Just got back from the BMW Performance Driving School...
11-09-2008, 11:13 PM
#1
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Just got back from the BMW Performance Driving School...
...And all I can say is WOW....I have a new found respect for the BMW product, from both a dynamic and production point of view. Aside from the fact that going to a high performance driving school and visiting an automobile factory are two of the many things I have been wanting to do in my life, this experience definately exceeded my expectations. I have been to similar events like this, but none did to me what this experience has done to me. The experience that BMW offers to their BMW customers free of charge is for new owners of the M5, M6 and 6 Series. I hear that they are considering including the M3, as well as Mini Cooper (not sure if any Mini, or the S/JCW model only). My friend picked up a 6 series about a year ago and had 1 year to redeem the invitation. He also works for BMW. It went something like this:
Late Wednesday I jumped in my car (GTI) with my friend, portable nav and V1 equipped, and headed down to Greenville, SC where we stayed in the Westin Poinsett Greenville, compliments of BMW. We arrived and went to sleep at 5am, woke up at 7am Thursday morning. About the only thing keeping me awake at this point was the adrenaline rush and excitement....we had breakfast (on BMW) to be ready to depart to the BMW Performance Center Via Shuttle (on BMW) by 8am. We get there, spent about 45 minutes in a classroom getting to know each other and the instructors, also where they divided us into two groups. There were 7 couples (felt a little weird that I was the only "couple" that was 2 guys, no homo
).
We would spend the day in a 650i coupe, because this class was for owners of the 6 series. the first part of the event explained the difference between oversteer and understeer, and how to control it when needed. It also showed the effectiveness of BMW's Dynamic Stability Control, which did a pretty good job of keeping things in check. We ran the course with DSC off, then on to show the effectiveness. They took us out to a wet roadholding course where they instructed us to hold a certain speed at a specific part of the course, then told us to let go of the gas, then stomp on the gas to induce the over or understeer that they were getting us to achieve. Just about everyone managed to turn the car around completely because they couldn't react to it quick enough to control it. Must be my skills, because no matter how hard I tried, my instincts wouldn't let me let the car turn around. I kept controlling it too much where I controlled it immediately to keep things safe and in the right direction.
After that they demonstrated the effectiveness of ABS and how you need to be using the brakes in emergency situations. On a wet road, we had to get to 35 mph, approaching a row of cones that towards the end of the cones, curved. They want you to keep the car in between the cones and to follow the path to show how ABS works even while turning. We did the same procedure for 40, 45, 50 and 55 mph to show how much more road you need just by adding 5mph to your speed at a time.
Next up they took us to another part of the course where you would be using some of these techniques. They included a tight slalom, some hard turns with apex's, a few S curves and a few straight aways to get you up to speed. They did not limit or restrict us in any way. Go as fast as you're comfortable to go, without losing control. That's where we started to get warmed up. The average speed was anywhere from 40-70mph depending on where you were on the course. Next up we did what they called the "Rat Race", where we went back onto part of the roadholding course (in the wet) and combined the track with both wet and dry conditions, another tight slalom, some hard turns and a whole lotta cones you don't want to hit. Your fastest speed could be about 70mph on the straightaway. You would be racing another car that is starting on the other side of the course, and whoever successfully completes 3 laps wins. It was an elimination event. It came down to me, my friend and this chick Susan (whom was pretty hot for a mom), I eliminated her, then it was up to me and my friend. I eliminated him and won the Rat Race. Go me!
After this, we had some lunch (on BMW), then headed back out to the track for some hot laps in a few of the other cars that they offer. These included the 135i Coupe, 335i Convertible, M5, 750LI and X6 3.5 XDrive. It included 2 pretty long straightaways, long enough to get you close to 100mph (100+ in the 135/335/M5), as well as a few S turns with Apex's. In this run I was either all the way down on the gas, or all the way down on the brakes...I came back impressed with the handling of all of them, each being able to handle the turns with ease, no matter how hard I drove it. The X6 felt the weight in the acceleration and braking compared to the 1 and 3 with the same motor, but the thing handled like a champ. The first lap I took cautiously with it having a higher center of gravity, but the cornering seemed very flat and stable, so the more I went around, the faster/harder I pushed it, the more confident I was. I liked the 135/335 and M5 the most. The M5 tires were almost bald, so most of my hard turns led to understeer/drifting out of turns, which didn't bother me one bit, as I controlled it every time. The least exciting was the 750LI, but that's pretty obvious, and I don't think it's really meant for this kind of driving, but it too handled pretty well for something this size...fun fun fun!
The last part of the day was back onto the first autocross (the one before the rat race), but this time it would be timed against the others. My highest lap time was like 27.08s, but each lap got the numbers down, ending my 5 lap run with a 25.73s run. I was in the lead against everyone, until the end. The hot mama chick Susan ran a 25.46s run (Her husband must be ashamed of himself, she beat him on both courses too!), beating us all out. I didn't mind because she was hot
. I ended up second, and my friend finished 3rd with a 26.01s run as his best.
