Trip Report - BMW PDS Advanced M School at VIR

Trip Report & Course Review
BMW Performance Driving School - Advanced M School
Virginia International Raceway (VIR), Alton, VA USA 20-21 July 2009

Featured BMW Cars:
E90 M3 Sedan M-DCT (414hp 4.0L S65 V8 / 4dr / 6sp)
E60 M5 Sedan SMG (500hp 5.0L S85 V10 / 4dr / 6sp)
E63 M6 Coupe SMG (500hp 5.0L S85 V10 / 2dr 2+2 / 6sp)

Administration: Previous experience in a certified performance oriented driving course is required to attend this class. Helmets are required per VIR regulations, BMW PDS provides open face helmets for students who don’t have their own. PDS requires students to operate the cars with stability controls engaged, using M-Dynamic mode and aggressive suspension and transmission settings. Students were placed in groups of four, with one instructor for every two students. Each thirty-minute exercise was conducted by group, so there were always three activities per session – one for each type of car - running concurrently throughout the day. Each student is provided with a radio and an earpiece, so the instructor is able to provide both guidance and feedback to the student in-car, but conversation is one-way. The cars are also equipped with approx 2hr of digital video recording capacity for in-car cameras, used for the second day afternoon session. Cameras record cockpit and drivers POV, and the recorder logs instrumentation data – rpm, speed and gear – synched as metadata within the video frame. This video is provided as a DVD a few weeks after the course.

Monday / Day One: Began the Day One morning at 0830 with classroom discussion of the importance of vision – always looking where you want to go and well down the track; weight transfer and effects of braking and acceleration on available grip – braking loads front tires and lightens back end, with subsequent effects on steering grip, braking performance and cornering ability; review of understeer and oversteer causes and remedies. Out to cars by 0910, for the first of three exercises before lunch.

The first session was a braking exercise at the Turn 1 hairpin in the M3’s. The weather on Day One was overcast with scattered showers, which led to a damp track in the morning, including some standing water on the racing line. The track was wet most of the morning, then dried later in the day, which led to some very interesting laps in the wet while portions of the track dried creating a dry racing line. This initial session started with hard braking to a full stop, leading to use of the brake markers to slow the car to cornering speed while making the turn in, apex and track out points. The school places striped cones at the precise turn in, apex and track out points for each corner, making it much easier for students to accurately negotiate each turn. At the conclusion of each braking exercise, the instructors conducted a lead-follow trip around the South Course, back to the exercise starting point.

The second AM session was on the VIR wet skidpad in the M5, with an instructor in the passenger seat. Two students circulate the skidpad at a time, while the other two in the group observe from a distance. The skidpad exercise is used to teach car control in oversteer and understeer conditions, proper driving position, and looking where you want the car to go instead of where the front end is pointing. The VIR skidpad is challenging because it’s not uniformly wet so the grip varies slightly as you circulate around the cones, and it also has a section that’s slightly downhill so maintaining drift without turning the car completely around is a challenge. The goal of the exercise is to maintain a 45 degree steering angle around a circular path, while sliding the rear wheels in a constant drift. Of course, the instructors made this look easy, clearly demonstrating why they are teaching high performance driving, and I am not…

The final AM session was lead-follow lapping of the 1.65 mile VIR South Course in the M6, ending about 1215. Lead-follow sessions are the instructor followed by two students, each driving the same type car. After every 3rd or 4th lap, the students will “leapfrog” and change positions to enable both students to spend time directly behind the instructor, and to ensure both students get the opportunity to lap at their own pace. Student pairings are evaluated throughout both days to ensure a close fit with respect to abilities and tolerance for speed, this allows everyone the opportunity to go as fast as they are comfortable with and to learn from each other while keeping following distances relatively tight around the course.

After a catered deli-style lunch, the afternoon session began about 1310 with a quick debrief of the morning’s events, and then out to the cars.

The first PM session was lead-follow lapping of the 2.25 mile VIR North Course in the M3. This session was particularly interesting because the track was wet at the beginning of the exercise from lunch hour rainfall, but dried progressively until the racing line was almost completely dry by the end of the exercise. This demonstrated the use of different lines offering increased grip in wet weather, to avoid the smoother, slicker racing line.

The second session of the afternoon was a return to the skidpad in the M6. This was the same exercise as the morning session, in a different car with a different instructor. The skidpad is a very effective tool for teaching how to control a skid and recover from both understeer – a loss of front end grip - and oversteer, a loss of rear grip.

