Fly, boxster, tail, home

Looks nice! I love those wheels on anything. Has it has dodgey paint work? 

TJL (Forum Supporter) said:

Looks nice! I love those wheels on anything. Has it has dodgey paint work? 

Agreed. Turbo twists just look so right!

Congrats on all of this. Dragon 2x in my Cayman S and 1ce in a R/T Charger. 

Don't bring a stock Charger to the Dragon...ever.

From our lunch spot, post-many excellent driving roads, pre-dragon

Here we are turning onto 129.

Many beautiful views:

Took a wrong turn but found this awesome dam.

Finished our trek on 129 at about 4:30 pm and stopped to put the top back up before getting back on the highway. Made it to Cincinnati for mad tree brewing and pizza and rest.

To happy pilots!

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

Epic!!!

Weather was beautiful all day yesterday and perfect for top down driving with a light coat. Not a cloud in the sky.

Impressions:

1. It was almost eerie how much traffic was on the dragon and how little was anywhere else, like how do all these cars get to the dragon?
2. Car drives really well. It encourages you to go faster by being very consistent and linear and predictable. Great exhaust note. Incredible brakes.
3. Saw a lot of fun cars yesterday. An FD rx7, a air cooled 911, a 911 gt4, abarth 500, miatas/mustangs/camaros/corvettes galore, 370z, twins, etc.
4. There was a lot of tree debris on the roads everywhere from the storm. Definitely a real hazard and not something I expected, but makes sense. No closed roads we encountered, but many full trees down in people yards and stuff, and branches sticking out into the road area.
5. The car does need a few things. The cool front bumper scrapes on everything. Some squeaks and rattles over bumps (to be expected, but maybe swaybar endlinks or bushings). The car might need an engine or trans mount as you can feel the drivetrain move when you get on or off hard. Clutch pedal seems heavier than it should be. 
6. The Bluetooth in the radio works, but it turns out we didn't use the radio much all day.  With the top down we listened to the engine and the wind.
7. 2 big smiles almost the whole day!

Many more miles today, but less fun roads. Dropped copilot back in Detroit after chipotle lunch.

Now I'm home, with a Bosxter S where there was none before. Success!

Congrats, Fella! Well Done.

AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:

Used Boxster... if its been driven little in the last few years, check tires before the Tail. Good shoes make a big difference. (...obviously, but I've noticed a lot of low mile Boxsters with 10+ year old tires.)

Funny you should mention...

We definitely weren't trying to go anywhere near the limits of the car. We were just enjoying the drive. Still, we're very glad we seemed to hit a window with dry roads the whole way. (The fronts are much better).

TJL (Forum Supporter) said:

Looks nice! I love those wheels on anything. Has it has dodgey paint work? 

Thank you, yes it is a handsome car. 

The paintwork does have some spots that look off, but I actually think it's just grime. I'm no detailer, but I think a deep clean and light polish will bring back a lot of the odd areas. 

preach (dudeist priest) said:

Don't bring a stock Charger to the Dragon...ever.

Ha. We did a couple miles behind a charger on the dragon. Then we pulled off for a while to let it get some space.

Great find! What are you plans?

In reply to singleslammer :

Sell it to me?

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

preach (dudeist priest) said:

Don't bring a stock Charger to the Dragon...ever.

Ha. We did a couple miles behind a charger on the dragon. Then we pulled off for a while to let it get some space.

I'm planning on doing the Dragon in June.... in an Explorer! 

singleslammer said:

Great find! What are you plans?

Carry a stick to protect myself if Nocones is around. 

Otherwise just drive it. I'll probably address a few little things here and there.

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

Excellent! I support stick defense. 

I did the tail twice in sports cars, and a couple of other times in less exciting things.

The first time ever I was in a triumph spitfire one clear January night in '00. It was about 2 AM and there was a new moon, temperatures hovering around freezing. I was still running stock Lucas electrics and had no functioning heat or defrost in the car. The tires weren't old, but they weren't very sticky in the cold either. It was easily one of the most terrifying drives I've ever taken, and one of the slowest.

The last time was in a well sorted supercharged NA Miata in perfect weather in May of 2015. It was much more pleasant, though somewhat less memorable!

In reply to ToManyProjects :

This reminds me of the the first time I went to the Dragon Area in ~2002.  I was on a 1994 RF600R Suzuki sportbike.  I drove down from IL and of course it was late and dark before I got there.  I was staying at 2 Wheels motorcycle campground in Suches Ga.   Most of the ride was larger roads but the last section at about 9:30 at night was GA-180.  The road twisted and turned all over the place an I was enjoying it but trying to stay mostly mindful of it being dark.  Riding a twisty road at night is wierd because you can't get any real feel for what is going on beyond the headlights so I focused only on what I could see.   I arrived at camp and got settled in after a "fun" last 10 miles of my ride.  The next morning I rode back over GA 180 in the daytime.  It was at that moment that I became TERRIFIED for what I had driven through the night before.  There where huge dangerous dropoffs with no guardrails, no shoulder and everything else you could imagine being dangerous to motorcycles.  I rode probably 10mph slower in the DAY then I did the night before.  And out of  all my trips through the area riding that 10 mile stretch at night is probably my most memorable.