So for my birthday this past weekend, my g/f, my best friend, and I went to Deals Gap for our first time to check out a "real cool driving area." For those of you who aren't familiar with it, its located on highway 129, between the tennessee and north carolina border (starts in NC where hwy 28 and 129 meet). Its 11 miles of pure adrenaline fun, with 318 turns. (That's more than Germany's Nurburgring which is 12.9 miles long and only 73 turns...) It was a complete blast. I was finally able to push my car to the "limits" of what it could do (handling around corners that is.) I took a few snap shots with a crap camera, so once those get developed, I'll scan em and for those interested I'll post em. My g/f and I rode in my stock 944 which you all know and hate so much. My friend took his 2005 Mustang v6 (w/ Pony Package). Anyways, it was quite exciting as he tried to keep up with me. heh yeah, like a 3,700 lb stang can corner and keep up with a 944 ... He did quite well, considering. I just thought I'd throw in a clip of how close he came to disaster on one corner. I could hear his tires squeeeeeeeellllling through each turn, while mine would just barely whistle... Thru one of the turns, I looked back, because I could hear something wrong, (his tires were roaring "I'm sliding!!!!" ) I looked into my rearview and saw his back right tire go OFF the road as he slid around the corner. He recovered though thank god. Here's a quick clip from one of the spectators out there around one of the corners...

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/TurboBlu/Dragon/?action=view¤t=0813061142.flv

Its DEFINATELY a worthwhile trip. The area is mostly over-run by Bikers (both crotch-rockets and Harley's) There are quite a few other cars out there, a new Carrera, a black 944, soltices, MR2's, a GTO, Integras, a little bit of everything really. What's scary is seeing some of the skidmarks (one in particular where there's a slight left turn, however a pair of skid marks continue to go straight into the rock cliff, which suggests that the driver experienced major understeer and introduced his front bumper with mother earth... ) Definately a place to go see and drive to. I can't wait until next year, when I'll do a suspension upgrade and see how my 944 handles then. An ls1 is really not needed for those turns, i know... The fastest I was able to get it on any one small stretch of road is 80mph. Then you'd better slow down to about 40mph for the next turn or expect to drift into the opposite lane. some of those hairpins were impossible to do more than about 15mph around. It'd be cool if some of us could get together and head out there. Below is the main website. Check it out.

www.killboy.com

8/14/2006 9:40:11 PM

blah blah blah blah blah blah

8/14/2006 9:45:11 PM

h8r

[Edited on August 14, 2006 at 9:46 PM. Reason : ]

8/14/2006 9:45:54 PM

I heard about that place on the internet once.
And then like 900 more times after that.

8/14/2006 9:57:45 PM

BORING BORING BORING


LETS TALK ABOUT GHOST RIDIN DA WHIP

8/14/2006 10:01:51 PM

what fuck is the pony package?

8/14/2006 10:03:56 PM

Aren't those Mustangs ~3500 lbs in V8 form?

8/14/2006 10:14:10 PM

Quote :

"BORING BORING BORING LETS TALK ABOUT GHOST RIDIN DA WHIP"

8/14/2006 10:15:45 PM

fawk you make some stupid ass threads.

Quote :

"The area is mostly over-run by Bikers "

no, it's over run by dipshits like you two. idiots in wanna be sports cars are just as bad as the semis that try to come through.

8/14/2006 10:35:59 PM

That's it, you niggers.

I'm takin' teh Dawdge with CUMMINS POWRRR...

I'll show you candy asses.

8/14/2006 10:40:01 PM

definately overrun by fags in piece of shit cars going hlf the speed you can take those turns on a bike fuckin it up for everybody

8/14/2006 10:46:51 PM

yeah really... nothing worse than getting stuck behind some fan boy in something like a 944 who thinks he's out there really doing something you're a half step above the damn tourists gawking and taking pictures.

[Edited on August 14, 2006 at 10:54 PM. Reason : .]

