BMW Ultimate driving experience Anaheim

[jmg]

Originally Posted by M4Dutch

How much is it to do the autocross?

Free. It is not timed this year however.

[Orange fever]

For the autocross do they provide helmet ? Or can you bring your own helmet?

[Freak1c]

You won’t need a helmet. The course is short, not much speed involved. There were guys there decked out with sparco racing gloves though lol. A bit overkill in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Orange fever

For the autocross do they provide helmet ? Or can you bring your own helmet?

[jmg]

Originally Posted by Freak1c

You won’t need a helmet. The course is short, not much speed involved. There were guys there decked out with sparco racing gloves though lol. A bit overkill in my opinion.

lol maybe they didn't want the covid!

If they are enough of a track rat to have gloves, they should know how very casual this event is. Maybe they really wanted the free hat you get for placing, but it's not even timed this year.

[M4Dutch]

That interior looks so good with the sport seats!!

[M4Dutch]

Originally Posted by jmg

Free. It is not timed this year however.

Wow thats cool though! When I checked the website I saw the original pricing which was pretty pricey.

[jmg]

Originally Posted by M4Dutch

Wow thats cool though! When I checked the website I saw the original pricing which was pretty pricey.

It's free every year. You must be thinking of the M Control Academy. That's different. That's still $250. It's probably good for anyone who has very limited experience in performance driving. If it's anything like the M Track Day, should be fun, but redundant if you have track experience.

[M4Dutch]

Originally Posted by jmg

It's free every year. You must be thinking of the M Control Academy. That's different. That's still $250. It's probably good for anyone who has very limited experience in performance driving. If it's anything like the M Track Day, should be fun, but redundant if you have track experience.

Oh maybe I was looking at the wrong thing then. Do you have to make any reservations or can you just go there? And what are the times?

[jmg]

Originally Posted by M4Dutch

Oh maybe I was looking at the wrong thing then. Do you have to make any reservations or can you just go there? And what are the times?

https://ude.bmwusa.com/

Lots of openings this week!

[M4Dutch]

Originally Posted by jmg

https://ude.bmwusa.com/

Lots of openings this week!

Thanks!!

[gosutony]

Did they give out any cool swag this year?

[jmg]

Originally Posted by gosutony

Did they give out any cool swag this year?

Nope.

[MisterF80M3]

I'm waitlisted for the SF one. Is it worth going if you don't receive any notification about someone canceling?

[jmg]

Originally Posted by MisterF80M3

I'm waitlisted for the SF one. Is it worth going if you don't receive any notification about someone canceling?

I would just go. Plenty of no-shows for a free event. Granted, I went during the weekday.

[kchan]

I was there this morning. First time doing the auto cross and it’s quite fun. I was at the 8:30 session. I don’t know how many people they limited per track (I think there’s three track at cow palace), and each session they allocated 1.5 hrs but we are all done in about 45-60 mins.

Weekend maybe more busy though, but it’s fun, this weekend hopefully doesn’t rain. Did M340I and M235IX. I was hoping to see the New M3 but they don’t have it there (they said it was there yesterday). The other display vehicle was all hybrid models. The open road test drive has about 8-10 different models? And I tested the x4M. The open road is about a 10 min drive.

[pikkagtr]

The G8X twins showed up around 1pm
I was there for the 1130 autocross and as about to head home when I saw them in the corner lot
Needless to say they looked much better in person and I'm sold on SPY . What a great color choice

[MisterF80M3]

Originally Posted by kchan

I was there this morning. First time doing the auto cross and it’s quite fun. I was at the 8:30 session. I don’t know how many people they limited per track (I think there’s three track at cow palace), and each session they allocated 1.5 hrs but we are all done in about 45-60 mins.

Weekend maybe more busy though, but it’s fun, this weekend hopefully doesn’t rain. Did M340I and M235IX. I was hoping to see the New M3 but they don’t have it there (they said it was there yesterday). The other display vehicle was all hybrid models. The open road test drive has about 8-10 different models? And I tested the x4M. The open road is about a 10 min drive.

I was at the 2:00 session yesterday. It was pretty fun. They just don't let you go too aggressive into the corners. They want you to ease into the corner and ease in on the throttle out of the corner. I was burning a lot of rubber and they told me to cut it out.

I wonder if they let you do the autocross twice. Might check it out tomorrow with my friend's ID and wait on the waitlist.

[starvingape]

Originally Posted by MisterF80M3

I was at the 2:00 session yesterday. It was pretty fun. They just don't let you go too aggressive into the corners. They want you to ease into the corner and ease in on the throttle out of the corner. I was burning a lot of rubber and they told me to cut it out.

I wonder if they let you do the autocross twice. Might check it out tomorrow with my friend's ID and wait on the waitlist.

