Tail of the Dragon is a stretch of road that has 318 curves in 11 miles. This road is officially US129 and the Tail of the Dragon stretch is basically the last 11 miles of the road that is in Tennessee and then continues on into North Carolina. If you search for Deal’s Gap on a maps application, that’s the southern end of it, in North Carolina. It’s a well known and publicized driving and motorcycle route. There are other scenic drives in the area as well.
Because the route is so well known it can be extremely busy. It is a public road. This means you get all sorts of vehicles there. There are now signs up saying nothing longer than 30 feet can do the Tail of the Dragon part. However, you will still likely find cars and motorcycles on there not wanting, or able to, take the drive aggressively. Some are not there for the pure driving experience. There are a few pull out points, unfortunately not all the “regular drivers/riders” will use them. I have come up on an SUV pulling a U-Haul trailer. Also the usual big cruising motorcycles that can’t take the corners at more than 20 miles an hour. To avoid frustration, be prepared. This may mean waiting at either end for a period of time to get as much open road as possible.
You may also want to know that professional photographers are on the road. The route is so popular that the photographers camp out daily from about 9am to 6pm. They are positioned on various well known corners and are reasonably obvious to spot. You can then purchase some action pictures from them. I have used Killboy and 129Photos. There may be others.
MGB GT V8
Using my newly found unlimited free time, I made a trip in November 2022. It was something of a quick trip, just 3 days. Of this just 1 was for actually driving Tail of the Dragon. The other 2 days were just hauling on the Interstates there and back. I found a hotel near the Knoxville airport which is in Alcoa TN. This made for about an 8 hour or 520 mile drive to get there. It was a good base with Tail of the Dragon being about a 1 hour drive away.
Having driven the road before, I knew what to expect. This time I had planned ahead with better and more cameras. I also got exceptionally lucky. On my first run (North to South) I had the road to myself with absolutely no slow ups or obstructions. This is almost unheard of. However, being early November, its not peak season for the drive.
The following videos are both long! They’re about 20 minutes each and the first shows my initial run from North to South. The weather was perfect and ridiculously warm for November. Shorts and T-Shirt warm. Because the view of the road alone doesn’t fully convey the experience, I used 2 cameras. A second camera shows the steering wheel, gauges and you can tell when gear shifts are made. Primarily this was 2nd and 3rd gear the entire way, in my MGB V8. Anything with the 15mph signs or the single arrow on a large rectangular sign are 2nd gear turns.
The 2nd video is my last (4th) run coming from the South and heading North. It gives a different perspective. For this I just used the camera that I had used for the interior recording in the first run.
As mentioned there are professional photographers on the road. Here are some pictures I have purchased.
Previous Trips – MGB Roaster
I have visited Tail of the Dragon 3 times in total now. The previous 2 trips were in my 1977 MGB Roadster. On both these prior occasions, I was attending a North American MGB Register convention. Specifically MG2006 in Gatlinburg TN (my very first). Also, MG2012 based in Dillard GA. On both trips I purchased some pictures but I wasn’t planning for, or have equipment, for good videos.
The following gallery group is from MG 2012 hosted in Dillard GA. This was the event when just before this drive I did my first ever front brake pad replacement in the hotel parking lot.
