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      08-29-2017, 07:28 PM   #1
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BMW M Fascination Nürburgring Nordschleife M2 2 Day Training

Hey all!

I am off to Germany this Saturday for M Fascination training in the M2 at the Nordschleife. This event was sponsored by Donnie Isley willwin2day and I was invited after completing M School at Thermal. Cost was $5295 and for that you get basically almost all meals, the 2 day training and 4 nights at the Lindner Congress & Motorsport Hotel in Nürburg. Just have to get yourself there. It's a steep price and none of the discounts you can use on M School will work for it, but I am expecting it to be a blast!!!

From what I understand (BMWs schedule starts after/ends before Americans arrive), Sunday is arrival and welcome dinner at the famous Pistenklause.

Monday is an empty day of sorts with some walking of the track and registration.

Tuesday and Wednesday are section training and laps!!

Thursday is departure...for me this means on to Melbourne, Australia for a Great Ocean Road trip with my brother, with stopover in Bangkok.

Some teasers to start. Full report as I am there or when back. This is the first leg of an 11-day Round-the-World trip, so I may be slow to get things up.

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04th-06th September 2017 Agenda BST NOS M2_englisch.pdf
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      08-29-2017, 08:47 PM   #2
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Wow! Congratulations! That is awesome! I was looking into this...but wow $5K! Yikes! Is that per person or 'per vehicle' ...thought I read somewhere that you could have two participants in a vehicle. Enjoy!!
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      08-29-2017, 09:09 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GimmeanM View Post
Wow! Congratulations! That is awesome! I was looking into this...but wow $5K! Yikes! Is that per person or 'per vehicle' ...thought I read somewhere that you could have two participants in a vehicle. Enjoy!!
It's per person...from what I understand there are two people per vehicle...so what you heard may be a variation. I figure 4 nights in the hotel and the food probably comes to about $1500, so it's more like $3800 for the actual driving course. Expensive, but not totally unreasonable. Advanced M School is about the same price, although it can be discounted.
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      08-29-2017, 09:23 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by E46M54325Ci View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by GimmeanM View Post
Wow! Congratulations! That is awesome! I was looking into this...but wow $5K! Yikes! Is that per person or 'per vehicle' ...thought I read somewhere that you could have two participants in a vehicle. Enjoy!!
It's per person...from what I understand there are two people per vehicle...so what you heard may be a variation. I figure 4 nights in the hotel and the food probably comes to about $1500, so it's more like $3800 for the actual driving course. Expensive, but not totally unreasonable. Advanced M School is about the same price, although it can be discounted.
Dang. That's as much as a week of heli-skiing up in British Columbia.

Do enjoy it though, I'm sure it will be awesome!
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      08-29-2017, 10:45 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GimmeanM View Post
Dang. That's as much as a week of heli-skiing up in British Columbia.

Do enjoy it though, I'm sure it will be awesome!
Heli-skiing is on the list! So are other things...Antarctica, Mig flight (migflug.com), among others!
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      08-29-2017, 11:25 PM   #6
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Looks like a great experience. I did the 2 day M school last year and have the urge to do advanced M at some point. Let us know how it goes.
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      08-30-2017, 03:17 PM   #7
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ugh, I *hate* you...sounds like one awesome trip

Stayed at the Linder Motorsport hotel for one night...pretty standard but not close at all to the actual Nordschleife - it is right off the GP Track.

Try to take the English walking tour of the GP track...it was pretty awesome.

Also, considering two full day of rentals at The Ring are going to be $2k+ (if not more when you consider deductibles and insurance)...the $5.3k really isn't that bad...

Are you responsible for the car at all? Have a great time
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      08-30-2017, 04:12 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lax01 View Post
ugh, I *hate* you...sounds like one awesome trip

Stayed at the Linder Motorsport hotel for one night...pretty standard but not close at all to the actual Nordschleife - it is right off the GP Track.

Try to take the English walking tour of the GP track...it was pretty awesome.

Also, considering two full day of rentals at The Ring are going to be $2k+ (if not more when you consider deductibles and insurance)...the $5.3k really isn't that bad...

