There have been many write-ups on the M driving experience before. After attending the session this week, I must agree with the uniform praise given by past participants. My best short description of the event would be "Class Act." From the beginning at the hotel you could tell that the event was well organized. This continued to the classroom instruction, then to the hands on time in the cars. The best way show these experiences is through some videos and pictures.
When you walk out of the back of the facility you hit the staging area and see the following as an introduction.
Then you see the line of M cars to the right. There were three rows of M3s, M5s, and M6s. We had approximately 27 or so participants at the event so almost all the cars were used.
If you are familiar with the course then you know that the day was broken down into a morning with three sessions (one session per M series car) then an afternoon with again one session per M car. A nice lunch was provided between sessions. For most of the day the track was wet from heavy rains the night before and a constant drizzle during the day. Ultimately, the rain did not hamper the fun at all. In fact, it probably added some fun as the cars slid a little easier. In the morning I started with the braking exercise with the M6s. I then moved on to the M3s which we used to run a rather short road course consisting of a slalom, a sweeping high radius turn into a tight turn followed by a chicane into a full stop activating ABS. The M3s were very fun and easily tossable. The session in the morning was untimed; however we repeated the same session in the afternoon, this time being timed. This video is with my wife driving on one of her first runs. You can hear the instructor talking to everyone in our group through the walkie-talkie. The instructors comments were usually very helpful.
We then moved on to the wet skid pad (polished concrete) in the M5s. This exercise was with DSC on (MDM) and off. The goal was to teach us how to recover from oversteer. The first video is of a successful recovery.
After a quick lunch we were back in the M3s for the timed trials.
We then moved on to another wet skid pad exercise in the M6s. This was an oval skid pad this time. The exercise consisted of DSC off with one on one races from 4-6 laps. The winner advanced on in a round-robin style competition.
The last training exercise was back in the M5s. This time the track was a bit longer and straighter than the M3 exercise (as you would expect). On the straight away we got up to 3rd gear. This video shows three laps on this track.
At this point the driving is done but the excitement continues as the instructors took us for a lap on the entire road course. The road was still wet and DSC was off and it was awesome. The first video is a the end of the course as seen from the side of the road.
Overall the experience was amazing and my wife and I plan to go to the 2 day M-school. BTW, Doug_999 it was great to meet you; next time try not to scream like a little girl from the back seat. I hope you guys/gals enjoyed watching these videos.
DB
__________________ 08 Indianapolis Red M5 Portland Brown Full Merino Leather
I hope you guys/gals enjoyed watching these videos.
Webmaster 
JP! Looks like a fun experience, thanks for posting guys.
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