BMW Driving Experience - Spartanburg, SC

[homeskizzle]

I was able to experience the BMW Performance Driving school this morning and it was awesome. I drove a M3 sedan, a Z4, 335, and a X5M. I daily drive a full size F150, so I felt most comfortable in the X5M hands down. 550hp/567tq was definitely fun too. Getting to hammer on these vehicles on the road course test track as fast as I felt comfortable with was an experience I won't soon forget. After taking a regular X5 through the off-road obstacles, a professional driver took me on a lap in a M5 and showed what that car is capable of. For a regular joe like me who's friends don't have any awesome cars, this was great. 

 

Anyone else have any test track stories or experiences?

[DrWho]

I do a lot of autocross and have done a few track days....including tackling Nurburgring over in Germany.

 

Getting ride-alongs with excellent drivers is a much more amazing experience though. Even when I know a track and can drive just as fast myself it's still scary awesome. While riding you don't have that anticipation of when the driver is going to brake and turn in, so you're constantly feeling like you're going to fly off the track while getting whipped around in your seat. The good drivers also make it very apparent when you can get more out of your car, which is super helpful for improving your own skills.

 

I just wish racing wasn't so expensive. I focus on autocross because I think it's more telling of the driver, but it's also a lot cheaper. There are a good number of guys in my club that will take their commuter car to autocross events. I think people are normally embarrassed to show up with a boring car, but it's highly encouraged by the more hardcore guys. It's the perfect place to learn the limits of your vehicle before you're in a real emergency situation on the road. Nevermind the fact that it's a lot of bragging rights to beat out guys with fancier cars

 

What track were you guys at, or was it a parking lot event?

[homeskizzle]

32 minutes ago, DrWho said:

What track were you guys at, or was it a parking lot event?

 

We were on BMW's own road course test track. It's 2 miles long, but they had half of the course blocked off (normal for the beginner's course). 

 

The instructor we had races in lower level F1 circuits. He does driver training for FBI as well. Very knowledgeable, but approachable and kind guy.

 

EDIT - my instructor takes a 16 person group over to the Nurbringring every year and it was great to hear his experiences on that infamous course. He was the first person I ever met to have driven it...and driven it countless times. 

[wvu80]

I've never wanted to drive a car fast on the street.  I just don't like speed, and I know my limitations.  I got my share of going fast out of my system by racing motocross and hare scrambles for ten years.

 

That was in a previous, much younger life. 

[mustang guy]

Awesome stories. I have had a couple M3's, and they are true driver's cars. I have been thinking about getting rid of my S2000 and getting another M3. There is something about the way BMW's handle that I like. My bike is even a BMW. 

 

My wife's RR Sport supercharged is 510 HP. It's a beast and way too quick for an SUV. I'm not sure why the soccer-mom cars are all such beasts now.

 

Check this out. These are all SUV's (aka soccer mom cars):

• Benz AMG G65 621 HP / zero - 60 5.1 sec
• Bentley Bentayga 600 HP / zero - 60 3.5 sec
• BMW X5M & X6M 575 HP / zero - 60 3.7 sec
• Benz AMG GLE63 585 HP / zero - 60 3.9 sec
• Benz AMG GLS63 577 HP / zero - 60 4.5 sec
• Porsche Cayenne Turbo S 570 HP / zero - 60 3.8 sec
• RR Sport SVR and RR sc 550 HP / zero - 60 4.4 sec
• Tesla Model X 532 HP / zero - 60 3.3 sec!
• Cherokee SRT 475 HP / zero - 60 4.5 sec

 

[CECAA850]

You left off the Macan Craig.

How about an SRT8 Grand Cherokee?

[homeskizzle]

36 minutes ago, mustang guy said:

Awesome stories. I have had a couple M3's, and they are true driver's cars. I have been thinking about getting rid of my S2000 and getting another M3. There is something about the way BMW's handle that I like. My bike is even a BMW. 

 

My wife's RR Sport supercharged is 510 HP. It's a beast and way too quick for an SUV. I'm not sure why the soccer-mom cars are all such beasts now.

 

Check this out. These are all SUV's (aka soccer mom cars):

• Benz AMG G65 621 HP / zero - 60 5.1 sec
• Bentley Bentayga 600 HP / zero - 60 3.5 sec
• BMW X5M & X6M 575 HP / zero - 60 3.7 sec
• Benz AMG GLE63 585 HP / zero - 60 3.9 sec
• Benz AMG GLS63 577 HP / zero - 60 4.5 sec
• Porsche Cayenne Turbo S 570 HP / zero - 60 3.8 sec
• RR Sport SVR and RR sc 550 HP / zero - 60 4.4 sec
• Tesla Model X 532 HP / zero - 60 3.3 sec!
• Cherokee SRT 475 HP / zero - 60 4.5 sec

 

 

Yeah the two girls in the group (4 people total - me, a buddy, two girls we'd never seen before) loved the X5M. Complete overkill for their soccer mom purposes and they were truly afraid of driving it. 

 

I'm a truck guy so I'd love a Shelby F150 - same price as the X5M - roughly $100,000. For that kind of money, I could get something cool to drive and put the rest into audio, lol. I've just got too many hobbies. I'm sure no one else has too many hobbies. /s

[fuzzydog]

1 hour ago, DrWho said:

 

I just wish racing wasn't so expensive

I used to race karts which was incredibly fun and relatively cheap...before you laugh, these karts had 2-cycle engines and could pull over 90mph.  I competed once at Road America in Wisconsin where the karts were posting better lap times than road going Porsches. 

