BMW Ultimate Driver Competition - Video posted!!

[AYTifosi]

BMW Ultimate Driver Finals – detailed report
You may remember the BWM events held around the country last year. In fact, I’m sure many of you attended. The Autocross and M Car Control were in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The M Track Days were at Monticello Motor Club, Homestead-Miami, Circuit of the Americas, Thermal California and finally The Ridge Motorsports Park in the Pacific Northwest. You may also remember that each event had a competition for the fastest time in a specific event. The top competitor received an all-expense paid trip to the BMW Performance Center in Thermal California to compete in the BMW Ultimate Driver Competition. I somehow managed the quickest time in the Pacific Northwest and got the chance to travel and compete in Thermal. I want to share what was a really cool experience with all of you.

M Track Days - Recap
I attended the M Track Days event at The Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton Washington back in September 2017. I paid my fee and went with the hope of getting some track time in an M car. Because let’s be honest, turning fast laps in someone else's M car is a blast! Turned out it was way more fun than that. The event included drag racing an M6, 760 Li M (12-cylinder Turbo!), X6 M and X5 M to a stop, running a tight autocross course in the M2 and getting some full track hot laps in an M3 and then M4. If you search YouTube, you’ll find people’s posting of the days events (search “BMW Track Day” and you’ll find some). I have some video from my GoPro, but the sound wasn’t working so I didn’t post it.

At the driver meeting that started the day, Matt Mullins who is the chief driving instructor at the BMW Performance Center in Greer SC, explained that the best time in the autocross for the week would win a trip to Thermal California for the BMW Ultimate Driver Competition. I actually thought about it for a fleeting moment and then tossed it aside as unlikely.

The drag race was a fun warm up, the lapping time in the M3 and M4 was awesome and worth the price of admission - nearly flat out on the big track enough of the time to make my day.

Then it was time for the autocross competition. We hopped into shiny blue M2s, my first time in one, and did a walking pace lead follow. The deal was: two timed laps, no practice. At “Go!” I floored it and just hung on, doing my best not to hit any cones. At the end of my first timed lap, slamming on the brakes to stop in the box the time froze at 22:649, which meant nothing to me. The instructors, however, were excited. I heard one say, “Hey, that’s a fast time! Make sure you get his name down correctly.” Turns out it was the fast time of the day. Pretty cool! “If the time holds for the week, you’ll be invited to Thermal for the BMW Ultimate Driver Competition.”

Over the next few days I watched the leader-board (maybe hourly…), sure my time would get pipped by a tenth or something. Yet, after the event was complete, my time held! I won the chance to compete at the Ultimate Driver competition, all expenses paid. YES!

On to Thermal
February 22nd and 23rd myself and sixteen others from across the country were flown in to the BMW Performance Center in Thermal California. We had a reception Thursday evening, outside with excellent food and a new G50 M5 in Frozen Dark Red Metallic and white leather adding some bling to the evening. Then Friday morning we hopped on a shuttle to get from the hotel at Indian Wells to the Performance Center. When we arrived, everywhere I looked there was an M2, M3 or M4 all decked out in M stripes; maybe about thirty cars. Way off in the distance I could see another thirty along with Minis and other BMWs. It was M car heaven!

After checking in and a quick breakfast, we met for the driver’s meeting. Matt Mullins went through the plan for the day. In the morning there would be three practice areas: the skid pad, car control course and some laps on one of the big tracks. Then after lunch, three exercises that would sort us for the starting order for the final event of the day. The best time in that final event would be crowned “The Ultimate Driver”. Matt said what we were all thinking though . . . We had all won a huge prize just to be able to attend.

Matt also explained that a crew would be on site all day filming so they could use the event for marketing. The film crew had a Cadillac CTS covered in flat black with a large boom crane and camera, about fifteen support people, a few camera drones and several Go Pros on the cars and on the track. The entire event was filmed and will soon be available to view – they didn’t know when or where but promised to let us know. I will post that information when it becomes available.

Car Control Course
My first event of the day was lapping the car control course in an M2. The course was on one of their short tracks – about a 25 second lap – hard in third gear with a couple second gear corners. There was a bus stop chicane leading to a left bend and decreasing radius left, then opening to a right, left right section before a couple of ninety degree turns to lead back to the start – not a single moment to rest.

