BMW Performance Center

[Michael Reilly <mreilly@xxxxxxx>]

I'm kind of annoyed that I wasn't told about the BMW Performance 
Center before I actually completed the purchase of my car. At the 
time, I only knew about the pickup option in Germany and that was a 
little more than I had the time/money for. But recently I found a 
brochure at my local service dept about the BMW Performance Center in 
South Carolina. If I had requested it, I could have had my car 
delivered there. Then I could have paid to fly myself down, and they 
would have picked me up at the airport, given me a chance to drive a 
similar vehicle to mine on their track, been presented with my car in 
one of their special "new vehicle" bays, given dinner for two and 
overnight in a hotel all free of charge. Then I guess they also 
offered some other extended stay/drive packages which weren't 
detailed in the brochure, before you drive home. I would have done 
that, no problem. But it's been about 2 weeks since I took delivery.

At this point I look at it and think, well they offer some driving 
classes and stuff, maybe I would be willing to fly down for that. But 
I don't have the vacation time available for the two day drive down 
and back, plus time there to drive my actual car there. I'm sure the 
purchase of my 330Ci won't be my last BMW, but it was my first, and 
this would have been a great experience. I'm so disappointed I wasn't 
informed of this option.

Has anyone gone for any of their other classes? Are they worth it? I 
need some classes in dealing with slippery conditions and in evasive 
maneuvers. I'm not that good at dealing with unexpected problems on 
the road like that, I need some confidence boosting. Also I don't 
have the luxury of driving a different car in the winter, so for 
those 4-6 months (really!), I need to deal with slippery conditions, 
and BMW or not, I'm not as confident as I'd like there either.

I joined BMWCCA, is there any schools that teach those types of 
things that are any closer to upstate New York? There is a (non BMW 
related) racing school I saw advertised at Watkins Glen which is near 
here, they allow you to drive your (track inspected) car, or rent a 
race ready Z3 for $500/day! My concern is that my insurance 
specifically says it's not valid if the car was damaged while 
undergoing speed tests, training, or racing, yet $500/day is a little 
over my budget to rent. But as I said above, while I'd like the 
opportunity to see what it's like to drive at high rates of speed 
without worrying about getting pulled over, I would prefer classes in 
driving maneuvers in slippery and "idiots on the road" conditions 
first, then a more racing focused school.

Michael
 
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    "The Purpose of life is to matter, to count, to stand for
    something, to have it make some difference that we lived at all."
                                                  -Rostenwich
    Michael Reilly
    Webmaster - National Technical Institute for the Deaf at RIT
    http://www.mreilly.com

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