M Intensive Training Day
Discussion
My M5 came with the BMW drivers pack so aside from the car being delimited (possibly not much use in the UK ;|) ) I also have a day with BMW on what’s called an ‘M Intensive Training Day’.
The event timings look pretty good with just over 3 hours driving in the morning followed by lunch and then 3 and a half hours driving in the afternoon.
I understand aside from driving around the track you have an opportunity to tell the instructors what you would like to learn about your own car (obviously driving one of theirs rather than your own!). Personally I’m all up for 2 wheel drive and no nanny traction control to see just how long I can control a 600bhp saloon giving it some beans................possibly about 4 seconds at best
Has anyone been to one of these days and could you give me a clue what I can expect?
The event timings look pretty good with just over 3 hours driving in the morning followed by lunch and then 3 and a half hours driving in the afternoon.
I understand aside from driving around the track you have an opportunity to tell the instructors what you would like to learn about your own car (obviously driving one of theirs rather than your own!). Personally I’m all up for 2 wheel drive and no nanny traction control to see just how long I can control a 600bhp saloon giving it some beans................possibly about 4 seconds at best
Has anyone been to one of these days and could you give me a clue what I can expect?
Back from my day and.................OH MY GOD 
Left home at 4am to ensure I was there for 7:30am and I trundled along at the speed limit from the South Coast. What a surprise to see the V8 TT 600bhp returning 35mpg.
Gas guzzler.........hardly
Upon arrival I was parked in the largest M car park in the world
When you arrive you sign in provide your DL and a dated printout from the DVLA of your license history (there’s a link from BMW how to get that info, a 2 second form to download)
Breakfast was either full English/bacon or sausage sandwich or cereal etc., juices and coffee/tea and all very good and well presented.
We had a 45 minute presentation that wasn’t specifically about the day but about how a car handles when pushed etc. Lots of very useful information and good worthwhile tips for the day.
It is made perfectly clear you can have as much fun as you like but do not turn off the traction, DSC, MDM etc. And if you have a shunt they will check if you have and you will be billed accordingly. On the other hand, have an off with aids on and you’re fine
We were then split into 3 groups. In short you drive the model of your car or as close as you can so M5, M4 and M2. All Competition models and you share the car with another driver.
The layout of the day is split into 3 different handling exercises in the morning and some fast track work after lunch followed by the skid pan and then finally very fast laps around the circuit. Each car model completes a different exercise so at this point you don’t see anyone apart from your model and group (5 cars in my group)
All session start fast and then get progressively faster once we are all familiar with what we’re supposed to be doing. Th instructor does a demo run to show us what to do and it all looks pretty easy..................but it’s not quite as easy as he makes it look!
The morning session comprised of:
Slalom and then a timed shoot out...........cough, cough......I was fastest in my group
.......clearly I was with non-petrolheads 
Fast deviation from a set of cones to another. The entry speed initially was 60mph and when you enter cones, you are faced with a virtual wall, you have to turn left immediately into another row of cones and then you are faced with another virtual wall at which point you should be braking and swing right into a third set of cones. Now if you’ve followed my description I can assure you it’s far more difficult in real life!
Finally a very fast entry into a bend in the circuit where at a given point you hit the brakes and steer within cones and try to keep the car on circuit.
Then off to lunch and that was very pleasant with soft drinks/tea coffee etc.
PM starts with half of the circuit each for two groups and the third on the skid pan.
You all follow the instructor very closely and he shows the line. Now this is where it got very interesting because we were actively encouraged to go for it and be close and be fast, and I mean fast. We had a couple of visitors to the litter but what a great hour or two.
The skid pan is just that. Everything turned off and it’s driving for about 45 minutes. Not just have a go.......have a bloody good go and keep having a go until you’re dizzy I almost managed a full circle but what I lacked in ability to drift I made up for in 360 degree burnouts Drifting is a lot more difficult than it looks!
