[pruettfan]

In 2016 while my M2 was on the boat I decided to feed my urge to drive M cars and to learn about how to drive them properly so I did the 2 day M School out at Thermal. Not cheap but a great experience.

In the 14 months I have had my M2 I have been frankly too scared to track my M2, not because of fear of my driving but I keep getting this vision of someone else taking me out and destroying a car I can't afford to write off.

Fast forward to today, I have some time off and I am a bit bored. In looking at the feeds for a good track day, insurance (to ease my mind) as well as wear and tear on my car I have decided to feed my track urges by doing a school program every other year. Anyway I am going to do the Advanced M School out at Thermal (a fantastic facility) Feb 4,5,6 and wondered if anyone else by chance is signed up. Last time there were three M2 owners one who had just taken delivery and the other two, me included with our cars on the same boat coming over.

I will report back on my experience for anyone who is curious.

[UltraMagneticAL]

i really want to do the advanced school and the Nurburgring school they offer. but just found out wife is pregnant with our first kid, so that probably won't happen for a while lol

are you in socal? there are a lot of good hdpe groups that run safely out here. they say the most dangerous part of a track day of getting to and from the track. also i would recommend starting at one of our desert tracks with lots of dirt runoff instead of a track with walls if you are really scared of stuffing the car

[pruettfan]

Originally Posted by UltraMagneticAL

i really want to do the advanced school and the Nurburgring school they offer. but just found out wife is pregnant with our first kid, so that probably won't happen for a while lol

are you in socal? there are a lot of good hdpe groups that run safely out here. they say the most dangerous part of a track day of getting to and from the track. also i would recommend starting at one of our desert tracks with lots of dirt runoff instead of a track with walls if you are really scared of stuffing the car

This stuff is tough to do with little ones in the house. Fortunately all of mine are grown up now (though not entirely independent) so I finally get to take care of my desires.

Live in AZ, we have several good options here and I know that they have good reputations for safety but a few years ago I saw a video of a guy waiting in line for his turn to go on track, the steward made him pull up closer to the entry of the track and while waiting a guy in a 370z trying to make the pole apparently, lost control of his car and took out two cars sitting their waiting. I know that is the extreme exception but once you see something like that its hard to get it out of your head. After I do the advanced M I might try a day with Pro-formance over at Firebird, I have watched a few sessions there and they seem to have a good system to keep things safe.

[lax01]

You can also rent racecars...and not take your unprepped street car to the track for HPDEs...always an option considering how expensive 2-day and Advanced M School. You will UNDOUBTEDLY get better instruction at Thermal with the BMW Performance Center though (Unless you have a bunch of n00bs in your class)

[ShelJW]

Slightly off topic, but I took my two teenage kids to Thermal on January 2, as a Hanukkah present.

My wife and I took the two hour class, while the kids took the eight hour teen driving class!

We had the time of our lives! It was a total blast!

First hour was in the classroom, and at the end of the class, before we went outside to drive, the instructor asked if there were any questions.

I raised my hand, and asked if we would be driving any M cars.

No.... he responded, that's in another class.

Slightly disappointed, I marched outside, to find an M2, followed by an M4 and three SUV's in line, for us to drive!

We later did laps in 3 series cars...

The instructors then took each of us out, with them driving, around the track, with wheels squealing, tires smoking and the car sliding in and out of turns ... just a total blast!

They later gave my two teens a ride around the track, and the smiles on their faces make the cost of the day totally worth it!

My 17 year old got out of the car, BIG grin on her face, waving the smoke from the tires out of her eyes, and says loudly... "I'm driving home!!!"

[pruettfan]

Thought I would report back. Had a great experience, nice variety of students and excellent instructors. For the second day we spent nearly the entire day running the large track out there (north palm and desert palm combined) with 2 students per instructor matched up based on speed to ensure that everyone could push to go faster without getting slowed down by a driver that wasn't up to the pace. This worked really well, my partner was very experience in his GT3 so he was adapting to the M3/4 so we ended up doing pretty well together. Since I was already in the LA ish area I decided to go from the BMW school to the Porsche Experience Center and did 90 mins in the GT3, wow what a car. If you are curious about a porsche the experience center is a great way to get a pretty good amount of driving in lots of conditions with excellent instruction for a pretty reasonable amount of money.
Based on my experiences I am ready for tracking my M2, ordered my Pagid brake pads and better brake fluid and will head to the NASA track days at Firebird later this month.

Thanks for all of the input

[lax01]

Did they ride in the car or use walkie-talkies (like 1 Day M School)?

[dvas]

Originally Posted by pruettfan

Live in AZ, we have several good options here and I know that they have good reputations for safety but a few years ago I saw a video of a guy waiting in line for his turn to go on track, the steward made him pull up closer to the entry of the track and while waiting a guy in a 370z trying to make the pole apparently, lost control of his car and took out two cars sitting their waiting. I know that is the extreme exception but once you see something like that its hard to get it out of your head. After I do the advanced M I might try a day with Pro-formance over at Firebird, I have watched a few sessions there and they seem to have a good system to keep things safe.

I think the video you're referring to was from Pocono racetrack on the east course. That track doesn't exactly have the best pit in/out layout which highly contributed to the scenario. The infield tracks from the Nascar oval are on the fringe of being considered a real race track, at best. I've been to a good number of tracks and have never seen a similarly poor layout. On the contrary, every other track has a clearly defined pit lane with concrete dividers.

There's probably a lot that can go wrong at a track event but that is one of the unlikeliest. And at the vast majority of events, as long as you go with a safety conscious group and don't drive over your head, you wil just have a great time.

[pruettfan]

Originally Posted by lax01

Did they ride in the car or use walkie-talkies (like 1 Day M School)?

They don't ride in the car for any of their programs from what I understand. Did everything via radio. Speeds are way higher than the first day of the regular M school and the track they use for the Advanced M is much harder than the South Palm that they use in the 2 Day M School and that they used during M days.

[Uncledanny6]

Originally Posted by pruettfan

In 2016 while my M2 was on the boat I decided to feed my urge to drive M cars and to learn about how to drive them properly so I did the 2 day M School out at Thermal. Not cheap but a great experience.

In the 14 months I have had my M2 I have been frankly too scared to track my M2, not because of fear of my driving but I keep getting this vision of someone else taking me out and destroying a car I can't afford to write off.

Fast forward to today, I have some time off and I am a bit bored. In looking at the feeds for a good track day, insurance (to ease my mind) as well as wear and tear on my car I have decided to feed my track urges by doing a school program every other year. Anyway I am going to do the Advanced M School out at Thermal (a fantastic facility) Feb 4,5,6 and wondered if anyone else by chance is signed up. Last time there were three M2 owners one who had just taken delivery and the other two, me included with our cars on the same boat coming over.

I will report back on my experience for anyone who is curious.

I am driving to thermal on the evening of the 4th for the two day school 2/5-2/6