My first day at the tracks!

[jplacson]

I attended my first BMW driving school yesterday, as well as joined the BMW Car Club of the Philippines. It was fun! My car did pretty well for a little 520i. I was just a second behind the larger guys (E34 530i, E46 323, E46 330d, E36 M3) on the slalom course and I wasn't really pushing the car. I just wanted to learn how to drive better.

The one that blew us all away was the E30 M3... it killed the E36 M3 on the slalom by a full 2 seconds. Track time for both M3s was identical though. Other than bigger wheels, all cars on the track were all stock.

The E30 M3 blew a release bearing on his transmission. And an E36 316i had a mild crash (rear right, trunk area) after he spun out of control on the track. Mostly cosmetic damage... but he was the only one running stock 15" rims, and I guess he was trying to attack the corners like the rest of us.

This is where my suspension concerns came out... I'm glad they did though, I want my car in tip top shape (not really for track, but just want it to drive the way it was meant to.)

Anyway, just wanted to share my happiness. I'm in love with my car all over again after the tracks yesterday! Will post pictures once the club uploads them on our site.

[Javier]

the state of happiness you're in. Just would like to have been there.

[jplacson]

Pics of our race clinic....BMW Car Club of the Philippines

http://www.pbase.com/hamann/2004_race_clinic&page=all

(mine's the white E34)

[TheGeak]

VERY NICE!!!!

and i agree, i could just FEEL the glow on your face writing that! I can't wait to hit up the tracks, i'm tempted to take my lil' MkII Golf. Stock 13's all around! i'd tear it up!

[ccrawford]

What size are those wheels? They look like the 19s from the new 745? Are they replicas and if so where did they come from. Nice look...

[Jeff N.]

wow...hostile track. Not much runout in some places. Lot's of concrete walls.

Looks like everyone had fun!

Jeff

[jplacson]

Yes it's very hostile!!! hehehe... it's a pro track actually. A friend of mine (the green E36) spun out and crashed his rear end. It was an unfortunate incident, because he just missed the tire barrier by a few feet. And he ALMOST came to a complete stop right before hitting the concrete wall...just unlucky.

The track is actually pretty freaky... it was my first time ever on one... and even after the clinic, we were all led out by the instructor...he was teaching us the racing line. As we drove around, each lap got faster and faster... while I was cornering, I thought...hmmm... these walls are all concrete... and we're all amateurs... THIS IS FREAKY!!!! :lol:

And true enough, as my friend tried to push his stock 316i (15" rims, stock tires) harder with each lap, he entered a technical turn too fast... almost hit the last concrete wall head-on, overcorrected, spun-out on the last turn facing the wrong way... crashed his right rear-end on the concrete wall. We were all actually wondering how he managed that since this was a section of the track where most people who push their car hard would hit LEFT side, not the right side of their car.

You should have seen us by the pits... where most cars come out towards us, we heard a screech... then saw him sliding towards the wall... his car was slowly sliding...slow enough, that we actually had enough time to crack a joke about him driving too fast... then we all started to freak when we saw that he wasn't gonna stop before hitting the wall... then CRUNCH! We all ran towards him shouting "GET OFF THE TRACK!!!!" Since he forgot the 'If you crash, stay in the car, or jump over the barrier' rule... we were worried that the next cars would come out of the blind corner and hit him since he was standing in the middle of the tracks shaking his head in disbelief! Poor guy.

Good thing is car is insured... it gave him an excuse to get "better rims and tires"... so he's not too bummed about it.

[jplacson]

18"... yes they are replicas of the new wheels on the new 7-series. They came with the car when I bought it. But I think you can find them online, just type 'BMW replica wheels' in Google.

The only draw back is that they are 15mm offset. My car still handled exceptionally well on the tracks though, so the 5mm might not be as bad as I thought it would be.

I just joined the club that day...just so I could join the BMW racing clinic. hehehe...

A lot of people said my car looked good... and some wondered why my wheels looked bigger than theirs even though they were running 18s as well. hehehehe... I have to admit though, my wheels do look larger than they are... and that's a GOOD thing!!!

[Jeff N.]

ouch.

This was your first day out, right? Were there enough instructors to ride with each student? In our CCA chapter, "novice" students aren't signed off to drive solo until have have about 3 or 4 full track days experience. We find this helps prevent incidents like what happened to your friend.

Jeff

[jplacson]

Ratio was 5:1. Each student was given solo time with an instructor prior to going on the tracks... the basic BMW driving course (slalom, braking, cornering, etc)

Then each one had about 3-4 laps around the track with the instructor.

We were actually the guinea pig class for the chapter's race clinic. :lol: This was technically the chapter's first race clinic/track day as well (BMWCCP is fairly new, and was only recently added to the int'l BMW clubs about 3 months ago)

I'm sure the next track day will be more organized. I will bring up your suggestion on the 3-4 track days before going solo... although I doubt most of the members here would agree to that. :lol: