Nice story and very nice pics. I wish I could've been there with you guys. :bigthumbsup
Our Mustang got its first piece of tail
I was supposed to be heading to Florida for the weekend. Because of a scheduling issue at my wife's job, that got nixed (she ended up having to work Friday night, which threw everything out of wack).
I was sitting here pi$$ed at the world when she came home from work that night, and she could tell. Then she came up with a wild idea-"Lets go visit the Dragon!"
Well, after a 978 mile, 18 hour and 15 minute round trip (15 hours and 52 minutes actually in the car) all I can say is WOW. I want to say a BIG thank you to my wife's boss for screwing her over:bigthumbsup
I last did the Tail of the Dragon in June of 2005 in my F150 as part of a large week long sightseeing trip. I basically walked it down the road to keep from frying the brakes. I had to pull over several times to let the motorcycles and fast cars through.
Yesterday it was my turn to attack the dragon, and it was a freakin BLAST:kooky:
My wife was really cool, too. Here I was, power sliding up off curves, a rock face wall maybe a foot from the right side of the car and a sheer drop just feet away from the left and here she is munching away on a bag of potato chips like she was back home on the couch watching TV!:cooldude:
The car did awesome, stuck like glue for the most part (it would have been perfect with better tires, but it still handled pretty well). Because I was using LOTS of 2nd gear, brake fade was never an issue.
The transmission is still working fine, I only banged it off the gate trying to get it into third once.
That whole area up there is cool as hell. NC-28 is a blast to drive, so is the Foothills Parkway, US-321, US-441 and roads like that in Tennessee.
The trip up there and back on I-40 was pretty much uneventful, except for one asshat that wanted to follow an inch off my rear bumper on the real tight portion just west of Old Fort. We were in the left lane, but only marginally faster than the other 2 lanes because of an older couple in an SUV in front of me. SO she stayed on my bumper so close that I couldn't see her grill or headlights. I gave her the "back off" hand motion out the window and she flipped me off. She finally got the message when I took us all the way down to 15 mph , then when she FINALLY went to switch lanes to pass me I just left her there like she was standing still (gotta love the power of a V8 when climbing a hill) :yup: She passed me 5 miles later when things leveled out a bit doing like 90 flipping me off as she went by. What a be-atch.
The car did very well in cruise mode, too. That was the second longest day I have ever spent in a vehicle ever, and I have absolutely NO reservations about taking her on log trips anymore. The F150 has officially been replaced as our long trip vehicle. I got out of the car when we got home, and I wasn't sore at all. My wife even caught a few Z's on the way home. Smaller cups have all but cured my shifting with a cup in the cup holder issue I complained about back in May. The
The Mustang did very well on gas. I don't have the final numbers crunched yet, because we got back late last night but I'll have the real results later tonight sometime. At one point in the mountains I was indicating 31 mpg early in the tank heading down US-74 from Asheville before we got on NC-28. I glanced at the computer once after we exited the Foothills Parkway and it was still showing 22.5 mpg after all that performance driving we did.
The first two tanks officially were 25.9 mpg (355.4 miles, 13.72 Gallons-the trip to the mountains from New Bern) and 23.8 mpg (276.2 miles, 11.63 gallons-mountain roads, frequent stops to take pictures).
The numbers aren't as good as they were in May when we did that quick run up to Asheville, but that time I was just trying for MPG's and this time I had a definite destination and was trying to make time.
Anyone who hasn't been up to Deals Gap has to add it to their bucket list. I REALLY want to go again next spring/summer, this time with a bunch of other Mustang owners.
Here are a couple of pics of the car taking in the mountain air:
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
I was sitting here pi$$ed at the world when she came home from work that night, and she could tell. Then she came up with a wild idea-"Lets go visit the Dragon!"
Well, after a 978 mile, 18 hour and 15 minute round trip (15 hours and 52 minutes actually in the car) all I can say is WOW. I want to say a BIG thank you to my wife's boss for screwing her over:bigthumbsup
I last did the Tail of the Dragon in June of 2005 in my F150 as part of a large week long sightseeing trip. I basically walked it down the road to keep from frying the brakes. I had to pull over several times to let the motorcycles and fast cars through.
Yesterday it was my turn to attack the dragon, and it was a freakin BLAST:kooky:
My wife was really cool, too. Here I was, power sliding up off curves, a rock face wall maybe a foot from the right side of the car and a sheer drop just feet away from the left and here she is munching away on a bag of potato chips like she was back home on the couch watching TV!:cooldude:
The car did awesome, stuck like glue for the most part (it would have been perfect with better tires, but it still handled pretty well). Because I was using LOTS of 2nd gear, brake fade was never an issue.
