2011 Rocky Mountain BMW CCA Spring Driving School at HPR

The BMW CCA Rocky Mountain Region had its Spring Driving School at High Plains Raceway (HPR) last weekend. I had driven the M Coupe at HPR once before in March at an open lapping day. My goals for the school were to take advantage of as much instruction possible to learn the track better and improve my driving. As always there was a variety of vehicles on hand that were as impressive in the paddocks as they were on the track.

3.0CSL

E90 M3's

Performance Wheel w/ Digital Tach

Forgeline Goodness

Nissan GTR

V10 Audi R8

2002 Race Car

Lotus Exige

German Touring Class 911

E30's

M Roadster

And Of Course the M Coupe!

Or Should I Say Coupes

Jonny V in the Esses

On the Back Straight

HPR is a 2.5 mile track in the plains of eastern Colorado. It has a little bit of everything; elevation change, decreasing radius turns, esses, high speed straights, etc. Jonny V brought his M Coupe for the first time on the track. I was in the A Group for the first time, which was a little intimidating. The privileges of open passing and being allowed to take passengers for the later sessions were worth it. Both the classroom and in-car instruction were geared beyond basic track driving to improving speed, driving racing lines, and even interpreting telemetry. It was an excellent stepping stone to the next step be it instructing, spec racing, or time trials. I feel like I learned more in this school than in previous ones.

HPR

With Elevation

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On the Front Straight

Justin was my instructor for the whole day. He has years of track experience in various cars including an E46 M3. His current ride is a 2011 Nissan GTR. The first two sessions were spend scraping rust off and developing my line. The last two were spent building speed. It became obvious early that I would need to turn off my stability control (DSC). The M Coupe is an odd bird. It's a combination of an excess of power, short wheel base, super rigid chassis, and trailing arm rear suspension. The combination of those make it challenging, but rewarding to drive at the limit. In the past I have used the DSC as a tool to stay smooth, but it really was hindering my exits on some turns. I'm comfortable driving with it off, but have scared myself a few times. Trailing arm suspensions are sensitive to smooth throttle application and lift which prevent unwanted rotation (or spinning). You can see an example of this in Josh's E30. Josh is a dam good driver. The M Coupe had a 145hp advantage over his E30, but we were dead even for most of the session. His rear end broke just a little exiting Turn 5 and broke in the opposite direction. He did the right thing by going off straight leaving his car unscathed.

Josh's Off in Turn 5

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Justin's instruction was a great balance of input and critiquing me after the fact. As we hurled down the track our conversation was as relaxed as if we were sipping lattes at Starbucks. Areas we focused on were:

• Moving my apex earlier and driving more of a racing line through the tighter turns.
• Adjusting my entry and track out to suit the line I was driving.
• Inducing some slip angle / rotation to exit with more speed.
• Not stabbing the throttle and lifting gently to prevent lift-over steer (spinning).

In the instructor session I rode in his GTR, which blew my mind. I won't even try to describe how amazing it was. It accelerated so hard it hurt! I also rode in an instructor's M Roadster. He showed me some specific things suited to the unique M Coupe platform. Jonny V. rode along with me on my third session and I got a little practice at instruction. It was very similar to flight instruction.

My Lap Description

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The BMW CCA school is one of the best in the area and my experience echo's that. The club works hard to put on a safe and productive school. This includes a bunch of volunteer corner workers who maintain a constant watch on the track. Thanks to everyone for their hard work. I can't wait until fall!

The Drive Home

Flytec Race and Rally 2011 - Final

We all met up in Aiken, SC after yesterday's task. The cold front we had be outrunning finally caught us and the task was cancelled. We knew the day would probably be cancelled so everyone met up downtown and celebrated the comp. It was Friday night and Aiken's quaint downtown was alive. The crew I was with didn't leave until after the bluegrass band stopped playing at 2:00am.

In the morning the task was cancelled after which commotion ensued as everyone made plans for their departure. The destinations were diverse; Australia, Brazil, Europe, and all over the US. A big contingent was heading north to the Mid West Comp. I was heading back to Colorado with Jeff, but we had a problem. His truck was making ominous sounds from the rear end. I was hoping it was something simple like a snapped retaining spring in the drum brake assembly. A trip to the dealer revealed it was a wheel bearing that failed catastrophically, even worse the parts wouldn't be in until Monday. That put us two days behind on our 26 hour drive to Colorado. Jeff has another 12 hours after that.

Broke Down in Aiken, SC

We missed the awards ceremony, but were able to get a ride back to the Econolodge. Fortunately for us the tug pilots were also delayed on their trip home by the cold front. We all met up and had dinner downtown. The next day Jeff and I entertained ourselves by going on several vigorous walks. Finally on Monday afternoon after 48 painful hours the truck was ready. We wasted no time rallying straight back to CO. We made good time and breathed a deeper sigh of relief as we crossed each state line.

