;-)

Tony is a big fan, too. You HAVE to go, man. They are insane in person. :icon18:

I'm a closest NASCAR fan haha :) I want to go to a race! Bristol is my favorite track too. Its like racing in a football stadium.


Looks like you had an awesome time on your trip!

Nice Photos! I'd say the photos you took of your Z should be in the 2010 Nissan brochure or perhaps a poster. My favorite is the one with the Z, mountains, and clouds from the BRP. The Z event at the Dragon could be fun too, if nothing else it could be an excuse to get the Z out on a nice long roadtrip through scenic country.

Regarding NASCAR, I have never been, but I also hear it is insane. I did go to the DC Gran Prix the one and only year it was at RFK, and that was an awesome experience. I bought general admission tickets from Ticketmaster, and paid $10 at the gate for a pit pass. Walking through the pits and seeing the C5Rs, BMW M3's, Porsches, and Vipers was quite posibly one of the best race experiences I have ever had.

I went to zdayz in 2007 and it was AMAZING. The Dragon is one special road.

Did you see the tree of shame??

OK, seems like a lot of the Mid-A guys like or at least are interested in NASCAR. I propose a group trip to the Richmond race next spring.

A crap! I forgot to look for that thing. Dooh!

Its just an excuse to go back!! I will check my photobucket and see if I still have a photo of it.

I've modified the original post with two links to videos (interior and exterior). They are long and about as entertaining probably as your family home movies, but if you are extremely bored, have fun! ;-)

I couldn't embed them because they were too long for Youtube and I didn't feel like breaking them up.

That's gonna be wild....seeing a bunch of 370's parking in the Richmond fairgrounds...next to all those Fords, Dodges, and Chevys! But hey....I'd be up for it! I havent been to Richmond or a NASCAR race since Dale, Sr. passed away.

Those AAM parts are sounding sweet! ;)