little P
Super Mod
I took my 320d tourer around Brands Hatch a week ago (much to everyone's amusement lol) as I sold my Type-R two days before the trackday was due... I wasn't going to let a little thing like selling my track car stop me from enjoying the track day so I thrashed the absolute nuts off my poor M-sport, and it took it like a champ! I was so lost in the moment that I ended up lapping round for over 45 minutes, and the only thing that made me come in was a Clio blowing up in front of me. It was only when I checked the footage later on I realized how long I'd been out for... I let the car cool down and went back out in the afternoon once it was a bit quieter on track and I got a 1:03 through traffic so was pleased with that.
Unfortunately I didn't set up my go pro's exposure correctly so it didn't show anything out the front window but I did piece together a few clips that show what I was going through emotionally after wanting to drive my own car around Brands Hatch in an open pitlane format. A lifelong dream realized for me, and it SO much different to any of the driving experiences I've done there, even in the F4 where you are on your own, they are still limited top speed and you only get 15 minutes. Nothing compares to being out there on your own with 24 other cars, driving your car right to the edge to see where the limits are for both the car and yourself. Heaven.
What a day that was too as I also had a go in my friends Caterham 270R which he captured on film for me... the cornering ability of that car is astounding!
Unfortunately I didn't set up my go pro's exposure correctly so it didn't show anything out the front window but I did piece together a few clips that show what I was going through emotionally after wanting to drive my own car around Brands Hatch in an open pitlane format. A lifelong dream realized for me, and it SO much different to any of the driving experiences I've done there, even in the F4 where you are on your own, they are still limited top speed and you only get 15 minutes. Nothing compares to being out there on your own with 24 other cars, driving your car right to the edge to see where the limits are for both the car and yourself. Heaven.
I was a bit of an anomaly to say the least, there were only a few road spec cars there, and they were all high performance Porsches, Audi R8's and the like. Every other car was either a dedicated track weapon or full on race car. What I didn't know was this particular track day was one of the last opportunities for the race series cars to do some "unoffical testing" before the final races of their respective series.
The BMW was more out of place than Frodo Baggins in an NBA game, but I just smiled and waved at all the people pointing and giving me the sarcastic/ironic/whatthehellareyoudoingmate thumbs up. Come the afternoon I seemed to have surprised more than a few spectators that came up to me in the garage and wanted to shake my hand for throwing it round the track and getting the arse out on several occasions. I also passed plenty of other drivers who I can only imagine were a bit surprised to be passed by a BMW in the mirrors only to see it's a tourer as I pass and then read "320d" on the rear haha. On the flip side, some of those race cars were insanely fast, loud and relentless. It was a cacophony of noise mixed with pure adrenaline and terror at the same time. When I got between a pack of Caterhams it was terrifying as one wrong move from any one of us and it would result in either some stained trousers or worse still a very expensive mistake... I loved it though! If you pay attention to the centre console when you put the M-sport into sport + mode it disables all traction control and stability assist and only gives you ABS and a power/torque readout on the digital display. God love BMW for a car that tries to do it all. Surprisingly I had little to no brake fade the entire day, and the car held up perfectly to me absolutely driving the tits off it, especially in the afternoon sessions.
Some pics;
^ Taken by my friend leaning out of the pit wall coming out of the final corner on to the start/finish straight
^ Hitting the bottom of Paddock (the compression of the suspension, and your spine is an incredible feeling in this corner), the irony of having just overtaken a Type-R which was exactly like the one I had sold two days before was not lost on me. This picture was used on MSV's front page with the caption "all cars welcome to our track days, even 3 series tourers! #gleaming #braveorcrazyyoudecide #buildingupthebrakedust #msvtrackdays"
Here's a quick few clips, the beauty (or curse) of a go pro is you just forget it's there, I did laugh at some points watching this back because I don't remember talking to myself as much as I did, I was so "in the zone" and don't remember most of it (no I wasn't drunk, for once that wasn't the reason for the memory loss). All I know is I was in a road going, daily workhorse touring diesel and was not just catching but overtaking and leaving behind dedicated track cars. God I wish I had unlimited funds...
