Top beaches to drive on?

REDLYNER

Mall Crawling Race Rig
Joined
Oct 31, 2008
Location
Mountain Island
I’m some what familiar through reading about beaches you can drive on. But I have actually never been to an NC beach you can legally drive on.

A few of my friends have shared some stories, just wondering for those who have, which ones were the most fun? Least likely to have crowds? Not looking to speed, but need to hit 18-20mph (for a video). Is there an area that would work?
 
All the beaches I know of have 15-20mph speed limits.

Ft Fisher you can drive on as well as Hatteras/OBX beaches. Corolla you can as well. Cape lookout is probably the least crowded but you have to take a ferry to get there.
 
They're gonna love your racecar on the Cape Lookout ferry, lol.
 
I've driven on Davis Island (Cape Lookout) as well as Carova/Corolla. Both have advantages. There's some great offroad trails out behind the houses at Carova. SOME have the dreaded "horse tours only" sign, but many do not. Got airborn on a few in the exploder and had a ball with the kids.

The BEACH drive though is pretty similar, cept the horses at Carova/Corolla.


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If you are trying to get a Baja style shot driving down the beach with no traffic, Cape Lookout is where you want to be, otherwise any should work. no problem going 25 mph on CALO

Are you planning on using the drone?

there's a vague passage that kinda prohibits them on Cape Lookout:

"Cape Lookout National Seashore believes the use of unmanned aircraft is generally not a compatible use within the Seashore"



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They're gonna love your racecar on the Cape Lookout ferry, lol.

The old racecar was ~550hp with longtube headers and a small muffler, barely louder than a hopped up diesel truck. New racecar is ~800hp with shorty headers with essentially no exhaust after. I could take the bomber anywhere, the new 4410 gets cranked and every noise violation within 27 miles is broken.

Soooo it will be tough to have it out there.

That being said, even if it stayed under 15-18’sh mph (legit following the laws of the beach), would it be allowed for a photo shoot?


If you are trying to get a Baja style shot driving down the beach with no traffic, Cape Lookout is where you want to be, otherwise any should work. no problem going 25 mph on CALO

Are you planning on using the drone?

there's a vague passage that kinda prohibits them on Cape Lookout:

"Cape Lookout National Seashore believes the use of unmanned aircraft is generally not a compatible use within the Seashore"



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Drone, gopro, iPhone. Truly not looking to break any laws, the car draws so much attention (noise wise) I can’t afford to open it up where it’s not allowed. Prob need a mile of shoreline.
 
The old racecar was ~550hp with longtube headers and a small muffler, barely louder than a hopped up diesel truck. New racecar is ~800hp with shorty headers with essentially no exhaust after. I could take the bomber anywhere, the new 4410 gets cranked and every noise violation within 27 miles is broken.

Soooo it will be tough to have it out there.

That being said, even if it stayed under 15-18’sh mph (legit following the laws of the beach), would it be allowed for a photo shoot?




Drone, gopro, iPhone. Truly not looking to break any laws, the car draws so much attention (noise wise) I can’t afford to open it up where it’s not allowed. Prob need a mile of shoreline.

I would be willing to bet that IF you could actually find an officer patrolling the beach, he’d probably be so interested in the thing and what you’re doing that he’d help you out. But you may only encounter one AFTER you let that thing sing a time or two lol.

You may be able to go to a less crowded area and do your thing and be done before anyone could approach you, or at least be done and have already put the drone away.
 
Too many fishermen out there. They will have the officer right up your ass the minute you get off the ferry.

I think technically you can drive it out there. No tags needed as people drive ATVs out there all the time.

If you go there, I’d do it mid week. Weekend is when the weekend warriors are out there fishing and is much more crowded.

Remember, cape lookout is federal land. Violations there are federal. Chose wisely.
 
So, have you considered going right to DNR or whoever the right agency is, and asking them about this? I'm sure you're not the first person to want to do a photo shoot of a vehicle on the beech. Rather than worrying about breaking the law, just get them involved up front.
For the right "donation" and polite handshake, they might just close the beach briefly for you.
 
So, have you considered going right to DNR or whoever the right agency is, and asking them about this? I'm sure you're not the first person to want to do a photo shoot of a vehicle on the beech. Rather than worrying about breaking the law, just get them involved up front.
For the right "donation" and polite handshake, they might just close the beach briefly for you.

^ if they let you have your 15 min on the beach you sure as hell better be going more than 20


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All this and post video here
 
I believe Ft Fisher requires it to be a licensed vehicle.
 
I think technically you can drive it out there. No tags needed as people drive ATVs out there all the time.

The vehicle doesn't have to be tagged, but they do not allow "sport" SxS. Not sure how they classify a 4400 chassis. Hah.

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Why go to the beach for sand? there's plenty of sand in the Sandhills, just east of Uwharrie and I bet you could go as fast and loud as you want to on some of those remote sand roads.

https://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/Hunting/Game-Land-Maps/Piedmont/Sandhills_new.pdf
Not that its helpful for this discussion, but I camped at the Sand Lake Recreation Area in Oregon yesterday. It was about a 2 mile beach which, as best I can figure, was just people doing top speed drag runs on bikes, quads, and SXSs. Its exactly what Jay needs, just on the wrong coast.

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Funny enough I genuinely only need 15-20mph and a mile of shoreline.

I have had a lot of success working with local agencies, managers, etc, but in the oft chance I’m in a grey area... sometimes it’s good to back out, shoot, then pull back in. That being said, a hundy through the dunes would make for a good Instagram shot haha.
 
The racecar rules out corolla and the cape hatteras national seashore. So anywhere ocracoke and north is out of the question. Must be registered & insured for those.

I’m not sure about cape lookout rules, but I know cape hatteras national seashore and Corolla/carova beach require registration and insurance.

I doubt any of the nps officers will bend the rules to work with a racecar.

Only caveat is if you obtain all the proper permits for legit filming/motion picture production within national seashore. I doubt this is cheap and must include plan/budget to fix beach back to state it was before usage.

The town of nags head would be easier to work with as far as access with racecar and filming, but driving is only allowed in off season.
 
Does it have to be a beach, or just sand/water? There's dunes in Michigan, and it's not that much longer of a drive, haha.
 
Beach + ocean required.

Speed, donuts, rooster tails, jumps are not required nor will be performed for the shoot. We’ve got another place for that.
 
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