December 8
Today I have all day private track training with Donnie Isley. Basically, it’s open structure…what would you like to work on? I chose skid pad/drifting, J turns (yes, really!) and lapping, of course!
The J turns and lapping were great, but the absolute highlight was getting the M5 around the skid pad in a continuous drift for almost 2 whole circles! The new 440i coupe is disappointing.
December 9
A little break from BMW today. Well not totally, Donnie let me drive his E24 635 today. The rest of the day was spent with Land Rover at the off-road course on the grounds of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. I recently replaced bought a 2020 Discovery Diesel for my mother and am absolutely in love with it, so I figured I’d spend some time on a slower driving experience. They let me drive the new Defender, which is an absolutely awesome vehicle, totally deserving of the MT SUVOTY award it earned. I was so impressed by the course and the experience, that I will definitely be doing some Land Rover excursions, hopefully in Namibia later this year. Most interesting, however, was how similar the principles are to track driving, with the primary difference being how much more slowly things happen! Some photos!
Dinner tonight is at Donnie’s buddies place in downtown Asheville. A true French dining experience in the American South, how about that!
December 10
Back to the BMW PC. Today I subbed out my M Driver’s Pack one-day whatever for the one-day M School the PC had going. Three highlights. First, I get to drive Donnie's Ram dually down to Greenville for service...what a beast! They let me skip all the skidpad training and just show off my drifts. I totally fried a brand new M8Cs CCB system. The instructors were impressed how hard I was using the brakes…and then she just gave up! Apparently, there is a flaw in the system where it doesn’t accurately reflect how quickly the wear is occurring, and then the heat on the thin pads accelerates the wear and the brakes are gone before the car can realize what’s happening. Fun times!