I was at the SF one the past Friday. For a FREE event, i thought it was fine. They let you drive twice (1 in the 2 series Grand Coupe and 1 in the 3 series) and 3 to 4 laps each (depends on if your "instructor" lets you go the 4th lap). The AutoX track was pretty decent in size, but its not timed.

The instructors have motor racing experience and will guide you through the track via walkie talkie (was it me or was it that the walkie talkie was just not loud enough?). I felt that the instructors just didn't feel like they want to be there. They don't mind questions, but I didn't get much feedback. For example, I asked the instructor about braking zone in this first left, then immediate long right area of the track. How to balance the car so i don't overload the fronts and where they thought I should start or begin to think about braking. The answer i got was "oh yea. Thats a tricky area" and that was that. Given that it was a FREE event, I didn't bother me that much that I didn't get great feedback.

It was great to drive the car harder than I would in my personal car without caring about the tire wear and also test out the differences between the 2 series grand coupe vs 3 series. I spun the car once and they didn't give me too much grief about it.

For me.. the best part of this FREE event is to drive the other cars afterwards. Drive the ones that i would never thought about buying (maybe least for now?). Drove a X7 just for shits and giggles.. because where else would I be able to try out a car like that without dealers bothering me.

[starvingape]

Originally Posted by kchan

I was there this morning. First time doing the auto cross and it’s quite fun. I was at the 8:30 session. I don’t know how many people they limited per track (I think there’s three track at cow palace), and each session they allocated 1.5 hrs but we are all done in about 45-60 mins.

Weekend maybe more busy though, but it’s fun, this weekend hopefully doesn’t rain. Did M340I and M235IX. I was hoping to see the New M3 but they don’t have it there (they said it was there yesterday). The other display vehicle was all hybrid models. The open road test drive has about 8-10 different models? And I tested the x4M. The open road is about a 10 min drive.

The M3 (green) and the M4 (yellow) was there, but it was in the back of the allowable parking area. They were doing some filming maybe for some promotional thing. I walked to the back to see it anyways

[kchan]

I think in the morning they must be conservative, and only let us do 2 laps. Do they let you do 3-4 laps continuously? I think they may have a little more time than they thought (maybe people are driving faster =D) so decide to let you do 3-4 laps? I was in track #1.

I sneak out from work in the morning so don't want to spend too much time, otherwise definitely want to stick around longer and test drive the other vehicles. Heck, the x4M i didn't realize I was in comfort mode until towards the end...

Do they have this at cow palace every year? I remember going maybe 3-4 yrs ago (not the autocross since I didn't sign up in advance). Next time ask some friends to go along. Besides BMW, does other manufacturers do these events anymore? Long time ago I have done the Porsche Cayenne when it first came out, Volvo XC90, and MB E350/E500 (must be like 15-20 years ago...), those were in Alameda point

[jmg]

Originally Posted by kchan

I think in the morning they must be conservative, and only let us do 2 laps. Do they let you do 3-4 laps continuously? I think they may have a little more time than they thought (maybe people are driving faster =D) so decide to let you do 3-4 laps? I was in track #1.

I sneak out from work in the morning so don't want to spend too much time, otherwise definitely want to stick around longer and test drive the other vehicles. Heck, the x4M i didn't realize I was in comfort mode until towards the end...

Do they have this at cow palace every year? I remember going maybe 3-4 yrs ago (not the autocross since I didn't sign up in advance). Next time ask some friends to go along. Besides BMW, does other manufacturers do these events anymore? Long time ago I have done the Porsche Cayenne when it first came out, Volvo XC90, and MB E350/E500 (must be like 15-20 years ago...), those were in Alameda point

I went in the afternoon and not all the groups were full, so they combined two groups into one, it was so dead. We did 4-5 laps and when the instructor asked me my experience (one track day, and one autocross a month) he pretty much let me go all out. I was hard on the brakes, trail braking getting that rear to rotate, tires making a lot of noise. I caught up to the other car in front of me and I was surprised they didn't back me off.

[MisterF80M3]

Originally Posted by kchan

I think in the morning they must be conservative, and only let us do 2 laps. Do they let you do 3-4 laps continuously? I think they may have a little more time than they thought (maybe people are driving faster =D) so decide to let you do 3-4 laps? I was in track #1.

I sneak out from work in the morning so don't want to spend too much time, otherwise definitely want to stick around longer and test drive the other vehicles. Heck, the x4M i didn't realize I was in comfort mode until towards the end...

Do they have this at cow palace every year? I remember going maybe 3-4 yrs ago (not the autocross since I didn't sign up in advance). Next time ask some friends to go along. Besides BMW, does other manufacturers do these events anymore? Long time ago I have done the Porsche Cayenne when it first came out, Volvo XC90, and MB E350/E500 (must be like 15-20 years ago...), those were in Alameda point

Did you notice the hairpin turn was way too slim? I think they put the cones way too narrow at the hairpin. The whole track should be consistent in width.