BMW M-School; A Personnal Diary From Carey Russ

``You're braking WAY too early!'' shouts the voice over the two-way radio in my BMW M-Coupe. ``You're not out on the street, the car can go much deeper into the corner, come on, go for it!.'' So I go back around the short return road to the beginning of the emergency lane change/slalom/basic cornering course and try again, waiting a little longer before hitting the brake pedal.

This is not High School Driver's Ed. This is BMW M-School, the flagship program in a series of street, off-road, and performance driving classes held at the BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina. M-School, named after the M cars used in it, combines elements of a high-performance street and a basic racing techniques course. In two and a half days, students are given some introductory theory, and plenty of seat time in the fastest BMWs and individual instruction from accomplished professional driving instructors.

M-School starts on arrival day with an short classroom session that introduces the program and covers performance driving basics. The school uses a building-blocks approach, so that material learned early on prepares students for later exercises. If it's short on theory, that's not a problem as the important facets are covered, and covered well, with examples, during the driving days. There are plenty of books available covering the more theoretical aspects of high-performance driving. Application of that theory is the hard part, and this is where M-School excels. The next two days are all seat time, eight-plus hours per day with a break for lunch. And so, after a tasty German dinner, off to bed to awaken before dawn and head for the Performance Center's track.

BMW's Performance Center is a wonderful modern facility, with a museum, archives of BMW literature, and more, but there will be no time to see any of those. We're here to drive. Day One starts with a lesson on proper seating position - back upright, arms bent, not outstretched, to the wheel, for maximum leverage. Legs should be bent, too, with reach reserve with the pedals fully depressed. Brace the left foot on the footrest when not using it on the clutch. Then, to the track.

There are quite a number of events to go through. I started with the lane change - slalom - corner braking combination, in an M- Coupe, in full street driving mode. Meaning that I was far too gentle with the car, especially in braking. Reset attitude...go deep, but not too deep, this is not an off-road driving course. This event teaches car control in a sharp cornering maneuver, transitions, and into a corner. This will all become very useful, I am assured.

Next up is heel-and-toe practice. This is a technique used by racers to operate the gas and brake pedals simultaneously. It's tricky, especially with my small, narrow feet. It's made even trickier by the fact that I'm now in a 400-horsepower M5 sedan on a tight, narrow road course with elevation change and a fast slalom. Smoothness and rhythm are important. And I'm beginning to push the car more.

Then the wet skidpad, in an M3. I tiptoe in the wet in the real world. Here, the object is to orbit around a well-watered circle of asphalt with the tail out, countersteering to balance. And not spin. Riiight.... When I did actually get the tail out, I usually lost it within half a lap, or 10 seconds, whichever came first. It takes experience and sensitivity to tell what the car is doing on the edge of control.

About that time, professional BMW racer Bill Auberlen gave a demonstration, hanging the tail of an M3 out for as long as he pleased. It can be done, but it takes practice. And don't try if you have a queasy stomach....

Lunch break. Hey, I'm hungry. Well, yes, this is strenuous activity. We're not cruising the shopping mall parking lot looking for a parking space. We are also reminded constantly to drink plenty of water. South Carolina summers are warm, to say the least. Fortunately, BMW performance is not adversely affected by use of the air conditioner.

After lunch it's time for more wet skidpad practice, then more times around the heel-and-toe course. The first day finishes with timed laps around another variation of the multi-configurable Performance Center road course, incorporating slaloms, chicanes, and the wet skidpad. Everything is starting to come together, and everyone is feeling more in touch with their cars and their abilities. Then back to the hotel, dinner, and as much sleep as possible. This is high-energy activity.

Day Two: Up even earlier, and off to the Michelin test track an hour south near Lorens, SC. Lessons learned yesterday will be put to use today. First up is a long, relatively fast second- and third- gear autocross, in an M3. We have a choice of regular or SMG cars; I choose the SMG, thereby negating yesterday's heel-and-toe practice. Hey, the little guy in the box downshifts much better than I can, and this is how the F1 guys do it anyway. And this is an environment in which the SMG excels.

First we practice with the dynamic stability control (DSC) on, which keeps the cars mostly pointed the right direction, as DSC pulls the plug when one gets too sideways. Then with DSC off. I'm better at feeling when the car approaches its limits, and those limits are very high, indeed. And I'm on about 10 acres of asphalt, so a spin, which can hurt on the street or on a race track, will have no consequences beyond a bruised ego. This is getting to be big- time fun. And I keep it pointed in the right direction anyway.

Then over to another wet skidpad exercise, with M-Coupes and Roadsters. This one is a figure-eight, with both left and right turns. The trick is not to lose time by hanging the tail out too much or spinning, but to steer out of the corner with the throttle - four- wheel steering the way it was intended to be. This takes practice, of which I need more. But getting a little sideways is feeling better.

Then off to a long, very wet, very tight handling course. In M5s. 400 horsepower in slime, fun. Smoothness counts in all conditions, but nowhere more so than in slippery ones, especially with a serious excess of power. There is almost an inch of standing water in some places. With DSC on, the DSC wants to be on all the way around. Back off, feel what's happening at the wheels, and tiptoe. Much better. Now try it with DSC off. Plenty of spin practice. Hey, this car has Michelins and this is a Michelin test track, bet Michelin sells lots of tires to BMW after this!

Lunch break, than do the morning's activities again, with the element of competition. Meaning we're timed. I was hopeless in the figure-eight, but got third fastest in the autocross. Thank you, SMG. Surprise, I had the fastest time in the wet autocross. How did I do it? Smoothness, finesse, and talent, of course...naw, that lap was my first, exploratory one, with DSC on and me tiptoeing gently and smoothly, not even trying to go fast. Whenever I'd feel the DSC, I'd gently back off. Be gentle, don't use the brakes hard, just be smooth.

Then it was time for a team relay race around the autocross course, and hot laps with the instructors driving in some Z8s, BMW's premium exotic sports car. And then it was over.

My feelings? I've had the opportunity to take several one and two-day driving schools, and, during car introductions at race tracks have had instruction from pro drivers, some of whom are very well-known. M-School is the best program I've encountered because of the way in which it is taught, and what is taught. I've never had so much experience in high-performance wet-condition driving, and never had so much seat time during a driving school. Lessons learned are applicable to everyday driving, to give drivers confidence and skills in emergency maneuvers, bad weather, and in fast but safe driving. It's not a race-preparation school, but the lessons learned can prepare you for racing school.

The downside? None, other than the cost. Like a BMW, it's not inexpensive, but the cost includes meals and accommodations, unlike most other driving school programs. There really is no other program like it.

Other classes offered at the BMW Performance Center include: A one-day New Driver School and two-day New Driver Camp for teen drivers, great ideas considering how minimal most student driver-training programs are.

X5 School, for drivers of all sport utility-type vehicles, not just BMW X5s. It incorporates driving on wet and dry pavement and dirt and gravel.

One-day beginning and two-day advanced Car Control Skills Clinics, featuring driving theory and the effects of weight distribution and weight transfer, and driving on accident avoidance, slalom, autocross, and skidpad situations. The two-day class sounds like a less-intense version of M-School.

Women-only driving school. For women, taught by professional woman drivers.

These courses are priced very competitively with similar programs at other locations, and are open to drivers of any vehicles, not just BMWs. Currently all are offered only in Spartanburg, but BMW will be opening a similar center somewhere in the West, sometime soon.

For more information, please call the BMW Performance Center at (888) 345-4BMW (4269).