Not everyone who buys an M car first spends a few years taking a 325i to BMW CCA track events. And most people are more satisfied with a car if they don't crash it. These facts were as clear to BMW as to anyone else, so it created M School, an opportunity for new and prospective owners of M cars, and even ordinary raving propellerheads, to learn to safely drive these cars as they were meant to be driven. The two-day course is offered at the BMW Performance Center adjacent to the assembly plant in Spartanburg, S. C. Hotel accommodations for two or three nights are included, as are all meals, a nice jacket, track bag and aramid/fiberglass open-face helmet. Get yourself to the Greenville airport with appropriate clothing for two days, and everything else is taken care of.
The BMW Performance Center's instructors, led by Ben Burrell, are top-flight. Most of them raced professionally before this writer was even walking, the exception being Allison Duncan, a promising talent from Northern California who moved to South Carolina to pursue a career in NASCAR.
The course is intended for all levels of experience, the only prerequisite being able to drive a manual transmission. Instruction begins in a classroom with the basics: driving position, how to hold the steering wheel, how to steer. BMW's instructors advocate the "shuffle steer" technique, in which the wheel is passed back and forth, with the driver's hands never moving much further around the wheel than the 6:00 and 12:00 position.
From there, the fundamentals of pointing the car around the course are covered: Look where you want to go. Why a late apex is safer. Don't get in a hurry. Everything has a correct sequence and timing, which must be followed. First brake, then turn, then accelerate. When the car starts to slide, the sequence is correct, pause and recover--CPR. Steer into the skid, don't stare into the skid.
Most of the instructors have known each other for years and are as good at making the students laugh as showing them how to drive. A relaxed, low-key atmosphere, it turns out, promotes learning. These building blocks are presented as if for the first time, patiently and with much humor, which was exactly what many of the students needed, even some of those who had already owned M cars. The short autocross with coupes and roadsters was where several students were introduced to heel-toe downshifting for the first time. Trail braking was not promoted, and I don't recall hearing the phrase "lift-throttle oversteer" leave an instructor's mouth in the two days.
Classroom sessions are kept truly minimal in favor of seat time in the M cars, which is broken up into 1-hour sessions, students divided into three groups of five. My group drove M5s on a wet skidpad first, where the big, heavy cars were totally controllable and predictable. It was the first time I'd ever had the combination of enough power and enough limited-slip differential to hang the tail out for any length of time. With all that rumbling V8 torque, it was easy to pedal the throttle; I made it more than three-fourths of the way around the skidpad sideways. Yahoooo!
Next we moved to the M3s for a simple lane-change followed by a straight and braking into a turn, with the direction of the change called at the last second over a radio. Like all the first day's dry courses, this was done with DSC on, both serving as a demonstration of the technology and a chance for students who had never driven a car near its limits to get comfortable. The technology clearly does seem to prevent loss of control, as I didn't see a single spin with DSC engaged.
A short autocross in the coupes and roadsters was followed by lunch. We went to a smaller wet skidpad, again with coupes and roadsters, this time attempting to do complete circles with the tail out. The instructors had little trouble, but I found it challenging. The surface was slightly sloped, making water coverage uneven and the car much more willing to slide on some parts of the circle than others. The peaky nature of the S54 engine made it more difficult to pedal the throttle--too much would boil the rears, too little would let them hook up and bog the engine. It was fun, and I did learn a lot about controlling the car. Most importantly, I learned to trust the semi-trailing-arm rear suspension.
After that, we took the M5s on the short autocross course, with the clock. Hennie Chung, BMW's product manager for the roadster platform, showed what would become her usual trait: She was by far the most improved on this course, consistently carving off another second each time she went out.
The day ended with the M3s on a fast autocross that included the wet skidpad used with the M5s and slaloms on the straights, a great way to teach discipline.
After dinner at the hotel that evening, Terry Earwood, former head of Skip Barber's driving school for many years, entertained us all with stories about his racing and how he got started. He won many races in his career (and he talks as fast as he drives).
The second day was held at Michelin's nearby Laurens proving grounds, and the instructors gave permission to turn DSC off. My group first drove the M5s on Michelin's wet handling course. With the 5er's high curb weight and worn tires, it was like driving on ice. The cars wouldn't turn in, there was no grip and tickling the 400-bhp right pedal would break the rears loose. Still, the cars were predictable and controllable, responding to all inputs slowly enough to stay on top of it.
We moved from there to the coupes and roadsters, with a wet figure-eight on Michelin's black lake. This exercise had one purpose--to show that you go where you look. All crossed up and laying on the throttle, I found that if I looked at the opposite cone, I went there. If I looked somewhere else, I went somewhere else. I knew that but had never experienced such a clear demonstration of the principle. I started to think the M Coupe would make a good Group 5 rally car, except for the cost of repairing the inevitable damage.
The morning ended with the M3s on a large autocross, including a straight that let us get deep into third gear. The M3 is a great car--fast, predictable, smooth and with awesome brakes. I could get on the brakes at the last marker on the long straight every time, as long as I was in a car with some tires left on the front. Through the really tight turns, the M3 was easy to toss around and almost seemed like it wanted to be driven rally style, though that's not supposed to be the fast way. In general, the M3 understeers until throttle oversteer is induced, but it's easy to control either behavior.
In the afternoon, we went on the clock with the M5s and M3s on the same courses and practiced a J-turn in the coupes and roadsters. It took me several tries to overcome my years of track driving and "in a spin, both feet in" programming, while a student who had never driven on a track before got it nearly perfect the first time.
I was frustrated the first day with DSC on, because I felt it was slowing me down. Much of the time, I was trying to drive around DSC rather than driving the car at its limits. But students who actually owned the cars were learning to use it for their safety, and we all were free to go either way the second day. My only other complaint was the limited seat time. I was never ready to stop when an exercise was over.
Even though the presentation was entry-level, I gained from it. Going back and reinforcing basic skills and habits is always beneficial, and I was able to experience some extreme car-control situations that are rarely encountered even on a track. Hennie Chung, who had never done anything like this, noted, "I feel like my driving has been taken to the tenth power. Now I have a much greater appreciation for the cars." It makes me smile to know the person responsible for current and future BMW roadsters has been through this.
BMW Performance Center
1155 Hwy 101 S.
Greer, SC 29651
(864) 968-3000
www.bmwusa.com