8/14/2006 10:53:50 PM

Your friend shouldn't have been pushing it that hard, and frankly you should take that clip down so he doesn't look like a freakin idiot. He was all over the center line, and would have creamed any car or bike that might have been there. Not cool at all, and the kind of shit that brings the cops down on that road so hard.

On a separate note, all you riders need to get off your damn high horses. I've been stuck behind just as many wanna be bikers as I have sports cars. And the cruisers are far worse than either. I can't count the number of idiots on liter bikes wearing no leathers (shorts even) who like to blast down the straights at 85mph then slow down to 10mph for curves. One time in particular, I remember driving by three sport bikers in shorts and SANDALS as I left the store in my S2000, and one of them saying to the others "We'll let him get ahead so he doesn't slow us down." Riiiight. Bikes can be every bit as fast or slow as a car, depending on the rider. It's not dependent on the vehicle to the extent that everyone seems to act like it is. And before I get flamed by all the biker fanatics, I ride a CBR600RR and see both sides of it.

8/15/2006 8:21:50 AM

yeah, this thread sucks. way to go on proving to us that you really are an idiot.

8/15/2006 8:52:34 AM

^^ you weren't up there on july 20th were you? i damn near lost it trying to swerve around some faggot ass faggot on a cbr toolin around coming out of a turn. lost sight of him before i was even in transition for the next, and i guess thats why you don't like "cruiser bikes" like my uncle's FJR1300 that i happened to be on that day because they keep blowing you wannabe biker boyz off the road. i see more god damn niggers and stupid ass white fucks with more money than they know what to do with buying fuckin crotch rockets and heading up here only to lay it down or slow everyone down. i have seen a whole hell of a lot of crotch rockets come down off there on a rollback in peices.

[Edited on August 15, 2006 at 8:58 AM. Reason : faggot ass faggot]

8/15/2006 8:58:05 AM

Quote :

"and yet shmorri2 proves once again how dumb she is."

it's like you give us free handouts, it's great you make me feel better about myself every dumb ass thread you create.

[Edited on August 15, 2006 at 9:30 AM. Reason : eat shit and die ho]

8/15/2006 9:30:21 AM

^^Hell no, that wasn't me. I've never had my bike to Deal's Gap. I've only been riding about 4 months, and I don't consider myself ready to deal with that kind of traffic yet. We have plenty of roads around here that compare, but far less traffic to deal with. I'll be at the Gap eventually, but not until I'm more experienced and can react quicker to situations like the one you described. I'm fully in agreement with ya there.

And an FJR1300 is hardly what I meant when I said "cruiser bikes". The FJR is freakin sweet, and I would love to have one in the future. I walked past one in San Francisco every day for the last two weeks when I was out there for luck and fell in love with the looks...it's a beautiful bike. And yes, I've met some guys that could tear me a new one on that thing.

[Edited on August 15, 2006 at 10:24 AM. Reason : .]

8/15/2006 10:23:24 AM

http://www.tailofthedragon.com/dragon_trucks.html

8/15/2006 5:09:29 PM

Quote :

"yeah, this thread sucks. way to go on proving to us that you really are an idiot"

Yes, I am an idiot for sharing something that I thought this community could enjoy . Why do yall have to go in and ruin everything?

8/15/2006 6:01:50 PM

It goes both ways as far as cars slowing bikers up and so forth. I passed just as many cars as motorcycles going through the gap. Not everyone is there to haul ass and thats fine just as long as those going slower show a little courtisy and allow faster people to pass.

I will add one thing though, the people in cars trying to book at around the corners (ie an Evo group that was up there last time) are much more scary to me than those on bikes. I can almost picture some of these guys coming around a corner (above their head) and whiping out into me. Ive also seen it from both sides as I used to drive very fast in my old car. Just a different perspective on a bike.

Also, anyone that says their car will go as fast through there as a bike is kidding themselves.

8/15/2006 7:28:56 PM

Anyone going through that area fast is gambling. You can claim to have as much skill as you want, but there's no gaurantee that someone else won't run you over. This goes for cars and bikes.

Just be careful.

