derBayerische November December 2022 - 7

N C C ' S S U M M E R H P D E - T E C H , T O R Q U E , A N D T R A C T I O N
After the briefing I head back to
the car to grab some zip ties in order
to hang the " BMW of Fairfax " banner
by the stairs. It takes three of us to
level it against the stairway's diagonal
lopsidedness (apparently that is a
word, says Word). NCC's finest are
lining up in the cold pit for the first
orientation outing just as it occurs to
me that Big Guns upstairs at corporate
made it clear that " under no
circumstances can you take the car
on the track " . That's also what they
said last time before authorizing
a " spirited " demonstration lap for
the aforementioned prospect. I start
thinking about how I miss my F80
and I'm getting pretty itchy waiting in
line for a G80 M3 Comp. First world
problems, but whatever, this is cruel
and unusual. Time to meander to the
paddocks to get the scoop on the
surrounding hardware.
Following a visit to the skidpad
and plenty of side conversations with
passing faces, I couldn't help but
appreciate that many holding the
strings here are active, reserved or
retired military - a fun and talented
bunch of charismatic bimmer heads
who keep everything safe and bythe-books
(but who never abandon a
good laugh). This is how things
should be run back at corporate but
I'll bite my tongue-ort of an applied
methodology of SOP-meets-adaptand-overcome.
My hat is off to 'em;
these guys make it look easy. There's
another announcement, and I'm off to
run my first class of the weekend!
Now, these " classes " are merely
a slideshow-and-tell with a PDF I
prepare for each event about various
(authorized) BMW internal CAD cutaways,
including explanations of
how modern M-tech is trying to help
you stay on the track. I say that
because we learned long ago that
much of this technology is anything
but properly understood in the wild.
The going misconception is something
like " DSC is too slow, MDM is
just right, DSC OFF means you're a
hero " or something to that tune.
There may be some underlying truth
in that humor but if I had one way to
November I December
■ Instructors and organizers recap the day in the conference room during the door prize giveaway.
describe what I've learned in 17
years in and out of this brand, it's that
nothing is static and everything really
is Dynamic, as the taglines claim.
As linear-thinking creatures, we have
a hard time coping with this concept.
Therefore, these slideshows and
details of exactly how these systems
work are put in place so you're
driving with the " nannies " and not
around them. Side note for the
instructors: even the instructors use
MDM sometimes. The cars are
much too powerful these days for
keeping the works in OFF mode one
hundred percent of the time. So yes,
be still, your ego.
The first class with the instructors
goes well. Lots of feedback on
M mode preferences and settings
for the track. A few instructors
expressed their takeaway was to alter
some of the settings on their
students' machines for a safer and
more explorative delivery of the car's
capabilities. Sweet! This is exactly
what the course was designed for -
to explain what's actually happening
when you press the go-faster
buttons. I joke with one of the
instructors who mentioned that a
student showed up at a previous
event and demanded everything " be
7
in Sport Plus mode " . Funny how
BMW marketing tends to bring out
the [insert less-desirable noun here]
in some of the students.
After lunch at the centerpiece
kiosk with the DBA of " Bills
Burgers " (not too bad for track food),
I venture back to the skidpad. This is
really the only do-whatever day for
instructors, as things get pretty
chaotic on the ensuing Saturday and
Sunday when the students partake.
I learn my student has shown up a
day early just to " hang out " . We're
posted at the skidpad with the weekend
humor fully chambered and
ready to fly. He asks if I can driveand-describe
during a skidpad session.
The easy answer is " Sure! " , but
when it's an F90 M5 CS, you tend to
have a little more urgency in your
compliance. On the first lap, I
explain how I work from the outsidein.
That is, I've always preferred to
first demonstrate what " too much " is,
then, demonstrate how to avoid
going too far until one can keep the
car in a consistent, 45-degree slide
with minimal throttle and steering
input. Of course, this is only appli■
An E46 track car slides around the skidpad for some last-minute drifting
practice of the weekend.

derBayerische November December 2022

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