Driving

Ladies and Gents, start your BMW Engines

by Tamara on July 10, 2009

Logic for BMW drivers: If you buy a BMW, you should know how to drive it. All too often, I come across two kinds of BMW owners, both of whom are clueless on the potential of their driving machines. The first set shows off as if they are chasing Vin Diesel himself, wrought with bad one-armed driving habits sloppy braking, and no real race car skills. Or they’re the other kind of BMW driver, they like to go fast, but are intimidated by anything except a straight stretch of highway. It would be to the best advantage of both under educated driver to opt on the BMW Performance Driving School Delivery Center, traveling to Spartanburg, South Carolina to pick up their new BMW car or motorcycle, and learn from experts on the nearby obstacle courses.

The school breaks it down likes this: Performance driving (per-for-mance dri-ving; verb, transitive) – the act of extracting the highest level of performance from an automobile by its driver under any circumstances.

I had a track side experience this week driving an M3, 650i, 750, X6, 1 series and 3 series for three solid laps a piece under the guidance of their certified instructors. My weak points are built on incorporating newish technology – like paddle shifters – into my F1 style moves. The instructors gently eased me on, building up my confidence with a few lessons for take home practice. It was just a taste, but the deft response of the M3 is best appreciated on the track. The M School is right up the ally of any performance driving aficionado, whereas tentative parents can’t go wrong with the Teen Driving School for next-gen BMW drivers. I spied drivers learning oversteer technique on the skid pad across the way, as students earned their racing stripes. Shiny new BMWs were lined up preened for customer pick up, with eager customers in search of their apex.