BMW M Driving School -- The Rush...
03-25-10, 01:33 AM
#1
BMW M Driving School -- The Rush...
When I got my M3 on 12/31/08, my goal was to get a good deal (last day of the year). It’s not until a month later that I read about complimentary 2 admission tickets to the famous BMW Performance Driving School for M3 buyers. I patiently waited, and a month later I received a letter from BMW inviting me and a guest to their BMW One-day M Driving School. Woohoo!
I was extremely excited, and finally on 3/8/10, I went to the school together with my cousin-in-law. If you sign up for the school yourself, it’s $1300 a person. So that’s like $2600 incentives with my M3, that just made the deal that much sweeter. The class is whole day from 8am till about 4:30pm, and I can tell you, if you really focus and do what they ask you to, it’s really freaking tiring. My cousin didn’t believe me initially, but at the end of the day, he was sore as hell.
Anyway, let the journey begins….
We took red-eye from CA to Greenville, SC, a small city where the BMW Performance Center (also for vehicle delivery) is located. We arrived around 9am in the morning, tired from the flight.
our small connection flight from WAS to GSP
But BMW absolutely knows how to please customers. With the M School package, all hotel, transportation, and dinner/breakfast are included. They learned that we were arriving early Sunday and put in request with hotel for an early check-in for us
To my surprised, they sent a brand new 6 week old BMW 550 Gran Turismo to pick us up!!!!
Our airport pick-up
Nice night vision
After settling at the hotel, they offered to drop us off at the Greenville downtown, where we did some quite sight-seeing and had a fantastic BBQ lunch. Then the hotel came and picked us up – this time in their other brand new BMW X5 3.0.
Greenville downtown
Coming back to hotel
I was extremely excited, and finally on 3/8/10, I went to the school together with my cousin-in-law. If you sign up for the school yourself, it’s $1300 a person. So that’s like $2600 incentives with my M3, that just made the deal that much sweeter. The class is whole day from 8am till about 4:30pm, and I can tell you, if you really focus and do what they ask you to, it’s really freaking tiring. My cousin didn’t believe me initially, but at the end of the day, he was sore as hell.
Anyway, let the journey begins….
We took red-eye from CA to Greenville, SC, a small city where the BMW Performance Center (also for vehicle delivery) is located. We arrived around 9am in the morning, tired from the flight.
our small connection flight from WAS to GSP
But BMW absolutely knows how to please customers. With the M School package, all hotel, transportation, and dinner/breakfast are included. They learned that we were arriving early Sunday and put in request with hotel for an early check-in for us
To my surprised, they sent a brand new 6 week old BMW 550 Gran Turismo to pick us up!!!!Our airport pick-up
Nice night vision
After settling at the hotel, they offered to drop us off at the Greenville downtown, where we did some quite sight-seeing and had a fantastic BBQ lunch. Then the hotel came and picked us up – this time in their other brand new BMW X5 3.0.
Greenville downtown
Coming back to hotel
03-25-10, 01:37 AM
#2
Dinner was at the hotel restaurant, and the food was actually pretty nice (when you get filet mignon, it can’t be that bad). We went to bed pretty early since we had to get out of the hotel by 8am the next day.
My dinner
Monday morning we had breakfast and soon we were in the shuttle to the BMW Performance Center. Surprisingly, outside of the property, you really don’t see any major BMW sign or logo. Of course you see bunch of BMWs around, but they are definitely keeping a low profile.
Before leaving the hotel, one last shot at the courtesy vehicles
We were quickly greeted by our instructors of the day, I think there were 5 or 6 of them in total. As usual, they are/were all race car drivers, tons of backgrounds, with wealth of knowledge to share. They spent about an hour telling us the basics of performance driving, how to accelerate and brake, how to turn, etc… A lot of the stuff we already know, but very detailed nonetheless.
Lecture time
BMW Performance Center
Inside
After that, well, what’s to stop us from driving?!!!!!!! There were 11 of us in the whole class (seems like they take 12 as maximum number of students). We were split into 3 groups (4-4-3), and off we went to the 3 pre-set courses for some fun drives. I happened to be in the “3” group, so we had more runs, yay!!
And before you ask, as shown here, yes, we drove them all. M3, M5, and M6… Initially I thought maybe we had a choice to choose what to drive, but no, we “had” to drive them all. The whole day we had 6 driving courses, 3 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon. Morning was about training, teaching, and improving. Afternoon was about fun and competition… And most importantly? Each of us had our own car – meaning we got it, we were given time to set our seats, and that’s the car each of us drove during that specific course.
