BMW Ultimate Driver Competition - Video posted!!

[mike@x-ph.com]

Nice

[Crisp]

Originally Posted by PawnStar

Interesting, I had my autoX time in high 21s, but got DQd because of supposedly nose of the car was outside stop box by a few inches. The guy that called it was positioned about 30 yards away, at an 30° angle to the cones. I asked, ‘ how can you see the few inches from where you are?’ — ‘I can see just fine’... I didn’t argue...

Anywho, these are all ZCP cars with 19’?

This was my issue with the entire setup, starting from the autox session with the 530's here in NY. First, some people had AWD, some had RWD. Tire wear was obviously all over the place. Finally, timing was done via stop watch from a guy standing about 300ft away from the "finish line" at about a 30-40 degree angle. Apparently, I was one tenth of a second away from 1st place and moving on to the next round. What a joke. I don't understand why they can't just set up a simple mobile timing system.

Anyway, it's nothing too official, but I get very competitive and really wanted to win and try out Thermal.

[AYTifosi]

That would be a bummer! In the Pacific NW they set up a timer. With something at stake such as this, moving forward I would think they'll work to use timers - it's all about marking after all. Ticking off customers would be counter productive. This was the first time - everyone ran not knowing what winning might mean. Assuming they do this again, and I think they're booking for some East Coast events already, I bet they'll learn.

[MN2///M]

Thanks for sharing! My wife and I did The Ridge also, great track and a class,act by BMW.

[PawnStar]

Originally Posted by Crisp

This was my issue with the entire setup, starting from the autox session with the 530's here in NY. First, some people had AWD, some had RWD. Tire wear was obviously all over the place. Finally, timing was done via stop watch from a guy standing about 300ft away from the "finish line" at about a 30-40 degree angle. Apparently, I was one tenth of a second away from 1st place and moving on to the next round. What a joke. I don't understand why they can't just set up a simple mobile timing system.

Anyway, it's nothing too official, but I get very competitive and really wanted to win and try out Thermal.

I went with 3 friends who each timed my run with their iPhones, all three were in 21’s. ‘Official time’ from a guy standing 30 yards away, holding a stopwatch, talking on the radio while writing things down on a pad, was 22.7.

[Zoli007]

I checked all over the forum after the event looking for any kind of comments but didn't find any. I was with you in the group running with Matt. Brought back great memories from a truly awesome event.

I'm also looking very forward to seeing the produced proper video.

[Crisp]

Originally Posted by PawnStar

I went with 3 friends who each timed my run with their iPhones, all three were in 21’s. ‘Official time’ from a guy standing 30 yards away, holding a stopwatch, talking on the radio while writing things down on a pad, was 22.7.

Haha. My buddy and I did the same with our iPhones.

Seriously hope they get more technical next time.

[m3driver999]

Hello All,

Nice report,

Was also at the event.
Well run event, top notch. Will be hard to beat that car event.

Also eagerly waiting for the final video - and looking at forums looking for any info - found this thread.

Got to the UDE Final via COTA M-track day autocross.

[maniz]

Congratulations on your win! Great write-up.

[espressoo]

Congrats on making it to the finals!

I attended a regional qualifying event this past weekend at FedEx Field in MD. I didn't even know it was a qualifying autocross event prior to showing up. It was fun but the weather was terrible. A rainy/windy Sunday with temps that felt like it was in the mid 40s with the wind chill (woke up to partly sunny skies in the upper 60s). 90% of those in attendance weren't dressed for the cold weather. Prior days it was 70-80 and sunny.

It started with a brief in-door training session then we were ushered in groups of 15-20+ drivers to our tracks. For this event, we were equipped with badass X2 xDrive28i and 530e sDrive (sarcasm). 530e batteries were drained due to continuous driving so that limited its performance. Pro driver had 3 passengers and did a few practice laps. We rotated and each driver got 2 practice laps in each vehicle while the pro coached us. Afterwards each driver drove with a pro in a timed session amongst our group (22 drivers in mine). The driver with the best time qualifies to compete with the finalist from the other groups (4) of the day. Time was recorded via a stopwatch. As previously mentioned, the weather wasn't ideal but driving in the rain really helped me appreciate how these cars handled. I was one of the first few drivers of my group to go. I didn't feel like my run was very fast after watching all the other drivers go but to my surprise, I got the best time of the group.

The shootout of the 4 remaining drivers was a little more sophisticated. They actually had a lap timer. I've never done autocross so it was all new to me. Rules was 2 second penalty for each cone hit and same penalty for missing the stop box. One practice lap and one timed run. The guys in the finals seemed pretty serious. All were really fast. I ended up 3rd out of 4 drivers. I did miss the stop box but it didn't really matter. The fastest of the 4 of us was still 0.5 seconds better than me without the 2 second penalty. He got 18.38 seconds in the wet and rainy condition. Earlier in the weekend, the fastest time by the end of Sunday was still 1+ second faster than him.

Overall, the event was really fun despite the horrible unexpected weather. It's not exclusive to BMW owners but half the parking lot was BMWs. Lots of car enthusiasts as well since there were a few M cars and P cars in the lot. I definitely encourage you guys to attend if it's hosted in a city near you. The prize for the fastest time at your event earns you a free trip to Thermal, CA!

FedEx Field


Registration in the rain (worse than it looks)


Lounge




Autocross waiting tent


Finals track




Group Winner Trophy


DC Leader Board as of Sunday afternoon

[AYTifosi]

I just found the 2017 BMW Ultimate Driver Competition video posted on YouTube. I'm the guy in the red shirt. Wait, doesn't that usually mean something bad will happen to me?

[quikag]

Great video and awesome write-up!

[414bhp]

So was the ultimate award the trophy or something more? Did anyone win a car?

[Brake_Late]

Good times

Every time.

🏁

[495evo]

Lucky bast@#$d!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!