Welcome to our first annual NICOFEST at the Dragon! Although this is the 1st NICOFEST event being held here, this is actually the 2nd year of NICO members holding a meet here. Thanks to the interest of the 1st year's event, we have decided to make it an official event this year, and hopefully continue the tradition for years to come!



The event is scheduled for Labor Day Weekend (Sep. 2nd-5th). We will be staying at the following resort:

Fontana Village
300 Woods Road
Fontana Dam, NC 28733
800-849-2258

When making your reservation, ask for the group rate for NICO. We have reserved 47 various rooms of different sizes/prices. They are as follows:

7 Lodge Rooms w/ 2 Queen Beds
7 Lodge Rooms w/ 1 King Bed
8 Lodge Rooms w/ Fireplace
3 Cabana Rooms w/ 1 King Bed
4 1 Bedroom Willow Cabins
5 2 Bedroom Laurel Cabins
5 2 Bedroom Hemlock Cabins
5 3 Bedroom Magnolia Cabins
3 3 Bedroom Hemlock Cabins

To see the different room configurations, please visit their website. You can make your reservations now. Reservations must be made by July 1st, 2011 in order to take advantage of the discounted rate for NICOFEST. You must pay for the 1st night at the time you make the reservation, and the balance can be paid when you check in.

On Sunday, September 4th, our itinerary will take our mountain drive to the Biltmore Estate. The Biltmore Estate is the largest privately owned home in the United States, with over 175,000 square feet and sits on over 8,000 acres of land. Regular pricing to tour the estate is $60/person. We have negotiated a group rate for this tour for $40/person. To make your reservation, call the Biltmore Estate Ticketing Office at 866-851-4661 and reference promotional code 375 to get the NICOclub rate. Biltmore Tour tickets must be ordered by August 22nd to receive the NICOclub rate. If you do not order your ticket before then, you will still be able to get a discounted ticket the day of the event for $46 by being with the NICOFEST event. We will be at the Biltmore Estate for approximately 5 hours on Sunday afternoon.

In addition to your room reservations and Biltmore tickets, registration for NICOFEST is $20. This will cover food for Saturday and Sunday nights. Registration for NICOFEST can be made by clicking the button below. The verify registration button is not live, but will be updated periodically. If you don't see your registration immediately, check back in a few days. Registration questions can be emailed to [email protected].

REGISTRATION CLOSED

The weekend will consist of a social gathering each night at the Fontana Village Resort. Saturday morning, we will leave and drive through the small town of Robbinsville, NC before heading through the renowned Tail of the Dragon at Deal's Gap. We will make our first stop at the Deal's Gap Overlook. From there, we will continue down the Foothills Parkway in Tennessee then through the twisty roads of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park to Gatlinburg, TN. In Gatlinburg, we will stop for lunch before we continue our drive to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in Tennessee. After resting again and enjoying the scenery, we will head back to the Fontana Village for the evening.

Sunday morning, we will head out to Cherokee, NC, to the beginning of the Blue Ridge Parkway. From there, we will follow the Blue Ridge Parkway to Asheville, NC where will stop for the afternoon to tour the Biltmore Estate, the largest privately owned home in the country. After a few hours visiting the estate, we will then head back to the Fontana Village for the evening. Monday morning's schedule as of right now is yet to be determined, but you may not want to plan your trip home until at least Monday afternoon.

Below is the itinerary for the weekend. This itinerary is subject to change due to weather conditions.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND:

6:00pm: Arrival and social at the Fontana Village Resort

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD:PLAN A

9:00am: Leave Fontana Village for Deal's Gap Overlook (50 miles)



10:45am: Leave Deal's Gap Overlook for Gatlinburg, TN (50 miles)



12:30pm: Lunch in Gatlinburg, TN (on your own)

2:00pm: Leave Gatlinburg, TN for Clingman's Dome (22 miles)



5:00pm: Leave Clingman's Dome for Fontana Village (69 miles)



7:00pm: Dinner/social at Fontana Village

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD:PLAN B
12:30pm: Lunch on site of Fontana Village hosted by the Tunerz Store
Meal will include:
1)Shredded BBQ Sandwich
2)Pasta Salad
3)Bake Beans
4)Drink (Tea/Lemonade/Water)
5)Dessert

After lunch will will take a cruise to the Cherohala Skyway


Plan-B Lunch will cost you $6.00. Click below to paypal for a meal ticket. This will also give us a head count on the amount of food/drinks necessary for the lunch meal as some folks will be going with plan-A.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH:

8:00AM: Leave Fontana Village for the Biltmore Estate via the Blue Ridge Parkway (133 miles)



11:30am: Visit the Biltmore Estate ($40 pre-ordered with NICO rate, $46 at the door with NICO rate, $59 regular price)

5:00pm: Leave the Biltmore Estate for Fontana Village (96 miles)



MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH:

TBD

Keep an eye on this thread for more information. We will be adding more details as the event gets closer! And if you have Facebook, RSVP on our event page to let us know you're coming! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195589267119474

***NOTICE***
Fontana Village Resort is located in Graham County, NC. Graham County is a dry county and alcohol can not be purchased within the county. We encourage everyone to enjoy themselves in the evening each night, so if drinking alcohol is on your agenda, be sure to pick some up before entering Graham County, or else you may find it hard to find any. Also, enjoy yourselves in the evening, but do not over do it to the point your are not legal nor safe to drive in the morning. We want this to be a fun and safe event for everyone.

WOHOO!!!!

YEAH!!!!!
Tell a Friend to Tell a friend!!!!!!

