Post by sashman15 on Jul 30, 2011 22:16:12 GMT -5
(copied straight from Mazda6club forum-)
A few days ago I took my automatic (tip-tronic shifter ftw! for now!..) bone-stock 2003 Mazda 6i to the Tail of the Dragon up in western North Carolina/Tennessee border, and WOW, it was phenomenal. The stiff stock suspension was more than enough to allow me to feel in control of the car, and I was even able to keep up with my friend's Integra Type R!
Poor guy was carrying way too much speed into a corner and understeered into a big ditch. I convinced him to floor it out of there, and he did, which wasn't a surprise because I knew that Type R (bone-stock too) had power in it. It was cool though, because after getting a half-foot dent in his Type R with mud all over the sides and front bumper, he did about 4 more runs of the Dragon! Haha! It was awesome!
I was in my car the whole time and it just got more and more fun with every run. With each run I kept recognizing better and better (and safer) braking points and accelerating points, it felt like a video game mixed in with a dream at the same time! To give you an idea of how hard I pushed it, I stayed in 2nd gear (tip-tronic ftw
) the ENTIRE run, and overall probably about 2-3 hours straight (just about, had a few times where we headed back to base to check tire psi or chill by the lake), but yea, stayed in 2nd gear and was always either 1. flooring it (or applying appropriate throttle out of a corner) to the next corner, or 2. braking hard (a little bit BEFORE the visualized braking points, just because I don't trust my car to be flawless and perfect, it could very well just understeer into another car if I'm not super careful).
Not once did I just let off the gas and coast, the only times I changed from 2nd gear were when I accidentally went into 3rd without thinking (bad idea, less braking power here lol), or into 1st to climb a hill right after a U-turn.
What a fantastic road. VERY dangerous if you don't know how to drive or at least don't respect the road - or your car, but VERY fun at the same time, if you do all of these things appropriately and with respect to yourself (more or less your abilities), the road, and your car. Also I have to add to CCR - Autocross definitely helped me to feel more confident about the abilities, and even limits, of my car on the Tail, it was awesome, I felt pretty in-control, and still kept it safe and had fun ;D
Sweetness, and when I came home that night I finally gave in and bought some S Tein springs off of eBay =D
What an awesome day. Have any of you ever visited Tail of the Dragon?
A few days ago I took my automatic (tip-tronic shifter ftw! for now!..) bone-stock 2003 Mazda 6i to the Tail of the Dragon up in western North Carolina/Tennessee border, and WOW, it was phenomenal. The stiff stock suspension was more than enough to allow me to feel in control of the car, and I was even able to keep up with my friend's Integra Type R!
Poor guy was carrying way too much speed into a corner and understeered into a big ditch. I convinced him to floor it out of there, and he did, which wasn't a surprise because I knew that Type R (bone-stock too) had power in it. It was cool though, because after getting a half-foot dent in his Type R with mud all over the sides and front bumper, he did about 4 more runs of the Dragon! Haha! It was awesome!
I was in my car the whole time and it just got more and more fun with every run. With each run I kept recognizing better and better (and safer) braking points and accelerating points, it felt like a video game mixed in with a dream at the same time! To give you an idea of how hard I pushed it, I stayed in 2nd gear (tip-tronic ftw
) the ENTIRE run, and overall probably about 2-3 hours straight (just about, had a few times where we headed back to base to check tire psi or chill by the lake), but yea, stayed in 2nd gear and was always either 1. flooring it (or applying appropriate throttle out of a corner) to the next corner, or 2. braking hard (a little bit BEFORE the visualized braking points, just because I don't trust my car to be flawless and perfect, it could very well just understeer into another car if I'm not super careful).Not once did I just let off the gas and coast, the only times I changed from 2nd gear were when I accidentally went into 3rd without thinking (bad idea, less braking power here lol), or into 1st to climb a hill right after a U-turn.
What a fantastic road. VERY dangerous if you don't know how to drive or at least don't respect the road - or your car, but VERY fun at the same time, if you do all of these things appropriately and with respect to yourself (more or less your abilities), the road, and your car. Also I have to add to CCR - Autocross definitely helped me to feel more confident about the abilities, and even limits, of my car on the Tail, it was awesome, I felt pretty in-control, and still kept it safe and had fun ;D
Sweetness, and when I came home that night I finally gave in and bought some S Tein springs off of eBay =D
What an awesome day. Have any of you ever visited Tail of the Dragon?