We finished off the day with some "Adult" drinks, a graduation ceremony and announcements of the winners for the day and some hor d'oeuvres (cheese and crackers for us snobs ). They gave us some BMW booklets, a hat, tee shirt and polo shirt.
Wow. Great day. I'd do it again in a second. I want a(nother) BMW!!
We went back to the hotel where we had $200 in vouchers (on BMW) to a few local highline restaurants in the area. Went out for dinner and drinks, had a nice time.
The next morning we went for the second part of the trip, which was 18 holes of golf or a day at a spa (all on BMW). I or my friend was not in the mood for golf, so we went for a pampering at the spa. Nice...very nice...
After that we called in to get to the BMW Zentrum (Center) where the Museum and Factory are. My friend got us in for free because he is a BMW employee. The Museum is pretty small, not a whole lot to look at, but the factory....All I can say is, i'm speechless. It's one thing to see it on TV, and totally different to see it in person. All the robot automation, every works in such perfect harmony, it was truly an amazing experience. They took our phones with cameras or regular cameras away for fear of having pictures taken in the factory, so I have nothing to show for in the factory. The X5 and X6 is built there (the Z4 was also produced there, but production stopped after August 28). The X3 will be built there in 2010, they are building the facility now. How they are able to get all of the vehicles on the same line to be built at the same time is truly amazing. It looked like plastic tabs that were about 24 inches wide and about 4 inches tall, each car has their own unique bar code, they would be temporarily installed on the front of the chassis of the car to tell the robots what they are building, what options the owner chose, what color to paint it, etc.. Once the car starts looking like a car and that barcode gets removed, there's another fob/reader that they install over the BMW logo on the hood that also constantly runs through the scanners to tell the robots, as well as the workers what specs the vehicle is to be built with. I can keep going on and on, but you get the picture... It takes a total of 30 hours from start to finish to build a vehicle there. Amazing. Truly amazing.
I would highly recommend anyone to experience this for themselves. If you're like me and truly appreciate the automobile, this is definately for you!
To see a little more of the experience and the track where I did the driving, go to www.relearntodrive.com
Some pics I took with my camera phone, sorry for the "average" quality....
The first two rows are the cars we drove most of the day, the last row was the assortment of other BMW's that we took on to the hot lap. I just noticed, the two people you see in the pic is Susan and her husband...
A few M3's there for the M driving school...I wish they let us take one out...Don't know why they didn't..
The roadholding course, and part of the "rat race"
The instructors drove 550i's. They guided us through the courses explaining to us with 2-way radios in each car to tell each of us what to do before, during and after each course, then left us on our own to drive, but still communicating with us with any words of advice they may have.
I'm gonna get one of these badboys for my nephew...
The BMW Zentrum (Center)
A few of the cars in the museum
Late Wednesday I jumped in my car (GTI) with my friend, portable nav and V1 equipped, and headed down to Greenville, SC where we stayed in the Westin Poinsett Greenville, compliments of BMW. We arrived and went to sleep at 5am, woke up at 7am Thursday morning. About the only thing keeping me awake at this point was the adrenaline rush and excitement....we had breakfast (on BMW) to be ready to depart to the BMW Performance Center Via Shuttle (on BMW) by 8am. We get there, spent about 45 minutes in a classroom getting to know each other and the instructors, also where they divided us into two groups. There were 7 couples (felt a little weird that I was the only "couple" that was 2 guys, no homo
). We would spend the day in a 650i coupe, because this class was for owners of the 6 series. the first part of the event explained the difference between oversteer and understeer, and how to control it when needed. It also showed the effectiveness of BMW's Dynamic Stability Control, which did a pretty good job of keeping things in check. We ran the course with DSC off, then on to show the effectiveness. They took us out to a wet roadholding course where they instructed us to hold a certain speed at a specific part of the course, then told us to let go of the gas, then stomp on the gas to induce the over or understeer that they were getting us to achieve. Just about everyone managed to turn the car around completely because they couldn't react to it quick enough to control it. Must be my skills, because no matter how hard I tried, my instincts wouldn't let me let the car turn around. I kept controlling it too much where I controlled it immediately to keep things safe and in the right direction.
After that they demonstrated the effectiveness of ABS and how you need to be using the brakes in emergency situations. On a wet road, we had to get to 35 mph, approaching a row of cones that towards the end of the cones, curved. They want you to keep the car in between the cones and to follow the path to show how ABS works even while turning. We did the same procedure for 40, 45, 50 and 55 mph to show how much more road you need just by adding 5mph to your speed at a time.
Next up they took us to another part of the course where you would be using some of these techniques. They included a tight slalom, some hard turns with apex's, a few S curves and a few straight aways to get you up to speed. They did not limit or restrict us in any way. Go as fast as you're comfortable to go, without losing control. That's where we started to get warmed up. The average speed was anywhere from 40-70mph depending on where you were on the course. Next up we did what they called the "Rat Race", where we went back onto part of the roadholding course (in the wet) and combined the track with both wet and dry conditions, another tight slalom, some hard turns and a whole lotta cones you don't want to hit. Your fastest speed could be about 70mph on the straightaway. You would be racing another car that is starting on the other side of the course, and whoever successfully completes 3 laps wins. It was an elimination event. It came down to me, my friend and this chick Susan (whom was pretty hot for a mom), I eliminated her, then it was up to me and my friend. I eliminated him and won the Rat Race. Go me!
