Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015 - 19

MAYBE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR
HIGH-PERFORMANCE
DRIVING OR A GREAT ATV
COURSE. OR MAYBE INSTEAD
FOR A NEW SCENIC ROUTE TO
EXPLORE IN THE MOUNTAINS.
EITHER WAY, IT'S SPRING, AND
AMANDA PLANTE

TIME TO GET MOTORING.
by Paul Clark
WITH WINTER GIVING WAY to spring, our thoughts

return to the road and the great outdoors that await
us on the far side of our travel lust and imagination.
The southern Appalachians have so many interesting
places to visit, many within a couple of hours from
home, that the journeys to get there are often
overlooked.
Motoring, the art and artistry of locomotion, is
such a sport that we've dedicated these pages to all
things automotive. On two wheels or four, spinetingling experiences await us at performance driving
schools, on mud trails and twisting byways, at dirt
tracks and drag strips. Here's a guide to some of the
fun that can be had behind the wheel of an automobile, whether it's your own coupe or a revved-up
racecar.
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.
And if you're looking for even more, there's the
Overland Experts driving school in Middleburg,
Virginia that trains not only recreational and professional drivers but also those who will be piloting
trucks and vans in marginal conditions for the military and humanitarian aid agencies.

Georgia: Go Fast or Go Scenic
Midway between Atlanta and Anderson, S.C., the
Skip Barber Racing School (skipbarber.com) in
Braselton puts students in Porche 911s and Mazda

MX-5 race cars for high-performance driving and
racing classes that also test participants' reflexes on
the school's challenging skid pad. Stay, wine and dine
at Chateau Elan Winery & Resort in Braselton (chateauelan.com).
The Atlanta Driving Experience, in Dawsonville,
is a scaled-down Indy experience in open-wheel Ariel
Atoms that whiz around a 2.0-mile road course
designed by formula One architect Hermann Tilke.
Half- and full-day sessions are followed by trips
around the track. Events like ART in the Garden and
the city's moonshine festival downtown are within
easy walking distance of restaurants and shopping.
Also in Dawsonville is the Georgia Racing Hall
of Fame, where visitors learn how driving moonshine
out of the Georgia mountains evolved into NASCAR
and how drivers and local celebrities like Sara
Christian, Tim Flock and Lloyd Seay pioneered stock
car racing. The museum has lots of vintage racecars,
as well as the history and driving experience of native
son Bill Elliott.
For gorgeous driving, try the Richard B. Russell
Scenic Highway, a loop accessible most easily from
Helen and Blairsville. A 41-mile drive through the
Chattahoochee National Forest, the network of highways passes by the high-elevation vistas of Brasstown
Bald (Georgia's tallest mountain), has stops along the
Appalachian Trail and includes several scenic
overlooks.

Facing page: the East
Tennessee Mini Motoring
Club is dedicated to
exploring scenic roads in
Mini Coopers.
Above: Dawsonville,
Georgia's Atlanta Driving
Experience offers a
scaled-down Indy
experience on a two-mile
road course.

MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 19

http://www.chateauelan.com http://www.chateauelan.com http://www.skipbarber.com

Blue Ridge Country - March/April 2015

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