Report on BMW 2-day M-school

[Rubber Ducky]

Went through the BMW Performance Center’s two-day M-school at Spartanburg over the weekend. I know this has been written up well in the past, so this is just a current-status update and a few opinions on the process. Long.

Basics:

The reservations for the school are handled by a California outfit called Harte-Hanks – that’s who you’ll be exchanging emails as you set up your participation. Good operation. The info online at BMWUSA.COM is pretty solid. Can cancel until 14 days ahead with no penalty.

Schedule for the two-day M-school will show three days, but first day is arrival and no activity other than checking in. School ends second full day around 4:15 and bus goes directly from the Center to airport, then circles back to hotel. (I stayed an extra night and flew out the day after the school – more flight options if you’re flying and good to finally relax after two really packed days.)

BMW-paid lodging is at the Greenville Marriott. Good digs. Airport pickup. BMW pays for dinner first night and breakfasts. Lunches on BMW at the Center and dinner the first night of class there also. Starbucks coffee.

Bus leaves the hotel at 8:10 each morning. Classroom until about 9:00 and then three sessions AM, three PM each day. Phone- and pee-breaks between classes.

Fifteen students max. Fifteen cars: five each M3, M5, and M6. M3s have DCT, others SMG transmissions. Instructor is not in the car except on wet skidpad first day. Radio comms to each car with no difficulties. Either in second or third gear the whole time. No critical shifting but gear management is part of the program. Class is divided into three groups. You’ll be assigned the same car number for all sessions. Five instructors work the two days, with a handful of other BMW folks at the track setting cones etc. The cars are configured differently for each session (power button, DSC on or off, best EDC setting).

First day will have one session (M5s) on the wet skidpad testing understeer and oversteer recovery. A bit of drifting also (ain’t easy, especially with 500 hp). Also one session on double skidpad above the track for rat racing. Second day has figure-eights (M6s) on the double skidpad, wet, timed for competition (came in second, a tribute to years of winter driving in Minnesota). The skidpad inside the track is polished concrete and slicker than deer guts on a doorknob. The double skidpad is asphalt, but slick when wet and with a slight tilt that factors into your handling. DSC is always off on the skidpads: you’re on your own, bubba.

All the other sessions are on the track in various configurations of turns (there’s a new track section added below the old track, so lots of layouts). Different skills are emphasized, but every session and course layout is difficult, with twisties and chicanes, off-camber turns, and really critical braking (both trail braking and the plant-your-foot variety). Modest elevation changes. Second day PM has two sessions on the whole track (M3s and M5s). Two timed events the first day. Max speed is a tick above 100 mph on one of the sessions, with a really tight left-hander across the wet skidpad at the end of the straight-away. Only one car actually went off the track (about 100' into the mud and had to be towed out) but a few cones were killed (I only got one this time).

Class atmosphere is relaxed, instructors are patient but really insistent on the points to get. Each session is something new. Challenging is the word to describe the entire two days. Challenging. (It was about 40 degrees both days and you get soaked with sweat, heater off).

I can’t imagine getting nearly the same learning and experience in the one-day M-school. I had taken the two-day regular performance school a couple years before. Is not a prerequisite for M-school, but I think it did help me get more from the M-school and would recommend both if one has the time and money.

The regular school helps you be a better driver – the M-school teaches you to start to drive at your personal limits. Things like looking way ahead and setting up for the next maneuver, managing acceleration, using the whole track, apexes and turn-ins, using the brakes to plant the car for a turn, downshifting where it won’t upset the car, controlling the tire patches: all these good things start to become instinctive and the pacing of the instruction builds great confidence. The first day (my impression) was focused on really intense parts of track learning. The second day put it together and – for me – started to make great sense of the whole track experience. First day: concentrate on the exercise. Second day: concentrate on the track. Helmet for second day – you get moving pretty fast and tight.

The cars. M6 is awesome, but M3 feels even better in tight driving. M5 is incredibly capable for a sedan. Our first day was rain the entire day and the track was wet, with patches of standing water. The grip and braking of these cars under those conditions is nothing short of phenomenal. Stunning. I think the school was overall enhanced by having one day of truly sloppy weather. The only problem was seeing through the wet side windows (you’ll find yourself looking almost as much out the side windows as the windshield).

No Z4s used in the course, but my ride home from the airport in my Z4 after two days in the M-cars kinda convinced me that the Z4 would perform very well in with the Ms and might even beat them if max acceleration and top-speed were not major factors. The tighter the layout, the better the Z4 would compete IMHO.

Membership in BMW Car Club of America will get you 15% off on tuition and all the reservation form asks for is your member number – no need to have been a member for a year as with the member rewards on buying a new BMW. If you don’t go this route, please send me some of your extra money 'cause you must have a bunch.

Florida residents: contact me by PM if you are serious about attending in 2010. I can help you get an additional 15% off. Don’t ask. But serious only (i.e., you are about to put down your money for a specific class) and Florida only. Nothing in it for me, BTW.

Goodies: nice shiny new helmet; really nice jacket; couple shirts; cap; BMW marketing stuff.Individual cameras in-car and track-ahead in PM sessions second day for personal DVD to be mailed later.

In all a superb experience. Not just fun, but gets you into the world of car-at-the-limit and do-this-to-keep-the-tires-down-and-go-the-fastest. My class had a pro golfer, a B-52 pilot, two soldiers of fortune/Iraq contractors, a grad student, another college student, a doctor, two father-son teams, an individual just three months in the US from China, a patent attorney, and an ancient former submarine captain. About two-thirds were driving BMWs at home. Great atmosphere for learning and the only pressure comes from the machines and their interactions with the laws of physics. Cannot recommend this too highly. Try it – you’ll like it.

[rmorin49]

Sounds like a blast. Enjoy your Z.

[mrboon]

Awesome

[Vintage]

thanks for the informative review

[tiborakos]

Indeed! Thank you very much, i am looking to follow one of those schools in Europe...have not made up my mind yet -there are some in Germany but not so many English speaking...

[raumdeuter]

thanks for the review. I've been thinking about this since I got my Z4.
What kind of car did you get to use on previous non-M program? Did you still get to drive an M car?

[Rubber Ducky]

Originally Posted by blackzet

thanks for the review. I've been thinking about this since I got my Z4.
What kind of car did you get to use on previous non-M program? Did you still get to drive an M car?

535i and 550i. Did short laps in B7 Alpina, Z4 (E85), and M6. More significantly, the level of the exercises was not nearly as high/intensive.