Classic Motorsports Smokey Mountain Tour

[Mike Hughes]

Lucy and I started Day 1 of the Classic Motorsports Smokey Mountain Tour in our 230SL today. Had a ball on the backroads of North Georgia, and some hot laps of Atlanta Motorsports Park.  Tomorrow we do the Tail of the Dragon!

Drive 'em 'til the road wears out!

[JohnnyC]

Wow, awesome - I can just imagine how beautiful your ride has been. Cheers, God Bless and enjoy. 

[Mike Hughes]

The Classic Motorsports Smokey Mountain Tour concluded last Friday.  Four days of touring the mountains of northern Georgia, western North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee.  The tour group consisted of 24 cars, including a number of Porsches, including a '67 SWB 912, and a one off '73 Brumos 2.7 RS, a couple of Ferraris, an E-Type coupe, an Alfa-Romeo Spyder, a Mustang Cobra, a Lancer EVO IX, and some modern iron from Mercedes, Audi, and even a Smart Car!

We visited the Wheels Through Time museum in Maggie Valley, enjoyed Lunch or Dinner at a couple of north Georgia wineries (who knew Georgia produces award winning wines!), did hot laps at Atlanta Motorsports Park, and even found time for Lucy to pick up some local pottery.  One of the wineries is owned by a very committed Porsche enthusiast who gave us a tour of his garages.

We stayed an extra day at the Brasstown Valley resort while some electrical issues with our trailer were sorted, then headed to our cabin in the mountains for the weekend before returning to DC.

I haven't had a chance to download my camera yet to see if any of my photos are any good, and the tour photographer hasn't sorted out and put up any of the more than 2000 shots he took throughout the tour, but here are a couple of shots of our Pagoda from the Tail of the Dragon, taken by one of the many commercial photographers who stake out choice corners along US 129.

[Vander]

That sounds like a great event! Do they do it every year? I did the Tail of The Dragon years ago in my W210 E55 AMG, and I drove slow, did not push it at all. But because there were so many turns I could smell through my lowered windows my tires getting hot.

Wheels Through Time is another place I want to visit.

[Mike Hughes]

Yes, every year in late May/early June.  They also do their Orange Blossom Tour in Florida the week before Amelia Island, and this October they are going to do their first Golden State Tour, in and around Napa Valley.

We took it fairly easy going through Deal's Gap, having been forewarned by my little brother, who added some fairings from his Aprila to the Tree of Shame a few years back.  We also ran into a group from the MBCA Peachtree Section the day we were there, as well as a guy an MGC-GT who had driven cross country from Oregon to check one more road off his bucket list.

Dale's Wheels Through Time museum is well worth the visit and the guides REALLY know their stuff!  Its founder, Dale Walksler passed away in February, but his son Matt intends to keep it and all the collection running as a tribute to his dad.