Okay Shane and anyone else interested,

Here's the skinny on my weekend:

First a bit about the track. Atlantic Motorsport park is 2.56 km long and boasts the greatest elevation change of any Canadian track. (the front straight is about 95' and the backstraight about 4' above sea level.) It has 11 turns and is highly regarded as one the most technical circuits in Canada. The track is actually a cooperative operated amongst several professional and recreational organizations. The track needs some work in places.

About the experience. It was awesome. Wow. Most fun with your pants still on!! I was up at 5 am and arrived at the track (about 40 minutes from my home and located in a rural farming area) at 6:40. I didn't like the last 3.5k on the gravel and muddy road. There were 4 other cars there then- all instructors. I was the first student lined up outside the gate. I was in the green (novice) group along with about 11 others. There were 3 other groups based on driver experience and speed. My guy was a first time BMW instructor filling in for his brother who was still over in Paris. (Their family owns a womans fashion store and my instructor flew back the night before to be there.) He is a young guy with 5 years racing experience (well ranked) in Atlantic Canada and New England area in several touring car classes and from a family with lots of racing pedigree.

We started off with basic class instruction and then a few laps with my instructor driving, describing lines, apexes, entry and exit points etc including the slow slalom with cones close together along with a threshold braking session on the front straight. Then I got to take the wheel. There were more than a couple of cones down after 4 runs through the slalom but once I stopped accelerating through on run 3&4 I was fine. The next day the slalom cones were separated more and we also did a little hand over hand exercise in the go cart area.

There were about 3-4 class sessions each day and 4 driving sessions each 20-25 minutes which gave me roughly 8-10 laps each time. That includes pit time to get restaged at least once each session in order to find more space to go fast. On the last session which was about 40 minutes we were allowed to pass with proper signals on the front and back straight(which isn't). That was fun and it felt fantastic as I had made nice advances by then. I managed to get in a nice groove the last 4-5 laps and it felt easy. My instructor was silent. He told me afterwards that was good since everthing was going smoothly. But more fun was to come.... Our classroom instructor had asked if anyone wanted to go out with him. He is a well ranked racer for the past nine years in open wheel and numerous racing classes. We jumped in my car with him at the wheel and went in with the black (top) group. After one familiarization lap he opened it up. Holy s****. That guy made my G fly. The M3's seemed to be disappearing in the mirrors. Interestingly both he and my instructor were very impressed with the car's handling, braking and especially the power. First time they had driven one.

I drove the entire time with VDC on at the suggestion of my instructor. He had said at first we might take it off in the latter session but he changed his mind and I was fine with that. That was after I had it a bit loose in one area after slightly missing my apex. It had almost no intervention except one very slow 2 gear hairpin corner which I learned to use more track and modulate the throttle on. My brakes worked incredibly and actually at my level was almost never was at full braking effort on the lapping. My tires however are done. There is not much tread showing on the outside fronts now. It was neat to see and smell them still smoking a bit a minute or two after lapping.

By the way some of the other 35 or so cars there included a 328GTB Ferrari, '06 Zo6, 911, at least a dozen M3's of every vintage(my instructors was a pretty fun and fast one to co-pilot., Z3 and Z3 M? (guy parked next to me 315 hp 3.2l but tail happy), Focus, SRT4, Mustang, 325, 330's A6, etc.


I'm registered for the September school and may move up to the blue group based on my instructors evaluation and recommendation. Who knows maybe I'll find a solo event. That is if I can afford to keep replacing tires. I need a dedicated car..........

Guys and gals- highly recommended experience. Well organized and professionally done. Safe and practical learning for the street and satisfying if you have a need for speed. A major thing for me was learning how much more car there is here than we can even imagine on the street.

 

Sounds like bags of fun Deane, great report.
You've got me itching for my BMW events at Downsview later on.

 

Mwahahaha! My plan is working!

Good to hear you had a great time. Have you picked out your track car yet?

 

No, no, you want BMW Club events at the track!

 

September

 

Woohoo! I've got a friend coming in September for his first one too.

 

STOP IT!!!!

 

Thanks. It was fun. You'll have a blast. The learning curve moves fast and with a good instructor you'll enjoy it that much more.

I edited my post and added a few things I missed.

Deane

 

I'm really looking forward to it.
First session is in a 330i
2nd sesion we'll have seat time in a M3

Might as well hammer their hardware while learning

 

The 325! & 330's bimmers are very fast on our track here. They seem to stick like glue. Ones with good drivers were pretty well on my tail until it came to hammer time. The M3's were very fast.

 

I've said it before, but in my "thrashing" of a friend's '05 M3, on what I consider to be the most enjoyable test drive of my life (other than my first G drive, of course), I found the biggest difference between the G and M to be "chassis composure." The tires stay stuck, regardless of action or surface. Any body roll, and there is more than the G, is intentional. It's what you get when you spend closer to a hundred grand, rather than fifty.

On a side note, our drive in the M, with his wife in the back seat, inspired him to take every single BMW course, including Tremblant open wheel, and the winter session. I think when all was said and done, he dropped close to 15K (don't quote me; since I've moved he's been emailing and I haven't kept a running tally, but...) All along on our drive, I kept saying "now I'd like to do this..." or "would you mind if I..." and with a big, sh*ta s grin, he kept nodding. After our drive, I thought his wife would be freaked , but she was totally pumped, exclaiming that "the car" had never done that before. They're in their early sixties, which makes their enthusiasm all the more refreshing. His daily driver is an '05 Cooper S, and now he wants the JCW with LSD. Ah, to be wealthy.

 

I haven't driven an M but IMHO what you say makes sense. The president of The Bluenose Club (and driver of a newer M3) was commenting on my car Saturday at the track. He was very complimentary and I responded as humbly as possible by saying I had nothing I could compare to not having driven any other cars there. To my surprise he said the best comparison was with an M3.

There was a Cooper on the track with me but not an S. It didn't have much power but stuck like glue around that tight hilly track.

Have to agree with you on the wealthy side. The cars I would own.

 

Deane sounds like a newly hooked junkie. Soon he'll be posting in the motorsports forum.

 

That's what I'm afraid of too
I just know I'll miss having my 914/6 to thrash arround.

 

Friend of mine is building a 914 into a track car!