This is what around 8000hp look like
My dinner
Monday morning we had breakfast and soon we were in the shuttle to the BMW Performance Center. Surprisingly, outside of the property, you really don’t see any major BMW sign or logo. Of course you see bunch of BMWs around, but they are definitely keeping a low profile.
Before leaving the hotel, one last shot at the courtesy vehicles
We were quickly greeted by our instructors of the day, I think there were 5 or 6 of them in total. As usual, they are/were all race car drivers, tons of backgrounds, with wealth of knowledge to share. They spent about an hour telling us the basics of performance driving, how to accelerate and brake, how to turn, etc… A lot of the stuff we already know, but very detailed nonetheless.
Lecture time
BMW Performance Center
Inside
After that, well, what’s to stop us from driving?!!!!!!! There were 11 of us in the whole class (seems like they take 12 as maximum number of students). We were split into 3 groups (4-4-3), and off we went to the 3 pre-set courses for some fun drives. I happened to be in the “3” group, so we had more runs, yay!!
And before you ask, as shown here, yes, we drove them all. M3, M5, and M6… Initially I thought maybe we had a choice to choose what to drive, but no, we “had” to drive them all. The whole day we had 6 driving courses, 3 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon. Morning was about training, teaching, and improving. Afternoon was about fun and competition… And most importantly? Each of us had our own car – meaning we got it, we were given time to set our seats, and that’s the car each of us drove during that specific course.
This is what around 8000hp look like
03-25-10, 01:40 AM
#3
Braking and Cornering (right turns)
We took the M3 to this course, it’s mostly to improve our braking and right hand turns. How to brake, enter the turn, take the apex, and exit out. The instructor was very helpful on telling each of us exactly what we were not doing right, what we should do, and how to improve.
Braking and Cornering (left turns)
This time we took the M6 out and practiced on our left turns. The instructor happened to be the head instructor of the day, and he was very critical on every one of us. One thing I love about these instructors is they go with your level. If they see you are new, they go easy and build you up. But I am on the more advanced level and he got very critical on my braking and precise timing on entering the turns, etc…
Skid Pad
Next we took the M5 to the skid pad, all soaked up, DSC off, and we practiced all about understeering and oversteering and how to correct it. Let’s just say wet + rwd + 500hp + DSC off will get you spin out very easily, and we all learned how to keep control of the car and correct it back. It was fun and very useful, too bad we didn’t have enough time, I was going to learn how to drift
After a quick 1 hour lunch, it was back on the track again. But this time, it’s for the fun. We were given our own “key” so we were able to record videos on all of our driving!!!!!! That’s really fun and awesome (still waiting on my DVD).
Wet Pad Pursuit
This is a on a oval “track” that’s wet, two had to chase each other around it and see who wins. Can’t spin out (automatically lost). So the key is drive as fast as possible, but don’t skid. It was fun (a lot of tire squealing), and I was the champion in my group
Fast Track
Then we did the fast track in the M5. This is the longest track of the day that they setup, my guess is around half mile? Fastest speed hit was around 100mph (I think I hit 107mph at one time from the HUD), so it’s on the high speed side. It’s one TIRING track I can tell you. Both my cousin and the other driver had to rest (at the pit) during the track time, but of course I just kept on going There were tremendous amount of braking and high speed cornering, also through the wet zone (skid) and tight turns. At the end of this course, we actually had to give it a few laps at around 40mph to cool down the brakes. When I got out of my car, the brakes were smoking bad…
Autocross Time Attack
Last event for our group was the timed autocross in the M3. It was a pretty neat course, the instruction guided us through all the turns, and his demo run was 21.7 (his best of the day was 21.4). After my first run, damn was he fast… I did 24.3… And each one of us was given around 5-6 runs to record the “official time”. I continued to improve throughout, seeing that the car was just more capable than I expected. My last official run I got 23.4. Well, we still got time and we were given more practice run. Great, next time I got 23.2, and the last run I got 22.9!!!!!!! (ok, still a full second behind instructor, haha)
Hot Laps
After the last driving part, it was the HIGH point of the day – full hot lap with instructors. 5 M3’s carrying us through the long lap, and I swear, those were some insane driving by the instructors. They were really tearing apart the track (and cars?) like no tomorrow. Amazing… all of us were stunned.
Back to the classroom, it was around 4 already. Instructors gave us a good recap of the day and reminded us the techniques again. And surprisingly, I was the fastest of the day on timed autocross! (3rd, 23.7, 2nd 23.6) Now that’s a pleasant surprise
Afterward we got our certificate and the goodie bags, and the shuttle picked us up. Technically we got a second night’s of hotel stay as well, but my cousin and I headed to airport to catch the last flight back home.
