Advanced ///M School @ VIR - Trip Report (Long)

[slipknot]

awesome great stuff

[KonigsTiger]

Wow very nice indeed, would love to drive that track.

[M2381]

I'm jealous! I would love to do this one day

[Bimmer Nerd]

how much was all this ?? like TOTAL , with hotel, admission food ect !!! please ??

great review btw did not read it all lol , just came from school and my mind is not recording what i am reading !!!!

[spectrumphoto]

Originally Posted by T Bone

....I read that you have Solo2 experience? You will definitely be able to use your car control skills but you will need to get use to the speed (everybody does )

Thats what will be interesting. As you know you are hard pressed to go much over 60-70 at Solo2 events... The tech stuff does not bother me, its just doing it all again at 140+. Maybe I'll do a local SoCal race school then sign up for Advanced M as it does sound like a blast.

Might be a good X-Mas gift to me!!!

[T Bone]

Originally Posted by spectrumphoto

Thats what will be interesting. As you know you are hard pressed to go much over 60-70 at Solo2 events... The tech stuff does not bother me, its just doing it all again at 140+. Maybe I'll do a local SoCal race school then sign up for Advanced M as it does sound like a blast.

Might be a good X-Mas gift to me!!!

If you have done some SCCA events, I would say you have more experience than many in the program but if you are a maniac then never mind

[d_dot]

how much?

[BCMPOWER]

T-Bone, I hope they don't phase out the MT cars! I went down to do one at the performance center and I loved it also, BMW really does know how to do this! Heel toe is an awesome skill and something to be proud of as a performance driver! Honestly I don't heel and toe on the street often, but once you are going through some mountain passes it's a necessary skill. Reading this makes me want to get back on the track!

[rzm3]

Hey T, do SMG's have the so called "lag" between pulling the paddles and actuation of shifts? Or does the "lag" vary just like the DCT?

[T Bone]

Originally Posted by BCMPOWER

T-Bone, I hope they don't phase out the MT cars! I went down to do one at the performance center and I loved it also, BMW really does know how to do this! Heel toe is an awesome skill and something to be proud of as a performance driver! Honestly I don't heel and toe on the street often, but once you are going through some mountain passes it's a necessary skill. Reading this makes me want to get back on the track!

I agree, it is a niche within a dying skill of driving a manual. But if I were a business guy running this program, I would remove more barriers for people signing up.

The fear of driving manual is real, particularly on a track where mistakes are not tolerated.

Originally Posted by rldzhao

Hey T, do SMG's have the so called "lag" between pulling the paddles and actuation of shifts? Or does the "lag" vary just like the DCT?

No lags in SMG. I wanted to see the DCT lag at the track but I didn't drive one there, yet.

[rzm3]

Originally Posted by T Bone

I agree, it is a niche within a dying skill of driving a manual. But if I were a business guy running this program, I would remove more barriers for people signing up.

The fear of driving manual is real, particularly on a track where mistakes are not tolerated.




No lags in SMG. I wanted to see the DCT lag at the track but I didn't drive one there, yet.

thanks for the quick reply.

[Seneca]

Nice writeup. There's an article in this months Bimmer magazine (Issue 78, November) with an article on the Advanced M School at VIR also, if you want to read more about it.

[Nutballa]

I definitely agree! The BMW M school was a blast when I went. One instructor told us to " drive the M cars like we stole 'em", hah.

[Sal@AUTOcouture]

this is def on my to-do list

[ihyln]

Gonna ask the wife to let me do this as my birthday present

[sayemthree]

Nice report!

In fact, without strategizing braking points, heel-n-toe points, shift points, I find that your mind has more time to think about other things, and perhaps this is the one factor that people rarely discuss between the 2 technologies. I found I had more time thinking about braking points, throttle modulation, bracing with the SMG. With the 6MT, you were always busy....but I must readily admit, I loved going through the gears manuallly

the truth is tho once you get it right, you are driving in your sub-conscience where your brain processes things a million time faster.

[T Bone]

Originally Posted by sayemthree

Nice report!



the truth is tho once you get it right, you are driving in your sub-conscience where your brain processes things a million time faster.

Sure but I was learning the track and learning how the car handled at 150 mph. So I will be a bit cautious at first

Originally Posted by ihyln

Gonna ask the wife to let me do this as my birthday present

One of the guys had his wife give this as a present, he was very happy.

[MachineDriver]

I just got my DVDs from Advanced M School @ VIR today... I loved all the cars so much, I want one of each. I saw 150 in the M5 HUD on numerous occasions. Even on the hot lap with an instructor, I don't think we went much faster than that (tho how he got to 6th on the back straight without short shifting I couldn't figure).

I didn't have the balls to enter the high-speed esses quite as fast as OP but eventually worked up to about 100MPH entry. On the hot lap the instructor entered them at 110+! Scary fast.

Tremendous instruction... Incredible cars... I can't recommend this program highly enough.

[[M3noDRFT]]

I love how all the cars were lined up like Go-Karts at the track. M cars EVERYWHERE. $4G isn't bad considering things are covered.