Beware!

[BQS4]

This story is Opel related in that I went to Blairsville, GA yesterday to help install a 5-spd Getrag in Steve's (SteveGT) GT, but, in order for me to get to Blairsville, by the most direct route, I have to go over a mountain, which means some mean and twisty curves. Some down to 5-10 mph, but, in a well set up Opel, it's AWESOME! Sorta like a mini "Tail of the Dragon" without all the traffic. But, as with the Dragon, there are dangers, not so much with trucks and other cars, but, with your own car. I was following two bikers, up and over, never even trying to over take them, just cruzing along with them, in fact, when they turned off, one even gave me a "thumbs up" for hanging right there with them, but, the point of my story is, on to down hill side we came upon two SUV/Pickup towing RV trailers. The front vehicle was a dual cab-dualie rear pulling a HUGE RV trailer, the guy behind was a Expedition pulling a RV trailer about 1/2 the size, but, nonetheless, the Expedition obviously didn't have his rig set up right as there are "run away truck ramps" on the Blairsville side, and these two pulled off. I thought it was to let those behind to pass, but, before the Expedition came to a stop, he was in trouble, not just little whisps of smoke, but, clouds of smoke came boiling out from the front wheels! As I passed, I saw a lick of actual flame! Which goes to say, yes, it's fun to drive these curvy roads, but, unless your car/truck is up to the task, DON'T DO IT!!!!!

[blancojp]

I had a similar adventure while going to my shop. The driver of the trailer was not that lucky though, on a down hill twist overheated the brakes and ended up hitting a chicken barn up in Dawsonville.

If you heat up the Opel front rotors from many close to panic stops or constant braking in winding roads, you will find very quickly the brake efficiency will get reduced quite rapidly until gone. That is why most people upgrade to oversized Vented rotors, it help to keep the Opel out of the chicken coop per say!

[SteveGT]

Yea Gene that can be a treachous run for sure....another road like that I will be traveling in 2 weeks to our meet in Helen, Ga (july 25th) you better be set up right for 180 south...I am looking forward to the run tho as well as our meet....Thanks again Gene for the 5 speed install...runs smooth as silk...quieter as well....like nite & day now....glad ya made it back safe

SteveGT

[Redskinsjbs]

Yea, you definitely have to watch out for those overloaded vehicles.

Whenever I drive out to my Dad's cabin in Franklin WV, I go on Route 33 so that I can go through some of those 5 MPH bends! It goes over a ridge, so you gain and lose about 750 ft (up and then back down) on 5 miles of road!

[SantaClaw]

I ALWAYS use Engine breaking when descending steep hills, especially with a trailer behind...

Example:

I just came back from Rudskogen Race track, when I said back, I mean to my hotel in Bergen where I am right now...
Well, to specify further, I'm on my holiday, picking up my new GT ... I live in Kirkenes, roughly 2500 km or, 1500 miles from Bergen..
So I don't want to drive a newly built and untested GT that far.. But I don't mind taking it to the track.. So I've been to the main event of Opel Motorsport Club Norway (Opel Motorsport Club) over at rudskogen, thats a 1200 km return trip drive...Or 745 miles if you like..

I rented a trailer and a Mitsubi**** L200 2.5l diesel, as a tow vehicle.. (Can't imagine a more crappy tow vehicle)



See the mountains ?

Well..

I went from here:
(On the top looking down at the road, grey line near the lake)


To here:
(On the bottom looking up, the previous pic was taken by the top of the power lines)



That's an insane hill to manoeuvre down with a wide car trailer... The trailer brakes where smoking, but because I used 1'st and 2nd gear on the decent (manual gears of course) the car brakes where so cool, I could touch them without getting burned...


This was the most fun though...



On Monday, both me and my car is boarding the famous Hurtigruten ship, departing from Bergen, and having a 6 day crouse along the Norwegian coast towards home, in Kirkenes..

[hallgeir]

Quite some trip.
Yes, using engine breaking is one of the things we need to do when we live in a country with roads going up and down high mountains. If used correctly you can drive down steep curvy roads for mile after mile, almost without touching the brake pedal.

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by hallgeir Quite some trip. Yes, using engine breaking is one of the things we need to do when we live in a country with roads going up and down high mountains. If used correctly you can drive down steep curvy roads for mile after mile, almost without touching the brake pedal.

Back in 2004 I went out to Pike's Peak with a friend of mine who was running the hillclimb in his rallycar. I was given the daunting task of driving his service-van from the top to the bottom (all 8500 lbs of it!). I kept the van in low gear and only needed to apply the brakes 4 times down the entire mountain, all 14+ miles.