Yesterday, I spent the day at the M Driver's Program in Thermal, CA. For the few people that may not know what that is, it's a one day course (experience) that either comes with the purchase of your car as an add-on (along with increased top speed out of the factory) or as a single purchase separately. In my case, I purchased the course with my CCA discount after the fact, planning to attend with a coworker who had it as an add-on with his M2 Comp. We were pretty lucky in that we were the only two in the class. His M2 Comp on the left (@404speed) and my M5 Comp on the right (stealth_M5). Excuse all the pics in this post, we only had our cell phones on the track, understandably.
We started the day with a one hour in class course, covering the basics. The instruction went into some depth on seat position and posture, hand position, breaking, etc. It was informative enough to be interesting, but not so much that we lost interest. I could see however if you had done any reading prior, this could be a bore. In our case, we were basically getting to know our instructor in this period and he was getting to know us. With such a small group, that was important.
Then we jumped into an M5, we each had our own and the instructor jumped into the M5 he used most of the day. This was my first time doing anything like this so I was pretty excited to say the least. There were radios in each car in the door pocket next to our left leg for the instructor to transmit and for us to ask questions if needed. We began with a slalom course, very slow at first to get used to holding the wheel at 9 and 3 (not 10 and 2) and becoming accustomed to hand over hand. Then we picked up speed, then the instructor said to go as fast as we could... As fast as we could... My co-worker knocked over a few of the cones, at which point the instructor started to poke fun at him, "What did those cones do to you?"
We then ventured over to the slick pad. The instructor began by showing and explaining to us how to initiate a drift, and then how to maintain it. With DSC turned off, engine set to Spot Plus, we started by bringing the car to 15mph, both on the pad at the same time, one on each side of the pad. We then hit the accelerator aggressively and the car immediately began to drift to the right. At first we were asked to recover the slide, which was pretty easy and instinctual. We did about three of those and then were asked to maintain it. That was difficult, as we needed to feather the accelerator enough to maintain the drift and not so much that we would spin out. At one point my co-worker and I spun out at the same time. Radio crackles "If synchronized 360s were a sport, I'd give you two an 8." Then we finally nailed it, drifting almost the entire circle. A ton a fun and like that, we were done and returning to the building for a 10 min break.
We then jumped into the M2 Comps for the next exercise. Admittedly, this exercise was the most unsettling. Essentially this was an emergency breaking exercise where cones were laid out to simulate a freeway lane, a stationary object on the road, and an emergency exit lane. We started by observing the instructor, standing off to the side at a safe distance while the instructor performed the maneuver. Then we were asked to hop back into the M2 Comps and try it at 50 mph. We were to drive to a specific cone, rotate the wheel as quick as we could 90 degrees to the left, then 90 degrees on the right and then mash on the brakes. I slammed on the accelerator, eventually got to 50 mph, then hard left, hard right, mash on the breaks. Fun! Do it again and 55, then 60, then 65. At freeway speeds it was pretty violent, hard mash on the accelerator, hard left, hard right, slam on the breaks. I really appreciated the M2 Comp seats during this exercise, they hugged me well and I didn't shift much in the car as it moved left and right. The video doesn't give the experience justice but it was the most violent experience in the car we had all day with the exception of the hot laps.
We then Jumped in the M4s for some track time. It was a short circuit, timed for fun, lots of tight turns and no straight aways. There was a trigger at the start we passed through to start the timer and one at the end just before the 'red box' to stop it. Hitting any cones knocked 2 seconds off your time and stopping outside the red box was basically a foiled run. The pressure of that red box affected my time considerably as I would tend to drift into it or break too early. I was bested by my coworker by 1.5 seconds. I didn't care though, it was fun! What I didn't care for where the M4s seats. The lumbar supports were too narrow for my body style and I felt like I floated on the seat laterally and sloshed about too much.
We broke for lunch, pretty nice and rather large. Then we jumped back in into the M2s and drove single file to the Thermal club track. The instructor had us stand on the inside of a left turn so he could show us how to emergency break on a turn at freeway speeds. We raced down to the beginning of the track, mashed on the gas pedal, began the turn at the prescribed speed, then at the prescribed cones mashed on the brakes. This one was a little tough because we had to loose and regain control. We had to allow the car to drift toward the shoulder while mashing on the brakes, hold the wheel and not turn until the wheels regained traction, then turn toward the exit cones. What made it difficult is we had to adjust one mph each run to get to the point where the car would drift. That's hard to do with an analog gauge. We also were driving into a cone set that at close to 70 mph felt like it was only one and a half car widths wide.
With that done we jumped back into the M5s and drove single file to the Thermal club track. We did two circuits at a comfortable pace to understand the track and have the instructor talk through the line, breaking and acceleration points. Then we hit freeway speeds, myself in the third car behind my coworker who was behind the instructor. One lap, then we floored it on the straightaway. Literally mashed the accelerator to the floor and hit about 120mph on the straightaway before the instructor called for a coast, break hard, turn left, run the course, and go. Mash on the straightaway and do it all over again. Then we swapped positions, and did it again, and again, swap positions, etc. It was at least 45 min on the track and the fastest I hit on a straightaway was 126mph. Never having driven that fast in my life, it was exhilarating and exhausting all at once. Concentration was key, we were manually shifting at the instructor's request to try and keep the M5s cool. Shifting up at 5500 rpm, downshifting to third gear on all turns. There is a lot to think about, keeping your eyes ahead of what you are doing, listening to the instructor letting you know if you are overstearing, understearing, breaking too soon, accelerating late, etc. My M5 overheated twice so we had to slow down as a group to allow it to cool off then hit it hard again. I felt I got the full appreciation for the M5, it handled incredibly well, accelerated so fast, just a fun drive.
After a 10 minute break we jumped into the M4s again. Same track, same lead follow technique, but it was different. The M4 felt like a more visceral experience. The sound dampening on the M4 felt non-existent compared to the M5, I could hear the revs, I could feel the traction more, it seemed to grip less on the turns, and was less assuring than the M5. But being able to hear and feel the car, it was a better overall track experience. Except for the seats. My right knee knocked on the center console and my left calf hit the door pocket repeatedly, I can feel the bruises today.
Then we jumped into an M4 with the instructor for hot laps. My coworker allowed me to go first and the first run was basically as fast as the instructor could run the course. The entire day is billed as driving BMW Ms to the edge of their capability. In that hot lap I learned that I drove the cars to the edge of my capability. Then the instructor started going sideways on the second lap. At first I thought he lost the car to my satisfaction. Nope, he was drifting at speed. Then it was my coworkers turn. No rubber left on those tires and quite the experience!!
Then it was over. When I think back at the three cars, for a track, the M4 with better seats would be my choice or an M5 without any sound dampening and probably the comp package so I could feel the engine and hear the RPMs. I did lower the windows the last two runs in the M5 and that helped quite a bit. I felt connected with the M2 but it is pretty spartan and wouldn't be a good choice for me personally. The exhaust notes on the M2 Comp were not to my liking either. But in the end, I don't plan to ever track my M5 Comp, certainly never treat it the way I did the M5, and love the car more then ever after running that Thermal course in the M5.
Sorry for the long read but I had such a great experience I had to get it on 'paper' and share with anyone who hasn't had the pleasure. I still don't believe the $2500 option is worth the cost, but at roughly $1300 with only two of us in basically a private setting, that was worth it!!