Are you responsible for the car at all? Have a great time
As I understand it...our max liability is 2500 EUR...you're right, definitely not bad considering what rental cars cost!
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      08-30-2017, 06:36 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by E46M54325Ci View Post
As I understand it...our max liability is 2500 EUR...you're right, definitely not bad considering what rental cars cost!
Yeah, my rental with 6 laps (all inclusive) was $600 USD - which barely took up the morning - I was considering doing more laps for 70EUR/lap

M2 at the same place is $2200 for 12 laps ... you can definitely do 12 laps in one day. No instruction included of course. And this is during Touristfarhtan where its a free-for-all

$5200 now seems like a steal to me for 2 full days on a closed course...definitely seems like the right way to do it
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      08-30-2017, 07:48 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lax01 View Post
Yeah, my rental with 6 laps (all inclusive) was $600 USD - which barely took up the morning - I was considering doing more laps for 70EUR/lap

M2 at the same place is $2200 for 12 laps ... you can definitely do 12 laps in one day. No instruction included of course. And this is during Touristfarhtan where its a free-for-all

$5200 now seems like a steal to me for 2 full days on a closed course...definitely seems like the right way to do it
Exactly. And since I drive way too many miles to justify having the M2 as a one quiver, this will be a good demo as I am considering one as a weekend car!
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      09-03-2017, 07:21 PM   #11
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Day 1 - Travel and Arrival (2 days in one)

So, I'm going to do a review of the entire trip. Day 1 was departure from LAX to MUC en route to FRA. Flight to Munich was a little late but got there on time. Thank god for United MileagePlus award tickets. Although Lufthansa's J Cabin isn't great, it beats United economy.

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Sunset somewhere over Montana/Canada was amazing.

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Picking up the car in Frankfurt was effortless...and I splurged and upgraded to the new Alfa Stelvio for 80 EUR. Picture of that to come later. However, I can say that the navigation in the Stelvio is far from stellar. I had to whip out my TomTom for a faster route. Another thing to note for anyone headed toward the Ring this year. The roads are under construction. They were under construction last year and still are this year. This means lots of detours and getting somewhat lost. As the detour signs aren't the big orange dazzlers we have in the states. Some shots:

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Finally, after about 19 hours of travel from door to door, I got to the Pistenklause restaurant only 15 minutes or so into the scheduled dinner. Just in time to sit down for a steak on a stein!!!

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At about 9 pm, 21 hours in, I made it to the Lindner Congress and Motorsport hotel. So far very nice. Room is very nice. Parking garage a little tight and they charge 15 EUR a day for parking...this only seems absurd because of where we are. In central Frankfurt that's a steal, but out here something like parking should be included.

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Today (if I can get myself back to sleep for a couple hours) is a walking tour of the ring and just getting bearings. Tomorrow (Tuesday), the fun begins. Updates to follow!!

Last edited by Fugly M3; 09-05-2017 at 10:24 AM..
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      09-04-2017, 02:58 PM   #12
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Day 2 - Orientation

Day two is mostly getting oriented to Nurburg and time zone. I actually started my day with a 5 mile run around town at sunrise (another addiction for another forum ) Nonetheless, stunning sunrise!

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Then after breakfast, we had an excellent morning pit/paddock/track tour.

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We were then free in the afternoon to explore. I went with three other guys and drove down to Cochem, a nice little town on the Moselle (Mosel in German) river.

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Then in the evening we had the handout of BMW goodies (an awesome duffel bag, hat, pin, pen and pad, followed by classroom briefing (almost identical to M school - seating position, line, corners, understeer/oversteer, etc.) and then dinner at the Lindner hotel.

Tomorrow morning the real fun begins!!

Last edited by Fugly M3; 09-05-2017 at 10:24 AM..
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      09-05-2017, 10:18 AM   #13
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So jealous!
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      09-05-2017, 10:50 AM   #14
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Day 3 - Ring Day 1!!!

Finally. Finally! FINALLY!!! It's time for the Ring!

Day 3 for me started with a 4 mile run through town at sunrise (gotta take it easy with the driving starting today ).

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Then after breakfast it was time to meet the cars!

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Then we head over to the Ring for a warm up lap. This M training is done in pairs. Our instructors are Robert Fassl (BMW DE) and Donnie Isley willwin2day from the US!

Robert walking us through a section:

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Each of us got to do a warm up lap. Then it was slalom cones and hard breaking...orienting ourselves to the M2. Then it was back all the way around the ring to the end of the track and the mini carousel or schwalbenschwanz (swan/swallow's tail). We started our training with this section. Walking the corner was insane...you get a real feel of the banking. Unfortunately, I didn't get that photo! However, I did get us going backwards on the mini carousel..which was cool!

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After that, we moved on to the start of the track Tiergarten to the American corner (where Nordschleife track meets the GP track) and then on to the Hatzenbach, Hocheichen/quiddelbacher hoehe and Swedish Cross areas!

Video (Other set of drivers in the cars) and two shots from behind the fence in the Swedish Cross area!



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I imagine we'll cover the some of the more difficult stuff tomorrow...some shots!