It was tiring, sore, but at the end of the day, my blood pressure and heart rate was probably “high” until I got back to LAX around 11pm. Fantastic day, fantastic event.
One of their demo cars I believe
Don't Forget to Breathe
We took the M3 to this course, it’s mostly to improve our braking and right hand turns. How to brake, enter the turn, take the apex, and exit out. The instructor was very helpful on telling each of us exactly what we were not doing right, what we should do, and how to improve.
Braking and Cornering (left turns)
This time we took the M6 out and practiced on our left turns. The instructor happened to be the head instructor of the day, and he was very critical on every one of us. One thing I love about these instructors is they go with your level. If they see you are new, they go easy and build you up. But I am on the more advanced level and he got very critical on my braking and precise timing on entering the turns, etc…
Skid Pad
Next we took the M5 to the skid pad, all soaked up, DSC off, and we practiced all about understeering and oversteering and how to correct it. Let’s just say wet + rwd + 500hp + DSC off will get you spin out very easily, and we all learned how to keep control of the car and correct it back. It was fun and very useful, too bad we didn’t have enough time, I was going to learn how to drift
After a quick 1 hour lunch, it was back on the track again. But this time, it’s for the fun. We were given our own “key” so we were able to record videos on all of our driving!!!!!! That’s really fun and awesome (still waiting on my DVD).
Wet Pad Pursuit
This is a on a oval “track” that’s wet, two had to chase each other around it and see who wins. Can’t spin out (automatically lost). So the key is drive as fast as possible, but don’t skid. It was fun (a lot of tire squealing), and I was the champion in my group
Fast Track
Then we did the fast track in the M5. This is the longest track of the day that they setup, my guess is around half mile? Fastest speed hit was around 100mph (I think I hit 107mph at one time from the HUD), so it’s on the high speed side. It’s one TIRING track I can tell you. Both my cousin and the other driver had to rest (at the pit) during the track time, but of course I just kept on going
There were tremendous amount of braking and high speed cornering, also through the wet zone (skid) and tight turns. At the end of this course, we actually had to give it a few laps at around 40mph to cool down the brakes. When I got out of my car, the brakes were smoking bad…Autocross Time Attack
Last event for our group was the timed autocross in the M3. It was a pretty neat course, the instruction guided us through all the turns, and his demo run was 21.7 (his best of the day was 21.4). After my first run, damn was he fast… I did 24.3… And each one of us was given around 5-6 runs to record the “official time”. I continued to improve throughout, seeing that the car was just more capable than I expected. My last official run I got 23.4. Well, we still got time and we were given more practice run. Great, next time I got 23.2, and the last run I got 22.9!!!!!!! (ok, still a full second behind instructor, haha)
Hot Laps
After the last driving part, it was the HIGH point of the day – full hot lap with instructors. 5 M3’s carrying us through the long lap, and I swear, those were some insane driving by the instructors. They were really tearing apart the track (and cars?) like no tomorrow. Amazing… all of us were stunned.
Back to the classroom, it was around 4 already. Instructors gave us a good recap of the day and reminded us the techniques again. And surprisingly, I was the fastest of the day on timed autocross! (3rd, 23.7, 2nd 23.6) Now that’s a pleasant surprise
Afterward we got our certificate and the goodie bags, and the shuttle picked us up. Technically we got a second night’s of hotel stay as well, but my cousin and I headed to airport to catch the last flight back home.
It was tiring, sore, but at the end of the day, my blood pressure and heart rate was probably “high” until I got back to LAX around 11pm. Fantastic day, fantastic event.
One of their demo cars I believe
Don't Forget to Breathe
03-25-10, 01:42 AM
#4
My quick notes on the whole M Driving School
The Cars
So after driving M3, M5, and M6 so extensively throughout the day, here’s my thoughts on them
Afterward
To show how serious the class was, my wife picked me up in the M3, and the whole way home I was doing 90+mph and I didn’t even notice (bad sign…). The following week I had to refrain myself from driving the M3 before I did anything stupid, and even in the GS, I kept on recalling all the driving at the M School
And on a terrifying off topic note… the flight back to LAX that evening, right before landing the plane pulled up hard and bailed left, I knew something was wrong and soon they announced everyone to be prepared for emergency landing… apparently they couldn’t get the flaps down and we had to hit the runway at full speed… well we made it home (with a lot of emergency vehicles on the runway waiting for us), but damn that was one hell of a flight after a freaking tiring day…
My One-Day M School is finished, but honestly, I am really looking forward to the 2-day... BMW has stopped giving out M school to M3 buyers (I was the on the last day for the offer), so I guess it’s M5 or M6 next? LOL…
Great job BMW!!!!!!