The third afternoon session for Day One was lead-follow lapping of the VIR South Course in the M5, slowly working up to full throttle on the start/finish straight. Maximum speed on this section is about 130mph in the V10 cars, demanding very hard braking into Turn 1 to make the hairpin. If you stay well to the left exiting the downhill Turn 17 and make the apex just past the start/finish line, you can hold full throttle well into 5th gear before hitting the brake markers into Turn 1. The brakes on all the cars held up remarkably well during the 30 minute sessions, providing consistent braking with predictable fade as they heated. PDS reportedly puts new rotors and pads on every car prior to each scheduled M School.

The last session of the afternoon was a lead-follow tour of the 3.27 mile full course. The fastest section of VIR is the over 4000ft, slightly uphill back straight exiting turn 12 on the North Course, which permits the V10 cars to accelerate to roughly 7000 rpm in 5th to 150-155mph, while the M3 is able to reach about 145mph in the same distance. Most of the course is navigated in 3rd gear for the V10 cars, with 2nd used to exit some of the slow hairpins and 4th and 5th used on the front and back straights. The VIR full course is one of the few tracks in the US where a heavier, high horsepower car like the M6 will circulate more quickly than the lighter, far more agile but lower output M3, because the length of the straights permits the 500hp M5/M6 to gain 5-10mph on the V8 M3, overcoming the M3’s higher cornering speeds.

Tuesday / Day Two: Day Two began overcast but dry in the mid 70’s. Began the morning at 0830 with a brief classroom discussion of course and racetrack rules; keep to right with turn indicator on to permit passing; do not stop on course; stay to right side exiting pit lane; brakes fade with hard use, thus you will need to brake at earlier marker as brakes begin to fade; importance of hitting course apex and trackout marks to maximizing speed, SMOOTH IS FAST… also addressed various peculiarities of the VIR full course, and discussed how best to address problems negotiating the formidable, high speed Climbing Esses at Turns 7 and 8: look up the hill and steer straight ahead. Completely lifting throttle in these 100mph, uphill sweepers is not recommended, instead use light maintenance throttle to keep the rear end planted.

Out to cars by 0900 for full course lead-follow in the M5. This was an intimidating exercise for some, including me – heading into a left hand sweeper without braking, coming off the 110mph straight under the crossover bridge took some adjustment. This is where most off track excursions take place at VIR, when drivers arrive slightly out of shape entering the bend at Turn 7 and miss the turn in to Turn 8. The Climbing Esses are uphill and off camber throughout, so the car loads and unloads the tires dramatically through the L-R-L-R-L transition. The instructors advise light maintenance throttle throughout, to keep the rear end planted, along with steering the straightest possible path up the hill.

The 2nd AM round was on the infield Patriot Course with the M6. The Patriot Course is a short 1.1 mile technical racecourse composed of the North and South Course connectors, and can be driven without interfering with full course lapping. With plenty of aggressive cornering and short straights, this course is best navigated with lighter, more agile cars like the M3, but the M6 performed admirably here and was certainly great fun. Like all of VIR, this course features tremendous elevation changes, posing challenges to maintaining balance and adhesion while maximizing speed.

Th final AM session was in the M3 for full course lead-follow lapping. Driving the M3 was for me probably the most fun, but just slightly. As a horsepower addict, on the full course the 414hp M3 felt slightly underpowered compared to the V10 cars, but the butter-smooth transmission, terrific V8 soundtrack and precise steering were exceptionally rewarding. This session gave me an opportunity to come to grips with the top of the 145mph back straight, which crests over a blind hill before entering the sharply downhill Roller Coaster at Turn 14. Maintaining full throttle at 140 plus over the crest without being able to see what was beyond it was always entertaining…

We ended the Day Two AM session with 3 full course ride-along laps with an instructor in the M3’s. Two students per car with an instructor driving, this event was very helpful in demonstrating several things – how fast these cars can really be driven around the course, how late you can wait to apply the brakes, and the difference this makes in lap times, and ultimately how fast and how hard you can slow and turn the car – which translates to increased entry speeds, cornering speeds, and exit speeds. Precise corner entries, using ALL of the racetrack, hardest braking done early, using maintenance throttle to keep the car planted.

After another superb catered deli lunch, we began the Day Two PM session about 1310, and after a quick debrief of the mornings events and a reminder to always maintain focus on hitting your turn in, apex and track out points, it was back out to the cars.

The first afternoon session for my group was full course lead-follow in the M5. This was an opportunity to incorporate the lessons from the ride along, and work the brakes and throttle a bit harder than in the morning. This was the first session where I felt comfortable enough with a sliding car to stay in the throttle through the Climbing Esses, and maintained better speed through the off camber, up-then-downhill South Bend at Turn 10.

