LilJapnBoy

This is the Autocross Program and X6 Test Drive even happening Thurs-Sun at the IX Center (by the Cleveland Airport).

Is anybody going to this? I'm signed up for Sunday morning and was interested in finding out if other ppl around here were going or had gone and what the 'ultimate driving experience' was like?

Mocky

pm sent

LilJapnBoy

Well I went this past Sunday morning and here's a recap.

Had an 8:30 (yawn) appointment for the auto-x class however they must have new everyohne was going to show up on time or late since the real session didn't begin until 9. Grabbed a chance to hop in a new 745i for a quick spin.

First of all the car is sick....surprisingly quick and quiet off the blocks for such a large car. The onboard computer is ridiculous, GPS, safety system, entertainment controls, cappuccino maker j/k. A little plastic-ey in some areas but the woodtrim, the auto sun shade in the back, and billions of buttons are a nice touch. I was surprised to find that there was not a whole lot of leg room in the rear. I am not a very large person so my seat was not pushed back a ton yet the back didn't seem very roomy. The keys are sweet, it's basically a card you insert into a slot and hit the start engine button. Changing gears is tapping a button on the steering wheel and flipping the knob up and down for P/N/R/D....

On to the actual drive, they basically gave us the keys and showed us directions for the course and sent us on our merry way. It was a 9.8 mile course and they told us it would take 20-25 minutes. And here were the problems....

1) Turns at 0.1 miles? What is up with that? So of course as we're checking how to turn on the radio and test the sound system we get lost within 5 minutes....
2) Residentual and 25 mph backroads? The speed zones were abundant with 25 mph zones and a couple of 35 mph ones...how the heck do you get to test drive a 8 cylinder this way? So go figure despite the warning (about there are cops out on the road that know test drives are going on and are making sure there aren't any speed demons out there), my friend gets pulled over. No the cop hadn't any idea BMW was doing this and cut us no slack. Claimed there was a horse fair going on that made it dangerous to do 45 in a 25 zone. But 45 in a 745....feels like 20 as quiet as the engine is. Result, $135 ticket, a forty five minute test drive, getting lost half a dozen times, and being late for our auto-x by half an hour....

Now onto the good part, the auto-x class was nice. They setup tracks at the IX Center and used the new X3s (3.0 of course) as the vehicles of choice. We got a summary of what we were doing (auto-xing, learning to be safer drivers, blah blah blah) and about the X3s (electronic throttle control, dynamic stability control, intelligent safety and information systems, blah blah blah). Then they split us up into groups of three to an X3 and hopped into a car with a BMW Professional driver. They rode a lap and explained a little bit about technique and key pointers. Then the proceeded to demolish the course with series of drifting and squealing tires. Then one by one we got to try driving multiple laps around the course. It was helpful the key landmarks to helps us keep straight lines were these taller green cones placed strategically throughout the course. Then we went back for another discussion on concepts (ABC: Acceleration + Braking + Cornering = 100%, weight transfer, smooth transitions) before hopping into the cars one more and with tips from the BMW guy, taking the course as hard and quickly as we could.

I haven't really gotten to do much auto-xing yet and this was a great opener to getting into it. Our driver wasn't a chip off the old block, he's vintage car restorer who supposedly won a bunch of national championship auto-x events in the past, and even taught with Skip Barber back when he started...

They're touring all over the US, if/when they come back to Cleveland for some more BMW test drive/marketing events be sure to check it out!

Btw, the Z4 is sweet!

oshp515

Hey guys! I was wondering if you cleveland natives could give me some info on where the major import crowd hangs out in cleveland at night. My buddy and I want to come up to hang with some people but we don't know where they congregate. If you know of any good hangouts, give me some directions and info. Thanks!

brian