Back from the SE CL meet in Maggie Valley, NC (my first). What a treat! Finally got to meet lots of the guys and friends from www.ClubLexus. Great company, fantastic drives, beautiful scenery, good food, what more can you want. 12 cars and 17 people made for lots of photos and socializing. Sorry I had to leave early, guys. I'll leave the descriptions to others, but I think it's safe to say AGTWHBA! Thanks for making a new member feel welcome. To those who wanted to come but couldn't - plan ahead for the fall trip. Why don't we set some tentative dates now so people can block out possible weekends on calendars? Candidates: North Georgia/West NC (Deal's Gap vicinity); Below Charlotte (Chimney Rock, Lake Lure vicinity) or somewhere further East (Savannah) or West (Chattanooga or Lake Guntersville, (NE AL area)?

 

Good idea, after you left we talked about picking a specific weekend in September for the Deal's Gap meet (we'll have plenty in between too) soon and just locking it in so folks can plan and make reservations. Look for more info coming soon, I've got a little research to do before posting.

Good to meet all the new folks!!! Thanks much to everyone for coming, even if the weather was less than perfect. Still got in some great driving!

I'm trying to add a new folder in the gallery for all the pictures. Will put a link up when I get it there.

 

OK, but just a teaser...

 

I had a blast and great to meet everyone.
Thanks Dex and Dave to make this meet happened. Also Bit for his leadership and lead driver to lead us from Atlanta, at the mountian and back to Atlanta.
Jazzi, KayGee, Dr.Rick,Gavron1 and Tom we drank some beers for you guys and wish you were here with us.
It was a fun and exciting experience. I think we'd put 120 miles of driving on Saturday. The first drive was a short one with 38 miles trip and the afternoon drive through 215 and Blue Ridge Parkway was 78 miles.We went from nice a sunny, foggy, rain and cloudy and then foggy again. 1Sick was in front of me about 30 feets with hazzard/headlight on, but I can't see his white GS.
I have to put some pic in here first . The line up with Bit,Krista( awesome NSX), Dex...and so on. Daddy-O and Dave are the last two because Daddy-O have to block the road so we can get into the line on the road and Dave recording the video of 12 cars blasting into the mountian..

 

I had a BLAST!!! THe way there, when I was there and the way back home. Man, I feel like a NASCAR driver. You guys/gals are the BEST!!! Great pick on the hotel, it was awesome.

It was great meeting some new members as well! It seems everyone had a great time. I can't wait for pics and the videos.

SICK

 

Here's a taste of Saturday afternoon...

 

OK guys, I've figured out how to create the album and it's out there (I posted one to test). Let's try to post pics there and link to them so other folks can more easily find them later rather than attach in the post!
It's located under the ClubLexus Meets folder called "Spring Fling in Great Smoky Mtns May 2003"

Remember to block out license plates and get folk's permission before posting pics of the person (not the car )

https://www.clublexus.com/gallery/sh...at=554&thumb=1



Thanks everybody for coming, hope you had as much fun as I did!

 

Great idea. I am on countless forums, I'm snooping here at the S2000 board where I am a member as well. Dave, I'll let everyone know what they are doing so we know what to do. Seems they are going the weekend of the 27th. They have a Dragonball run forum here http://www.s2ki.com/forums/forumdisp...?s=&forumid=49

They had 63 cars last year. As Dipstick suggested, let's setup a date so I can promote the hell outta this event.

 

Thanks Sick, I'm a member there too. I collaborated with Airgate (one of the mods there) on planning last year's Dragon's Tail event and we'll definitely take advantage of what they do again!

One thought - I'd like to make it a big Lexus meet (and of course "friends and family" as always!) but not sure if we want to push out to a lot of other forums. Would love to get some more IS's involved, that road is made for them. What do other people think about this?

So far we have a few guiding principles I've heard from the group:

- Try not to have it on the weekend of Sept 11 (Jamie has conflict)
- Do not have it the same weekend as Biker Weekend (hotel/noise/traffic issues)
- Do not have it the same weekend as Miatas at the Gap (too many cars)
- Stay somewhere other than Cherokee this time. Maybe on the TN side, but close to the Dragon so we don't have to drive quite so far to get there.

 

The main 500+ car Miata meet is in late July.