The second PM session for my group was in the M3 on the Patriot Course. Driving the M3 on this short, technical course was tremendous fun and quite a bit less work than wrestling the big V10 cars around the Patriot’s tight corners. It was always in the right gear, with plenty of steering and grip to carry through the demanding downhill left hander at Turn 4 and carried great speed on the sweeping esses past the paddock at 8 and 9.

The last full course lapping of the day for my group was in the M6. At this point students are more confident but often slightly fatigued, which can lead to braking late, missed turn-ins and off track excursions. This was the final opportunity to tackle the 100mph uphill Climbing Esses, for me the most challenging part of the course. Done correctly, this is a very rewarding part of the track, as the g-load on the car shifts constantly and dramatically and the incredible speed with which these big cars will change direction is consistently stunning.

The last exercise of the day for all students was a time trial on the Patriot Course in the M3. Each student was allowed 3 laps of the course; one warmup and two timed laps. Student lap times on the 1.1 mile Patriot Course varied from a fast time of just over 53 seconds, to the slowest at 58. The course average was probably about 56 seconds and change. I finished third of twelve with a fast lap of 54.55.

Random observations: The new M-DCT dual clutch manual transmission featured in the M3 sedan is phenomenal. Shifts are all but seamless, and insanely quick – as fast as Ferrari’s F1 SMG transmission in the F430, and smoother. The older SMG gearboxes in the V10 cars shift well in their most aggressive mode, but still have a noticeable pause between gearchanges under hard acceleration, especially in the lower gears. The M DCT doesn’t care where you are in the revband, or what the car is doing, it just changes gears as if by magic, with subtle but effective rev matching throttle blips on the downshifts. And the M3’s V8 sounds glorious, with a more pleasant soundtrack than the more powerful but less sonorous V10 in the larger cars.

The V10 M5 and M6 are more agile than seems possible given their size and weight, with grip and athleticism equal to harnessing the freight train torque and high rpm horsepower provided by the 40 valve double VANOS V10. They certainly push more than the M3 in the corners, and are less planted in high speed transitions compared to the M3, but are still remarkably rewarding to drive quickly, especially when you have room to stretch those 500hp legs.

Street driving, even quickly, doesn’t prepare you for the kind of corner entry speeds possible on the racetrack – for obvious reasons. You can turn relatively fast and go fast in a straight line on public roads under certain conditions, but the biggest shock for me was the order of magnitude difference between street and racetrack braking, and the speed you can hold going into a turn if you hit the right marks. Of course, if you don’t hit the marks, you leave the pavement –which is not usually that consequential on a racetrack, but would be disastrous on a public road.

On stability control. The PDS requires DSC “on”, because the technology is so effective at preventing loss of control. The M-Dynamic mode is actually quite aggressive, permitting considerable steering angle and wheelspin before interfering. The interference was most noticeable at low speeds under heavy throttle, where extreme under or oversteer was likely – it would not be the ticket at an Autocross event. The instructors indicated the cars lap VIR only marginally faster with the DSC off, but that the skill level required to beat the well driven DSC engaged car is very high and the consequences of a 100+ mph off track excursion are such that leaving it engaged is the smart decision. Ultimately, the instructor laps demonstrated that when the car is driven well at the limits of adhesion the DSC rarely interferes, and can actually provide some insight into driver error when it does actuate.

Conclusion: The Advanced M School was particularly rewarding thanks to the extraordinary talent of the PDS instructors, all of whom have extensive professional racing experience from a variety of disciplines and are all tremendously enthusiastic about effectively sharing their knowledge and experience with students, and the VIR course, which allows these cars to be exploited to their full potential. In all, I can highly recommend the VIR Advanced M School for anybody serious about driving high performance production cars at the limit.

Useful Links:


http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Experience/Events/PDS/ProgramsandCourses/MSchool.aspx


http://www.virclub.com/

 

Thanks! Yeah the instructors were all clearly enjoying themselves, it's a complicated enough track I think to remain challenging regardless of how often you lap it, or your skill level, there's always something more to learn. And they definitely take pride in the progress the students make during the course.

 

Got my video back from RaceKeeper; my fast laps on the full course look to be in the 2.22 range with the M6, curious how that compares to HPDE and club racing laps.

What is the full course lap record for street legal GT's ? I shaved about 20 seconds off in the two days; the 2.22 felt pretty close to the limit for me in that car.

 

After looking around a bit, it appears a good lap in a street legal but track prepped Corvette Z06 is in the 2:10 to 2:15 range, so pretty happy with my 2.22!

Record for SCCA GT1 is 1:50, that has to be quite a ride.