Well, I have just one word to describe this weekend's BMW driving school at Mid Ohio "Outfrikkinstanding!"

Ric & Cooper Stofer from KY and yours truly enrolled in the novice division of the school. The cost was $360 for the two day weekend, and you need a Snell95 or newer helmet, plus a recent BMW garage safety check (4 pages mine cost $100)of your car. The school was Sat & Sun and registration was Fri nite ( there were 90 signed up for the school)

Early Sat AM there is a mandatory safety meeting of all students where they discuss rules and safety and talk about the corner stations and the flags you will see on the course. As Novices there are only two starights where passing is allowed and the passed vehicle must signal to allow the pass and will slow and pull to the right, ( no passing on the right, which will be tuff for those of you used to driving in MI)

There are ABC&D levels of skill as well as the instructors. We were D class as novice, At no times do they combine different skill levels on the course, so you are driving with students of similar skills, and you will have an instructor with you on all sessions until they sign you off.

Our day started after the mandatory meeting with about 2 hours of class instruction, again stressing safety, and the course layout, detailed discussion of the turns, and the dynamics of a car in various load and weight transfer conditions, car dynamics, understeer/oversteer, what to do if you have to exit the couse ( offroad excursion), effective car handling , and picking and keeping the right line.
The course on sat had all of the apex points marked with a cone at turn in, & apex.
You also are asked to list what are your objectives for taking the course, and to relay those goals to your instructors

Then you have a half hour to prep your car, and yourself , as Mid Ohio is a very technical and challenging course with several Off Camber turns, it is listed as one of the 5 best road courses in the US, and you should leave all the mental baggage behind and concentrate on driving this course and then driving your car home in one piece. Prep time is time to check all of your fluid levels, adjust tire pressures, I went with 40PSI hot all aound Coop and Rick went with a little less in the rear tires. Get your seat position/harness postion and EMPTY the car completely of everything from the boot to the glove box, as all that stufff becomes flying missles if you screw up. Long pants and long sleeve cotton clothes are mandatory, although since it was hot, they allowed short sleeve T shirts/ no synthetics allowed as in the case of fire, they melt/into your skin and you will want some thin soled driving style shoes to provide you with proper feel of throttle and brake peddles. You must provide your instructor with the same style restraint as the driver, so if you have a harness, he will have a harness also.

Then you are called to report with your car and helmet to the false grid area about a half hour before your 1st track session, now your heart rate is starting to increase. park the car and wait for the stuff patrol to come by and remove any remaining stuff from the glove box/boot/floor, etc
and you meet your assigned instructor who will get in the car and talk about your seating position/mirror adjustment/.harness adjustment/ and then you start the car and let it warm up, and then the big moment you pull out into pit lane and grid in single file, this is where your heart starts beating in double time. Your instructor and your helmets are connected to a listen / speak so that he can communicate instructions to you above the car/tire noise, He will talk to you all the way around, then they start releasing cars leaving about 10 car lengths in between, and youre on the track

The first two laps are slow/top speed 60 MPH (straights)warm up and the instructor is telling you where the correct line is and pointing out the turn in and apex cones, telling you where to brake, and when to turn in and how hard, and after that you slowly build up speed, each session is maybe 7-10 laps, and the first sessions they ephasize familiarization with the course/proper braking techniques/passing/being passed turning in, tracking the line/ etc/ all quite a bit to grasp, and occasionally the DSC and ABS keep all well

Then you get the checkered flag which signals your last and cool down lap and proper exit into the pit lanes where you keep to the left as the next group is gridded up for their track time/ You discuss with your instructor the track session and things that need to be improved or tasks that need to be added to the next session. then you go back to the paddock area where all your stuff is.
In the paddock they suggest that you bring a tarp , we did and a cooler to put spare fluids/tools/tires/phones/cameras/and other stuff from your car
You park open the hood for cool down and after the car cools check all fluid levels, and tire pressures, and retorque your lug bolts.my drivers side front lossened slightly each session, so someone in the group needs to have the torque wrench

Next is lunch at the concession stand which I might add was pretty good food and open for breakfast and lunch, although a little pricey and a bottle of water is $2.75 so next time we will have a separate cooler for water etc. It is important to constantly hydrate yourself as this is really strenous activity and you can't beleive how much you will sweat sitting in the car helmet on and sunroof closed ( they had to tell me three sessions in a row to shut mine before entering pit lane

Then after lunch you have more class rooms where eveyone shares some ideas and thoughts about the track and their experience, additional car/track theory, then break and then back to false grid ready to go again.

Each day you get 2 -20 minute and 1- 25 minute track time, and you are also encouraged to ride with your instructor in their car during their sessions, and I must tell you that is an experience and much faster/ but it lets you learn from them and watch how they do it all the time talking around the course as to what is happening real time.

All day Saturday I didn't do any down shifting or upshifting as I concentrated on the braking, turn in and taking the correct line, so I was way bogged coming out of the turns to make Fast/ however it was a time to learn the limits of the car and myself with out worrying about missing a shift, there is so much happenning so fast in some of those corners that shifting was just too much additional We were entering brake points/turns at 70 mph and on the long back stretch we were hitting 95mph/ Coop & Rick was faster but up into 5th gear
At the end of the first day I was completely and unequivocally pooped/wore out, underhydrated, but with a big GRIN

