ZDayZ 2008, The Tail of the Dragon ravages two 350Z's

[69Datsun240Z]

ZDayZ is held in Fontana, NC. That is the extreme western part of the state near TN, AL and GA. Cars from as far as Ontario, Canada and New Orleans were there.

I made it to the events on May 17th. Including a long line of Z's going very fast on The Tail of the Dragon and Hellbender in the early morning hours.

Two new 350Z turbo's did not survive the day. Those roads require serious experience before attempting at speed.

I was able to easily keep up with modified 350Z's with my stock 1970 240Z. The roads twist so much the 2,300 lb 240Z had an advantage on the heavy newer Z's. Even in the 1970 car, you spend most of your time in 2nd gear.

I've uploaded pictures of the event to my gallery at http://picasaweb.google.com/nov1969z . No pictures of the post-wreck cars. There are pictures of a new GT-R Nissan.

The official event site is http://www.zdayz.com but I have not seen any pictures there yet.

A site about the roads is http://www.tailofthedragon.com

[Darrel]

I saw pics of a z32 and a 350z get together. Looked like one spun out in front of the other and they collided.

[69Datsun240Z]

A kid spin out one infront of the other. Vision is very very limited on those tight curves. The older folks were tough, one in a leg cast and the other with a shoulder injury.

Two bad motorcycle wrecks happened the same day.

Those roads are not to be toyed with. I saw some very stupid behavior while up there.

[hls30.com]

It is getting so the time to go is when no one else is there...

Will

[zbane]

When I went last year, there were 2 motorcycle fatalities on just the day I was there... The roads are not for the faint of heart, nor for those that feel they can go fast because they've got "fast" cars (or motorcycles).

[TomoHawk]

Isn't the local police "cracking down" on speeders? I even read (I think it was here) that they were pulling over just about all the cycles...

thxZ

[westpak]

I went a couple of years ago and that was enough for me, half the people want to race the other half wants to have a big frat party, people drove like idiots, my front lip got beat to hell on my 350Z and it cracked me up how many Infiniti's were there considering it is called Zdays, those Z wanabees

I would like to go again but not with such an event and not to race the dragon just drive it and enjoy the place.

[69Datsun240Z]

I agree with westpak. For an older guy with a first generation car, I have no interest in going back for ZDayZ. I did like Fontana Village. It would be a good place to vacation. Some of the best outdoor recreation sites I've seen in the eastern USA. It is also high enough in altitude to be cool in the summer. I nice place to take an early morning drive before the crazies come out.

[Force Fed]

Our Fwd Mopar club went there once a year or two ago, definitely a sweet road to run but you are right, you could lose it real quick if not paying attention. On the Cherohala, one of the SRT-4 guys almost set his rear brakes on fire after a hard braking into a corner. The cops weren't too bad, there were 4 cars and 2 bikes on the Dragon, but is was also the weekend that the S2000 forums had their meet, so I'm sure they beefed up the patrols. I have read that they were cracking down a bit harded lately though.