What's the local car scene like in the Smoky Mountains. Looking at SE Tennessee and NW North Carolina

Posted by -_-thatoneguy-_-@reddit | cars | View on Reddit | 28 comments

What's the local car scene like in these areas? I understand the Smoky Mountains get a lot of car enthusiast tourisist, including myself with the Tail of the Dragon being there. I was wondering what its like to live in the area being a car enthusiast? Currently in Colorado. Decent car scene out here but our roads are in horrible condition. Most spirited roads are closed half the year due to snow or have a nice layer of sand and gravel on them during the spring/early summer which is less than ideal. What's it like living in those areas for those of you that do?

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28 Comments

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derSchwamm11@reddit

The cars and coffee event in Knoxville is something else. Thousands of cars. A little of everything. There is a decent car community in East Tennessee and great roads as you already know. Not bad at all

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-_-thatoneguy-_-@reddit (OP)

I've been looking at Knoxville and the surrounding areas. Probably would go rural if we moved again. Looks like Maryville is close to Knoxville and wouldn't be a bad drive.

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derSchwamm11@reddit

I love those places. Moved away a few years ago and still miss them

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y2knole@reddit

if youre into jeeps, the great smokey mountain jeep fest is in pigeon forge every year and huge.

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-_-thatoneguy-_-@reddit (OP)

That's awesome. We are into jeeps as well. Do a lot of off-roading here in Colorado. Lot of trail options out that way?

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y2knole@reddit

There are a coup great off-road parks in Tennessee. It’s different than out west. Mostly private parks and pay to play but Tennessee has windrock (72000 acres!!) and AOP near Chattanooga. Also royal blue, coalmint, and coppinger cove. And I’m sure I’m forgetting some… There’s incredible off-roading in Tennessee.

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-_-thatoneguy-_-@reddit (OP)

I’ve heard of Windrock. Sounds like quite the place. We used to ATV and always wanted to go out there. I’ll have to give the others a look.

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y2knole@reddit

There’s a lot of great clubs in Tennessee too. I’d make sure you’re with others and not wheeling alone if you’re gonna hit any of those places (other than the gravel roads at windrock). If you need any suggestions once you’re settled, hit me up. I am familiar with a lot of the groups and clubs in Tennessee and can probably point you to one near You to at least get together with a group to do some riding till youhave your own network of friends to ride with!

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-_-thatoneguy-_-@reddit (OP)

Thank you! I appreciate that.

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Deep_Waters_@reddit

One thing to consider about driving in the WNC mountains is that it is tourist season. You’ll be frustrated behind someone pulling a trailer or sightseeing. another thing is that we have an active bicycling scene. You can’t rip the curves like a sports car is capable of without endangering cyclists. lots of the curvy roads are closed in the winter. we do get lots of SCCA, PCA, and other brand group rides. I've heard the Tail is under construction this summer, their are lots of other great drives

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ritz_are_the_shitz@reddit

Eh the traffic is manageable. Oftentimes they will get out of the way for you, just be patient and wait for a pull off, and also plan your drives for early morning or evening. Trying to get a good drive in at 2:00 in the afternoon is a mistake. Cherohala skyway is usually pretty low traffic although there are if you were pull-outs, so if you're stuck behind some Harleys doing 10 under the limit, it's going to be a while. And that's the real problem. Bikers that are cruising do not pull over. They are by far and away the most annoying people to get stuck behind.

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doubleyuno@reddit

Cherohala is a really underrated drive and I hope people continue to not talk about it.

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ritz_are_the_shitz@reddit

I don't love that it's all sweepers, but I drive a miata.

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doubleyuno@reddit

Ah, it suits my 240 well.

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-_-thatoneguy-_-@reddit (OP)

I can't imagine the tourist or cyclist could be any worse than here in Colorado. The state is filled with that. I heard the TOTD has completed their repaving project.

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kc_kr@reddit

The repave of the dragon finished a few days ago.

