I met up with a group planning to do a run through Cherohala Skyway en route to the Boxer Takeover at the Dragon. I generally avoid the Dragon on big event weekends, as I have witnessed too many shenanigans, but I haven’t been out in a while and I wanted to meet up with friends that I haven’t seen in awhile – plus snag some pics and see how the new setup would handle.
I deleted my Facebook account last year (not bragging) and one big side effect of that is being out of the loop on when and where meets happen. So unless someone tells me ahead of time, I will miss out. Luckily, Ollie shot me a text about a Boxer Takeover pre-game meet at Cherohala Skyway.
So I got my car ready to rumble… well, so to speak. 🙂
I met up with Ollie early Saturday morning and his 500HP 2014 Subaru WRX STi and we headed out to the meeting spot in Vonore, TN.
After a little detour (missed an exit or two) we arrived – early. We weren’t the only early birds, Matt C. and his striking Hyper Blue VA STi beat us to the meeting spot.
Now obviously the only thing to do when you show up 30 minutes early is to take lots of pics. 🙂
Sara arrived next in her Tangerine Orange 2013 Subaru WRX.
And just after she arrived, a Bugeye arrived! Jim’s to be exact. He’s rocking a set of silver RPF1s, which I think looks great with the silver car. Being the only other EJ20 I was curious how well he would do in a sea of modified EJ25s.
Shortly afterwards, everyone else piled in pretty quick. I was too busy snapping pics to get everyone’s name.
Will and his 2011+ WRX from Alabama. I’m not sure what size EWG Will has but it is loud. 😆
Shortly after everyone else arrived we rolled out to Cherohala Skyway. If you’ve never been to the Skyway it is a completely different road from the Dragon. It is 43 miles of scenic byway with lots of sweepers and elevation changes. In some ways it feel like a stretched out version of the Dragon. They end/begin close to one another which can make for a nice little back road drive.
The Skyway has lots of scenic pull-offs and it is a great place to go to in the fall. After a few minutes of driving we pulled over for some pictures.
During this stop I got a chance to check out Saheed‘s RS coupe. It has a WRX hybrid swap with a cage and slicks. He drove this up from Alabama which is pretty impressive.
After snapping a few more pics we headed out to the Boxer Takeover meet at Fontana.
Somewhere between the end of Cherohala Skyway and the Dragon a got some texts from my wife having issues her car. Coverage was spotty so I decided to head home through the Dragon instead of going to Fontana Village for the meet. Unfortunately there were already a couple crashes on the Dragon. Including this one…
So I called it a day.
Overall I am pretty happy how my WRX handles. I was able to hang with experienced drivers and their modified Subies on a setup that still has a ways to go. Most notably tires and brakes. However I feel like I am on the right track.
B.黒曜石 