Event Coverage: BMWCC Trillium ADS & BMW Club Race
This past weekend (Sept. 2011), I attended one of BMW Club of Canada's Advanced Driving School at Mosport GP. The weekend consisted of in class lessons, track time, skid pad exercise, track walk and a club race. I can easily say that this weekend is the best track experience I've ever had. The combination of safety, quality instructors, in-class lessons, skid pad exercises and atmosphere really sets this school apart from regular lapping days. This combination allows you to learn a lot more than you normally would at a regular lapping day with a less experienced group of people, some of which are poorly ran and you'd want to avoid anyway. All beginners or even experienced drivers who haven't actually had any formal instruction should definitely consider participating in one of these schools.
I had a chance to chat with another student, it was his first time at the BMWCC school, Victor drove a super clean white Integra Type-R and he said that this tops all of the 15+ track days he's attended. So I wasn't the only one left feeling this way. It was the first time he's had an instructor rode along with him and he was able to learn a lot from it, he also mentioned he did 60+ laps at Shannonville not too long before that weekend. He mentioned that there were many people he knew that would benefit from proper instruction that this weekend offered. So even for people who have been to the track this is a good experience if you want to improve your skills and get rid of your bad habits.
I'll start off with a few pictures of cars in the paddock area, during the breaks everyone was busy chatting, checking fluid levels, re-torquing their wheel, etc on their cars. Unfortunately I didn't get much of other cars, I was too busy driving and chatting it up with fellow car guys (and ladies) most of the time!
My E36 M3, Raisa's SE-R Spec-V, Mike's S54 E36.
Graeme's M52 OBD1 E30 on r-comps
Clean Estroil M3 sedan
Two Apline White beauties
1 of 2 1M Coupes, there was also a Valencia Orange at the track.
I love the wide arches
135i with a M3 inspired hood
Stock looking 135i
Dinan Tuned 135i
350z
Dinan 335i xDrive
Day 1 was an unlucky day for Mike and his 328is, unfortunately he had some fuel issues in his S54 swapped E36 and needed to be towed back to the paddock area. The issue was quickly solved and Mike was back on the track, but in another session his diff flange popped out causing fluid to run low. Mike called it a day but came back on Sunday ready to go again, which thankfully ran without trouble and he was able to enjoy his time on the track.
Mike getting towed back
A view of the paddock area.
The instructors always have some really nice cars out also. During the instructor track sessions, students get to ride along for some pointers and to be shown how it's done.
Old school porsches
M6 that unfortunately had engine trouble. Dave says he already has another motor ready to drop in.
An instructors GT2 on Michelin Pilot Sport Cups
Some pictures from the BMW Club Race.
The pace car (LeMans Blue - 335is DCT) provided by BMW Canada for the Club Race.
Driven by instructor John Venditti Jr.
S14 (E30 M3) powered widebody E21
This car ran an 1:25.5, which is insanely fast.
Another Member of the Raven team, I love the widebody stance.
3rd E36 Raven member
Raven E46 M3
And to end this blog post I will finish with my weekend accomplishment:
During lunch on Sunday, my instructor Ed told me that he will be signing off on me. Having your instructor sign off on you means that you are able to go onto the track solo for the remainder of the sessions. It was great because only a few people in my group were signed off by their instructors.
Below is a video of one of my laps taken using my iPhone 4 and Harry's GPS lap timer available from the app store. Since the GPS signal wasn't too great, the speed and GPS aren't accurate. But it does give you an idea of the track and you get to see me pass new 911 Carrera on the front straight towards the end of the video.
Thank you for reading this past weekend's event coverage, I hope you enjoyed it. Email me at trevor@tdott.me if you have any questions or feedback regarding the BMWCC Trillium Advanced Driving School.
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