Dangerousroads.org
 

https://www.dangerousroads.org/

Oh what a surprise!

https://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/94-tail-of-the-dragon-usa.html

Tien Mun Shan with the 99 turns is no big. Heck I can drive that in my diesel truck without any issues. The general public aren't allow on it. The only way to reach the top is by riding in their short buses. That way part of our trip last summer. I tell ya, those drivers, both young and old haul ass around that road with those old stick shift buses. That was one of the best paces we visited.

I accidentally took the tail of the dragon with my Bronco pulling a pop-up camper about 25 years ago. We were headed to Cherokee N.C. from I-77, and I asked my wife to find something scenic, she did !

At that time, I had no idea what it was, and was thrilled at how many cool cars, and bikes passed us.

Many years ago I was leading a few former Pelicans down TTOD in my RX7 and was cooking along. Having run the road many many times I had gotten to know it well and also knew what to look for regarding other drivers / riders.

As I was cooking around a sweeping corner at a good rate of speed, a motorcycle was riding in the other direction, you always give them a glance. If they are patting their helmet that means there is a cop ahead, if they are waving their arm frantically, like this guy was, STOP!!

I hit the brakes as hard as I could and not kick out the back end, the moment I saw his arm waving. I stopped with the nose of my car under the trailer of an 18 wheeler who was trying to squeeze down the road. I just barely stopped in time not to smash my windshield into the trailer. Glad I had good brakes, if I had been in my 911 I would have hit him, I could not stop that car in as short of distance. Especially mid turn.

I never pushed that hard on there again, we found a better road way to the north of the Park that rivaled TTOD but with no traffic (Or LEO) and it dead ends at the state line and turns to a dirt road.

I drove the tail on a Thursday morning at 9:00 AM. There were no other cars, just motorcycles. My number one rule at all times is the yellow line is like a concrete wall to me. Same with the line on the outside of the road. I drove through and at one point I saw the photographer. There was no place to turn around, so I finished, drove back to the photographer, and got his contact info. I went to the end, turned around and did it a third time.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1604671915.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1604672038.jpg

A few miles down the road I drove past a pull off and saw the flowers, and no one around at all. I pulled a 180 and went back to the pull off and hopped out, engine running, and shot this. One of my favorite photos of my car. And I have a lot of pictures of my car.

Wow !! Close call.
One of my friends was driving on Back of the Dragon a few weeks ago and stopped just in time before going under an 18 Wheeler Flatbed that was not supposed to be on the road, Caught it on his dash cam.

No doubt the real reason it is a dangerous road is all the idiots that think it is a race course. When I was on the road driving along in a reasonable but quick manner and motorcycle passed me on the double yellow and was gone in a flash. I bet he never lives to see 30 if he keeps driving like that.

Some motorcycle driver crashes there on a regular basis all by themselves, all from excessive speed and driving like an idiot.

I remember reading about this in a news a few years ago, 2 young local kids were killed in their Nissan

https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/two-die-after-crashing-on-the-dragon/51-445720752

There are these pull offs all along the route so you can move over and let a fast bloke fly by.

I was running it with my buddy who had just bought a E30 M3 and was christening it on the Dragon. We were taking it easy since he was getting used to the car. We had Killboy run up on us in his S2000. We both pulled over and let him by.

He ended up stopping a little ways up and took some pics of us and posted them on his blog (back when he had it) and thanked us for our good manners.

Not every pass was a hot one, that day I posted about above, there were 2 of us up front that got into a good rhythm, the cars were happy and drivers were too moving at a good pace.

FYI - the only time I put a tire off was when I was driving slow, Fastpat was out behind me in his Z3, he fell far behind. I slowed down keeping an eye on my rear view making sure he was OK, I got caught out on a decreasing radius curve driving 25 MPH.

The crazy motorcycle rider that passed me came up at insane speeds and was past me before I had a chance to look for a spot to pull over. He was traveling at stupid speed.

Like this - wait for the countdown, Rossi and GF pillion

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