It's a shame I didn't set up the exposure correctly but I will make sure I get it right for next time, I was just too excited to think about it I suppose... whoops!
Unfortunately I didn't set up my go pro's exposure correctly so it didn't show anything out the front window but I did piece together a few clips that show what I was going through emotionally after wanting to drive my own car around Brands Hatch in an open pitlane format. A lifelong dream realized for me, and it SO much different to any of the driving experiences I've done there, even in the F4 where you are on your own, they are still limited top speed and you only get 15 minutes. Nothing compares to being out there on your own with 24 other cars, driving your car right to the edge to see where the limits are for both the car and yourself. Heaven.
What a day that was too as I also had a go in my friends Caterham 270R which he captured on film for me... the cornering ability of that car is astounding!
Unfortunately I didn't set up my go pro's exposure correctly so it didn't show anything out the front window but I did piece together a few clips that show what I was going through emotionally after wanting to drive my own car around Brands Hatch in an open pitlane format. A lifelong dream realized for me, and it SO much different to any of the driving experiences I've done there, even in the F4 where you are on your own, they are still limited top speed and you only get 15 minutes. Nothing compares to being out there on your own with 24 other cars, driving your car right to the edge to see where the limits are for both the car and yourself. Heaven.
I was a bit of an anomaly to say the least, there were only a few road spec cars there, and they were all high performance Porsches, Audi R8's and the like. Every other car was either a dedicated track weapon or full on race car. What I didn't know was this particular track day was one of the last opportunities for the race series cars to do some "unoffical testing" before the final races of their respective series.
The BMW was more out of place than Frodo Baggins in an NBA game, but I just smiled and waved at all the people pointing and giving me the sarcastic/ironic/whatthehellareyoudoingmate thumbs up. Come the afternoon I seemed to have surprised more than a few spectators that came up to me in the garage and wanted to shake my hand for throwing it round the track and getting the arse out on several occasions. I also passed plenty of other drivers who I can only imagine were a bit surprised to be passed by a BMW in the mirrors only to see it's a tourer as I pass and then read "320d" on the rear haha. On the flip side, some of those race cars were insanely fast, loud and relentless. It was a cacophony of noise mixed with pure adrenaline and terror at the same time. When I got between a pack of Caterhams it was terrifying as one wrong move from any one of us and it would result in either some stained trousers or worse still a very expensive mistake... I loved it though! If you pay attention to the centre console when you put the M-sport into sport + mode it disables all traction control and stability assist and only gives you ABS and a power/torque readout on the digital display. God love BMW for a car that tries to do it all. Surprisingly I had little to no brake fade the entire day, and the car held up perfectly to me absolutely driving the tits off it, especially in the afternoon sessions.
Some pics;
^ Taken by my friend leaning out of the pit wall coming out of the final corner on to the start/finish straight
^ Hitting the bottom of Paddock (the compression of the suspension, and your spine is an incredible feeling in this corner), the irony of having just overtaken a Type-R which was exactly like the one I had sold two days before was not lost on me. This picture was used on MSV's front page with the caption "all cars welcome to our track days, even 3 series tourers! #gleaming #braveorcrazyyoudecide #buildingupthebrakedust #msvtrackdays"
Here's a quick few clips, the beauty (or curse) of a go pro is you just forget it's there, I did laugh at some points watching this back because I don't remember talking to myself as much as I did, I was so "in the zone" and don't remember most of it (no I wasn't drunk, for once that wasn't the reason for the memory loss). All I know is I was in a road going, daily workhorse touring diesel and was not just catching but overtaking and leaving behind dedicated track cars. God I wish I had unlimited funds...
It's a shame I didn't set up the exposure correctly but I will make sure I get it right for next time, I was just too excited to think about it I suppose... whoops!
