MrJbga
08-05-2008, 05:36 AM
This weekend I took my 1997 328ic to run the Tail of the Dragon. For those of you who know this road, this is one of the best driving roads in America. This one section spans 11 miles and has 318 turns. What a blast. The road is located in Deals Gap on the NC, TN, GA borders along Rt 129. I don't remember the last time I wanted to jump into a car and drive 300 miles round trip to drive a 11 mile section of road. Let me tell you, if you get the chance make the trip and drive this road.
There were so many hair pin turns, switch backs and esses that will thrill and push your skills to the limit. My heart begins to race just thinking back on the run. I will absolutely be back again and again and again.
A couple of things that I noticed, my car is an automatic. Boy do I wish it were a 5 or 6 speed. I can't remember if BMW made a 3 with paddle shifters or not but that would be helpful. I put the tranny into manual mode but I didn't find it to be responsive enough for my tastes. I'll have to try it next time with the ASC switched off. Perhaps it will be more responsive without the electronic guardian watching over. However, being my first time and wanting to push the car a little, I left the ASC on to help keep me out of the woods and to keep the on the road.
The other thing is the I'm am not thrilled with the exhaust note. The stock exhaust unit sound a bit lacking, it's great for around town, quite and all but not very agressive. I think I will be looking to upgrade the intake and cat back exhaust in the near future. If anyone has any suggestions on this upgrade please let me know.
Other than that, it was a great day, lots of tire squealing, engine screaming, white knuckled fun. I'll be back time and time again. I have one last question though. I do not have the owners manual and I can't figure out one of the dash light indicators. It's a bar graph that comes up in the speedo gauge and goes out a fw seconds after the car is started. The only thing I can think of is that this is some sort of oil changing indicator. If anyone can shead some light on this please let me know. If anyone wants to meet one weekend at the tail for a few runs, some beers and a good chat about our Beemers, let me know.
Thanks for listening and for any help.
Joe
There were so many hair pin turns, switch backs and esses that will thrill and push your skills to the limit. My heart begins to race just thinking back on the run. I will absolutely be back again and again and again.
A couple of things that I noticed, my car is an automatic. Boy do I wish it were a 5 or 6 speed. I can't remember if BMW made a 3 with paddle shifters or not but that would be helpful. I put the tranny into manual mode but I didn't find it to be responsive enough for my tastes. I'll have to try it next time with the ASC switched off. Perhaps it will be more responsive without the electronic guardian watching over. However, being my first time and wanting to push the car a little, I left the ASC on to help keep me out of the woods and to keep the on the road.
The other thing is the I'm am not thrilled with the exhaust note. The stock exhaust unit sound a bit lacking, it's great for around town, quite and all but not very agressive. I think I will be looking to upgrade the intake and cat back exhaust in the near future. If anyone has any suggestions on this upgrade please let me know.
Other than that, it was a great day, lots of tire squealing, engine screaming, white knuckled fun. I'll be back time and time again. I have one last question though. I do not have the owners manual and I can't figure out one of the dash light indicators. It's a bar graph that comes up in the speedo gauge and goes out a fw seconds after the car is started. The only thing I can think of is that this is some sort of oil changing indicator. If anyone can shead some light on this please let me know. If anyone wants to meet one weekend at the tail for a few runs, some beers and a good chat about our Beemers, let me know.
Thanks for listening and for any help.
Joe
