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I just got back from two-days of advanced M-school at VIR. There were 15 in the class, 8 or 9 of which were verterans and 6 of us were rookies to VIR and Advanced M-school. We ran bone stock M3s (with DCT), M5s and M6s with SMG. BMW provided six or so world class instructors, all with multiple championship credentials and years of teaching experience.

The first day was almost all in the rain, but the extra car control development was good for me. The was a little bit of chalk talk, but instruction was mainly lead-follow with two to four cars behind an instructor on the radio, each taking turns directly behind the instructor. There's car control on the skid pad and some technical work on the Patriot Course, but most the full course was opened up for the last session of the first day and stayed open.

I moved up to a the second group on day two, when we did five sessions on the full course and one session on the Patriot and a timed event to conclude at Patriot in M3s.

Once I learned how to attack the uphill esses, then I was totally comfortable (well, as comfortable as you can get at those speeds). All the cars were easily doing 140+ on the two long straights. The M3 charmed everyone and not one person reported a missed shift with any DCT. (I bought the 6MT for autocross and street driving and don't regret that, but, without a doubt, DCT is the way to go on the track). It was real music standing by the start-finish line as a train of M3s blasted by, upshifting in .004 second at 8,000+rpm.

The cars all had new Continentals, which were just hunky-dory with me and everyone else. One guy wanted Michelins, but none of the rest of us had complaints about the tires and stock pads. We drove hard, but the braking was probably around 90% in deference to the pads. (They replaced pads and rotors on a few cars). Another problem is the power steering box on the M3s. It's too near the header and overheats some plastic parts inside. If I tracked the M3 I'd add a heat shield between the header and steering box.

I don't have any pictures yet, but I'll post some next week. I'll have some video in four to six weeks, so I may post a lap or two from my in-car when I get it.

I did the Skip Barber 3-day racing school, long ago, in Formula Fords. My instructors then were Brian Till and Duck Waddle and I received very good instruction. The instruction with BMW was just as good, but you need to have attended the other M-schools first (or something like Skippy), because the chalkboard and one on one is more limited, under the assumption that you've met the prerequisite training in high performance driving. I prefer lead-follow style instruction over someone in the right seat because you quickly get a feel for what can be done. As you start keeping up with the instructor he starts going faster and faster, talking you along all the way, reminding you of key places to settle the car and where to be looking and chastising you if you miss an apex.

The first half of my first day had me slightly worried because a couple in my group were not up to speed; however, the instructors quickly broke us into sub-groups and I matched up well with my partner and we both learned a lot, fast.

BTW, this is NOT a money maker for BMW. We received a lavish meal, open bar, first rate track, first class cars and several highly seasoned instructors. One of the execs told me that the track is $10,000 per day and the two transporters for the cars were another $20,000. That's $40,000 before they pay the instructors, buy fuel, tires and brakes and pay the support crew. Fees for 15 of us were roughly $60,000, so there's not much left over, if anything. The objective is for Performance Center activities to pay for themselves and simply help BMW's image as a high performance car company, which this program certainly does.

BTW, there were some exciting offs by others, but no car was significantly damaged. I'm certain that's not always the case.

I highly recommend this course. Pictures to come...

Dave