No problem.
Other events

August 26-29
Curve Cowboy Reunion - nearly 400 pre registered, about 250 plus K1200LTs...all wanting to do the gap.

SEPTEMBER 2003
Sept 5-6-7 Second Annual Lean of the Dragon Sportbike Rally sponsored by Tail of the Dragon, Sportbike Track Time, and Fontana Village.

September 26-28 Riders Association of Triumph "Dragon Raid" Base of operations will be Tapoco Lodge.

OCTOBER 2003
Oct 4-5 The CEG (Contour Enthusiasts Group) is planning to drive the Dragon and neighboring roads. There will probably be about 10-15 Contour SVT's, Contours, and a few Focus in the mix.

 

The wife and I had a great time. It was cool to finally put a face with some of the names on the board. I had an awesome time driving up in the mountains. I promise that by the time Deal's Gap comes around, my ride will be VERY different suspension wise. I got some great ideas and first hand experience on how suspension mods DO make a difference when you push the car towards the limits. Regardless, I had a great time pushing the ol GS around some beautiful country roads. As the commercial goes....The look(s) on some of the locals' faces as we shot by their normally desolate country roads was absolutely priceless!!! The best was some of the fishermen on the side of the road when we first ran up the "parkway". The peak-a-boo driving thru the pea-soup fog was also kinda neat and scary at the same time. Hopefully someone got some of that on video, because I've never seen fog as thick as that in my life.

Bit, I'm so sorry about your little mishap with the wheel. I'm very glad it was not worse as it initially looked when you started to lock the brakes down. I'm also glad you avoided hitting Krista, as that would not have been good at all. Very glad everyone walked away reasonably unscathed out of that.

Sick, thanks for chilling with the wife and I at the hot tub last night. It was cool just playing around til the wee hours. Heck, I couldn't complain....I was in a hot tub with 3 beautiful women late at night.... Seriously, your girls were cool. I enjoyed cutting up and talking to them. They probably should of had some Dramamine before riding in your car, but you live and learn huh????

The rest of the gang....It was awesome to finally meet some of you guys face to face. Dex, Dave, Krista, Mumbles, Dipstick, Scott, Brendan (& Friends), and anyone else I may have forgotten....We need to do it again ASAP. Maybe we can do a track meet or something.

Thanks to all the organizers and sponsors for their support.

I'm ready for the next one already....

 

Mid-to-late October is usually the more scenic time in that part of the mountains, and the weather tends to be better (less rain). Temps usually real pleasant also. It looks like Marysville, TN is the pretty close to Deal's Gap. Probably there are motels along 411, maybe around that little lake (Tellico Lake?) I might get a chance to ride up that way and check it out before long.

 

Great! Let us know what you find out. Thanks much for the help.

BTW, we'll probably try to pick a date that isn't during peak leaf-changing season, but just a bit before or a bit after. Many of the backwoods roads get clogged up with traffic and the hotels get full during the peak couple of fall weeks.

 

My bad ya'll, didn't mean to hi-jack the thread. We'll start another thread about the Dragon soon. Let's talk about our great experience this past weekend here.

I am so proud of the way my car handled in the mountains. i remember how it was stock and it felt so much more confident with all the suspension mods. I am a very happy camper.

I cannot say enough about Lexus quality. The cars take a beating and don't even breath hard. I am truly amazed by it.

Dave, how did your brakes feel after the trip, I meant to ask u that. I know Bit and Dex are also looking at brake upgrades and the Supra TT is a logical step. My brakes felt quite good and were pretty fade resistant. Better brakes would be awesome.

Thanks for the raffle items as well, support our sponsers ya'll!!! Yes, that was very cool exchanging stories. Everyone here is just so cool, it's amazing. That spa was HOT HOT HOT!!!

 

wasup everyone,
I had a great time at the meet. It was cool getting to meet you guys and admire your cars. Hopefully next time i will have a lil sumptin sumptin on my car. the drives were great, i haven't really pushed my car like that, so it was a fun experience for me. Especially when all i can see around me are phat *** lex's (and a nsx) weaving through the mountains. I picked up a few ideas about what i want to do with my car, now i just gotta get the money. Count me in for the next meet.


PS, thanks for the clay bar kit and t-shirt.


"the lone SC of spring fling"