MOTD Meetup

MINIs on the Dragon (MOTD) is a huge gathering at Deals Gap in North Carolina.

Over 500 MINIs (800 registrants) and some of the twistiest roads anywhere are great attractions for a road trip on May 3rd to May 6th.

There will be a number of Chicago area people in attendence..

Who’s going, when are you leaving, where are you staying?

Here is your chance to post up and hook up!!

Photos by Gabe | Francis |

Video by Gabe part1 | part 2 | part 3 | full drive | Night Run
Video by Taylor

18 thoughts on “MOTD Meetup”

  1. I’m going! I’m probably going to leave Wednesday evening-ish and layover the night in Cincinnati. I’ll leave Cincinnati early AM Thursday to get to the dragon by noon/early afternoon. As for leaving, i’ll be headed out early AM Sunday, dropping a friend off at the airport in Knoxville, and long-haulin’ it back to Chicago in one crazy 12-13 hour driving marathon 馃榾

  2. I’ll be out there. M7 and the group from Custom MINI Shop, out in California, want me to show up. As for getting there, I’m taking one straight 13 hour ride at 3am on thursday morning. And as Mark said… I’ll be long haulin’ — or haulin a$$— on the way home on sunday.

  3. Looks like I might be driving solo to the Dragon… I was planning on leaving TUE (noon), stopping in Florence,KY, then continuing the next morning to arrive in Fontana mid-afternoon WED. Maybe get a few runs in b4 the crowds. I’m trying to hook-up with a bunch coming out of MN on TUE… I’m definitely driving back in one day. Maybe we’ll have a long line of MINIs returning from MOTD!

  4. I will be leaving Chicago on the Saturday before, stopping somewhere TBD so that I can arrive in New Orleans on Sunday, where I have to be at a conference that week. On Wednesday night I will leave for the Dragon, arriving on Thursday. Like everyone else I will be returning on Sunday in one straight shot. I hope to hook up with some folks out of Louisiana and possible the Sunshine Minis too on the way to the Dragon.

    To practice this week I drove to Cincinnati for a 2 hour meeting and then drove straight back. 4.5 hours down and 4.5 hours back – very enjoyable all the way, with a fantastic and VERY fast moving train of assorted cars on 65 North out of Indianapolis all the way to 80.

    I am having the lowering springs and a front diffuser, and probably an engine damper (thanks to Francis) put by DetroitTuned while I’m at the Dragon so hopefully I will be able to get back to Chicago to show off the diffuser before I rip it off on some pothole here. LOL.

  5. I’ll be leaving with Steve, Matt and Ken bright and early Wednesday morning. We’ll be down there by Wednesday night and staying near the church at Fontana.

  6. Hey Gabe! I called Fontana today and they said our cabin is across the road from you guys, facing each other. I’ll keep a light out for you guys, unless I’m passed out on the couch sleeping the drive off.

    Maybe we should decide on a channel/sub-channel for our little group??

  7. Francis,
    I’m still planning on leaving on Tuesday as well from Kenosha. I’d also like to get a couple of runs in without quite as much traffic as I expect there will be after Thursday. I’m not certain exactly when I’m going to be driving back. I’m trying to work in a short hike on the AT to check out some trail reconstruction that I helped with last April and want to get one more run at the Cherohala Skyway since all I saw of it was the inside of the clouds when I drove it last year. If I can’t fit all of that in with the other activities, I may not drive back until Monday.

    Let me know what you hear from the MN group.

  8. I’m leaving very early Thursday (2-3am) and doing it straight through. I have a couple of routes in mind to try going down.

    Coming back; I’m leaving Sunday and doing it non stop.

  9. Paul, I noticed that your leaving around 2 or 3 in the morning on thursday. I’m leaving about the same time, from the Dupage area. If your coming from further north or west, let me know and maybe we can roll together. Otherwise I seem to get a lead foot, and I really could do without an out-of-state ticket right now!!!

  11. Thanks to Matt, CMMC (and friends) will be using channel 14 subchannel 7 while at MOTD (as posted on NAM)

  12. The MN group (CarNuts Garage to be exact) will be swinging around CHGO on TUE. their route while scenic takes us out of the way a bit.

    So we’re taking our original route to Florence on day1, then Fontana on day2. We should be on the road on day2 between 9-10 EST (hint, hint, wink, wink).

    For you WED am runners, I can give you my cell# and you can call out when you approach the Florence area to see where we are. Maybe we can hook up with you for the final leg/gas/lunch stop. Let me know!

  13. We are here!!! well, I’m here anyways 馃檪

    Gabe and the guys arrived safely as well. Just waiting for the latecomers… We’re right next door to the MF and MINI 5280 cabins. Just look for the CMMC banner.. yes, we have one now!!!!

    Call out on the CMMC channel when you arrive!

  16. After looking at Francis pics, look like we had more then a few CMMC there, how many did we have?

  17. After looking at Francis pics, look like we had more then a few CMMC there, how many did we have?

    I apologize in advance if I forget someone…

    hmmm.. well, I’ll go by real names : in our cabin we had myself, Taylor, Paul, Blake and Paul. In the MF cabin : Gabe, Matt, Steve, Ken and Brian. Staying somewhere else : Warren, Jon, Rich and Mark.

    I think that covers everyone.

  18. Since I was in CA May 4th, I drove to Atlanta instead of flying so I could return via the Dragon. WOW what a ride.

    Near the end a tuner 350 Z took off in front of me, so I got a taste what a Mini could really do, except for a few longer straights, he couldn’t loose me. I kept seeing him looking in his mirror with that “I can’t believe I can’t loose that little car” look.

    I really hope to make it next year with the rest of the Minis.

Comments are closed.