I agree with Krieger here, best bet is to learn to drive YOUR personal car. the physics of driving is the same in most cars, but as everyone here knows it can take time to get used to a new car. Learn on your own car, unless you have a ton of money to burn, then I would recommend doing a school like skip barber, but think of it like this, to track your own car will cost you between 400-700 dollars depending on how much wear and tear you do and the track costs. Driving school is closer to 3k, why not go to a CCA school 6 times instead of driving school once? you get the same education...
Sounds good but my understanding was you don't allow convertibles, and my M3 is a ragtop. Leaves me S.O.L. I think. And no, I'm not willing to install a fixed roll-bar. This is why I thought it would be worthwhile to drive factory owned Bimmers to train where I think I get to drive not only the M3 but the 335 and an M5 as well.
PS I guess I'm confused about how many schools there are that are BMW and/or CCA sponsored? I know I wasn't allowed on the track at club events in Wisconsin this summer, not even the fall benefit for MS that the dealer thought would allow convertibles to ride, but not race, the Road America track. The school I'm thinking about is, if memory serves, at the factory in one of the Carolinas I think, and was sponsered by BMW or CCA and used factory Bimmers to train. It wasn't cheap but I didn't see any options (to use my car). Any more detailed information any of you have to straighten me out is welcome!
You're thinking of the Performance Center in Spartanburg. Here is a list of the "schools" they offer: http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Cont...ols/Default.aspx?enc=tttazT79wDFoHMIXx7eNmw== These all involve using their vehicles, not yours. I personally would take the M course just to drive a few really good M cars, but the price is a bit steep. But hey, nobody else would let me drive their M cars so what other options do I have if I want to learn how to handle an M car at its absolute limits? I think this is what Skip wanted to do...
Convertibles are NOT allowed at BMW CCA track events. There are lots of other track clubs that DO allow convertibles (I have an avid track school friend who runs his roll-cage free Honda S2000) (I will defer judgment to others regarding this). The BMW M School in Spartanburg would be very, very, very, very cool, but $5,000 would also buy a very nice tintop that you get to keep.
A one-day is "only" $1295 and a two-day is $3295. That's not $5k, unless you add them up. The advanced school is $3995, but that's only available if you have attended the previous M School(s).
Must have missed that one. But you're right. The two chapters (Windy City & Badger Bimmers) who have Road America schools do not approve of cabrios at this time. That said, I'd find a buddy with a sedan or coupe he's willing to share and maybe trade off a weekend or three of just 'cruising' in yours to make the deal. It's not like it would be the only two-driver car there. That way, you could save the cost of not only renting BMW's cars, but the expense of that trip. If you have not driven Road America yet, and you live nearby, you truly do owe it to yourself to find a way to do so. Of course, I'm obviously kinda' biased ...
The two day sounds ideal and probably worth every penny. Hell, I get to "keep" both the experience and lessons learned! Thanks.
This sounds good in theory only. Unrealistic as I have no buddies who have Bimmers let alone Ms let alone Ms they'd let me drive! I have a few Porsche friends but that would accomplish nothing even if they were willing to share, which I'm more than certain they are not. The BMW performance school is my best option. And yes I'd love to drive Road America.... the real question is why isn't my pop-up roll bar considered good enough, ESPECIALLY for a non-racing event?!
Chapters have the option of not allowing convertibles. Convertibles must meet certain minimum standards. http://www.bmwcca.org/content/policies/BMWCCAOpsManual.pdf
You don't have to drive an identical car to learn to drive better. In fact, there has been an undercurrent of instructors, at least in this area, who would like to live in an ideal world where we could teach students how to drive in a fleet of stock 2002s (I would update that somewhat to a fleet of E30s, but no M3s). The point is to get the information to digest. You won't learn everything in one school. You won't learn everything in a dozen. But if you're motivated and willing to learn, you don't even have to drive in order to learn something. A number of years ago when Badger Bimmers did some chapter instructor training, some of the most valuable information I got was during a couple of winter sessions where we simply sat around all day and talked about driving and driving theory. I could later take that information and see how it affected me as well as my students. Today, I still learn something at nearly every school I attend. Most instructors would agree that it is a never-ending process. That is a long and involved subject that has been argued for days on end. I lost that argument, so just accept it as it is for now. Personally, I'd let you drive it. As a chapter, they won't.
