vkhong

(This topic covers E60 features, so I thought I'd post it here)

I took a drive in my E60 to The Tail of the Dragon. I drove about 600 miles to get there. I ran the Dragon three times with little or no traffic. Due to snow in the mountain elevations and in the forecast, I kept my winter wheels and tires on.

My Cliff Notes:

- Hate the road noise of the Blizzaks and the less precise tracking at highway speed, but traction on snow, slush and rain is excellent (RWD). Interstate speed limits are 65 mph and 70 mph.

- Navigation was handy for closed and rerouted highway sections - twice! Once due to a tractor trailer accident, another time due to an oversize load clearance issue. Rerouting was accurate, and the route list shows handy highway exit numbers. Sure, I have an iPhone with Google Maps, but digital connection is somewhat scarce in the mountains and I have to take my hand off the steering wheel to handle the phone. Not all after-market navigation systems support dead reckoning. The onboard navigation does a great job with dead reckoning (when GPS satellite signals are weak or out-of-view).

- 17-inch winter wheels were perfect for this trip. Good balance of handling and road surface tolerance. Many road repair patchwork, road construction surface transition (ridges/bumps) and potholes. My summer tires are on 18-inch wheels - those I still get nervous with potholes and road transitions at highway speeds. Road temperature was about 45F before the mountains. In the mountains, they range from 36F to 32F and below.

- Bi-Xenon. The US beam pattern sucks, but light projection still better than the conventional headlamps around me. Holy smokes, the hi-beam Xenon forms a light tunnel in front - very cool and good night visibility on the highway, tree tunnels and mountain roads. Since I ran the Dragon once at 11pm, the Active Headlight works wonder!

- The E60 Sport is just right for road-trips and yet nimble enough for mountain roads. The E9x Sport is a better handling car, but it is too bumpy for my taste for long-haul trips.

- The 6MT and high-flow drop-in engine air filter (K&N, BMC, etc). Through changing elevations, it is easy to leave cruise control at 5th gear for 55 mph or 6th gear at 65 mph. No need to downshift for that next hill! In addition to engine braking on the other side of the hill, the M54 does not deliver fuel during descent and when in gear - bonus for fuel economy.

- Compact spare tire. There were some very long and desolate sections of the highway. For my loved ones making such a trip, I would not hesitate to put their vehicle on run-flats for that peace of mind and tire blow-out protection. Since our E60 has the compact spare, it's great that we have the choice of going with run-flats or conventional tires. I run on conventional tires for winter and summer. I carry a tire plug kit.

- My highlight of the trip has to be Active Steering (AS) and Active Roll Stabilization (ARS). Active Roll Stabilization allows the suspension to be pliant enough to absorb road imperfections, but tightens for that lane change, last-minute pothole appearance, or mountain switchbacks. With ARS, there is no need to ride on stiff roll bars or stiffer springs for the entire duration of the trip. Since the highway winds through the mountains, tracking turns and curves through the mountains and hills with AS was accurate, easy and effortless. This is true whether at 70 mph on the interstate or 30 mph though the switchbacks. For the first time, I detected AS feedback through the steering wheel. This is because I was going "only" 25 or 30 mph through the mountain switchbacks. At those lower speeds, this detail became apparent: When the front tires loses traction or encounters traction changes (dry/wet/snow/salt pellets) in the middle of a turn, the steering wheel shimmies just a little bit when AS makes a correction, not unlike the force-feedback effect of a Logitech or Microsoft steering wheel game controller. This shimmy is very slight. I took a total of three runs on the Dragon, with the last two in the morning hours the day after. There was little to no traffic again, but there were some snow flurries and falling snow.

bigbadbull

When I lived in ATL I used to run it all the time with the local VW group ( huge number of cars). That road is Crazy dangerous! My R32 ate that road up big time.

I personally have seen 3 cars Flip on to the roof , several Kamikaze Motorcyclist either directly cause a wreck or in directly cause a wreck .

And to boot in the spring and fall all the leafers are out in force in the minivans going 15 under the posted ( which is very low to start with) speed limit.

I don't know about the winter but during the warmer months the cops have started patrolling very fiercely.

I really miss the ARS from my sedan... I took the E61 on some back roads with my local BMWCCA and it did fairly well with some much more powerful cars that are fairly nimble ( e36/46/92 M3's MZ3/4's a 550 and some E46 328/330's). The ARS on the Wagon would be a DREAM due to the excess Weight higher up on the car (Panaramic sun roof, both a blessing and a curse).

cobradav

Only done rain with a few leaves and that is scary fun. If you do as we do, weekday and start at ~7AM, you can usually get 3/4 runs in before traffic starts to build and before LEOs get on there. They typically start at 10 Am and come from the Tennessee side (Blount County or State). One of our trips is always in the fall but by using the above rule of thumb you can avoid the leafers.

We will be there again in full force, in late April/early May for our spring event. IF you want to join up let me know. We will be staying in/near Robbinsville for a few days. Wish Tapoco Lodge would reopen. From there you roll outta bed and start your runs.

skelevirus

awesome

devhan

I am headed there to for my Spyder forum's 10th anniversary. I was there in 2007 and had a great deal of fun, this is road really shines with light weight mid-engine roadster.

bobo

I hit it this past summer in my e39 M5 on the way back from Key West. Wicked road for sure. I love that you have to look out the driver/passenger windows 'cause the turns are so tight

SSRL_2006

Looks awesome!

IrishEyes

Brings back memories.

I was on holidays over in the U.S. in Aug 2008 and drove up from Atlanta.
Unfortunately, weather was atrocious for the first 6 days or so.

Stopped in the Tapoco Lodge and headed through the tail early the next morning.
Quite a few Corvettes there at the lodge so it must have been their equivalent owners meet,

Will have to go again.

vkhong

IrishEye's Tapoco Lodge / Covette picture reminds me: Over time, I noticed convoys of Corvettes with what looks like a CB radio antenna in the back, where the tow hitch is. Is that what it is, a two-way radio antenna?

killboy.com took some road condition pictures, showing the road and salt piles identical to what I encountered.



More photo highlights from killboy.com.

wolfgang0524

My brother and I drove the Tail of the Dragon after I picked up my car at the Performance Center in SC last July. We had a blast! I wish it were closer.