Sunday I was much calmer/ less nervous/more cool
I had visualized the course and the line, now it was time to add the down shifting/upshifting get more speed outta the corners and carry more speed in the tsraights, Safety meeting 1 hour class/prep time/grid time and first track sesssion, I was ready I had just listened to the four tops while sitting in Minzila getting my game face on. Dave my instructor got in got cinched up and we were signalled onto the pit lane I had even remembered to close the sunroof and got a grateful nod from the lane worker. I was stoked and focused, two easy laps incorporating down shifting while braking in a staright line before turning into the corners and now being able to throttle out under power to WOT allowed much faster exit speeds and runout of the course, man did that feel good, everything working good now, just need to keep it all insequence, turned in early a few times, didnt brake quite hard enough, turned while still braking(not good), but all in all much better and faster, now hitting 90 in the front straight and 110 in the back. 4th lap got a yellow flag slow down maintain line watch out a head, an M3 had spun out into the grass on turn 1 musta forgot to brake or too much speed, saw him come back onto the course behind me . Seems like just a few laps later, It was all too short, Checkered flag.. 1st session done discussed it with instructor he happy me a big ***** eating grin

So the instructor says OK I like what you are doing /you have good track manners, very safe, if you are OK with this, I'm going to sign you off and you do the next session without me, I think you might be a little less nervous, and I said yeah great as my heart rate just goes into overdrive and I am now sweating in places I won't even start to mention, and he puts a small orange circle on my numbers which says SOLO

To the paddock more water, more classes, check fluids,pressure,torque nuts Lots more mental preparation and four tops at a high volume

OMG they just announce D drivers to false grid, am I the only one of us who got no instructor? Heart pounding wildly, all the water i drank now squirting outa every pore, here we go, pit lane , oh ***** here we go on the track take it slow a couple of laps, turn 1 good, the S turn 2&3 brake turn into the keyhole brake, down shift turn in now turn in harder nail the apex acclerate now WOT run out down the back stretch shift to 4th wind it out, its good all good, focused in the grove zoned what a ride , oops missed early turn in correct it concentrate, dam BMW M3 on my rear, gotta let him pass, oops a little fast into the carousel good thing DSC, hit the front straight, pass signal let him by, now chase him for a lap, now another M3 wants by OK good course manners, oh yeah now I get to pass the Mustang Corba, what a pig , oh yeah and here's the gal in the BMW coupe that spun it yeterday get to pass here too more laps its good, aww poop chekered flag last lap cool down back to the paddocks

OK so my instructor Dave catches up to me while I'm at the paddock and cooling down doing prep work for the 3rd and final track session, I kinda want him to ride along now because I am overloaded with confidence, and I want to show him my improvement. He walks up and says you did real good, and I said you were watching and he said you bet, you are good to go the last session too SOLO
More water, more prep I am stoked the 4 tops playng I am going over the course point by point Oh yeah they removed all the little orange cones which signalled the proper turn in and apexs after the 1st Sunday session, but that's Ok we now knew where OUR reference points were

3:20PM last session of the day 25 minutes solo, false grid pit lane out turn one, I am IN THE ZONE totally focused nailed the s and the keyhole good exit speed, keeping it slow the 1st few laps, 95 back stretch down shift brake turn in apex brake turn left apeex accaelrate, over the hill brake turn keeep right now left hit the apex and it kept getting faster and faster, let those two black M3 by now chase them, its all working feels good 10 or so laps and only a few minor screw ups good speed fastest best session Dam checkered flag and I am stoked to the MAX big A$$ grin , and way cool , and also very happy car in one piece, everyones car in one piece very safe and happy weekend

Pack up and do a cool down drive home, Send Rick and Coop off to Lexington, with discussion of DOING IT ALL OVER AGAIN END OCT

Boy do I stink sweating it was 85 both days ,lots of tension and physical work strain, gotta dring more water next time /and not as much scotch at night , gotta start working out and getting hand/arm.shoulder muscles tuned up, hot shower scotch dinner another scotch, I'm falling asleep in the recliner and it's only 8oPM guess I"ll go to bed
Up Monday after 12 hours sleep , but still somewhat drained man is there a bunch of crap on Minzila, sheesh, track rubber all over stuck to the wheels, sides and front of the car, bugs that have become one with the paint/ tires still full of track rubber off to th ecar wash brake dust so thick you wish you had grey wheels and 5 bucks worth of quarters and all the "track" tracks are gone ! Rotated the tires, lowered the air pressure

What a great experience when are we going back , probably end of October, what a hoot that was the best value for money Mod I coulda made. The cars got more power than I coulda used before, so now its time to make the driver perform,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, tighten the nut behind the wheel,,,,,,,,,,,,, so to speak,,,,,,,,,,,then brakes, head/cams/etc

I hope that I have interested some of you into taking this school, its safe a great way to go fast legally, designed to make you a better Driver, and allows you to drive on one of the premier race tracks It's a graet value and very high on the fun factor

Any questions, let me know, or see the BMW driving school for info

Thanks for your patience
_________________
BIG DOGS don't bark, they just growl real low!

 

What a write up!

That really does sound like fun.

 

Steve,


Sounds fanfriggintastic. I just joined BMWCCA, so maybe I'll sign up for the Mid-Ohio experience next spring. I wanna take Blubelle through her paces, especially turns 4-6 and the carousell.

 

Have you ever gone to the run-offs? I love Mid-Ohio.

 

Very nice write-up! I just joined the BMWCCA myself, they have a great reputation for putting on good driving schools.

I am hooked on the HPDE events, have done 10 days so far this year, with at least a couple of more scheduled. Have been at Pocono International Raceway, all three inner courses, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, Virginia International Raceway, Carolina Motorsports Park, and New Hampshire International Speedway's road course.

I agree that everyone who enjoys the performance driving aspects of their car should participate in at least one of these events.

 

your local BMWCCA chapter news letter should list some local shops that will do your pre-track inspection free.