 

I started racing karts at the Sugar River Raceway in southern Wisconsin which is where Danica Patrick got her start.  We were actually kids at the same time racing at the same track and I remember her just as a little kid on a go-kart.

[fuzzydog]

The other advantage of karts is the low mass and low center of gravity so when you lose control and start spinning you stop quickly and don't flip.  

[Fizik]

I went out there to their two day M school back in 2012. It was a blast. We got to race around with the v10 M5's, M3's and the 1M's. They give you racing helmets to keep as part of the experience. That was fun to get home, people in the airport kept trying to figure out what I was carrying. Ended up buying a Blue 2008 4 door M3 later that year. It's been a wonderful car.

Here's some random photo's from my time there.

 

 

 

[fuzzydog]

54 minutes ago, mustang guy said:

My wife's RR Sport supercharged is 510 HP. It's a beast and way too quick for an SUV. I'm not sure why the soccer-mom cars are all such beasts now.

The problem with the uber-suv's is their combination of high mass, high center of gravity, and high power.  Bad things happen quickly.

[fuzzydog]

4 minutes ago, Fizik said:

I went out there to their two day M school back in 2012. It was a blast. We got to race around with the v10 M5's, M3's and the 1M's. They give you racing helmets to keep as parts of it. That was fun to get home, people in the airport kept trying to figure out what I was carrying. Ended up buying a Blue 2008 4 door M3 later that year. It's been a wonderful car.

Sweet!  M3's used to be fantastic.  We had a 1994 M3 in blue that was too fun to drive.  I lost the car once, went sideways across a curb, and destroyed the suspension.  1994 was the only E36 version without traffic control...

[homeskizzle]

15 minutes ago, FuzzyDog said:

The problem with the uber-suv's is their combination of high mass, high center of gravity, and high power.  Bad things happen quickly.

 

You're not kidding. One of the drivers got "happy" with the X5M and nearly flipped it. The instructor said privately to me that he hadn't seen a X5M on two wheels on the road course ever before. "Standing on the brakes" meant different levels to different drivers. 

[wvu80]

56 minutes ago, Fizik said:

 

I went out there to their two day M school back in 2012. It was a blast. We got to race around with the v10 M5's, M3's and the 1M's. They give you racing helmets to keep as part of the experience.

 

 

 

OK, that is a cool helmet. 

[mustang guy]

2 hours ago, homeskizzle said:

 

You're not kidding. One of the drivers got "happy" with the X5M and nearly flipped it. The instructor said privately to me that he hadn't seen a X5M on two wheels on the road course ever before. "Standing on the brakes" meant different levels to different drivers. 

I saw a guy get a minivan on two wheels at an autocross event last year. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen at one. That thing came so close to just laying on it's side. HAHA It came slowly back down and damned if the guy didn't go back out and do the same thing again. Hilarious to see.

[babadono]

RR = Range Rover?... Whew for a minute there I was thinking Rolls Royce.

[joshnich]

I have done a couple sessions at bondurant and one at skip barber.  Loved the program at bondurant. First time was years ago when the cars were 5 liter mustangs and formula fords. I took my son a fea months back and we were driving dodge hellcats . Pretty awesome. 

As much fun as one can have for sure. 

Years and years ago I did some scca racing in if am remembering correctly was the stock sports sedan class. I bought a fiat 1100r with a cracked head (filled it with some molten metal) and raced it. At the time I was working for Autoweek and was really into everything racing.  I am toying with the idea of getting back into it because my last stint at bonurant was such a blast. 

[sunburnwilly]

7 hours ago, DrWho said:

I do a lot of autocross and have done a few track days....including tackling Nurburgring over in Germany.

 

Getting ride-alongs with excellent drivers is a much more amazing experience though. Even when I know a track and can drive just as fast myself it's still scary awesome. While riding you don't have that anticipation of when the driver is going to brake and turn in, so you're constantly feeling like you're going to fly off the track while getting whipped around in your seat. The good drivers also make it very apparent when you can get more out of your car, which is super helpful for improving your own skills.

 

I just wish racing wasn't so expensive. I focus on autocross because I think it's more telling of the driver, but it's also a lot cheaper. There are a good number of guys in my club that will take their commuter car to autocross events. I think people are normally embarrassed to show up with a boring car, but it's highly encouraged by the more hardcore guys. It's the perfect place to learn the limits of your vehicle before you're in a real emergency situation on the road. Nevermind the fact that it's a lot of bragging rights to beat out guys with fancier cars

 

What track were you guys at, or was it a parking lot event?

DrWho auto crosses ? Who Knew ?

What's your weapon of choice and what are the insurance issues if also a daily driver ?

[RT FAN]

My brother went to the BMW driving school with customers & they had an absolute blast. He also said taking a lap with the pro was very different from his driving skills.

[mustang guy]

8 hours ago, babadono said:

RR = Range Rover?... Whew for a minute there I was thinking Rolls Royce.

Yup Range Rover.  Rolls is coming out with an SUV next year and so is Lamborghini. The good news is that neither Ferrari or Bugatti going to make an SUV or crossover. 

 

I still don't get all the HP in an SUV. The only one that makes sense to me is the Tesla, because Elon Musk is Iron Man!