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| 09-23-2013, 02:58 PM | #1 |
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BMW "Track Event" last week
Hey Everyone!
I'm not sure who else received the invitation for the BMW "Track Event" at PIR that happened last week, but I wanted to let everyone know my experiences. I received the invitation from BMW of Seattle. The invitation was to come down to PIR for a day of track type events with the new 6 Series, 7 Series, M6 and Alpina B7. I know that these types of things are arranged as a soft sales activity to get you in the market for a new BMW. However, I was very surprised at how laid back everyone was. There were no high pressure sales tactics. The day started off with Coffee/Breakfast, and checking out the cars. They had about 20 cars there to look at, get in, start up, etc. This included some 640, 650, 650 x-drive, 750, 760, M5, M6 and Aplina B7. They had plenty of "BME Specialists" on-hand to answer questions, etc. Again, very low pressure. Just hang out and talk about BMWs. Next, they gave us an brief orientation on the "Track Events" planned for the day. Let me start off by saying, if you are a Track Rat, then you may think the events are a bit tame, but for me (not a Track Rat) they sounded pretty fun. Track Racing The first event was on the PIR track. It was set up as groups of 3 cars and "follow the leader (instructor)". The instructor was in the M6, and we would be in the 6 or 7 series cars. They said we would continue the 3 laps sets until everyone was able to drive EVERY car. However, they would not let us drive the M6s on the track due to "too much power for the novice". The first lap was "quick", but not real fast, so they you could get a bit used to the car, and learn the track. I would call this lap a "spirited drive". The second lap was quite a bit faster. Plenty of hard braking, and a bit of squealing tires. I actually really enjoyed this lap, and was hoping the 3rd lap would be just as fast. However, I was wrong. The 3rd lap was even FASTER. Max braking going into every corner, tires squealing on every corner, traction control always going off, "excessive speed" warning beeps, etc. Again, I'm not a track guy, so I'm sure I was doing everything wrong, and you guys who are more "Pro" would not have all the squealing, etc. All I know is that this is the hardest I have driven a car lately and it was a BLAST. After the 3rd lap, you came in and switched to a different car. I think in the end, I had about 20 laps total. I drove a 640, 650 x-drive, 760, and Alpina B7. I was very surprised at how well these larger cars handled. I know they are not Ms, but even the 760 (which looks like a boat) was a blast to drive on the track. Auto Cross The next event was Auto Cross. They had a course set up in the big parking lot by the track entrance. Nothing too spectacular, a number of gates, 1 sweeping turn, and a "stopping area". The cool thing about the auto cross, was that we could drive the M6s. Those M6s are BEASTS. Full throttle off the line, hard braking, and, again, a bunch of tire squealing. It was really fun to drive that kind of car really hard. We each got an "introductory" run. Slow and following the instructor. Then 2 separate runs at the course by ourselves. I now realize how much I suck at auto cross  Drag Racing The last event was Drag Racing on the PIR Drag strip. Again, we could not use the M6s on the drag strip. I'm not much of a 1/4 mile guy, so I only did 3 runs on the drag strip. I ran a 640, 650 x-drive and the 760. My best was in the 760 (v12) at 13.4 @ 107 mph. All said, it was a really fun day without a lot of pressure. I got to drive all kinds of 6 and 7 series cars VERY hard and was really able to see what they could do (in the hands of a amateur). If you are not a regular track person, I would highly recommend this type of event to have some fun and be able to drive "hard". The only downside, is now I'm thinking about taking my M3 to the track, so it can stretch it legs a bit. This makes me nervous. I'm fine taking someone else's car out on the track and thrashing it, but I'm not sure about how I would feel using my car. |
| 09-23-2013, 05:44 PM | #2 |
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Second Lieutenant
 
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Sounds fun to me! Wish I could have made it out.
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| 09-23-2013, 06:44 PM | #3 |
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Were those invites sent out only to people who own BMW's?
Sounds pretty damn cool to me.
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| 09-24-2013, 11:11 AM | #5 | |
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| 09-24-2013, 11:16 AM | #6 | |
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A guy that I work with (also with an M3) received the invite also. It's kind of funny, but I think they need to work on their market targeting. I just bought my new M3 6 months ago, and they send me the invite to try to get me to "upgrade", but other people (like yourself) who are looking at BMWs, didn't get the invite. Sounds a little backwards. (Trust me, I'm not complaining. I'm glad I was invited, It was a blast.) Matt |
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| 09-24-2013, 05:13 PM | #7 | |
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-The Eternal Tire-kicker (AKA, Brian) 
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