There is only one slow driver in this pic -- me
- great overall package, BMW thought it out well, from hotel to transportation to food to schedule
- very neat recording videos of all our runs and send us copies
- amazing instructors. They stress on the 4 things they wanted to achieve – safety, fun, excitement, and learn. I honestly got all 4 of them
- 6 instructors, 11 students. Can you imagine how much attention each of us was getting?
- instructors go with our level, so we all improve without feeling left out
- superb time management. Instructors always went through the track with us, brought us in their cars and showed us what to do, and after every run they gave us feedback. I felt completely involved and know what I was achieving rather than rushing through courses
- each of us had our “own” car, seat position all correct and set. Unlike when we went to F school, I believe about 20 of us were driving 4-5 cars. Now I think back, that just wasn’t right
- got the class for free? No brainer. But even if I have to pay $1300, I have no problem paying. Honestly, I think the $1300 is worth every penny, and by comparison the Lexus F sport I went to a few years ago for $300, that seemed overpriced.
The Cars
So after driving M3, M5, and M6 so extensively throughout the day, here’s my thoughts on them
- out of the 3 cars, I still like M3 the most. It just handles better, more nimble, fantastic shifting
- out of the 3 cars, I dislike M6 the most. For some reason, the car just felt so heavy and long
- the SMG in M5 and M6 really suck big time. The up shift is slow and hard, it just doesn’t work that well.
- hearing all these cars screaming at 8000 rpm all day long, it’s amazing
- I checked on the M3, gas mileage was at a whopping 5mpg
- in general, all 3 cars are just soooo well balanced, felt so confident driving them. By comparison, when I was driving the ISF on the track during the F school, I just never felt as connected. Of course, this is just a feeling, but that drives me to go faster
- on autocross, imho, the M3 is a better car than the ISF. The ISF just felt so heavy, and with the non-linear throttle, it made it quite hard to get smooth transitions throughout. The M3 throttle and power is more linear
Afterward
To show how serious the class was, my wife picked me up in the M3, and the whole way home I was doing 90+mph and I didn’t even notice (bad sign…). The following week I had to refrain myself from driving the M3 before I did anything stupid, and even in the GS, I kept on recalling all the driving at the M School
And on a terrifying off topic note… the flight back to LAX that evening, right before landing the plane pulled up hard and bailed left, I knew something was wrong and soon they announced everyone to be prepared for emergency landing… apparently they couldn’t get the flaps down and we had to hit the runway at full speed… well we made it home (with a lot of emergency vehicles on the runway waiting for us), but damn that was one hell of a flight after a freaking tiring day…
My One-Day M School is finished, but honestly, I am really looking forward to the 2-day... BMW has stopped giving out M school to M3 buyers (I was the on the last day for the offer), so I guess it’s M5 or M6 next? LOL…
Great job BMW!!!!!!
There is only one slow driver in this pic -- me
03-25-10, 05:28 AM
#6
Lexus Champion
excellent, detailed review!! -- thanks for taking the time
-- sucks they stopped including the school with an M3 purchase -- I know a friend that bought one about 6 months ago.
-- sucks they stopped including the school with an M3 purchase -- I know a friend that bought one about 6 months ago.
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03-25-10, 07:41 AM
#9
03-25-10, 07:57 AM
#11
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Hey Rom,
I am really glad that you enjoyed it as much as I did. Great write up as well! I was just really thrilled with my experience and the instructors were super awesome!
I totally agree with you on M3 being the best on the track. One thing I could tell the difference between was the DSG and SMG (aside from the massive weight difference of the cars). I felt like it took forever to change the gear in SMG, and the power only came back after a gazillion second.
I am looking forward to 2 day school. May be they will give out free 2 day school with M5 next time.
The funny thing is we took the picture of the instructors at almost exact same place.
oh and did you get one of these too? pretty cheesy but i hang it up in the garage so that people know not to mess with me. hehehe
I am really glad that you enjoyed it as much as I did. Great write up as well! I was just really thrilled with my experience and the instructors were super awesome!
I totally agree with you on M3 being the best on the track. One thing I could tell the difference between was the DSG and SMG (aside from the massive weight difference of the cars). I felt like it took forever to change the gear in SMG, and the power only came back after a gazillion second.
I am looking forward to 2 day school. May be they will give out free 2 day school with M5 next time.
The funny thing is we took the picture of the instructors at almost exact same place.
oh and did you get one of these too? pretty cheesy but i hang it up in the garage so that people know not to mess with me. hehehe
Last edited by STIG; 03-25-10 at 08:11 AM.
03-25-10, 08:08 AM
#13
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