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Supra, Camaro, Mustang, Charger & 2 others join a car meet-up

18th July 2023, 17:40 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

Also present at the get-together were a Ford Fiesta ST and Genesis G70.

BHPian vj123 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Rust Belt States Meetup #10 - Tail of the Dragon #2

Same destination, same weekend and a year later, we had a great meet & drive covering the best roads in the country one more time. With great cars and a wonderful bunch of people, I would say that this trip was even better than our last year's ToD meet.

For the first time, the majority of the vehicles during our meet were from American OEMs and we also didn’t have any German vehicles (at least by brand) in the mix. Most of us drove from different parts of the country (Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Detroit, New Jersey) and a few flew all the way from the West Coast (Seattle) for this meet. A few regulars were not able to make it to this meet and we also had some nonmembers joining us for the first time.

Initial talks about this trip began during our Spring meet in AnnArbor and it gained traction again in May. Towards the end of May, we were able to zero in on the accommodation based on the confirmed participants and our Airbnb had some amazing views of the Smoky Mountains along Foothills Parkway. Thanks to Rohit again for finalizing the detailed itinerary of the drive. We increased our drive time on both days and it had around 6.5 hours of driving (according to google).

Based on our previous experience, we included new roads for the drive and they were amazing. This itinerary was perfect and we would just carry it over for future meets in the area as well. We had a chance to try out other vehicles in the group as most of them were unique in their own way. We took plenty of videos this time but they do not capture the enthralling experience of the drive, especially with a group of enthusiasts on the best roads of the country with literally no traffic.

jeevadeepan with Genesis G70 3.3t

vj123 with Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

rohittunga with Ford Fiesta ST

thecarguy with Toyota Supra 3.0

Bharath (non member) with Toyota Supra 3.0

Nitin (non member) with Ford Mustang GT

Vishnu (non member) with Dodge Charger Scat Pack

Day 1: AirBnB - Tail of the Dragon - Wayah Road - Moonshiners 28 - Fontana Dam - Tail of the Dragon - AirBnB

We were at Tail of the Dragon first thing in the morning and there was hardly any traffic. Everyone had some fun with the 318 curves along the 11-mile stretch. After clicking some pictures with the Dragon statue, we headed over to the fuel station. I had a chance to drive the Charger and was able to enjoy the V8. After the fuel stop, I drove the G70 which was very capable and also luxurious. I was looking forward to Wayah Road based on our drive from last year and thoroughly enjoyed it with some hair-raising moments on a blinder.

Post break, I was the passenger until lunch stop. Moonshiners 28 had some rave reviews across forums and I was really looking forward as this was our first time covering this section. Even though it rained for a small stretch, we really enjoyed this part of the drive and had an interesting encounter with a biker. We stopped at Fontana Dam for some videos and had a fun drive to the dinner place with the Mustang behind me. Post dinner, we had a sprinted drive to the AirBnB through ToD.

Tail of the Dragon - Killboy Store