November 2, 2023

Last weekend, I attended this year’s TAIL OF THE DRAGON Rennsport Porsche Fall Rally 2023 with my son Marvin and friends. A private business organizes the Rennsport Dragon Rally for a collection of Porsche enthusiasts from around North America who come together for a three-day weekend to drive the Tail of the Dragon and mountain roads in the Smokey Mountains. Rennsport Dragon Rally is not an official Porsche-sponsored event. Nevertheless, it is considered the Super Bowl of Porsche Driving Events. About three hundred Porsches showed up for this event. The highlight of the approximately 250-mile daily rallies is the “Tail of Dragon” – a public road of 11 miles with 318 curves.

The drivers can choose from three categories based on their ability and experience. Cruising, Touring, and Extreme. Each category usually has groups of twenty cars with one group leader from the organizer, Rennsport Dragon Rally. He sets the speed of the drive. Most drivers listen to a small but powerful FM radio (No cell phone service in the Dragon area) to the group leaders, announcements about incoming traffic, or road directions. The group’s last car, the sweeper, reports to the group leaders of any hold-ups due to slower drivers.

On the first day, I rode as a passenger in the Cayman GTS of one of the group leaders in the Touring category. My driver was Adisson, a part-time ICU nurse and part-time professional rally driver. I grew up in Germany, 50 miles from the Nürburgring, spent endless times on the track, and used to race in my earlier days. In my mind, driving the Dragon Tail could not be more complex than running on the Nürburgring. I was very wrong. The way my driver approached the turns with speed, most of the time triple what the road sign read, and ripping the car, I had never experienced before on a racetrack. Many “Driving the Dragon Tail” available videos are excellent but fail to capture the intensity and speed of the drive. Unfortunately, I did not capture my drive with Adisson on video. Here is a video link showing a Dragon Tail driving from a car following his group leader in the fall of 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is5RK7Wabms

This was my first time attending the event, and it greatly exceeded my expectations. Great weather, super driving, perfect peak leaves, and many great people.

THANK YOU to the Rennsport Team for managing a professional and incredible event. Shout out to my driver and group leader, Adisson; I had fantastic fun. It was a great weekend to remember.