Then off to the circuit for 4 full laps each followed by 2 cooling down laps. This was absolutely as fast as you could go and boy was that fun
I do have lots of videos which sadly we can’t post on PH But here are a few pics from the day
MPG, much better
Tyres being used as they should
View of the track
Tyres getting a bit warm....
We also decided to go out with our instructor for some fats laps and weren’t disappointed aside from the fact he seemed to make so little effort whilst I remembered sawing the steering like it was the last thing to do on earth. Ricardo is a previous 911 Cup Car Driver, Le Mans driver and in two weeks is going to Spa for the 24 hour so he was a fairly talented chap
So my conclusion:
A very well organised day with plenty of opportunity to drive a car similar to your own and explore there limits in a safe and controlled environment.
You are actively encouraged to push the car to the edge of your ability and to be honest I had no idea that an M5 could be driven like we did. For a big old bus it really does go and around the track apparently is faster than any other M car simply because of the huge amount of grunt. I guess there lighter M2 or M4 will be a better drive but they don’t go any faster than an M5. We were going so fast, I really don’t think I’ve ever been that fast on track in anything. Towards the chicane I was over 135mph and I can tell you that’s more than enough to have a serious brown trouser moment if you get it wrong!
The instructors are constantly providing tips and encouragement via a walkie-talkie in all of the cars and sometimes he’s doing that whilst driving himself watching you in his rear view mirror whilst changing gear or whatever
Just an utterly brilliant, brilliant day and if you are lucky enough to have the M Package with your car I can assure you, you will have a great day out.
I’ve noticed some pictures are orientated incorrectly but can’t seem to remedy that currently from my iPad.
Left home at 4am to ensure I was there for 7:30am and I trundled along at the speed limit from the South Coast. What a surprise to see the V8 TT 600bhp returning 35mpg.
Gas guzzler.........hardly
Upon arrival I was parked in the largest M car park in the world
When you arrive you sign in provide your DL and a dated printout from the DVLA of your license history (there’s a link from BMW how to get that info, a 2 second form to download)
Breakfast was either full English/bacon or sausage sandwich or cereal etc., juices and coffee/tea and all very good and well presented.
We had a 45 minute presentation that wasn’t specifically about the day but about how a car handles when pushed etc. Lots of very useful information and good worthwhile tips for the day.
It is made perfectly clear you can have as much fun as you like but do not turn off the traction, DSC, MDM etc. And if you have a shunt they will check if you have and you will be billed accordingly. On the other hand, have an off with aids on and you’re fine
We were then split into 3 groups. In short you drive the model of your car or as close as you can so M5, M4 and M2. All Competition models and you share the car with another driver.
The layout of the day is split into 3 different handling exercises in the morning and some fast track work after lunch followed by the skid pan and then finally very fast laps around the circuit. Each car model completes a different exercise so at this point you don’t see anyone apart from your model and group (5 cars in my group)
All session start fast and then get progressively faster once we are all familiar with what we’re supposed to be doing. Th instructor does a demo run to show us what to do and it all looks pretty easy..................but it’s not quite as easy as he makes it look!
The morning session comprised of:
Slalom and then a timed shoot out...........cough, cough......I was fastest in my group
.......clearly I was with non-petrolheads Fast deviation from a set of cones to another. The entry speed initially was 60mph and when you enter cones, you are faced with a virtual wall, you have to turn left immediately into another row of cones and then you are faced with another virtual wall at which point you should be braking and swing right into a third set of cones. Now if you’ve followed my description I can assure you it’s far more difficult in real life!
Finally a very fast entry into a bend in the circuit where at a given point you hit the brakes and steer within cones and try to keep the car on circuit.
Then off to lunch and that was very pleasant with soft drinks/tea coffee etc.
PM starts with half of the circuit each for two groups and the third on the skid pan.
You all follow the instructor very closely and he shows the line. Now this is where it got very interesting because we were actively encouraged to go for it and be close and be fast, and I mean fast. We had a couple of visitors to the litter but what a great hour or two.
