M School

[PEHM5]

It's a little pricey. IMO, the M course should have been included as part of the purchase of these vehicles.

[M6-Coupe]

Originally Posted by PEHM5

The M school courses: $1550 for the one day and $3995 for the 2 day course. If you own a M car, it's worth the time and cost. Basically, you arrive arrive 8:15am and spend approximately an hour in the morning going over the what you'll be doing during the course of the day. Once you leave the classroom, you're out in the cars learning cornering techniques, braking, maneuvering, and skid control. Other than the 1 hour lunch break, your out in the cars until 4:30 pm. At the end of the day and if you're up to it, the instructors will take you out on the course and demonstrative how these M cars really handle.

So basically $1550 for ~6 hours or ~250 per hour... not bad.
Looks like if you apply for BMW credit card you can pay that cost with 20% off ...
https://www.mybmwcard.com/Core/Home/ShowView/IntroCard

[tab]

Originally Posted by chask

Speaking of which, this reminds me about something you might want to be aware of. One of the stories I heard of the salesmen school they (BMW) ran at Lime Rock was about another driver - a pretty famous guy who has been on TV from time to time (still see/hear him these days). This was when BMW introduced some new front suspension for the 7 series that was supposed to make the car very stable and forgiving under difficult circumstances. To demonstrate this they had set up this large puddle or pool of water on one side of the track (so only one side of the car would hit it) near the end of a long straightaway (so the car was moving at a very high rate of speed at the time it hit it). I want to say BMW had brought 4 or 5 drivers and the cars were filled with sales people; one in front and at least two if not three in back (for some reason I want to say three in back but that might be wrong). Just as he was about to hit this puddle this driver would turn to glance in that back (as if to speak with someone back there), putting his right arm up on the seat beside him in order to get an easier view of the person back there. With the technology of the day (prior to this new suspension) this maneuver would have almost guaranteed a spin and at least quite a bit of out of control travel. And as I remember the story they were traveling at somewhere around 100 mph or above. Needless to say there were some screams, gasps accompanied by a lot of white knuckled grasps on whatever was close that could have easily removed very secure parts of the interior. But something BMW had done with the new suspension and linkage on the 7 series had all but made that nearly impossible. It was ingenious and worked very well. The guy I worked with at the time (the one who told me the story) had been one of those drivers and he demonstrated it to me with a car in the shop at the time. Got to admit I was a bit apprehensive that first time, even though I knew for certain what the new suspension was supposed to be capable of. The way it was told to me I am not sure if it was so much to mess with the sales people but to really stick the memory home of what the car could do and just how special this suspension really was. I also have a feeling though that the driver had a bit of mischievous streak too.

A good friend worked as an exec at a major US automaker, and told of the time he was permitted a ride-along with one of their ace test drivers on a banked private oval. The test driver did a thing, which my friend later learned this guy liked doing to newbie passengers, where he took the curve superfast and scraped the righthand track wall so as to take the passenger-side rearview mirror off at speed. Terrifying for the passenger, fun for the driver, apparently.

[C5driver]

Originally Posted by Mr.SugarSkulls

Ouch...little steep for my likes.

The BMW UDE has a 1 day mini M school for $750. I believe it's mid-late August in Irwindale.

[C5driver]

Originally Posted by M6-Coupe

So basically $1550 for ~6 hours or ~250 per hour... not bad.
Looks like if you apply for BMW credit card you can pay that cost with 20% off ...
https://www.mybmwcard.com/Core/Home/ShowView/IntroCard

And if you're a BMWCCA member, you also get 20 off...

[M6-Coupe]

Originally Posted by C5driver

The BMW UDE has a 1 day mini M school for $750. I believe it's mid-late August in Irwindale.

You mean it's a good practice for KIDS ?

[C5driver]

Originally Posted by M6-Coupe

You mean it's a good practice for KIDS ?

Not sure kids would pay $750 for a few hours, when all the other clinics are free.

This seems to be a good value and provides some insight into the M school prior to attending.

[aznkuja328]

thermal closes at 4pm now. the track that bmw uses isn't the same one thermal uses, but a much smaller portion on the map with a big skid pad, and i have never seen the bmw attendees inside the club house. i haven't attended any bmw events, but i believe it could be good experience!