09-08-2017, 11:29 AM | #23 |
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Departure Day, Parting Thoughts, Ring Video
Overall, this is an experience that cannot be missed. There are talks about a future lapping session trip for alumni of this and I can't wait for that. The instructors and the execution is, as is German and BMW style, all but flawless. The only serious complaints I have are that sometimes you end up with someone who can't keep up and even more so, that the USB sticks didn't really work, even after they gave out a second one, in my case. These are still minor issues, however, and I probably won't hesitate to do this again. Ideally, I'll tie it into my planned ED trip of the final year of the F22 M2.
Below should be the embedded vimeo of my last solo pace lap. BTG time of 9:25. Enjoy! The night before checkout they were setting up for the DTM race, and BMW blessed us with this eye candy: On check out day I hopped in my Alfa Stelvio rental A beautiful car, but the diesel non-sport seat version I had wasn't the best. Navigation was counter intuitive and tried to take me on way longer routes than my tom-tom. That being said, they are going to sell a ton of these things. I also had quite the stablemate...a Huracan I believe (I am not a huge Lambo guy...but this was ) I departed Nurburg and headed down to Heidelberg for a quick walk around the city. I'd heard incredible things. It is a gorgeous town definitely worth a day or two, but I do think it's a bit of a tourist trap/shopping mall. Main walking street is nothing but high end brand names. Nothing wrong with it, but not the quaint German town I imagined. Feel free to ask questions. I'll try and post the rest of my videos when I get the bandwidth to get them properly loaded. For now, I am sitting in Bangkok airport waiting to board my flight to Australia. I'll spare you all this part of the trip! Gute Fahrt!
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09-08-2017, 01:09 PM | #24 |
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Thanks for the write up and pics. One question, but maybe I missed it above, but what's the USB stick for?
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09-08-2017, 03:10 PM | #25 | |
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09-09-2017, 03:24 AM | #28 | |
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Don't think there was a Joe or Joseph...looked at the attendee list and didn't see him. Maybe he was in one of the M4 groups?
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09-09-2017, 11:35 AM | #29 |
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09-10-2017, 05:46 AM | #30 |
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hmm...joe must be nickname
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09-10-2017, 08:01 AM | #32 |
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I also did this BMW experience but started on the following day after you finished so we did the Thursday and Friday. We were in M4 but there was an American gorup in M2 for this course as well.
Fantastic way to get initial experience in a relatively safe and controlled environment. It rained when we aere lapping on the second day and the difference to dry lapping was dramatic. Track was extremely slippery and instructors took different lines but that was interesting in itself. The rain makes you really appreciate why its called the Green Hell. I was super happy with the course and despite the cost for long distance travel on top of the course it was worth it. We were lucky to have chief instructor and Ring taxi driver Claudia leading our group in the rain and she did have a good pace on which stretched the group out. One of the instructors said to me afterwards that there were 6 'incidents' with some body damage over the 2 days - none in our group. There is an excess that they can levy participants of Euro 2500 if an incident is deemed participants fault and significant enough to warrant this. The main weakness of the format is if there is a large speed difference within your group when lapping. The instructor then needs to slow down and let the groupd reform. But the section training is sort enough not to make this so much of an issue. Having had a taste I will definitely go back but would want to concentrate on lapping with an instructor in the car. One thing that may be possible that I didn't know about is that the day finished approx 4.30-4.45 and it is open track from 5pm. So if you could BMW to 'rent' you a car and instructor for say another hour then just pay per lap and this would top up the experience really well. |
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09-10-2017, 04:53 PM | #34 | |
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I agree, last year when I did ED I hired an instructor and he had me going pretty good after only 4 laps. I think that's probably the ticket to get the fastest, safe experience. How did you like the M4s. The M2 is the car I'd buy, but the M4 is the car I'd want for the ring I think.
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09-11-2017, 10:08 AM | #35 | |
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But interestingly you will have noted the instructors all used M3 and I asked about this and the comment made was that the M3 chassis is stiffer than the M4 and so the suspension tuning is different. Read better, for track. Having said all that I didn't find the M4 a particulary engaging car and like my M2 better as a daily driver. Haven't tried M3 |
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09-11-2017, 03:00 PM | #36 | |
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http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1023632 |
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09-11-2017, 04:43 PM | #37 | ||
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09-12-2017, 05:06 AM | #38 |
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Were the M2 you were using standard arpart from pads? The M3 our instructor used had MP exhaust. Just wondering if there was any MP adjustable suspension which I presume was tested at the Ring.
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09-12-2017, 05:34 AM | #39 |
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I believe it was standard...that said, the brakes were definitely not stock.
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09-14-2017, 05:07 PM | #40 |
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Update: all day 1 full lap videos are in post #14 and all day 2 full lap videos are in post #19.
A few more pics taken by BMW photographers to follow. Seriously missing this event!
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09-14-2017, 10:53 PM | #42 |
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It was 3 solo lead-follow pace laps on day 1 and 4 on day 2, so 7 total at speed. Plus 2-3 more at reduced speed.
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09-15-2017, 11:57 AM | #43 |
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BMW Photographer Pictures
As promised, the pictures taken by BMW's photographers...unfortunately only in one section and I wasn't driving then:
The two groups of drivers: Me and my (temporary) toy!
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09-16-2017, 08:20 PM | #44 |
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Got a nice thank you in the mail today! Donnie willwin2day is a true professional!
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