After this, we had some lunch (on BMW), then headed back out to the track for some hot laps in a few of the other cars that they offer. These included the 135i Coupe, 335i Convertible, M5, 750LI and X6 3.5 XDrive. It included 2 pretty long straightaways, long enough to get you close to 100mph (100+ in the 135/335/M5), as well as a few S turns with Apex's. In this run I was either all the way down on the gas, or all the way down on the brakes...I came back impressed with the handling of all of them, each being able to handle the turns with ease, no matter how hard I drove it. The X6 felt the weight in the acceleration and braking compared to the 1 and 3 with the same motor, but the thing handled like a champ. The first lap I took cautiously with it having a higher center of gravity, but the cornering seemed very flat and stable, so the more I went around, the faster/harder I pushed it, the more confident I was. I liked the 135/335 and M5 the most. The M5 tires were almost bald, so most of my hard turns led to understeer/drifting out of turns, which didn't bother me one bit, as I controlled it every time. The least exciting was the 750LI, but that's pretty obvious, and I don't think it's really meant for this kind of driving, but it too handled pretty well for something this size...fun fun fun!
The last part of the day was back onto the first autocross (the one before the rat race), but this time it would be timed against the others. My highest lap time was like 27.08s, but each lap got the numbers down, ending my 5 lap run with a 25.73s run. I was in the lead against everyone, until the end. The hot mama chick Susan ran a 25.46s run (Her husband must be ashamed of himself, she beat him on both courses too!), beating us all out. I didn't mind because she was hot
. I ended up second, and my friend finished 3rd with a 26.01s run as his best.We finished off the day with some "Adult" drinks, a graduation ceremony and announcements of the winners for the day and some hor d'oeuvres (cheese and crackers for us snobs
). They gave us some BMW booklets, a hat, tee shirt and polo shirt.Wow. Great day. I'd do it again in a second. I want a(nother) BMW!!
We went back to the hotel where we had $200 in vouchers (on BMW) to a few local highline restaurants in the area. Went out for dinner and drinks, had a nice time.
The next morning we went for the second part of the trip, which was 18 holes of golf or a day at a spa (all on BMW). I or my friend was not in the mood for golf, so we went for a pampering at the spa. Nice...very nice...
After that we called in to get to the BMW Zentrum (Center) where the Museum and Factory are. My friend got us in for free because he is a BMW employee. The Museum is pretty small, not a whole lot to look at, but the factory....All I can say is, i'm speechless. It's one thing to see it on TV, and totally different to see it in person. All the robot automation, every works in such perfect harmony, it was truly an amazing experience. They took our phones with cameras or regular cameras away for fear of having pictures taken in the factory, so I have nothing to show for in the factory. The X5 and X6 is built there (the Z4 was also produced there, but production stopped after August 28). The X3 will be built there in 2010, they are building the facility now. How they are able to get all of the vehicles on the same line to be built at the same time is truly amazing. It looked like plastic tabs that were about 24 inches wide and about 4 inches tall, each car has their own unique bar code, they would be temporarily installed on the front of the chassis of the car to tell the robots what they are building, what options the owner chose, what color to paint it, etc.. Once the car starts looking like a car and that barcode gets removed, there's another fob/reader that they install over the BMW logo on the hood that also constantly runs through the scanners to tell the robots, as well as the workers what specs the vehicle is to be built with. I can keep going on and on, but you get the picture... It takes a total of 30 hours from start to finish to build a vehicle there. Amazing. Truly amazing.
I would highly recommend anyone to experience this for themselves. If you're like me and truly appreciate the automobile, this is definately for you!
To see a little more of the experience and the track where I did the driving, go to www.relearntodrive.com
Some pics I took with my camera phone, sorry for the "average" quality....
The first two rows are the cars we drove most of the day, the last row was the assortment of other BMW's that we took on to the hot lap. I just noticed, the two people you see in the pic is Susan and her husband...
A few M3's there for the M driving school...I wish they let us take one out...Don't know why they didn't..
The roadholding course, and part of the "rat race"
The instructors drove 550i's. They guided us through the courses explaining to us with 2-way radios in each car to tell each of us what to do before, during and after each course, then left us on our own to drive, but still communicating with us with any words of advice they may have.
I'm gonna get one of these badboys for my nephew...
The BMW Zentrum (Center)
A few of the cars in the museum
11-09-2008, 11:18 PM
#2
Suzuka Master
Terrific write-up!
Looks like you had a great time.
<- Jealous.
Looks like you had a great time.<- Jealous.
11-10-2008, 09:28 AM
#7
Three Wheelin'
I am going on Dec. 3rd. I will be attending the 1 day M school. I was scheduled for Dec. 2 but they called me and said I could bring someone else for free if I switched to the 3rd. DONE! We are going out a day early ( I am bringing my wife) to tour the factory and Zentrum. I think it may be a 10 hr or so drive, but we are gonna take our time and may stop somewhere on the way up.
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