The transmission is still working fine, I only banged it off the gate trying to get it into third once.
That whole area up there is cool as hell. NC-28 is a blast to drive, so is the Foothills Parkway, US-321, US-441 and roads like that in Tennessee.
The trip up there and back on I-40 was pretty much uneventful, except for one asshat that wanted to follow an inch off my rear bumper on the real tight portion just west of Old Fort. We were in the left lane, but only marginally faster than the other 2 lanes because of an older couple in an SUV in front of me. SO she stayed on my bumper so close that I couldn't see her grill or headlights. I gave her the "back off" hand motion out the window and she flipped me off. She finally got the message when I took us all the way down to 15 mph , then when she FINALLY went to switch lanes to pass me I just left her there like she was standing still (gotta love the power of a V8 when climbing a hill) :yup: She passed me 5 miles later when things leveled out a bit doing like 90 flipping me off as she went by. What a be-atch.
The car did very well in cruise mode, too. That was the second longest day I have ever spent in a vehicle ever, and I have absolutely NO reservations about taking her on log trips anymore. The F150 has officially been replaced as our long trip vehicle. I got out of the car when we got home, and I wasn't sore at all. My wife even caught a few Z's on the way home. Smaller cups have all but cured my shifting with a cup in the cup holder issue I complained about back in May. The
The Mustang did very well on gas. I don't have the final numbers crunched yet, because we got back late last night but I'll have the real results later tonight sometime. At one point in the mountains I was indicating 31 mpg early in the tank heading down US-74 from Asheville before we got on NC-28. I glanced at the computer once after we exited the Foothills Parkway and it was still showing 22.5 mpg after all that performance driving we did.
The first two tanks officially were 25.9 mpg (355.4 miles, 13.72 Gallons-the trip to the mountains from New Bern) and 23.8 mpg (276.2 miles, 11.63 gallons-mountain roads, frequent stops to take pictures).
The numbers aren't as good as they were in May when we did that quick run up to Asheville, but that time I was just trying for MPG's and this time I had a definite destination and was trying to make time.
Anyone who hasn't been up to Deals Gap has to add it to their bucket list. I REALLY want to go again next spring/summer, this time with a bunch of other Mustang owners.
Here are a couple of pics of the car taking in the mountain air:
8
1 - 20 of 27 Posts
Great recovery:winks I drove it earlier this year
Great fun:bigthumbsup
Great fun:bigthumbsupAttachments
I did the Dragon a few years ago when I drove a MINI Cooper S. It was a blast. Although it was kind of crowded, and no shortage of 5-0. I actually had more fun on some less traveled back highways where I could push the car better through corners without fear of other cars or cops.
Dying to take the Mustang down there though. Thanks for sharing. Cool wife, too
Dying to take the Mustang down there though. Thanks for sharing. Cool wife, too
Sounds like a great weekend and those tire marks seem pretty fresh...
Add Sterling to the list, too!
I don't usually reopen threads this old, but what the heck, this thread is the best place for me to do this >
I just go back from a 4 day, 1800 mile cruise of the Skyline Drive, Blue Ridge Parkway, Smoky Mountain Parkway, Foothills Parkway, and while I was up there, Sterling got his first taste of the Tail of Dragon now too (pull up any of the websites of the various photographers up at the Tail of the Dragon, pull up Wednesday, May 27 2015 and move the sliders at the top to read between 12:00 and 12:30pm and enjoy the low res proofs) pony.jpg
I have to get some sleep soon, and I have to work this weekend. I may get a chance to post some of my pics later next week.
I may also need to pick the brains of a few of our video experts around here, I now have a GoPro Hero 4 so I have video of my run along the Dragon. I have zero idea on how to edit and post it, damn technology (LOL).
I don't usually reopen threads this old, but what the heck, this thread is the best place for me to do this >
I just go back from a 4 day, 1800 mile cruise of the Skyline Drive, Blue Ridge Parkway, Smoky Mountain Parkway, Foothills Parkway, and while I was up there, Sterling got his first taste of the Tail of Dragon now too (pull up any of the websites of the various photographers up at the Tail of the Dragon, pull up Wednesday, May 27 2015 and move the sliders at the top to read between 12:00 and 12:30pm and enjoy the low res proofs) pony.jpg
I have to get some sleep soon, and I have to work this weekend. I may get a chance to post some of my pics later next week.
I may also need to pick the brains of a few of our video experts around here, I now have a GoPro Hero 4 so I have video of my run along the Dragon. I have zero idea on how to edit and post it, damn technology (LOL).
1 - 20 of 27 Posts
