It’s that time again. If you love to drive and especially love a good curvy road, join us for the 10th semi-annual S2000 Arkansas Boston Mountains Tour.
Details and registration can be found in this S2ki.com thread.
A weekend of bliss. There is no better way to describe S2KI.com’s Boston Mountain Tour (BMT) to a gearhead/twisty road addict. The BMT is not for the faint of heart, nor for the quarter mile at a time crowd. It’s a full day of driving an impeccably planned route throughout Northwest Arkansas on roads seemingly purpose-built for sports cars. Arkansas may get a lot of flack for missing teeth and moonshine, but it sure knows how to build a good road.
The BMT is a semiannual event held in the spring and again in the fall. The organizers surprisingly don’t charge a registration fee, so your only costs are for gas, hotel, and meals. While the BMT may only be a one day event, it is the entire day, so most stay the night before and after the tour. While a few participants may actually live in that area, the vast majority drive in from Oklahoma, Missouri, Louisiana, with a good showing from North Texas as well. Many have taken it upon themselves to turn the travel days into an extension of the BMT. What would be the fun of taking the highway(s) to get there? Many a twisty road has been discovered between various states and Eureka Springs, Arkansas on the way to the BMT. Not surprisingly, many of these routes converge on the “Pig Trail”, a scenic byway which makes “Tail of the Dragon” less of a worthwhile trip for those of us west of the Mississippi.
Participants arrive throughout Friday. That evening many end up gathering at the hotel and hitting up a local restaurant and/or bar. New friends are made, old friends reconnect, a whole lot of bench racing takes place, and many jokes are made about the Rowdy Beaver, which has become almost as much a part of the tour as the driving itself.
For each BMT, Saturday morning comes early, with a distinct air of anticipation as everyone checks in at the registration table, receives the route maps, eats breakfast, and makes last minute tire pressure adjustments. Everyone is assigned to one of three groups, each with a lead car and tail car; both volunteering to ensure the group stays on the route. Soon the groups begin to form their lines. Honda S2000s naturally are the majority, but there is a splattering of R32, Corvette, 3-Series, G35, Viper, WRX, and others which vary from tour to tour. A few minutes apart, each group rolls out of the hotel parking lot, out of town, and into the mountains eagerly awaiting some heat to get into their tires. The real fun begins. I really can’t stress enough how great the roads are in the area. I also cannot stress enough how beautifully well planned the route is for the day. The combination of roads, some revisited and some new, seems to get better with each tour.
The day of driving is perfectly broken up by a mid-morning break, a lunch spot, and then a mid-afternoon break. The organizers do an impressive job in finding interesting and/or scenic stopping points. Generally all three groups briefly overlap at one of the stops for a group photo. Considering this is often 40+ cars, it is no easy task to find a photogenic scene to stage everyone. However those planning the BMT seem to do it flawlessly twice a year. The driving portion of the tour draws to a close around nightfall back in Eureka Springs as the group descends on a local restaurant. While 50+ people at once is a bit much for most small town restaurants to handle efficiently, somehow it always works out well. The conversation inevitably revolves around favorite sections of road, close calls, heel-toeing, and epic saves. Some head back to the hotel, and others make their way to a local pub to continue recapping the day.
Sunday may be just another day for those who live in the area, but for BMT participants, it’s another chance to enjoy their cars. Some sleep in that morning, and others wake and gather for breakfast in the hotel. For most, the fun then continues as various groups revisit a few of Saturday’s roads on their way out of the Boston Mountains. Some even retrace Friday’s route, completing three full days of driving excitement. While the fun factor may lessen with more distance from the mountains, the eagerness for the next BMT builds. The six month wait for the next Boston Mountain Tour feels entirely too long.
For more BMT photos, visit www.landrethphotography.com.
Another S2000 tour has come and gone and may have been the best yet. Thanks to Andy and all who were involved in the planning and execution of this great event. The NW Arkansas twisties seem to get better each time we’re there!
Click a picture for the full gallery:
For the past few years, I’ve been somewhat of an honorary Honda S2000 (S2ki.com) club member in North Texas. I really enjoy the events they organize. Initially I somewhat fit in, at least having a convertible, with my Nissan 350Z Roadster. Then the baby came, and now I have the G35 sedan. While missing the open air aspect a bit, I always look forward to actually keeping up with the crazy fun S2000s in my family car. Saturday was to be the 7th semi-annual Boston Mountain Tour (BMT), organized by the OK and AR S2ki.com clubs, beginning in Eureka Springs, AR.
Due to the distance from North Texas to Eureka Springs, a tour to the tour was planned for Friday. Someone affectionately named this drive the Pre-Boston Mountain Tour Tour (PBMTT). Friday morning at 6:00 am came early after a late night of last minute preparation and packing. The car was packed and prepped for a couple hard days of driving to and in the Boston Mountains of NW Arkansas. By 8:00 am, cars were arriving in Melissa, TX ready for some fun. The majority of these cars were infiltrators as well.
Thirteen of us left for Eureka Springs that Friday morning around 8:45 am. We had plans to meet one more before leaving Texas, and three more in SW Arkansas. We had 425 miles to cover and wanted to do so before dark. Unfortunately the infamous and annoying daylight savings time change the previous week was making this much more difficult. The goal for the day was to be rounding curves more than driving in a straight line. I think we succeeded in doing so. It was a wonderful day on great roads filled with high speed sweepers and tight twisties, both on and off-camber. Some of the downhill sections had me wishing I had swapped to track/street brake pads like I did for the last event. But even with a brief downhill section of having to adjust for a little brake fade, I had a wonderful day of enjoying a very fun route which did not include a single Interstate or major highway. Unfortunately though, DST won the daylight race…by less than an hour. It was dark when we arrived in Eureka Springs, hungry and tired.
Saturday morning was the beginning of the actual Boston Mountain Tour, and as usual it was impeccably organized. We began with a parking lot full of amazing cars and drivers full of anticipation. After the drivers’ meeting, we hit the road in three groups. The first BMT I attended last spring was over many of the same roads. Regardless, the full day of driving was beyond fun and on some of the best roads ever made for sports cars. The highlight for me was most of the morning where I chased the leader of my group in his new S2000 CR. Needless to say, I had to concentrate a bit and keep it really smooth to keep up in the twisties. That guy could drive! We had a morning and afternoon break, photo opportunities of all the cars, and a great lunch and dinner. Thank you to all the S2ki.com members who made this event happen. I can’t wait for the next one. Maybe then I’ll go check out the Rowdy Beaver.
Click any of the pictures to view the entire gallery.