We did about fifteen laps. I had to briefly pit after the first few laps when I realized someone had left the heater on full blast. Fixing that, I headed back for more. Running the M2 in Sport Plus / M dynamic Mode highlighted for me both how quick and nimble the M2 is. It seems to have less front-end grip than my M4, however since I didn’t get to run the course in an M4, I can’t be sure.

Though I never got comfortable with the course, it was certainly a blast and honestly an intense lap. My favorite part was shifting to third out of the bus-stop section and drifting wide toward the right edge of the track. Flat out deep into the decreasing radius turn and then hard on the brakes to try and get the car back to the very late apex. This was challenging, but felt good when it was done right.

Skid Pad
At Thermal they have a large area of polished concrete that gets more polished and thus more slippery as you move toward the center. This is how they do all the drifting without water (and going through a set of tires in a day). According to the instructors the surface allows them to drift a car all week without wearing the tires all that much. Here an instructor rode with us and helped us understand how to drift in an M3. On the polished concrete the car will easily break loose – just like on ice - and if you’re smooth allow you to drift around and around. I would have loved more time here. By the end most of us were drifting a full lap.

Track Laps
Next we hopped into some M4s with the competition package and headed to the South Palm Circuit. The track is a paperclip style layout with lots of second gear corners and long straights. The way it worked out, one of the faster guys in our group and myself did a lead follow with Matt Mullins for about thirty minutes. Seriously. I was in an M4, running about 9/10ths behind a very accomplished professional driver. What a day! The carbon brakes were fantastic and worked and worked and worked without a hint of fade. The amount of grip the M3 and M4 has is amazing, particularly for a street car. The control and feedback at the limit is confidence inspiring. Thankfully no drama on the track, just lap after lap of flat out. We were hitting about 125 on the straight and hard in and out of the corners. Several times I could see a camera drone flying over the track. Can’t wait to see the video!

I had two ‘moments’ of note. One happened when the TPMS system bleeped at me at the end of a long straight just before I was hitting the brakes. Stupidly, for a split second I glanced at the dash – then looked up and realized I’d missed my brake point by a board. They have nice brake countdown boards on the track helping mark your braking point. It’s true a lot can flash before your eyes in a split moment. When I looked up and realized it was going to be tight, I imagined smashing into the back of the Austin Yellow M4 and spinning us both out. I felt a wash of embarrassment, but then thankfully in the next split second the M4’s carbon brakes did their job without drama.

The other moment came in the final two corners. The track finishes with a short straight into a third gear right and then a third gear left corner leading onto the main straight. These are pretty much middle throttle third gear corners. On one lap I got a little greedy and pushed between corners leading to a wide exit onto the main straight. The noise of the right tires going over the curbing as I came out of the corner was embarrassing enough. Matt came on the radio and reminded me not to push into that last corner – he didn’t miss a thing!

The Afternoon Plan
After lunch and a brief driver’s meeting to lay out the afternoon schedule, we headed out for the first of the competition events. These events would determine out starting order for the final event but have no other impact on the final standings. Each place in each event would receive points. They would use the point tally to set the starting order for the final event. Wining drivers would go last. Oh, and in all events, hitting a cone would cost two seconds. Mental note: don’t kill any cones.

Event # 1 – the Rat Pack
This was seriously fun! In this event we were on a large flat track marked with cones to create an oval track. This was a head to head elimination. One competitor would start on the far side while the other lined up on the opposite side. The goal was simple. Three laps to see who could get to their finish line first. The catch? DSC off in Sport Plus.

Starting from a dead stop we were flat in third gear before breaking and dropping down into second. The corner was easily wide enough to stay in third, but that made it tempting to go in hot and experience what the M3 is like without the nannies working to make me look good. That’s exactly what I did in my first heat. I was up by a car length after the first lap and a half. All I had to do was stay smooth to advance. Unfortunately, at the final corner on lap two I went in a little hot, slid wide with lots of screeching tires and had to dig myself out of the corner. It’s so hard to watch the apex go by about ten feet out the side window... Unfortunately, I couldn’t catch my competitor and lost the heat. Now the best I could do was forth. In my second heat I focused on being smooth and patient, which paid off as I won my heat and finished the event in forth.

