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      05-18-2015, 01:27 PM   #1
///Marc3
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M Performance School Experience

My impressions and review of the BMW Performance Driving School – West (April 22-24, 2015)

Just some background…this is the first time I’ve attended any formal driving school, outside of a Car Control Clinic put on by BMWCCA. I currently drive a 2013 E92 M3 (my first M car), having previously driven a 2000 E46 328Ci. I won a 1-day M School in a raffle during last year’s BMWCCA Oktoberfest in Beaver Creek, CO. I opted to make this a 2-day M School, so I had to pony up and pay for the 2nd day. Prices have gone up this year at both centers. The 2-day M School lists at $3995, but CCA members still get a 15% discount, so keep that in mind to save a little money. BMW covers two nights lodging and food as part of the class. How you get there is up to you.

The Performance Center West is located just outside of Palm Springs in Thermal CA. BMW is sharing the facility with the Thermal Club. They have their own dedicated track, just for BMW.

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Here’s some info I pulled on the Thermal Club:

Imagine spending $1 million on a home built just for your car.
The Thermal Club in La Quinta, California, is a V.I.P. racetrack country club that sells real estate on the track for super-rich buyers who want to build insane garages.
In order to race supercars at this exclusive 4½-mile track, you need to be a Thermal Club member. Membership starts at $85,000 a year, and empty lots run between $400,000 and $800,000. On that land, you can build an elaborate garage villa including viewing rooms, elevators and data centers, which can bring the total cost for a single garage to $1 million.
Membership also includes a spa, pool and kid's center, where members can park their children.


Arrival day:

The first day is mainly allocated to your getting there. In my case, I drove my M3 from Las Vegas at the completion of the MFest activities, to Palm Springs. On the way down, I also spent a couple of days taking in Joshua Tree National Park. A very cool place and worth a visit. The main road through the park is awesome.

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I took in the Palms to Pines Scenic Byway which starts in Banning CA off Highway 10, and takes you all the way back over into Palm Desert. Very nice and definitely one to add to the list of must drive roads.

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I checked in at the La Quinta Resort and Spa, which if you’re not familiar with it, is a very nice setting. It’s an older facility, but well maintained. This is the primary host lodging BMW uses for those attending the driving school. I was already familiar with the place, having stayed here on a number of occasions during the Indian Wells Tennis Tournament. Upon check-in, you will be presented with an itinerary for the next two days, along with a dinner voucher ($75), and two breakfast vouchers ($30 each).

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After unpacking and hanging out poolside for a bit, I decided to check out Thermal. It’s just a 20-25 minute drive from La Quinta, and it takes you through Indio and Coachella, as you drive through a number of palm tree farms/nurseries. The track itself is surrounded by a wall, and the lone entry gate was being guarded. Needless to say, I was unable to get in prior to the actual start of the driving school the next day. At least I found out where it was located.

Back to La Quinta for a nice dinner at La Quinta’s onsite restaurant – The Adobe Grill. Good Mexican food and beer.

Day 1:

After breakfast at La Quinta’s onsite restaurant – Twenty6, the itinerary called for everyone to meet up at the lobby. They have a shuttle bus that takes everyone over, but since I had my car, I decided to drive myself.
After finally getting past the gate at the Thermal Club, it was very apparent that construction was still ongoing. The permanent building near the BMW track did not even have the foundation poured yet. Instead, the temporary building, which is closer to the main track, is where we operated out of in terms of classroom and car staging.
The first day of classroom was limited to introductions, and some basic info on driving techniques and track layout. Again, we would be limited to the smaller, but much more technical, BMW track and skid pad. So no “big” track time. There were 4 instructors and there were 10 total people in attendance. So the student to instructor ratio is pretty good.

We pretty much went right to the cars after that, which were comprised of the new M3/M4 in the usual rainbow of colors. The instructors were in M5 lead vehicles. The M4 was first up for me, and this was the first time I would go beyond sitting in the new M, and actually driving it. Communication is via 2-way radios stashed in the driver side door pocket. We were divided into two groups of 5. My group rolled out in the M4s, while the other group went out in the M3s.

The pictures I took were mainly via my iPhone 6 and an older Canon PowerShot SX210 IS. I did not want to mess with a GoPro, especially given you end up hopping back and forth between the M3 and M4 so often. The M5s were outfitted with an in-grill camera, but not operational at this point. The plan is to have all the cars outfitted with this setup, and then giving you a USB stick with all your sessions recorded at the end of the class.

Off to the track, and an initial walk-through of the course via the instructor. This is a pretty tight course, but plenty of run out room. It was also flat, so no elevation changes. Then we were on our own and running through the course, all the while getting feedback from several instructors positioned around the track. The preset M1 mode was enabled for most, if not all our time on the track. This initial run was probably the most nerve racking and they even told us this before we started. I was a bit tense trying to get a feel of both the track and the car. Needless to say, I had to towel off after this first session. Whew!!

Initial thoughts on the new M4…damn!! Other than the sound, the power off the line and overall low end torque is awesome and makes the E92 seem a little sluggish to be honest. All cars were fitted with the Carbon Ceramic Brake option and are perfect for this kind of punishment. It took most of this first day to get a feel for both the M3 and M4. I also liked the HUD. All were also DCT, but you could certainly switch to manual mode if so inclined. I opted to just run in full auto mode so I could focus on the course.

