.: Roadtrip of a Lifetime, Deal's Gap 2011 - Journey Thread :.

[Dysantic]

Wow. That looks amazing. I wish my friends cared about cars and would do this kinda roadtrip. I'm the only car enthusiast out of my close friends, and we are planning a road trip for to Florida in August, but there is gonna be alot of arguments as to which routes to take. I'll want to nice twisty, less direct ones and they are gonna want to sit on the I-95 the whole way...

[gnome]

Originally Posted by 3x Beemer

wow looks amazing! great write up.
So I guess you can rip through the gap because there is no room for cops to pull off and stop and use radar guns? I take it they could pull people over all day if there was.
Must get a little tight at times with bikes wizzing by you in the oncomming lane!

Yes there are cops hidden under the trees at some of the bends - sometimes 2 or 3 cars and a couple of bikes for pursuit. Did the Gap and BMW Factory last August as part of the BMW Road Rally with the BMW Trilium Chapter. We did Knoxville, Tail of the Dragon, Spartanburg Factory/Zentrum Tour, then over to Nashville for a couple of days, then Miami Florida then spent some time in the Florida Keys. Drove back straight from Miami to home 22 hours straight door to door - all in all the BMW Road Rally was 9 solid days of epic off the rails adventure. >8000Km trip it was a blast - imagine the road kill alone - possums, wild pigs on the road, hit a dead Lama on the road in Georgia, etc. We met up with Bimmer fans along the way who joined us en route from Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia and New Jersey.

Thinking of planning it again this year for the last week of July or first week of August this year. If no group has a trip scheduled I am going to plan one myself again this year and link up with folks along the way; this year we may circle back through Memphis, TN instead of Nashville, i.e. the route to Florida is different than the route back to give us variety and some sense of adventure along the way. Can't wait...

[dbworld4k]

We saw only one or two cops on the Dragon and surrounding roads on both this year and last year's trips.

Anyways, VIDEOS ARE UP!

VIDEOS

Video of the first run through the ToTD on Friday.

Runs from Saturday at a much more spirited pace.

Full-on Attack Mode.

[dbworld4k]

Originally Posted by HavocSteve

If you don't mind me asking, what's the price tag for a trip like that? Just wondering so maybe in a year or two I can zip down with you guys! The road looks absolutely rediculously fun.

I think my total cost including fuel, food, misc expenses and lodging was around $600 for the 4 nights. Lodging was uber cheap split amongst all of us (~$100 for all 4 nights!). Fuel was by far the largest portion of the costs.

Originally Posted by davericher20

aww man, a few of us were gonna do this 2 summers ago but it got cancelled last minute. That looks like an insane amount of fun. I definetely have to make this trip now!

You guys F'ed up! It's a trip ANY driving enthusiast has to do.

Originally Posted by Quack

wtf is up with you and shearing off lug bolts?

Finaly figured it out almost one year later - you are not supposed to run 10mm spacers on the rear of a BMW. Look it up on TMS and Rogue Engineering's spacers section. It explains everything. Can't believe I forgot about this little fact.

Originally Posted by craz azn

Nice writeup Anuk! I wish I could have gone, looked like a great trip.

It was the trip of a lifetime Rudy. Even though I did it last year with most of the same group - this year blew it out of the water! We had a fantastic group of friends that went and the mysterious adventures (finding food and location of the lodge at night on uncharted roads, etc.) + insane partying + baller cabin/house made it absolutely a-****in-mazing!

Originally Posted by bmwm5lover

It. Was. Epic.

Oh you know it bro. That is a helluva an understatement!

Originally Posted by Mystikal

Thanks again for putting the pics together.

Anytime man Cheers to all of you guys that made my Spring Break unforgettable.

Originally Posted by Coupedup

How long did it take you to get there?

Lol. Excluding our random things that went wrong, it should take roughly 14hrs with pitstops to get down there.

Originally Posted by 3x Beemer

wow looks amazing! great write up.
So I guess you can rip through the gap because there is no room for cops to pull off and stop and use radar guns? I take it they could pull people over all day if there was.
Must get a little tight at times with bikes wizzing by you in the oncomming lane!

People always say there are too many cops on that road, but the tw years we went we encountered very few 5-0. It's pretty much a non-issue. Biggest concern is NOT to cross the double yellow under any circumstances as it could be fatal given the 100% blind turns and up/down-hills with oncoming enthusiasts.

[JunzieB]

Originally Posted by dbworld4k

Finaly figured it out almost one year later - you are not supposed to run 10mm spacers on the rear of a BMW. Look it up on TMS and Rogue Engineering's spacers section. It explains everything. Can't believe I forgot about this little fact.

I'm running 10mm right now in the rear, actually i've been running it sinch i put my wheels back on. I'll show them.

[dbworld4k]

Originally Posted by JunzieB

I'm running 10mm right now in the rear, actually i've been running it sinch i put my wheels back on. I'll show them.

LOL! There's a bit more to it than that. It has to do with the design of the hub on the back of the wheel.