Longwolf (Christian)

Last weekend my dad and I drove his S2000 up for the annual S2K Club gathering at the <a href="http://www.tailofthedragon.com/"> Tail of the Dragon</a>. There were over 200 S2Ks that came up for this huge event, and the Honda guys were all a great bunch of guys who were a lot like us in their passion for driving and mods. The event took place at <a href="http://www.fontanavillage.com/"> Fontana Village </a>, NC, Friday through Sunday the 15th.

We arrived up at the Fontana Village at noon on Friday. The only noteworthy thing in this town outside the Dragon is the <a href="http://main.nc.us/graham/fontanad.html"> Fontana Hydro Power Dam</a> that is located here:

<img src="http://www.mtleconte.com/rhhc002.JPG" border="0">

The Fontana Village is a huge hotel/resort/cabin village nestled in the mountains just 10 minutes from the Tail of the Dragon, and miles away from nowhere. My dad and I were not able to get a room at the main hotel, so we had rented a 2-bedroom cabin in the hills on the Fontana Village complex. Fontana Village is pretty nice; they have upwards of 50 cabins nestled in a little valley, with a hotel and villas over looking the whole complex. There is also several restaurants/bars on the property, as well as a general store, ice cream parlor, softball diamond, put-put golf, pools, and such.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1436/100_1096.jpg" border="0">

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1436/100_1070.jpg" border="0">

Once we checked in, we caught up with some of the Florida S2K crew and had lunch at the hotel grill. After lunch, we decided it was time to go see the Dragon. From the hotel, you have a 15-minute drive, which you would assume is the famous "Dragon". The road in and out of the area is very curvy, very steep, and very challenging. The real Dragon officially begins at a spot about 15 minutes away where there is a general store, gas station and a motorcycle motel. This nice facility is a great place to stop to gas up and have a soda before heading out on the Dragon:

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1436/100_1093.jpg" border="0">

At this stop you can see the famous "Tree of Shame" which is a tree that is decorated with parts of motorcycles that have gone off the Dragon. Tradition for the motorcyclist is that if you wreck, you come to the tree and hang a part on the tree as a sacrifice to the Dragon.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1436/100_1075.jpg" border="0">
Once you leave the Dragon store, you head up into the mountain. What awaits you is an 11-mile road that takes you through "Deals Gap" mountain/valley. There are 318 sharp turns within this 11-mile road, and you never end up driving straight for more than 100 feet before you encounter a hairpin or switchback.

We set out from the hotel and once we reached the Dragon base camp, and my arms were already tired from the challenging 6-mile road that we just covered. We passed through the Dragon 3 times over the next 4 hours, and we finally had to stop because we were exhausted.

Here we are at the end of the Dragon:

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1436/100_1080.jpg" border="0">

Here we are mid way through the Dragon taking a break:

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1436/100_1081.jpg" border="0">

The rest of the afternoon we explored the local area and found some more roads that were a blast to drive. Friday night there were some parties back at the hotel, and after some beers we hit the sack.

On Saturday morning, George Osmun joined us, and we attended a mandatory drivers meeting at 8:30am before the whole crew were let loose on the mountain. The driver's meeting consisted of some warning and general rules:
-Do NOT ever cross the double yellow line. Police ticket anyone who crosses the line. This is the most important rule of the mountain.
-Every weekend, there is at least 1 motorcycle or car that goes off the mountain. There have been many deaths, so be careful and don't push too hard. It's ok if you run 10/10ths on a racetrack, but here a simple mistake will send you and your car off a 200' cliff.
-Police are on the mountain, and they are mostly concerned with people who are reckless. Speeding is tolerated for the most part, but they will come down hard on anyone who is reckless and stupid.

The organizers let us loose and suddenly there were 200 cars headed for the Dragon. This sounds like a traffic nightmare, but it went very smoothly and we all ran at a very fast pace through the roads. For the next 3 hours, we ran the mountain back and forth at our own pace and were having a blast. Later in the afternoon, the S2K club set up a variety of different drives around the local area. There were 6 different excursions, and each had about 30 cars participating.

My dad, George and I spent all day pushing our cars hard, but we survived with no mechanical issues or mistakes. I was amazed at how hard my father drove that mountain, he was using every bit of performance that the S2000 had in it! I hit the roads with a little aggression than him since I didn't want to crash a car I didn't own. George put the DSG to good use and was keeping up with all the S2000s on the Dragon. A couple people asked me who was the guy in the Audi; commenting on how well it was doing on the mountain. Go Audi!
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1436/100_1099.jpg" border="0">

The damage: one S2000 did go off the side of the mountain. The car went off on a curve just before the Dragon, and came to a rest on its side about 150 feet down the mountain. Driver had a broken arm, concussion, and lots of lacerations. The hill where he went off was so steep that it took the police/paramedics almost an hour to get the driver out of the valley. He will be in the hospital for a little while, but he will also be ok. He was lucky that he had a very stout aftermarket roll bar in his S2000...otherwise he would have been dead for sure. I saw the car as it was lifted back up on the road, and it was scary to see how mangled the vehicle was. The witnesses who were there on the scene said they could barely see the car when it came to a rest near the bottom of the mountain....it was that far down.

There was also one motorcyclist that we came across who went into a turn too hot and ran off the road. He landed in a creek that was about 3' deep, and wasn't banged up too bad, but his bike looked like it was toast. And lastly there was a WRX that lost control just outside our hotel and almost went down into a deep valley. This guy was very lucky in that his car stopped just a few feet from where the ground dropped off. His car was amazingly not damaged at all except for few scratches. But he had to get a tow truck to get his car back on the road. That is George Osmun standing with his back to the camera:
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1436/100_1105.jpg" border="0">


I am amazed that the Audi Club has not done an official event on the Dragon yet. This is too much fun not to be experienced by the Audi community. I can't believe the Cherokee or SE chapter haven't done this yet, but I am sure going to suggest it to the national club that ACNA looks into it. Every weekend there seems to be a different car or motorcycle club that is hosting an event there, and even during the weekdays there is a number of sports cars running the Dragon. I can't wait until next year....maybe i'll sell my Miata and pick up a used S2K to take up next year!


PS - I'll have more pics and some video later when dig out my digicam. I just need to find a place to host them (time to call Green for server space).

Mexican Audi (Shane)

Have they finished the remodeling at Fontana? Great review!

Longwolf (Christian)

Yes, the main hotel look great.

Rice Etr

Great write-up. I had a blast and agree that the Audi club should think about doing an event there.

Enzo

<center><img src="http://www.cherokeeaudiclub.com/images/qdmstickerfinal.jpg"></center><p>Hey - Check out the Cherokee Web site on occasion!!

QdM will be happening May 4th - 6th and will tour the "Tail of the Dragon" Cherohala parkway and surrounding roads.

Sign up for our e-Newsletter and keep up with all thats going on. QdM was in the last issue...

Ted Dannemiller is coordinating it on our end and is looking for more attendees from our neck of the woods.<ul><li><a href="http://www.cherokeeaudiclub.com/events.html#qts">Quattro deMayo Weekend</a></li></ul>

S4me2no...

Very Cool! especially having a blast with your dad

Rub-ISH (Brandon)

Good to hear the front track A3 was holding its own

Rice Etr

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/3380/img_9203.jpg"></center><p>
I thought it would be nothing but wheelspin. I was in 3rd about 90% of the time. The ratio was just long enough where you couldn't build the torque fast enough to spin the wheel(s). Made for incredible acceleration. The DSG made it so easy to stay right in the torque band. I tried running with the ESP off for about 2 seconds. Wouldn't recomend it out there.