Announced: 2024 Ultimate Driving Experience and M Tracks Days - Locations & Schedule

[RigaTony1982]

Anyone doing the Chicago one this Saturday? My wife and I are doing the autocross at 3:30.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by RigaTony1982

Anyone doing the Chicago one this Saturday? My wife and I are doing the autocross at 3:30.

I’m there at 11:30 next Friday.

[tturedraider]

Well, bad news! The street drive sucks balls!!! They have changed how they do it. The driving is HIGHLY controlled. You no longer go in each car individually as they become available. They have three groups of three cars each. You have to choose a group. They have a lead BMW employee driver who leads all three cars on the drive. Then you make stops along way and switch cars, so everyone drives all three cars during the drive. You can only be signed up for one group of cars at a time. If a car you want to drive happens to be in a group that doesn’t yet have two other drivers signed up then you have to wait until the group fills up before they will take that group out. In addition when the lead driver for each group takes a break for lunch the driving for that group of cars stops until the lead driver gets back.

So, no more going from one car to the next and getting in a bunch of drives in a relatively short period of time it takes forever and the drive is not on your own.

[tturedraider]

The actual driving is totally neutered!!! So, in short, the Street “Tour” is no longer worth doing!! They don’t call it the Street Drive anymore. They call it the Street Tour. If they leave it this way this will be the last UDE I do.

[RigaTony1982]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

Well, bad news! The street drive sucks balls!!! They have changed how they do it. The driving is HIGHLY controlled. You no longer go in each car individually as they become available. They have three groups of three cars each. You have to choose a group. They have a lead BMW employee driver who leads all three cars on the drive. Then you make stops along way and switch cars, so everyone drives all three cars during the drive. You can only be signed up for one group of cars at a time. If a car you want to drive happens to be in a group that doesn’t yet have two other drivers signed up then you have to wait until the group fills up before they will take that group out. In addition when the lead driver for each group takes a break for lunch the driving for that group of cars stops until the lead driver gets back.

So, no more going from one car to the next and getting in a bunch of drives in a relatively short period of time it takes forever and the drive is not on your own.

Shit, I meant to mention this to you (I did it last Saturday at the South location). Yeah, it's not good. The wait was forever. We only got to drive one "group" (the W one, with the M240i, X7 and iX), because that one had the shortest wait time.

I was told that last year they had about $500K worth of damage to some cars as a result of the street drives, including issues with people driving in S+ and with traction/stability turned off, so that's why they went to this new format.

[thebmw]

So I went the the UDE in yesterday. As others have said, a totally neutered experience. Street drives were part of a group where you had lead driver so was really stupid. The acceleration/braking portion was driven by a driver.

The autocross was literally two laps in a 540 and i5, with an instructor in the car. My i5 instructor was a total ball buster and didn't even let me remotely squeal the tire. Boring as hell.

Grand total, I spent about 3 hours invested in the UDE for 2 minutes of driving. I wonder if I'll ever do these UDE's again. Totally not what they were in the past.

[Dinan_Rated]

Originally Posted by RigaTony1982

Anyone doing the Chicago one this Saturday? My wife and I are doing the autocross at 3:30.

I went this morning at 8 am, and it was fantastic. I managed to sign up both my daughter and wife as well. They really enjoyed pushing themselves more than ever before. Additionally, the weather was perfect for taking out the fleet. definitely recommend signing up if it's in your area

[RigaTony1982]

Originally Posted by Dinan_Rated

I went this morning at 8 am, and it was fantastic. I managed to sign up both my daughter and wife as well. They really enjoyed pushing themselves more than ever before. Additionally, the weather was perfect for taking out the fleet. definitely recommend signing up if it's in your area

Yeah, autocross was great. Instructors were very nice. Just wish the street drive part was a little better. You got there early enough though that there probably wasn't a huge wait. Probably the key going forward.

[Dinan_Rated]

Originally Posted by RigaTony1982

Yeah, autocross was great. Instructors were very nice. Just wish the street drive part was a little better. You got there early enough though that there probably wasn't a huge wait. Probably the key going forward.

I always opt for the earliest available time slot, which I find is typically open. At that hour, the BMW team is fresh and there are hardly any people around, eliminating any wait times. This approach turns the experience into something more personal rather than just another group event.

[thebmw]

Originally Posted by RigaTony1982

Yeah, autocross was great. Instructors were very nice.

I've seen some of those instructors on the circuit before. All nice and very capable. There was just one that was really strict. Perhaps he had an idiot driver in the car right before me! I was surprised how well the 5 series did with curb weights between 4200-5000 lbs

[RigaTony1982]

Originally Posted by thebmw

I've seen some of those instructors on the circuit before. All nice and very capable. There was just one that was really strict. Perhaps he had an idiot driver in the car right before me! I was surprised how well the 5 series did with curb weights between 4200-5000 lbs

Agreed. Only my second time driving a 5 series (I had a 530i loaner a few weeks back), but I was impressed. At first I thought it was an odd choice for autocross, but it handled well.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by thebmw

So I went the the UDE in yesterday. As others have said, a totally neutered experience. Street drives were part of a group where you had lead driver so was really stupid. The acceleration/braking portion was driven by a driver.