We then swapped cars between the two groups, and it was on to the M3 and the skid pad for my group. This was a lesson in oversteer and understeer and how to quickly recover from each. You have to be quick off the power and quick with the hands for this. I can understand now why drifting is not as easy as it looks. The skid pad was also relatively new, and they were talking about how it needed to be sanded down to make it smoother. The irrigation system was also not yet completed, so the water was provided by a water truck.

Lunchtime…food provided by BMW, and a nice spread and variety

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After lunch, we were back to the M4s and the track with a slightly modified course, which was a little more technical and longer. This session went much better for me than the first session. Again, the instructors offered their input and feedback. Hands at 3 and 9…keep your eyes up and looking as far ahead as possible into and out of corners. Watch the blue entry cone, then aim for the yellow apex cone.

After another swap, we were back to the skid pad for a “rat race”. This was fun and built on the previous experience on the skid pad. Two cars would start off on opposite sides of the circular skid pad and chased each other until one got within a half car length of the other. I enjoyed this exercise.

One last swap for the day and back to the track again. This time we did a timed lap of the course along with a stop box. I kept improving my time, so that was good.

End of Day 1 and back to La Quinta for some chill out time before the complimentary BMW dinner with all the attendees and a couple of the instructors. This was a very nice three course meal.

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Day 2:

After a good night’s sleep and another breakfast at Twenty6, the day was mainly comprised of building on what we learned the day before. We were back and forth between the skid pad and the track. The skid pad exercise was a figure eight course and into a stop box. This was also fun. Back on the track, the course became increasingly larger and more intricate, along with the addition of a huge right-hand sweeper that allowed you to actually get some speed. Most of the time had been spent in 1st or 2nd gear, but this let you get into 3rd and briefly into 4th gear. The feedback from the instructors was minimal at this stage, and was nice to allow you to focus a little more on the actual act of driving and using what you learned.

Lunch was again provided, and after completing the last track session, we were back in the classroom for a debriefing on everyone’s experience. Needless to say, by the end of the day, you really start to feel it, and we were using a fairly large percentage of the track. Keeping hydrated was also important and bottled water was provided throughout both days. The temperature was in the 80s, while warm, wasn’t too bad. While they do offer the course in May and June, July and August would be way too warm for me.

As expected, the last act was a hot lap of the same course we had all been on. All the instructors and students piled into either an M3 or M4 and it was on! All I was thinking as we were tearing through the course, um, is this Day 3: Advanced M School? Holy smokes, literally, as the car in front of us was drifting into the sweeper, tires on fire, cones flying, we couldn’t even see for a few seconds. This was a whole other level of driving. And I thought we were pushing the cars to their limits…not even close…by a long mile. I wanted to go again, but I guess they only let them go around once. Very fun ride.

Is it worth it? In my opinion, while being a little on the pricey side, I would say yes. You certainly come away with a much better understanding and appreciation of how to drive, and to really push a vehicle like this to its limits. I can certainly see the attraction for people that do auto-X , and where it can become addicting. While they hope to have the permanent building completed later this year, they still do a great job working around all the other construction.

They no longer give attendees the helmet, which was a little disappointing, but you do leave with some other swag, including a nice new Performance School Hat (California Edition) and a cool jacket. There is no time spent in driving any M5 or M6. The intent here is to give students a more consistent feel as you go through both days. Plus, the M5 and M6 would be much slower around the course, and would be harder for some students to handle.

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This was in and around the paddock area. Gas was kind of on the pricey side for "regular" super, and I don't think the 98 octane price is correct in the picture. They do carry 100 octane.
That's the cleanest garage I've ever seen, and has an attached car wash area.

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This McLaren 650S was just sitting around...

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Thanks to BMW and everyone at the new BMW Performance Center – West for a great time. I hope you find this information useful. Feel free to ping me on any questions.

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Last edited by ///Marc3; 05-18-2015 at 01:42 PM.. Reason: Fix image links
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      05-18-2015, 03:00 PM   #2
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Totally Awesome- Way to represent!!!
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      05-18-2015, 05:50 PM   #3
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Great write up Marc!
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      05-18-2015, 08:10 PM   #4
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Thanks for sharing!
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      05-25-2015, 09:26 PM   #5
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Thanks for sharing. I imagine that after such an amazing driving experience, the drive back was a whole lot more interesting!
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      05-25-2015, 09:49 PM   #6
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nice! so the thermal club is like that place in Minnesota where you build your own man cave
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      05-26-2015, 03:26 AM   #7
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Fantastic write up!
Thanks for all the worthwhile info
Now all I have to do is find the extra $$$ for the 2 days
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      05-29-2015, 06:04 PM   #8
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That took a lot of time to post and write - thanks for documenting that!
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      06-21-2015, 03:42 PM   #9
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Awesome pictures I think this thread deserves a revival. Your e92 looks sooo much better than that flock of 435 TT (twin turbo) with "M4" badges on them
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      06-24-2015, 06:22 PM   #10
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Outstanding write-up. I think I speak for everyone when I say .
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      01-22-2017, 06:07 PM   #11
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Are M School drivers to be tipped? If so, how much? Going to Thermal in April!
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      02-27-2017, 06:03 PM   #12
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Tipping not required, nor expected. These guys get paid to have fun.
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