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NetworkStatic@reddit

Car scene in Charlotte and Raleigh(not northwest NC, well aware) areas is decent, but I never wanted much from a scene... I just need places to drive my car. The area in the vicinity of Asheville has some epic driving roads, esp. in the vicinity of Grandfather Mountain. The best mountain driving roads in the NW NC area are nearly as good, if not equal to the best roads in the area just west of Denver, but much less salt/sand use means that you can trust your grip levels a lot more in NC. Lived in all of those places, currently Denver. The roads in the area just west of Denver are open a lot more than half the year, I had good driving up until the end of December last year, can't say about the rest of Colorado. Roads are not bad, not great. I spose it depends what you want out if a place. Car scene means something different depending on what a person likes to do. If you're talking about just hanging out in parking lots at car meets that's one thing, vs track days, vs mountain twisties for driving. My view is on driving only, not about car meets.

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No-Knowledge-3972@reddit

Nowhere else in NC has nearly as good of a scene for car people. The mountains have the best meets, best roads, best cars, best people. Only idiots like places with nothing but straight open roads. No driver skill required for anything, it’s all about who can dump the most money into a car to make it fast. Here in WNC it’s about who can actually drive their high HP cars.

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-_-thatoneguy-_-@reddit (OP)

I appreciate your input and sounds like you have a lot of opinions that I can relate to with both of us living in Colorado. I do agree with Colorado having some great roads for sure. I’m down in the springs and we definitely don’t have as many canyon road options as up north and west of Denver or Boulder. I’m definitely more interested in driving versus hanging out in a parking lot. My wife and I did a 4000 mile road trip a year ago and our 911 to the Smoky Mountain region and I fell in love with the roads and the less traffic and populated areas. Saw a lot of great cars, but realized that some of them might’ve been tourist like ourselves, so wasn’t sure how the local car scene is out in that area. The last few years I’ve been growing very tired of the road conditions here in Colorado. Seems like they never fixed the roads or when they do, it’s lackluster. It’s the only state I’ve been to that will put up an orange road construction sign that just says road damage ahead lol.

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NetworkStatic@reddit

I feel ya on the road conditions. I love the driving roads here in the area west of Denver, but I do not love how often there remains a ton of sand right around the apex of many twisties here. Getting into the corner to find out midway through the corner that I do not have traction to even go 35mph is not fun. The sudden sliding sensation turns the stomach nicely. I've only been in Colorado for 2 years but certain parts of the reality (cyclists, animals, road sand) of heading to the twisties have gotten old quick, and highlight the strong reasons to spend more time at the track. It is a higher up front cost but it's so worthwhile for spending focused time driving. All of those issues are less prevalent in the twisties of Western NC. The roads I mentioned in the area of Grandfather Mtn, a number of them have 50mph speed limits that you'd be hard pressed to even maintain with sticky tires. Old route 223 for example, not sure what shape it's in these days...

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DharaniPatel@reddit

I think you're over exaggerating the road sand issue. Or you're driving way faster than what's prudent for a public road. I've been in CO and have never had an issue with it.

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nico_juro@reddit

Life is great, I live about an hour from the rail. Lots of local car meets, lots of JDM love out here still but there's also a healthy dose of BMW and American muscle fans. In terns of muscle cars, Mustangs super common of all generations. We have a healthy car scene, but the roads are dangerous and sometimes not maintained.

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-_-thatoneguy-_-@reddit (OP)

Nice. That’s good to hear. Where about are you since you’re about an hour away from the tail?

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zoned_off@reddit

I live in Chattanooga, TN just went to a local Cars & Coffee this morning. Turnout was ok, nothing crazy. I enjoy supercar spotting, and very rarely get to scratch that itch here. I might see a "cool" car (something on the tier of modified 370z or entry level Ferrari) a couple times a month. There's pockets of enthusiasts, I met some at Cars & Coffee, but the day-to-day is pretty boring in terms of car diversity. Might be better in NC.

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diffraa@reddit

I wouldn’t say there’s much of a car scene in Chattanooga.

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boe_jackson_bikes@reddit

I agree. The roads in Denver are awful. Hurry, sell your house really cheap and move somewhere else!

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-_-thatoneguy-_-@reddit (OP)

Agreed. Roads blow here. If I sold my house it definitely wouldn’t be really cheap. Bought at a good time and will walk away with some great equity. Kind of another reason I’ve looked at that area. Might be able to buy with cash or have a smaller mortgage.

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boe_jackson_bikes@reddit

Congrats! You should definitely take advantage of that opportunity!