Event #2 – Car Control Course
Back to the Car Control Course with the M2s. After a warm up lap we were given three timed laps which finished by stopping in a cone box. I went hard and tried to stay smooth. Coming out of the bus stop section I would be flat it third toward the decreasing radius turn – late and hard on the brakes before turning in for a very late apex and lots of tire screeching. Despite being on the limit, I did get the M2 to the apex. The next three turns were a left-right-left section of cones along the straight. I always seemed too wide after the third one and had to back off to get through cones set up as a gate. I have no doubt that this cost me half a second each time. Unfortunately, the best I could manage was about fourth or fifth in my group, again. Disappointing for sure. Let’s be honest though, it was a blast! The course was like a kart track and the M2 was awesome.

Event #3 – the Cloverleaf
For this event we headed to the skid pad where they had set up three groups of cones and then a cone box to stop in. The challenge was to race across the skid pad, loop around one group of cones, back across to a second ground, and then across again to a third group before racing across the slippery skid pad to finally stop in the box. This was excruciating! Trying to go quick while staying tight around the cones without spinning all the while fighting for traction was painstaking. It really was like being on ice. In the end I finished the event fourth or fifth (out of five - again).

Before leaving, they challenged us to drift the whole course. I managed to drift around the first group, slid across the pad in a drift to slide around second group, then still holding the drift got half way around the third group of cones before I over cooked it a little and did a lazy half spin. Damn! I quickly straightened the car out, finished the turn and headed toward the stop box. I would dearly love more time on this course!

The Sorting
Those three events sorted everyone to determine the starting order for the final event. In reverse. You might imagine my ego taking a bit of a hit when I lined up to start forth. This meant that after the qualifying events I was ranked 14th out of 17. Honestly, everyone there was quick, so to just be competing at the Ultimate Driver Competition should feel validating. Right? No, I don't have an ego at all.

The Finals
The course they set up was brilliant. It utilized all the events we had practiced all day and was spread over the whole area, except for the full race track. The course took off from dead stop, raced down a long straight before zig-zagging through some cones – third gear. Then after a corner and back to speed there was a tight chicane. The exit of the chicane dumped us onto the slippery center of the skid pad for a big ninety-degree corner that could be in second or third, depending on how gutsy I was willing to be. Fighting for traction to escape the skid pad, it headed down a straight before one corner of the Rat Pack course. Then onto the last half of the car control course where we ran the M2s before stopping inside the box. Oh, and no we didn’t get a practice run.

Just so you know, they made us promise not to share who won the competition and became the BMW 2017 Ultimate driver. So while I won’t share who won, I will share how I did since it wasn’t me.

My first run went well except when I approached the chicane set up before the skid pad corner. The track had a small dip where they put the cones, several in a row tipped over to point the direction of travel. This was like how F1 sets up offset walls in the middle of a straight to slow cars down or down an escape road, to force you to slow before reentering the track. The problem was that the dip in the road obscured my view and tricked me. Approaching at about 60 mph, it looked as though there was a wall of cones blocking the track. I quickly looked right for another turn. Not seeing one I backed off a little before realizing the cones where offset with a path through. Going as fast as I dare across the skid pad, I tried to stay smooth around the Rat Pack turn, and tight through the car control. I finished the lap by screeching to a halt in the cone box stopping the clock at 66.120. Fifth fastest for the first run. Not great, but then again, I improved by eight places from my starting position.

For my second run there was improvement and thankfully no drama. Knowing where to go through the chicane, I was able to avoid losing time and stopped the clock at 64.089. I improved by a respectable two seconds and when it was all over, I finished fifth overall.

Apparently over all the events in all the locations across the country 20,000 participated. I was in the top 17 that went to Thermal. Out of those I finished fifth. Looking at it that way, I was able to leave with my self-respect intact. But oh, what I wouldn’t give to have just one more go!

There was tension and drama as finals played out. I am intentionally avoiding sharing the story or other times as they made us swear on our graves not to. When they release the video, I promise to update the thread with a link. I think it will be worth the watch.

The following photos go from the intro dinner, all the M cars that were waiting for us, check in, breakfast, the swag shop, photos throughout the day, a few of the film crew at the finals and ends with my lovely wife and I at the final dinner. The last three photos BMW sent as a gift along with a nice frame. It appears that in the last one with the green M3 I'm growing an "This Island Earth" Exeter style head. That, or I think my head was overflowing with all the excitement of the day. It was an awesome experience and first class all the way. If you can ever get to the Performance Center, do it. They run a fantastic program, you won't be disappointed.

