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Published: August 21st 2008
Stanger in Greenville
I met this guy on a park bench after we had a few drinks Monday night. He would not talk to me.Tuesday, August 19, 2008
The Reunion
Today was the ultimate climax to our adventure. We had great fun in Europe and driving there was an adventure. But spending the day in Greenville at the BMW Performance School was a top thrill for me and Jackie.
As I reported yesterday, we drove from Atlanta to Greenville, SC and spent the night at the Marriott. The drive was about two hours, about 100 miles. After our endurance driving in Europe, this was nothing. We drove up in my Toyota Highlander, with Ursula at the GPS.
After a nice breakfast, we followed a van from the hotel to the Performance Center. It is a short drive from the hotel.
Upon arrival at the visitor center we were ushered into a classroom for some briefing and signing waiver documents. Yes, we started getting nervous right away with that.
The briefing was about the safety features of BMW cars. In particular, we were told about the ABS (auto braking sys) and DTC (dynamic traction control). We soon found out why they focused on those topics as we tested them thoroughly.
After the ten minute briefing, we headed out to our vehicles. Luckily, we did not drive
Arrival at the Visitor Center
You can see this center from I-85. I recommend that you make the visit. our own cars. They had ready for us a car that matched ours… a 535i like mine. In fact, they taught us a new term: “NYC”. No, it is nothing about New York City; in this case it means, “Not your car.” So, we could be free to have some fun in someone else’s car.
Our first step was testing the ABS. We drove onto the performance track and headed for a wet section of it. There were safety cones on either side of the wet area and after about fifty feet turned hard left. The instructor was able to speak to us over a radio. He stood at the end of the turn in the road. Upon his instruction, we were to drive to the area and slam on the breaks.
The first run was at forty then the next fifty miles per hour. We were taught to press hard on the breaks and continue to steer towards the instructor. It was scary to do but proved how well the ABS works.
Next we did the obstacle course. This was great fun. We each did several laps around the course dodging cones and trying to better our time with
Museum of BMW cars
Several high performance cars in the visitor center. each lap.
It was then time for the factory tour. We were assigned to BMW X5s to drive from the track to the factory. This is one of the models built here in SC. The tour was fascinating. I’ve never seen so many robots with welding torches. The place was spotless and highly automated. We were told that it was the only non-union factory owned by BMW. This was the first car factory tour that I have done in over 30 years. I was very impressed with the entire operation.
On the way back from the factory, we took the vehicles on the off-road course. This was scary too. We went through rivers and over steep rocky hills. We tested the auto-braking system which comes standard in the X5s. It works when you are driving down a very steep hill. When we were at the very top of a steep hill, we were told to switch on the system and then let off of the brakes while steering down the hill. It took some courage to let the car do the breaking! Fortunately, it worked very well.
Then we returned to the 535 cars that we tested earlier. This time
535i Performance car
I drove this model which is what we have. we tested the DTC. We did this by spinning out on another section of the track that was smooth and wet. We were told to drive about 25 mph and then let up on the gas pedal and then floor it. Immediately, the car spun out of control in a rapid counterclockwise manner. This was done with the DTC turned off. We each did two spin-outs.
Then we switched the DTC on and repeated the same action. This time we did not spin out and were able to drive the car around the curves. So, we were impressed with this feature.
By now it was noon and time for lunch. We ate in the dining room and when finished were invited to do the “speed drive.”
This was clearly the most exciting thing that we did all day. We had a professional race car driver take us out on the track in a BMW M3. It only lasted about two minutes each but it was at top speeds. The wheels were squealing all the way. I was very impressed with the skills of Mike Renner, our driver.
After this it was finally time to be reunited with our car and
Off road track
Don't try this at home! We were up to the axles on this part of the course. Greta (our GPS lady). The set up in Greenville for owner delivery was almost as neat as in Germany. We were ushered into a private room with our car parked inside. The agent spent over one hour explaining features. We learned many features that we did not know while driving in Europe.
The excitement was much like the first time we saw our car. Jackie is now saying that she’s trading in our Toyota for a new BMW for her. She loved the experience as much as I did.
We drove home in separate cars. I felt guilty but I insisted on driving the BMW. It was good to be behind the wheel again. I did not get to do the high-speed driving on the way home like we did in Germany and Italy but I did juice it once or twice to bring back the memories.
This does it for my blog. Thank you for viewing our little adventure. We have had over 2100 hits on the blogs. So, I clearly don’t know who else is out there reading my work. But after all that I’ve said about BMW, I’ll bet you’ll have your own one day. If
Here's a spin out
We each did this twice. it is quite the thrill. you do, make sure you do the European pickup and the Performance Track in South Carolina.
Cheers,
Tom and Jackie Dorsey
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Andrea and Rich
non-member comment
Wow
You guys have way too much fun!!! Is it legal to adopt a 52 year old in Georgia!!