I will be back! M3 will be back... have a few projects going if they are finished ill find someone to drive one... can't wait to see you all again... anyone find any badass walkies we can use...????

This sounds amazing. The pictures would just be overwhelming. Deff seems like a diff time than carlisle would be im deff interested. Put me down as coming ill deff be there for the dragon run and maybe the other stuff too bc it seems so interesting. How much will these rooms run us though?

just made a thread to get one of those cabins filled with some altima coupes!!!!

Will be talking the fiancée into making it to this one...I hope

i should be able to make it. should be pretty fun

tis awesome... i loooove this area

will definitely be there again this year
hopefully with my car on the road by then...

last year i missed it and saw pics and was told by everybody that attended they had a blast.. THIS YEAR i will be making it!!! cant wait

Oh yeah, all over this one!!!

My family has a private 4 bed cabin available that weekend if anyone is interested. The cabin is in Wears Valley, contact info is in the link.

http://www.angelsrestvacation.com/

Great time last year, mark your calendars now and plan early .you don't want to miss this !

This was a surprisingly easy sell to the GF. Should be making the reservations this weekend.

Man I'm glad I moved back to NC..... I knew there was a reason.

We will be adding a plan "B" on Saturday and possibly Sunday. Stay tuned, Torry will update the information then.

A NICOfest event I can actually make it to?!?! This is so exciting *Mathison voice*

I'm pretty sure ill make it up in the s13. My brother and i made it to the NICO rb meet but we did so in a Honda. lol.

I think we will attend again this year. We had an awesome time last year. I will be calling Hunt Nissan in Chattanooga again getting us a NICO
event discount with their service dept. So if you need fluids,oil changes, etc. They will be discounted for anyone coming thru Chattanooga.
Hope to see ya'll there.

DrewH wrote:This was a surprisingly easy sell to the GF. Should be making the reservations this weekend.

AHH good an SE-R in attendance, I may bring out my '05 Code Red SE-R after I get my suspension up to par. I'd hate to be the only one with a 4dr grocery getta in a sea of s13's.

Hey is anybody thats going into Trout fishing? the smokies offer some great trout waters in the Fontana Dam area.

VQpwrdSE-R wrote:

DrewH wrote:This was a surprisingly easy sell to the GF. Should be making the reservations this weekend.

AHH good an SE-R in attendance, I may bring out my '05 Code Red SE-R after I get my suspension up to par. I'd hate to be the only one with a 4dr grocery getta in a sea of s13's.

You won't have to worry about that, I will be there in my track prepped grocery getter G sedan...

You won't have to worry about that, I will be there in my track prepped grocery getter G sedan...

Thats good to know, I'm getting excited for this, The road sounds epic. I'll request off work within the next week

VQpwrdSE-R wrote:

DrewH wrote:This was a surprisingly easy sell to the GF. Should be making the reservations this weekend.

AHH good an SE-R in attendance, I may bring out my '05 Code Red SE-R after I get my suspension up to par. I'd hate to be the only one with a 4dr grocery getta in a sea of s13's.

this sounds like a good time, never been to anything NICO-related but I've always wanted to do the Dragon. I just got my SE-R in September so it's stock but I'd like to make it up.

the 10 hour drive from Florida would blow though

br4dysays wrote:this sounds like a good time, never been to anything NICO-related but I've always wanted to do the Dragon. I just got my SE-R in September so it's stock but I'd like to make it up.

the 10 hour drive from Florida would blow though

I'm driving 20 hours from MN. 10 hours is nothing.

EZcheese15 wrote:

br4dysays wrote:this sounds like a good time, never been to anything NICO-related but I've always wanted to do the Dragon. I just got my SE-R in September so it's stock but I'd like to make it up.

the 10 hour drive from Florida would blow though

I'm driving 20 hours from MN. 10 hours is nothing.

damn. yeah i just made the drive to Gatlinburg (got married there) so the drive is fresh in my head lol

would be much better in the altima then my wifes accent though!

The trip I planned for the ride down should take at least 17 hrs but that because I'm warming up with Skyline Drive and the Blue Rridge Parkway. Not to mention an early run through the dragon and a tourist trap here and there. It's supposed to be a 13 hr straight shot but I'll save the boring drive for the one home.

Please lower your SER before this happens br4dysays. The stock wheel gap is like finger nails on a chalkboard and may actually make me nauseous if I see you 4 wheelin through the dragon. I'm just kidding but Its always cool to see other SERs.

Last year it took me 14 hrs to get there, but this year since I'm moving farther north it'll take around 16.5hrs

DrewH wrote:Please lower your SER before this happens br4dysays. The stock wheel gap is like finger nails on a chalkboard and may actually make me nauseous if I see you 4 wheelin through the dragon. I'm just kidding but Its always cool to see other SERs.

I just picked up a set of Hankook V12 EVO's for my 18in maxima rims, have a set of racingline lowering springs used from a friend of mine who upgraded to BC coilovers. Those and a racingline FTSB should get things squared away for me and the SE-R.

BTW DrewH what part of PA do you live in? I'll be coming from the Hershey Area. I may skip out on the dragon if the middle east and OPEC keeps steadily raping us and raise gas to expected $5 a gallon. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

I live in the Scranton Wilkes Barre area so I'll be going right by on 81 south. I had to pass on a chance to go down with a bunch of other cars years ago when i had a 350Z so this time I'm going regardless. I already reserved a cabin and I can't wait but I hope you still decide to go. If you do maybe we can drive down together. Good call going with the RLs but be prepared to start beating up your y pipe with 2.5 inches of ground clearance. Can't beat the look and handling though. You'll love it and you're also going to love the strut bar. Instantly made a huge difference on my car.