The autocross was literally two laps in a 540 and i5, with an instructor in the car. My i5 instructor was a total ball buster and didn't even let me remotely squeal the tire. Boring as hell.

Grand total, I spent about 3 hours invested in the UDE for 2 minutes of driving. I wonder if I'll ever do these UDE's again. Totally not what they were in the past.

Originally Posted by thebmw

I've seen some of those instructors on the circuit before. All nice and very capable. There was just one that was really strict. Perhaps he had an idiot driver in the car right before me! I was surprised how well the 5 series did with curb weights between 4200-5000 lbs

Did he tell you how to adjust every single thing? I have been to many of these events and I learned long ago how to adjust my seat properly. He would not let me. Never asked if I had ever done one before. Every time I started to adjust anything he stopped me. I just quit trying and didn’t even try to go fast during the drive. His instruction was also pretty poor. My second instructor, Chris, was one of the best I’ve had, and I told him so. Chris is also who drove my “hot lap” and he was very fun!!

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by thebmw

So I went the the UDE in yesterday. As others have said, a totally neutered experience. Street drives were part of a group where you had lead driver so was really stupid. The acceleration/braking portion was driven by a driver.

The autocross was literally two laps in a 540 and i5, with an instructor in the car. My i5 instructor was a total ball buster and didn't even let me remotely squeal the tire. Boring as hell.

Grand total, I spent about 3 hours invested in the UDE for 2 minutes of driving. I wonder if I'll ever do these UDE's again. Totally not what they were in the past.

If it stays this way I won’t go again. I’m going to share a whole lot of thoughts on the survey they sent.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by Dinan_Rated

I went this morning at 8 am, and it was fantastic. I managed to sign up both my daughter and wife as well. They really enjoyed pushing themselves more than ever before. Additionally, the weather was perfect for taking out the fleet. definitely recommend signing up if it's in your area

Originally Posted by Dinan_Rated

I always opt for the earliest available time slot, which I find is typically open. At that hour, the BMW team is fresh and there are hardly any people around, eliminating any wait times. This approach turns the experience into something more personal rather than just another group event.

Have you been to many of them?

[thebmw]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

Did he tell you how to adjust every single thing? I have been to many of these events and I learned long ago how to adjust my seat properly. He would not let me. Never asked if I had ever done one before. Every time I started to adjust anything he stopped me. I just quit trying and didn’t even try to go fast during the drive. His instruction was also pretty poor. My second instructor, Chris, was one of the best I’ve had, and I told him so. Chris is also who drove my “hot lap” and he was very fun!!

Yes, yes, and yes! I think we had the same 2 instructors. The first one was a young, short, skinny/athletic build guy in the i5. Literally would not let me adjust the seat, only go forward/backward and adjust the steering where he wanted it. He never asked me about my driving history. He just assumed I was an idiot. Spent a bunch of time explaining to me what "brake brake brake" means. I think it means brake, but maybe I need another hour of him screaming that to me! His instruction was poor. He told me to brake really early even though I was going relatively slow. No doubt it was the same dude as yours!

Next one might have been Chris, round face, recessed chin. Awesome guy. Was in the 540 with him and was able to squeal the tires and even get a tiny bit of rear tire wiggle. He knew that I knew how to drive. I did the hot lap with him and told me that he's not going to be much faster than me (very nice of him but he was indeed faster than me)! I told him the same thing, that he was awesome, and thanked him for trusting me and letting me push the car.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by thebmw

Yes, yes, and yes! I think we had the same 2 instructors. The first one was a young, short, skinny/athletic build guy in the i5. Literally would not let me adjust the seat, only go forward/backward and adjust the steering where he wanted it. He never asked me about my driving history. He just assumed I was an idiot. Spent a bunch of time explaining to me what "brake brake brake" means. I think it means brake, but maybe I need another hour of him screaming that to me! His instruction was poor. He told me to brake really early even though I was going relatively slow. No doubt it was the same dude as yours!

Next one might have been Chris, round face, recessed chin. Awesome guy. Was in the 540 with him and was able to squeal the tires and even get a tiny bit of rear tire wiggle. He knew that I knew how to drive. I did the hot lap with him and told me that he's not going to be much faster than me (very nice of him but he was indeed faster than me)! I told him the same thing, that he was awesome, and thanked him for trusting me and letting me push the car.

Yep! Same guys without a doubt!! Glad we got to have Chris for the second drive!!

[Auriemma]

Anyone else going to the UDE Autocross in Philly this weekend?
I am so looking forward to it.