I do want to express my gratitude to BMW for creating such a Brilliant program. From start to finish, the set up, the instructors, the facility, the way it was run, the food, everything was absolutely fantastic.

[knightarmor]

That is a great write up and congrats on making it to Thermal! I'm trying to convince my buddies we need to go down at least for a one day M drivers package!

[uniqueMR]

Well written, thanks for sharing

[GOLFFRR]

AWESOME! I can't wait to go myself. I believe we will be there in June. Great write up and pics

[ilanhershkovitz]

All those m cars, god dammit man my heaven

[pruettfan]

The folks at the school do an excellent job and Thermal is an outstanding facility, I have done the 2 day M school, M days and Advanced M and all three programs were excellent.

[DarkstarZero]

I really wanted to do this and would have if the group that came to DC knew how to set up an autocross.

The competition was supposed to be fastest time for the autocross wins. "Don't pass the finish line or you're disqualified." OK Cool, I got this, I've won the BMW CCA Autocross season before.

I asked where the stop box was and they looked confused. "What's a stop box? It's just fastest time wins but you have to stop before the finish line." I was like, yeah I know, but where do I have to stop before the line? "Uhh.. before it." They literally had no clue how to run an autocross.

So I went and slammed the breaks before the finish line and stopped 3 feet short, a perfect stop box finish, and I had the fastest time of the weekend. However they later disqualified me because I didn't stop at the line. No one said to stop AT the line! They said BEFORE! Who's running this thing!?

So frustrating, I really wanted to do this. I'm glad you got to, I'm super jealous.

[spuntyb]

Awesome write up. Glad you got to go and carve out a fantastic experience!

[spuntyb]

Originally Posted by DarkstarZero

I really wanted to do this and would have if the group that came to DC knew how to set up an autocross.

The competition was supposed to be fastest time for the autocross wins. "Don't pass the finish line or you're disqualified." OK Cool, I got this, I've won the BMW CCA Autocross season before.

I asked where the stop box was and they looked confused. "What's a stop box? It's just fastest time wins but you have to stop before the finish line." I was like, yeah I know, but where do I have to stop before the line? "Uhh.. before it." They literally had no clue how to run an autocross.

So I went and slammed the breaks before the finish line and stopped 3 feet short, a perfect stop box finish, and I had the fastest time of the weekend. However they later disqualified me because I didn't stop at the line. No one said to stop AT the line! They said BEFORE! Who's running this thing!?

So frustrating, I really wanted to do this. I'm glad you got to, I'm super jealous.

That blows! Sorry to hear that...

[Not Sure]

what does the overall winner get? new M car of his/her choice? pro racing contract??

[drew_larson]

That is absolutely magnificent!

[dmboone25]

Awesome write-up.

Is that a Caddy as the film car?

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by dmboone25

Awesome write-up.

Is that a Caddy as the film car?

looked that way to me as well. A CTS. and actually the only question I had as well.

[Domotron]

Good read man !

[filet.M2c]

Great read! I also attended the track day at thermal and it was an awesome experience. My first event was the autocross and my best time in the M2 was the high 23s. I blame not getting warmed up on the other events first Thanks for the write up!

[ando]

Congrats on winning your region and sharing the finals with the forum. Super cool event

[ssuene93]

Great write up. Thanks for the read!

[AYTifosi]

Originally Posted by Not Sure

what does the overall winner get? new M car of his/her choice? pro racing contract??

I purposely left out details about the finals, the winner, and what he got. They asked us not to post that stuff - I imagine it won't be too much longer before the video is released.

[AYTifosi]

Originally Posted by dmboone25

Awesome write-up.

Is that a Caddy as the film car?

Yup, a Caddy all flat blacked out. Matt was running laps on the track with it in high pursuit. They had it running along the courses in several place, so I'm sure it'll show up in the video.

[AYTifosi]

Originally Posted by ando

Congrats on winning your region and sharing the finals with the forum. Super cool event

Thanks! It really was cool.

[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’?

[raysspl]

Awesome write-up, thanks for sharing your track story. Congrats!