The skid pan is just that. Everything turned off and it’s driving for about 45 minutes. Not just have a go.......have a bloody good go and keep having a go until you’re dizzy
I almost managed a full circle but what I lacked in ability to drift I made up for in 360 degree burnouts Drifting is a lot more difficult than it looks!Then off to the circuit for 4 full laps each followed by 2 cooling down laps. This was absolutely as fast as you could go and boy was that fun
I do have lots of videos which sadly we can’t post on PH But here are a few pics from the day
MPG, much better
Tyres being used as they should
View of the track
Tyres getting a bit warm....
We also decided to go out with our instructor for some fats laps and weren’t disappointed aside from the fact he seemed to make so little effort whilst I remembered sawing the steering like it was the last thing to do on earth. Ricardo is a previous 911 Cup Car Driver, Le Mans driver and in two weeks is going to Spa for the 24 hour so he was a fairly talented chap
So my conclusion:
A very well organised day with plenty of opportunity to drive a car similar to your own and explore there limits in a safe and controlled environment.
You are actively encouraged to push the car to the edge of your ability and to be honest I had no idea that an M5 could be driven like we did. For a big old bus it really does go and around the track apparently is faster than any other M car simply because of the huge amount of grunt. I guess there lighter M2 or M4 will be a better drive but they don’t go any faster than an M5. We were going so fast, I really don’t think I’ve ever been that fast on track in anything. Towards the chicane I was over 135mph and I can tell you that’s more than enough to have a serious brown trouser moment if you get it wrong!
The instructors are constantly providing tips and encouragement via a walkie-talkie in all of the cars and sometimes he’s doing that whilst driving himself watching you in his rear view mirror whilst changing gear or whatever
Just an utterly brilliant, brilliant day and if you are lucky enough to have the M Package with your car I can assure you, you will have a great day out.
I’ve noticed some pictures are orientated incorrectly but can’t seem to remedy that currently from my iPad.
Colinv6 said:
Wow superb write up and you have sufficiently wet my appetite for mine now!!
Was there any CS models or will I have to slum it in a comp pack?
I didn't see any CS models being used, only the CP of all three models being used.Was there any CS models or will I have to slum it in a comp pack?
As I mentioned, we had the track split into two halves during early pm and we all had a number of laps following the lead car with the instructor driving and he was teaching us the racing line. As we gained more confidence so his speed would increase, so we started at 80% and finished flat out.........I'm not talking pushing a bit, I'm talking I was driving the M5 as fast as I could
The way the car moved around the track was amazing and yes it's heavy but christ does it drive well and the speed it picks up............ wow 
I'm confident our young instructor would destroy us in a race however he commented he was right on the limit on the fast track runs...................and some of us were keeping up with him
Utterly, utterly brilliant day
BFleming said:
HoHoHo said:
The morning session comprised of...
Slalom and then a timed shoot out...........cough, cough......I was fastest in my group .......clearly I was with non-petrolheads...
Slalom and then a timed shoot out...........cough, cough......I was fastest in my group .......clearly I was with non-petrolheads...
Terminator X said:
Small world, this is your co-driver signing in
Bit awkward 
Hopefully you'll agree a good day had by all with a few laughs along the way!
BFleming said:
HoHoHo said:
The morning session comprised of...
Slalom and then a timed shoot out...........cough, cough......I was fastest in my group .......clearly I was with non-petrolheads...
Slalom and then a timed shoot out...........cough, cough......I was fastest in my group .......clearly I was with non-petrolheads...
Terminator X said:
Small world, this is your co-driver signing in
Bit awkward 
I think John was about .2 of a second slower than myself, to be honest I thought he did a pretty good job and would be picking the trophy up
Terminator X said:
HoHoHo said:
Hi John
Hopefully you'll agree a good day had by all with a few laughs along the way!
Yep awesome day all round! You were the fastest so no worries on that score Hopefully you'll agree a good day had by all with a few laughs along the way!
TX.
I’m sure John will agree the videos (IMO) really don’t show just how fast we or the car was travelling!
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