So I did the Performance Driving Day at the BMW factory today (birthday
present from my wife based on a suggestion by a professor at USC who
does a lot of work with BMW). Amazing and incredible FUN!!!! Yesterday
my daughter and I did the factory tour and walk through the Zentrum,
which is like a small display museum and gate to the factory tour. The
factory is absolutely astounding, HUGE. They are making cars there as
fast as they can, and have a $750M expansion going in. 10 month wait in
Europe for an X3, factory is running 2x shifts 6d/wk. Anyway, the
factory was clean enough to eat off just about any surface, floor or
assembly line, whatever. Everything through paint seems to be mostly
done by robots (including welding and assembly, except for smaller
assemblies that a person throws the small stampings together then a
robot welds it and sends it off). Everything is brought together on the
assembly line by each vehicle (which is already bought and paid for),
and parts are all laid out at each station for direct assembly onto that
vehicle. So there can be X3s, X5s, X6s all running along one after the
other -- bodies of various colors are pre-made and painted (they run a
whole batch of the same color of various models, then put them aside--
they can change the paint colors in the paint shop in 18sec, and robots
do it all), then stacked in a big building, retrieved by a robot when a
specific car needs to be made. Anyway, it was pretty amazing, there
really didn't seem like that many people around working, though I am
sure the total staff is fairly large. Robots moving stuff all over,
assembling large parts, welding, putting on doors and hatches, picking
up bits and taking them here and there. The robots just go about their
business, no one monitoring them that I could tell.
The Zentrum had some older cars and motorcycles and engines, and newer
cars. My fave (and my daughter's) was a 2002tii in "showroom"
condition, beautiful blue color. The blue Z8 was nice too, but I like
the old style. I have pics, I'll try to post them somewhere.
So, the performance driving class was an absolute blast. It was pretty
much raining off and on all day, fog and drizzle in between, so the
track was wet. Really wet. 135i's and 335i's, both auto boxes with
paddle shifters (which we did not use). I think he said they had 7spd
trannies? Maybe 8, I forget. I am tall, thought it would be a tight
fit, but the 135 is surprisingly roomy, at least in the front seat. It
is an absolute rocket, 300bhp/300lb-ft, twin turbos (no lag), small and
fast as hell. Even though the 335 is still a small car (to me anyway),
it was noticeably "bigger" but still lots of grins from it. Both cars
can be tossed and thrashed like a rented mule and just keep going.
There were 11 people in our group, 6 and 5, 6 cars (3/3) and because I
sat in the back and the 12th guy did not show up, I did NOT have to
share a car, so got double the wheel time!!!! YEA!!! Rich!!! The
instructors went out in a car and had radios, and we each had a radio
stuck down on the door pocket so he could tell us what to do, and give
us critiques. We had the cars and were on our own.
Day started in 135s with a slalom ending in an uphill turn, just to get
a feel for the cars. Oh yeah! Then off to a course with some good
turns, a chicane (up hill and downhill), and a slalom thrown in the
straightaway. More of that later. Then we did a lane-change/evasion
with full stomp stop, 30-50mph in increments, then swapped to the 335s
and did that again, then a skid pad (instructor and 3 of us in a 335, oh
wow). Stability control OFF, 4 laps each, holyshitwasthatwildfun. Then
stability control ON, foot to the floor, and the stab control kept the
speed down to where the car would NOT spin out, though I got a few good
departures a coupla times but could steer right out of them, foot still
planted on the floor, no brakes allowed. Was weird and amazing to
basically have the car controlling itself to a great extent to keep it
doing what the driver was trying to make it do.
Then off to a parking lot sort of pad about a football field size, 135s
with cones set up in an oval, on a slight hill so there was up/down
straights and turns. Stability controls OFF!!! 3 practice laps then we
lined up mano y mano on opposite sides and rat-raced 6 hot laps in an
elimination. Guess who won by at least 1 car length in each race? Das
right, I da man!!! That was an absolute blast with the stab control
off, totally wet pavement, and just drifting and jamming the cars
around, hard braking, hard throttle. If you spun out you were
eliminated, but sideways drifts and understeer tail-out, with a bit of
oversteer when the back end broke loose and I tried to correct, was OK.
(I have driven a lot in snow and ice in the past, this was 10x the
experience). Then the last event of the day was back to the course,
timed, 335s, each got 4 tries (I got 8 runs, only the first 4 counted)
to make time around, then stop in a box at the end. Deductions for
cones knocked down, or missing the stop box. I was actually feeling
pretty good at that point and just went for it, shaved a second off my
time each lap, did a couple in the 28sec range, and came in with second
best time. The guy who was better had a 1sec edge, was in the class
with his wife and son. He sorta had the look of a ringer though...
I did not manage to stuff the car into the mud (of which there was a lot
today with all the rain) though they had an X5 tow car to get some cars
out of the sludge. they did wash them right away though to keep them
looking fresh and clean!
The last ride of the day was with an instructor for a "hot lap"in an M5
around the whole course. Talk about an E ticket ride, it was just
completely awesome. Those cars are total beasts. Even riding I could
tell it was bigger and heavier but the power and handling were
incredible, and the instructors were expert in wringing them out,
tail-out turns, slides, drifts, total asskicking acceleration, and
spin-cycle turns, including a final 360 bat-turn at the end of the skid
pad to exit the course (no stab control of course, and using the
paddles). I don't know what those cars have, maybe 500hp and huge
amounts of torque? And the engine roar was mighty sweet.
So, I came away with a real appreciation (probably only a partial) of
what these cars can do, and I probably was only at like 75% even when I
was pushing it, if that. At first I was apprehensive to actually beat
on the cars, but came to realize they were capable of a lot more than
what I was doing to them, and they were well withing their envelopes
even with my limited efforts. On the timed course I really tried to
push it, and even then I could tell the car was capable of a lot more if
I had the skill to drive it properly. Awesome. I also realized that
having one of these cars to just drive in daily life could really be
somewhat disappointing as, except in an emergency situation (and if you
can take advantage of its capabilities), you probably will never even
come close to enjoying the capabilities of the car unless you can get to
a track occasionally. So, in some ways while having one would be an
absolute blast, it would be sorta limiting in most ways for basic
transportation needs. Not to say if I won the lottery I wouldn't buy a
selection of them, but I would have to get near a track I could use with
some frequency to totally enjoy them. I wish I could have spent 3 or 4
days there, getting to know the track and tests better, and with more
instruction on how to drive them better. They do have follow-on
courses, some day..... and M days for owners....
If you can come up with the ching to do this, and get yourself to Greer,
SC, you will have an absolute blast and improve your driving skills
immensely. They also had a bunch of teenagers there for driving
instruction, I wish I could have done that for my kids when they were
that age. Might have to put some pennies in the bank to get them there
soon to take part in the same class I took, it would be very good for
them. There were some college kids in our group, it was sorta
interesting that they were fairly tentative and did not seem to do that
well. Maybe it was overall driving experience or something, or just a
lack of willingness to thrash the hell out of the car. One guy and his
wife shared a car, he was not very good but his wife did pretty well.
She was kinda hot too, for a woman of a "certain age," and she had a
great time (hubby not so much).
Anyway, that is a short report of a really fun experience. I enjoyed
sharing with y'all. I think they have some vids on the web site, I'll
post the piccies my daughter took.
http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Experience/Events/PDS/ProgramsandCourses/DriversProgram.aspx
--R
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