As I am sitting looking out over the water a mere 10 minutes from Deals Gap and as I now have some Brembos on my Gen1, I need to try them out. Anybody interested in playing hooky, I am past that, and hit all three of these Appalachian Jewels? Could: 1.) Day 1 - Arrive at Fontana/Robbinsville for the night. Can hit the Dragon that afternoon. 2.) Day 2 - Do some Dragon runs in the morning and then head up towards Boone, staying the night there. 3.) Day 3 - Do the Snake in the morning and then head up toward Tazewell, Virginia for the night. Can hit the Back of the Dragon on the way up as well, 4.) Day 4 - Head home, For me that means I do the Back of the Dragon and the Snake again on my way home. If coming from Atlanta, would think you could hit the either the Snake or the Back of the Dragon and then possibly the Tail of Dragon on your way back down. This would be within the next three weeks as the MINI team is at VIR in the middle of August. Short notice yes but do not have to make the entire run as some may only want to the Tail while others farther north will only do the Back (there is also the Claw of the Dragon in this same area).
I’m interested for sure... and would think @vetsvette maybe interested. With the timeline being VIR... Think we somehow could roll VIR into this? I’ve always wanted to drive that track... and watch a race there.
I don't think you are going to be able to get on the track the week leading up to the race, perhaps afterwards. Thinking if you join the MINI Corral you can do a "pace lap" around the track. On the topic of this thread, would think a meet in Robbinsville the Tuesday before the race and we are in Marion/Tazewell on Friday. So if you booked rooms over by Dansville for Friday and Saturday night you can be at VIR for the race. Book Sunday and you drive back on Monday. I got the time.
Agreed - and sorry for the confusion here. Was more saying I would love to drive this track at some point. Got it - Basically thats a week off work.. let me do some more research/thinking on this one. Ideally I could figure out a way to do a Friday - Monday run and include the VIR race in the middle of that. Granted, that is just my schedule and "weekend" runs are not ideal..
Could shorten it a little. Wednesday Day 1 - Arrive at Robbinsville in afternoon. Thursday Day 2 - Hit Dragon in morning then head up to Bristol via Knoxville and I-81. Do the Snake out and back. Stay in Bristol/Abingdon. Friday Day 3 - Hit the Back of the Dragon in the morning and after lunch head over toward Dansville. Stay in Dansville for night. Saturday Day 4 - Hit VIR for race. It looks like Dansville to Atlanta is around 350 miles
Looks like the weekend of 8/19. If you want to get into the Mini Corral make sure you buy your tickets early. I went by what the website said last year and attempted to buy mine at the event. Stood in line for 30 minutes only to find that the Corral had sold out and only general admission was available. I’m gonna attempt to buy my tickets in the next week or so. Also going to look into renting a golf cart for the day.
The MINIs race on Saturday 8/18 at 2:15, race is 2 hours in duration. Working back then would meet in Robbinsville on Wednesday the 15th. It takes me 6 hours if I do not go up on the Parkway. Of course I will go up on the Parkway as there are three great runs from Asheville to Waynesville. There is also the best Mexican Restaurant in the world in Asheville, Papas & Beer, that I stop for lunch at.
I’ll split the golf cart with you if you like. I’m planning to take Eli with me. I’m just waiting to hear back from the track about military discount for Mini Corral.
You have to rent the carts for two days and I am only planning on the Saturday race. You going both days? I do have my corral ticket.
Just Saturday. That way neither of us would be paying for two days. We could find someone in the Corral that might want it for Sunday at a discount. Either way it would end up costing us -$80 each vs -$160 for one of us. I don’t plan on spending a lot of time riding around. Just need to cut down on my walking and direct sun exposure. Do you know if the Corral has any covered seating? If not I can probably scare up a 10 x 10 shade tent.
The corral has the tent but I do not know whether you can sit in it and watch. I having lunch today with a friend and he might be going both days so will talk about the cart.
OR Charlie, As we talked earlier, if those dates aren't great for some, maybe we could do something post- Labor Day? You know, I'm always game for a good rumble!
Yum... need to remember that next time I'm rolling through there. Ok - so Robbinsville NC is about 3 hrs. from ATL. I'll have to look at the dates. With my new job, I maybe on the road again. I know the ones at Road Atlanta include a tent and a TV with a live feed. I would imagine this one would be the same. So you should be able to sit in the tent and watch. Think the coral should. Also, if I make it I can bring a tent or send one up with someone else if they come from ATL. Agreed - if we cannot dates out for the race, would be great to do this in fall.