8/15/2006 7:38:56 PM

pussy

8/15/2006 10:03:43 PM

Quote :

"Also, anyone that says their car will go as fast through there as a bike is kidding themselves."

i think my car would give my old GSX-R a run for the money through the Gap, and likely outrun it. I suspect that the Gap is too tight and twisty for a bike's acceleration advantage to overcome a good sports car's handling advantage.

8/15/2006 10:08:11 PM

Quote :

"I'm takin' teh Dawdge with CUMMINS POWRRR... I'll show you candy asses."

only because you won't be able to get the 'teg ready in time for VIR in December


Oh and I heard the rumor when I was up at Deal's Gap that the record for running the dragon was like 10 minutes or something and it was done by a bike. It is precisely because the Dragon is so tight and twisty that bikes will generally outperform sports cars. And holy shit is that place dangerous... I think I almost ran off the side of the mountain 4 or 5 times.

8/16/2006 1:48:10 AM

Quote :

"i think my car would give my old GSX-R a run for the money through the Gap, and likely outrun it. I suspect that the Gap is too tight and twisty for a bike's acceleration advantage to overcome a good sports car's handling advantage."

ill give you the benefit of the doubt since you have probably been up there in both. I would just find it very hard to believe. a bike just has so much more acceleration out of the hole that it seems impossible to me that a car could match it.

i would bet though if you take an equally skilled bike rider and car driver as well as equivalent cars and bikes, the bike would win by a longshot. one thing to consider in this relation is that the bike also has alot more room to choose a line. (assuming no one crosses the yellow line)

8/16/2006 12:21:39 PM

http://www.pashnit.com/curve.htm

8/16/2006 12:32:27 PM

everyone one of you fags are a bunch of pussies

8/16/2006 12:47:06 PM

^^^yeah, i thought about the fact that the bike could maneuver within the lane more. that would certainly help.

i don't know...on my GSX-R, i believe there were only two places that I topped 100 mph on the Dragon. i'm sure you'd never get that fast in my car, but since you're almost continuously cornering (and changing directions CONSTANTLY, where the bike suffers from being slower in transition), I think a good sports car would give a sportbike all kinds of hell, everything else being equal.

8/16/2006 3:22:37 PM

^There is one spot on the Dragon where you can break into triple digits in a stock S2000 with good tires and brake pads. But it requires intimate knowledge of the road (the only section straight enough includes a left kink that you can take without breaking, but is blind because of the tree cover), isn't safe (for the same blind kink reason), and also requires some hellacious braking at the end to avoid running smack into a wall if you can't make the next turn. So I don't recommend it, and don't get anywhere close on a normal run. In fact, I usually just let the car top out in 2nd on straights, we're there for the curves not the straights, right? But your car could certainly get there, Duke.

And no, I haven't broken 100 myself, it's a much better driver than I am (SCCA National Level competitor in AS) that has been proven to be capable of this. I got close enough to scare the crap out of myself while following though, put it that way

One reason bikes seem a lot faster on the Dragon is that they can pass a lot more often. So in 99% of cases, a fast bike rider will get from one side to the other faster. The car vs. bike debate is old at the Dragon (and in general) and will probably never be answered, but my money is on a good sports car driver with a good car.

8/16/2006 4:44:44 PM

didnt top gear run a liter bike against an elise or some other light weight car (maybe a noble m12) and it out performed the bike on a curvy track?

8/16/2006 5:11:02 PM

^ Every damn one of those tests I've seen is biased, especially Top Gear's. The car magazines always use a crappy biker (the guy in the TG one wasn't even leaning the bike over hard) and bike magazines always get a crappy car or driver. It's one of those questions I think will never be answered in a reasonable manner

8/16/2006 5:23:28 PM

^^ Yes, but it was an Ariel Atom iirc. Something that slays pretty much every car on this board in handling.

[Edited on August 16, 2006 at 5:29 PM. Reason : s]

8/16/2006 5:28:48 PM

it was also a 600cc bike, i'm pretty sure (which doesn't make that much difference around a circuit--or at Deal's Gap, but a 1000cc machine might've outdone the Atom)

8/16/2006 10:22:01 PM