I was a lucky participant in the inaugural Advanced M School.
I figured the board would like a write up on it and I have many pictures to share .
if you dont want to read my long worded journal of events, let me sum it up for you:
AWESOME and definately worth every penny.
I want to take a moment to thank BMW NA and the instructors and maintence people for doing such a wonderful job. Their efforts made this experience one to remember. A fellow participant said it best: they pushed us, but never dangerously so. The AMS was an absolute blast and I am still smiling. I will always get a big grin whenever I think of our time there.
The AMS was held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. This is about two hours north east of BMW NA's VPC in Spartanburg, SC. The vehicles were M3s of SMG and traditional 6 speed variety and M5s.
This was my first visit to a race track of any kind and I was really struck with the massive size of the thing. I can only imagine what it would be like with 250k fans in attendence as you are tearing down the back straight........
all the pictures can be seen here:
http://homepage.mac.com/z8mania/PhotoAlbum30.html
I also took a picture that turned out to be a great wall paper, you can find those at the above link, just look for the link to the AMS Wallpaper. I made a few different sizes, and if you want a particular size, just shoot me an email:
z8mania@mac.com
Day 1
Two of us arrived there early and we thought we would see if we could take advantage of the opportunity to watch the setup for the AMS. Our wish was granted!
We didnt get to drive, but just being outside, in awe of such a large venue, oggling at the vehicles and with one of my good friends with whom we planned to go to the AMS with made it a great day.
Did I mention that we got to go for a ride in a M5 around the track?!
as an aside, many of us here on this board are fortunate to have a M5 in the garage, when I was told there was a sterling grey M5 waiting to take us to the track, the thought of being in a M5 got my heart rate going. I think thats really what makes us car enthusiasts. Just being around these fine machines is exciting....
speaking of which, here are some nice views of the vehicles:
And then it was time for us to go- we could only speculate as to what they were doing with all those great cars!
That night we had a nice buffet dinner at the hotel and we got to know each other. I also got to see the other good friend I was planning on meeting.
Day 2
This was really the first official day to the event.
Upon arriving we see all these nice cars just ready to go. Most with new tires (we'll fix that!).
But first a little class room work had to be done.
We were split up into different groups to do different events. Inside the oval of the track were 3 distinct areas: skidpad, infield track, and autocross. I was in the blue group and we got to do the skidpad first. In my excitement I forgot to take my camera! Actually, I think nearly everyone forgot their cameras!
On the skid pad, we were reacquainted with understeer and oversteer and how to CPR: correct, pause, and recover. I discovered that I have a problem with oversteer- I seem to be content to keep my foot down and that hinders most corrective measures. near the end of the 2nd day I was getting a little better at it.
The second event we did was the autocross. This was an amazing autocross track. I dont have any pictures that show how twisty it was, but there were several turns that were very tight and really forced us to make big improvements in how we handled them.
Our next event was the infield course, where we practiced heel/toe downshifting. There was no time for camera work here- it was all seat time.
We then broke for lunch.
After lunch it was time to take it up a notch. We found ourselves back at the skidpad.
here is your fearless moderator:
check out the steam/smoke
then it was back to the infield and a chance to drive around the big track!
the final event of the day was a little time competition around the infield track. yours truly finished mid pack. It was a lot of fun, and there was a little extra kick of excitement when I stopped the car inside the box they wanted us to and the instructors were all screaming "now, thats how to do it!" Its always nice to get encouragement. By the way, our instructors were not just great drivers, they were also great teachers.
that night we had dinner at the Speedway Club.
we were all exhausted after a day of hard fun and hard concentration. Im sure we dont have many members who think racing is easy since its "just driving a car", but if you ever thought that, just try one day of a driving school on for size. The mental drain of maintaining 100% concentration, and the g-forces really wear you out. I can only imagine what its like inside a real race car.
There was one participant who lived in the area, he went home and fell asleep. Fortunately, he woke up in time to be there for most of dinner. It was a nice chance to make new friends while glancing down at where we were driving all day. We also tried imagining what it would be like to watch a race from the table we were at. We were told that club rules limit meals to 40 minutes so you couldnt just sit there all day.... too bad, its a nice vantage point and the food was good
Day 3
We again broke into 3 groups. one took a van ride around the track and we were shown the correct places to begin and end turns. Another drove the track, and another did the skid pad.
Once again, we started out on the skid pad. We were supposed to be doing "figure 8s". And once again, my proclivity for the throttle pedal turned the figure 8 into more of a series of zeros
. By the end of the excercise, I was almost getting it. I should mention that even though I joke here and even though I was certainly not a master of this, I did get valuable experience with understeer and oversteer that will pay dividends if, GFB, I ever have to use it in an emergency situation.
When it came time to drive around the track I found myself a little apprehensive about the speeds we would be driving and I decided that this would be one event I would sit out. I also sat out the similar event in the afternoon. In retrospect, I saw how much fun everyone was having, but I am glad I recognized that I felt uncomfortable and I found what my limits were. Once I made my feelings known no one tried to give me a hard time. Actually, in the afternoon sesson, rather than just sit around, I got to ride along with Donnie Isley. This was a treat. I saw all the mistakes I made on the infield track the day earlier and I also experienced what a banked oval feels like at higher speeds. You can really feel the centrifical force holding the car (and you) down and its very noticeable when the suspension settles down.
Here are some pictures:
the course was to drive from the oval right into and out of the infield
the one causalty of the event:
driving around the track in the van
being a passenger in a M3
Although we drove around the big track, this was not a timed event. We did do some timed tracks on the auto cross and here is right before the big announcement.
here are all the instructors
and the participants:
Final thoughts
There are a few things I have intentionally left out. They were for us, and should be for any future participants, surprises.
I also would like to comment on the SMG transmisson. Now that Ive had a chance to play with a SMG M3 on a track, I can only say this about it: I love it! Color me converted! I really got the hang of it and I think its a real improvement for performance driving. All that said, I can understand anyone who would rather have a traditional manual for street use- there is a certain enjoyment in just shifting the gears and doing the clutch work yourself. Personally, I think my next M car in a few years will have SMG.
So there you have it. The first Advanced M School. Id say it was a resounding success. Highly recommended! I cant wait to go back!
Advanced ///M School (lots of pictures)
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