Hanging Out in Aiken

Teased by Beautiful Skies

Civil War Graves

Walking the Tracks

Finally the Part

Driving Non-Stop

Beautiful Colorado

This comp was more transformational than past ones for me. My flying improved some, but my mental state of mind changed significantly. The lessons were mostly mental and decision making, not mechanical flying. In the last few comps I was just trying to survive. This time I was actually able to race at times. Each mistake I make is an opportunity to improve and limit my repetition. Racing hang gliders is far from easy, especially with the caliber of pilots who compete. I judge my success right now by how much I can learn from each of my failures.

Keel Mount from Day 6

(a climb to cloud base with Eric Donaldson)

Totals: I flew 7 days in a row, totaling 25 hours and 43 minutes covering 340 miles. My longest flight was 5:14. I made goal for the first time and flew a new PR distance of 120 miles. I finished 41 out of 55 pilots without being scored for the first day (I'd be in the high 30's if I was scored).

The Course Line of this Year's Rally

Flytec Race and Rally 2011 - Day 6

The cold front we have been outrunning forced us to continue east. A 135km task from Vidalia, GA to Allendale, SC was called. The winds were a little stronger than yesterday with a slight chance of overdevelopment. The town of Vidalia was good to us. The chamber of commerce came out in the morning with the "Yumion", an onion suit that some poor soul had to wear in the sweltering heat. I took the time that I would normally spend rigging my glider to mount the Go Pro.

Vidalia, GA

The Yumion

I was going to line up early, but the sky was still blue. The first few pilots had trouble finding something that stuck. As the tows continued a flush cycle sunk about 5 pilots. The wind direction switched enough that we changed tow direction and then again. I got off late, but there were so many re-lights I wasn't terribly behind. Russell pinned me off in solid 400fpm in the upwind segment of the start circle. I climbed about halfway to cloudbase and glided downwind to link up with Eric and Mitch. We left together a few minutes after the last start.

Looking Down in the Start Circle

The lift was light at first, but Eric and I worked together to get closer to cloudbase with each climb. John was one climb ahead and on his own. After about 50km I caught a core that Eric missed and went to cloudbase. I was on my own, but could see random gliders out ahead. The clouds were dissipating and forming fast, making it hard to predict where the climbs were. At cloudbase I was close enough to catch the thermals before the cloud dissipated, but down low it was a different story. In hindsight I should have focused on searching the lift line itself rather than marking downwind clouds.

Good Looking Clouds



I had a really long glide at 70km and got low over an airport south of Sylvania, GA. I was gliding in a straight line for the center of the airport when I spotted a bird at my four O'Clock. I broke hard right only to see that it was a crane. Luckily on the other side of it were a few vultures. They marked a solid climb that I took from 2500' all the way to cloudbase. I was able to get within ten feet of one unsuspecting bird that reluctantly tolerated my presence.

A Good Climb After Getting Low South of Sylvania, GA

At cloudbase I could see a large forest before goal, but I still had a long way to go just to get to the edge of it. I was about 50km out, but above 7000'. I pushed out on glide into a large blue hole because it was shading heavily below me. I think I inadvertently angled out of the lift line chasing another group of clouds downwind. I should have shifted gears, conserved my altitude and flown off course to the south parallel to the lift line. At 35km I was at the forest boundary and down to 3000'. I had altitude to search for lift, but hadn't hit a thing. I angled north of course because there were more thermal generating sources there. I searched and searched drifting deeper over the forest but couldn't find a thing. My last resort was to look at the sun and shade boundaries where something usually lives. I found random 150fpm bubbles, but couldn't hook anything.

At Cloudbase

The Edge of the Forest

I was deep over the forest and would soon have to make a decision. It was painful. I was one climb away from goal and motivated to make it. Finally, when I was about to loose glide to the last good field before the sea of trees, I turned away from goal and tracked back upwind to land. I made the field at 300'. It was rectangular but the long end was aligned crosswind. I decided to split the difference between the length and the wind. For the first time in my life I threw my drogue chute. It deployed perfectly just as I turned base of the tops of the trees. I dove in and had a perfect landing. There were two horses in the field who's curiosity over came their fear and ran up to check me out. I was worried that the land owner would be angry, but they greeted me with friendly southern hospitality.

The Last Good LZ

Curious Horses

Cambell saw me on the ground and landed too. I can not understate how friendly the land owners where. They brought us a pitcher of ice water and offered to help us in any way they could. Their hospitality will be one of my fondest memories of the comp.

Cambell Joined Me

Friendly Southern Hospitality

Total flight time 3:15, Distance 107km.