Took Our E60 to BMWCCA School
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My Ride: 2007 530Xi - Navigation, Premium package, Steptronic.
Mrs. ExGMan and I had a great day yesterday when we took our 2007 530xi to a Boston Chapter BMWCCA Advanced Driving Skills School. All I can say about the car is that a day of skid pad, figure-eight, single & double lane changes, followed by an autocross validated our beliefs that this car will do its best to keep us safe, even at the limits.
The day began with a discussion of weight transfer, traction, and vehicle dynamics. Then it was out on the water-covered skid pad to learn the limits of adhesion (DSC off!), and how to control the direction of the car using throttle alone. Next up was a figure-eight course (two skid pads together) learning suspension loading and unloading. Then on to learning threshold braking, and steering and braking using full ABS...followed by single, then double lane changes. All this was capped with a small (.6 mile) autocross course designed to integrate the lessons of the day.
Highlights: 1) great instructors who offered positive reinforcement & great encouragement; 2) Cost: $85; 3) location...parking lot at New Hampshire NASCAR track, allowing some real inspiration as screaming competition road cars (Porsches, BMWs etc.) practiced 100 yards away.
Priceless moments: 1) Having the largest, heaviest car there (the only E60), and in the skid pad almost catching up with a well-driven E36 M3 (I guess it was the AWD traction...certainly not skill), and 2) having Mrs. ExGman say at the end of the day..."this is one hell of a car we've got!"
Other vehicles present besides our E60: Many BMW three series, 1990 to the present, including one E30 M3, BMW X3, Saab 93, Mazda RX-8s, Mini Cooper S, Acura Integra, Mitsubishi EVOs.
Recommendations: 1) Join the BMWCCA now (if you haven't already), 2) once you've joined, start participating in Chapter activities, and 3) at a minimum take the ADSS school, or its equivalent at your Chapter, and send your teenagers to the teen driving school.
The day began with a discussion of weight transfer, traction, and vehicle dynamics. Then it was out on the water-covered skid pad to learn the limits of adhesion (DSC off!), and how to control the direction of the car using throttle alone. Next up was a figure-eight course (two skid pads together) learning suspension loading and unloading. Then on to learning threshold braking, and steering and braking using full ABS...followed by single, then double lane changes. All this was capped with a small (.6 mile) autocross course designed to integrate the lessons of the day.
Highlights: 1) great instructors who offered positive reinforcement & great encouragement; 2) Cost: $85; 3) location...parking lot at New Hampshire NASCAR track, allowing some real inspiration as screaming competition road cars (Porsches, BMWs etc.) practiced 100 yards away.
Priceless moments: 1) Having the largest, heaviest car there (the only E60), and in the skid pad almost catching up with a well-driven E36 M3 (I guess it was the AWD traction...certainly not skill), and 2) having Mrs. ExGman say at the end of the day..."this is one hell of a car we've got!"
Other vehicles present besides our E60: Many BMW three series, 1990 to the present, including one E30 M3, BMW X3, Saab 93, Mazda RX-8s, Mini Cooper S, Acura Integra, Mitsubishi EVOs.
Recommendations: 1) Join the BMWCCA now (if you haven't already), 2) once you've joined, start participating in Chapter activities, and 3) at a minimum take the ADSS school, or its equivalent at your Chapter, and send your teenagers to the teen driving school.
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My Ride: 2008 Silverstone II E60 M5 2012 E70 AW X5 50i Sport w/ LCI Aero Kit and Rocker Panels
Thanks for the write up J! I'm going to look into this ASAP! I wonder if it matters that I changed out the suspension on my car... Regardless, this is someting I need to do, esp with the wife.
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My Ride: 2007 530Xi - Navigation, Premium package, Steptronic.
Originally Posted by cmansbimmer' post='448060' date='Jul 15 2007, 11:38 AM
Thanks for the write up J! I'm going to look into this ASAP! I wonder if it matters that I changed out the suspension on my car... Regardless, this is someting I need to do, esp with the wife.
As to the wife, mine initially described this to our friends as "he's making me go to school." After it was all over, she said it had "put her way outside my comfort zone" but that she learned a lot. The X3 driver was a woman who had been sent by her husband, but also agreed it was a good thing.
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My Ride: On order 530D Platinum Bronze/Natural Brown Comfort seats,sunroof,PDC, Nav pro,Aux In,Xenons, Alarm, tinted glass.
ETD 27.06.07
Wonderful stuff. Does that BMW - em the European, nay German, car offer anything like that for its Eupopean customers?
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Originally Posted by E1142860' post='448090' date='Jul 15 2007, 01:28 PM
Thanks for the nice write up. Were you required to don helmets? And how fast were you allowed to go on the course?
This ADSS had no apparent sponsorship by BMW. It was a Boston Chapter event, and was staffed by volunteers who have an interest in helping the less-experienced drivers learn the ropes.
2) Jet - thanks for the compliment. I don't really think a 530xi w/Step is the right thing for the track. In addition, I'd probably be paying a divorce attorney if I tried to do that. I am looking now for a mid-80s 325 to turn into an autocrosser. That shows you the state of my budget...
3) E114..Helmets were not required. An ambulance was standing by all day (diesel engine idling from 8AM to 4PM when I was there), but the event organizer advised that it's there for every such event, and has never been used. I think the top speed anyone hit was maybe 45 or 50 mph (and that would be a guess). I think I was going faster in the lane-change event than I was in the autocross, mostly because the longest straightaway in the autocross was maybe 50 to 60 yards before an entry to the skid pad, or a hairpin turn or slalom was required. I think the Corvette had the fastest acceleration of the day, but am not sure. No one had a radar gun...and I never felt unsafe.
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Originally Posted by ExGMan' post='448123' date='Jul 15 2007, 08:20 PM
An ambulance was standing by all day (diesel engine idling from 8AM to 4PM when I was there...
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