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I particularly like this next one of the ducks in a row!

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Finally, at the end of the day, it was time for the lead-follow pace laps!!!

We did two back-to-back and then one. Since the BMW-provided USB sticks didn't seem to work after about 10:30 am, the iPhone mount was crucial here. In the two-lap go our times were approximately 9:57 bridge to gantry and 9:35 BTG!!! 20 seconds doesn't seem like a lot over 12 or so miles, but you can feel the difference when driving! The third go-round we had some slow spots for cars to catch up in the back of my pack and so it was 9:45-ish...ARGH!

Working on getting those videos posted for you all!

Update: Day 1 lap videos below:




Last edited by Fugly M3; 09-14-2017 at 04:58 PM..
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      09-06-2017, 12:57 PM   #15
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Awesome...and pretty jealous
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      09-06-2017, 04:06 PM   #16
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Day 3 - Couple Videos

A couple videos from yesterday from Tiergarten and Mini Carousel Sections, in order:



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      09-06-2017, 04:35 PM   #17
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Day 4 - Final Ring Day!!!

Day 4 started with section training essentially from where we left off on day 3. Fuchroehe-Adenau, Metzgefeld-Breidscheid, Lauda Section, and then Bergwerk-Carousel. Unfortunately we didn’t get training on the section between the large and small carousels, part of which is one of the hairiest sections of the track (Bruennchen I believe). Some shots:

Fox Hole - Fine art included and NASTY rumble strips

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Metzgefeld to Breidscheid instruction, it's steep!

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Lauda Corner instruction

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The Almighty Carousel

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The end of the day we got 4 full laps for each driver. My M USB stick (which was replaced) still didn’t work. Thank god for the iPhone. I recorded BTG times of 9:39, 9:28, 9:36 and 9:25. Unfortunately, the slowest guy in our group was moved from the other half of the guys to my half and given an instructor to go round with him for the pace laps (these are normally done alone). He kind of held us up. The guy I was paired up with got one of our guys in the switch and he recorded a 9:12 in his group. Apparently, one of the other M2 sets (many Alumni) was pulling sub 9 minute times. Something to work toward!

Robert (our instructor) was telling me to get off his ass in sections because he’d slow way down to wait for the last car to catch up. I probably won’t share that video when I get it loaded, because there are some choice words being used by Robert and me. I was happy to hear from Robert when we got out that he knew I could have gone faster along with a quintessentially German facial expression that can't be replicated online.

I will upload videos when I get a real internet connection. The Lindner Congress and Motorsport Hotel is lacking in that department. Overall, this was an absolutely incredible and insane trip. The fact that something like this is even legal is a little baffling from the eyes of an American lawyer. It’s just too cool!!

And there's a great certificate at the end!

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But saying goodbye was too hard...need to order an M2 and head back to this event next summer or the one after!

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Last edited by Fugly M3; 09-07-2017 at 12:58 PM..
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      09-06-2017, 07:05 PM   #18
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Wow, fantastic !!!

Thanks for sharing, I will do it soon !
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      09-07-2017, 12:56 PM   #19
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Here are all 4 laps from day 2! First two:



Third..BTG of 9:36:



And final..BTG time I recorded, at 9:25:


Last edited by Fugly M3; 09-14-2017 at 05:03 PM..
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      09-07-2017, 02:44 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by E46M54325Ci View Post
A couple videos from yesterday from Tiergarten and Mini Carousel Sections, in order:



Hey I know that guy!

Matt if you have FB I posted full lap and other pics
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      09-08-2017, 08:27 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KKSigs View Post
Hey I know that guy!

Matt if you have FB I posted full lap and other pics
Kevin!!! My training buddy! KKSigs feel free to add your video and commentary to the thread. I am all for open info for all on here, so the fun only gets bigger next time we go! I did see your Facebook videos! I love that Lap timer app...and that time!
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      09-08-2017, 11:27 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by E46M54325Ci View Post
It's per person...from what I understand there are two people per vehicle...so what you heard may be a variation. I figure 4 nights in the hotel and the food probably comes to about $1500, so it's more like $3800 for the actual driving course. Expensive, but not totally unreasonable. Advanced M School is about the same price, although it can be discounted.
Great post. Thanks for sharing.

I know there was (maybe still is) an Ring school that was run by one of the BMW clubs in Germany every year. The format sounds similar in that they would break down into groups and focus on sections of the track. It was less money because you brought your own car. Some participants posted about their experience over at the 'fest forum. I don't know if they still run it, but it would be great fun to be able to coordinate with an ED.
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