Has anyone had any experience with the M School 2-day program at the BMW Center in SC? There was a piece in Roundel that was pretty favorable, but I'd be interested to hear any other reviews. Thanks!
i've done the 1 day M school and its a lot of fun. where else can you drive all the M cars at the same event? good instructors, plenty of seat time, and outstanding facilities.
I second that. They treat you like royalty the entire time you are there! You get classroom instruction, lots of seat time (as pseto mentioned...in all of the M Cars!), they feed you like kings and just make the entire experience outstanding. You will not be disappointed!
It's a blast, but now I want a new DCT M3, so it's an expensive school. The 2nd day builds on the 1st day, and you learn different section of the track, and then in the afternoon they combine the track and you get to do two sessions (1 in the M5 & 1 in the M3) doing laps around the 1.3 mi course. You can't pass, but they have a hot pit, where they will pull drivers over to let people pass or improve the gapping, and then send you back out. You get swag also - Got a new helmet, so I'm ready for the new helmet requirements. New jacket, hat, polo and t-shirt And you get a DVD of your hot lapping to relive the fun, and geek out with friends(or alienate your non-car friends).
my chapter has 2 ///M school days a year where we share slots with the Tarheel chapter at a fraction of the retail cost. we usually caravan together on Fri, tour the factory/Zentrum, ///M school on Sat, hit the bar Sat night, and caravan home Sun morning. its a great trip, so maybe other chapters can develop their own ///M days with the performance center.
Thanks for the feedback -- I talked with the Performance Center, and it sounds great, if pricey, although the fact that you don't have to share a car for the two days sounds like a worthwhile bump over the 2 day car control class.
I did it last year and had a great time as well, though rather than falling for the new M3 I fell for the M6, which was much nicer than I thought it'd be. And no one's mentioned all the swag - shirts, jackets, souvenirs, hats. You come away feeling you've gotten your money's worth, that's for sure.
There are no stick-shift cars in the class. It's either SMG or DCT now. That was actually a downer for me, I was hoping to get better at this dying art form.
DCT is awesome I too grew up driving a stick and wish there was an option for that but the paddle shifting in the M3 is stupid fast...microseconds! I took the 2 Day School and as others have mentioned the instruction and schwag is great. No one else mentioned that the Hotel is included and dinners as well. Evening of the first night you have a group dinner with and instructor. That alone was worth the price of admission. It really is a great school. Cannot speak highly enough of it. I am now saving for the Advanced M School. Although none are scheduled yet for this year. Oh yeah and as a BMWCCA member you get a discount. You have to book over the phone with your membership number. I think the discount is like $400. Pretty good deal.
Hi, did a search and thought this might be the thread to ask this question. We had such a blast during our PCD last year, that now I would like to go to M-School. I'm in the 'noob' category, from a track perspective. So as M-school is a little pricey (north of $3K, correct?), I was considering the two-day car control school to start with, as a more affordable option (this is $1,200 for the two days, I believe.) Does the car-control school cover the same learning objectives as M-school, but use the the center's normal non-M e.g. 335 etc. cars? Or is there something special and particularly unique to M-School (other than, obviously, using M-cars) that drives that higher cost? (I understand there are also perks, i.e. the polo, helmet, etc. for M-School.) I would consider a local HPDE through for example, BMW CCA, but ruled that out due to insurance considerations. Plus Greenville is only about a two hour drive from where we live. Thanks for any input...
I've done the 1 day M school and really enjoyed it. I'll almost certainly do the 2 day school next year.
There used to not be a solution to insurance concerns, but now, there is: http://hpdeins.locktonaffinity.com/ So, if BMWCCA driver's schools are within the scope of your considerations, perhaps Lockton Affinity might be a means to allay your insurance concerns. Depending on where you are, you might not be all that far from Virginia International Raceway or Road Atlanta, at which the BMWCCA Tarheel & Peachtree chapters host 2-3 driver's schools every year. Whether a BMWCCA or BMW-M event, either would be a great learning experience, and fun!
I did the 1 day M School last month, and had an absolute blast. I can't compare it to the normal driving school, but for a new track junkie it would be perfect. They teach you how to look ahead (which I was terrible at) proper braking and apex with gas out. A MUST at a track. They also teach you under and oversteer on the skid pad with the M5 and DSC off BTW - The 1M is there and is a manual car! They said the F10 M5 will be in their line-up within a couple months. Here is me hot-lapping the E92 in the afternoon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6nim5iqb0w
http://hpdeins.locktonaffinity.com/ Doesn't seem to be working today (the page comes up blank). Did the club not renew with them or is this just a temporary problem I'm experiencing?
