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Oktoberfest
Four members of the White Mountain Chapter traveled by car to the annual BMW CCA Oktoberfest in September. David Thibodeau in his brand new 2005 MINI Cooper S and I in my 2002 MINI Cooper S traveled together while Ted Keating in his 1995 325i and Mike Ellman in his 199x E36 took different routes. The convention was headquartered at the Sheraton conference center, but most of the fun took place an hour north, at the Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Danville, Virginia. Serendipity With the exception of the nasty Scranton – Wilkes Barre PA stretch, the drive to Greensboro was uneventful. After a few hours of I-81 and watching the Blue Ridge Mountains tease us to East, we started looking for a diversion off I-81. North of Roanoke, we found several local roads up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. As we started up VA Rt 43 we encountered this sign, sure to quicken the pulse of any driving enthusiast. . .
A short stretch of about 5 miles, it had at least three very sharp left hand and a couple more right hand hairpin turns that included steep elevation changes. The road was virtually cut into the mountain, leaving no room on the right when the occasional Taurus or motorcycles headed toward us. A great, twisty run! Day One I spent Sunday morning adjusting the new H-Sport front and rear sway bars I had bought from Bavarian Auto. We also swapped out Dave’s stock wheels and tires for his track day set. An E30 owner, who had driven down from the Boston area the night before, found us in the lot at the hotel and explained he was having trouble with his brakes. We helped him find some local help – the owner of a well-loved 1985-ish 6 series who had the pads replaced in no time. The rest of the morning was spent chatting with the drivers of various vintages MINIs and BMWs, helping each other work on their cars, shine their cars and/or just chat about their cars. What a great group – this is what belonging to a car club is all about! After a long wait at registration, a group of 8 or so cars got together for the 50 mile run up to VIR. M3's, E30's, MINIs, a nicer mix one cannot image! As we exited the hotel and attacked the on ramp to I-40 in Greenville – and as if on cue -- not one, not two, but three North Carolina State Troopers appeared from out of nowhere as our personal escorts. Luckily we behaved ourselves and they soon gave up on us, as we headed up I29 toward Danville, freeing us for a more “spirited” group run. VIR was absolutely huge! Two NHIS' would fit into it, easily. The North Course is 2.25 miles, the South Course is 1.65 miles, the Patriot Course (site of Tuesday's autocross) is 1.1 miles and the overall Full Course (used for the Driving School) is 3.7 miles and 17 turns long. The Back Straight is 4,000' and the Front Straight is 3,000' ~ the club racers hit 160 mph before braking at the end of the Front Straight. We could only imagine how fast they were going on the Back Straight!
On Sunday afternoon we had a chance to see the BMW club racers work their magic on the track. Watching them fly down the 4,000’ back straight and then immediately attack the downhill "roller coaster" -- many with only three wheels on the ground as they crested the hill – gave us a sense for what we would be in for during our track days. The size and elevation changes at VIR made me a bit nervous and yet quite excited. A great day and we had not even had our chance yet on the track!
Day Two I lucked into an excellent instructor, Danny Alvis. He owns a former BMW racer, an M3 GTR, which is the same one run by Hans Stuck in a fantastic Nurburing video you may have seen on the Internet. Although a bit nervous and quite excited, I was not timid when running the track. Nevertheless, Alvis kept saying, "Go faster, go faster!" and "Don't break now . . . keep your foot on the gas . . . keep it there . . . brake now!" taking me and my MINI to controlled speeds not previously experienced.
Dave was fortunate to have a ride in “Bookie” Binkley’s black MINI club racer. Binkley had been driving this track since 1964! They passed quite a few M3's of all shapes and sizes and were closing in on a 911 on the back straight when the Bookie's MINI broke its serpentine belt. Fortunately this happened at the top of the roller coaster so they just coasted back down into the pits. Riding with an instructor, as you may know, is a great way to truly experience not only a different line but also how to do so at speed and under control. Dave found that after experiencing a few laps with Binkey that he gained quite a bit more confidence, both in getting down the roller coaster and especially the “Hog Pen” right-hander that transitions from the Roller Coaster onto the Front Straight. First in Class at Autocross* Next, I took my MINI to the Zymol car wash to give it a much-needed bath. Zymol had all of their cleaning agents and the other BMW CCA members were friendly and helpful. My MINI needs much work before it is even remotely close to concourse quality. I snuck away without drying the car (tsk! tsk!) in order to get to the autocross on time. The Tarheel Chapter raised the autocross bar. Not your usual parking lot or airport runway lined with cones, they used one mile of the Patriot course, which comes with numerous elevation changes, turns and straights, and then added the cones. The course was made even more challenging with a couple of off-camber turns and almost 90 degree turns. By the last run I had an average speed of 55 mph and a first place finish in my class! * The best time of the day was 0:53.000 (or 67 mph) in the race-prepped Bimmer with track tires, etc. Most drivers were clustered around the 1-minute mark, so I felt pretty good about my first autocross event. All in all my last day was a very good day, even though I fried my rear pads and didn't realize it until driving to the Sheraton that evening. I had put new pads on after the run from Milford to Bar Harbor and to Loon Mountain on the way to Mount Washington for the third annual MINIs On Top just three months earlier. Essentially, the Ferodos lasted from June until September at about 700 miles per week plus two track sessions although I daresay the VIR experience was the most wearing, braking from 110+ mph twice each lap.
Had a bit of excitement on one lap while approaching turn 1 as the car in front of me went agricultural. Didn’t begin to make the hairpin turn that is the end of the 3,000’ start/finish straight, driving directly out into the grassy runoff area. I was still flat out at that point, so braked early and got through the turn without incident. Fortunately, the other driver and car were okay. Speaking of going agricultural, on Monday a ground hog approached the course as I was setting up to climb the esses at about 70 mph. The instructor said "Looks like a ground hog is about to commit suicide," to which I replied "But what about my car!" Fortunately for all of us, the ground hog beat a hasty retreat from the track. The Drive Home The time at Korman was not a total waste. I had an up-close view of a BMW “art car.” Maybe you can tell me the model and year of the car in the attached photo.
All I know is that it was one beautiful automobile. Korman stores the car for the Guggenheim Museum and once a month takes it around his lot to make sure the mechanicals are tested and working. Anyway, still needing brakes I headed to Flow MINI in Winston-Salem. While checking out the combined BMW/MINI showroom, I bumped into MINI club racer Bookie Binkoff, Dave’s instructor on the first day at VIR. Getrag transmissions are built near Winston-Salem. Bookie, who is an active MINI club racer and Flow BMW sales rep, recently got a call from the factory. Would you mind, they asked, testing our all wheel drive transmission and letting us know what you think? Sure enough, they gave him a MINI mule with the pre-production transmission to evaluate. He was quite amazed with the performance, saying that with it he’ll be better able to compete in his club racing class where his MINI is about 10 seconds slower than other cars. Bookie also noted that the all wheel drive system has been tested in Europe where it beat a MINI with a stock two-wheel drive transmission around a 2.5-mile course by 8 seconds! Bookie left to run some errands and I settled in to read some magazines. Another 45 minutes go by before the service manager comes to see me. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but we don’t have any rear pads in stock.” Refraining from going ballistic, I said this is a MINI dealership so how could he not have any? “Well, we can get them tomorrow” was the basic response. At my suggestion, a call was placed to Bookie to see if he knew of any other sources. Bookie offered to run by his place to pick up used pads (the stock ones that were replaced when the MINI was modified for racing). Eventually the pads were installed and I finally headed north at 4:20 p.m. While very frustrated by the delay, I must admit the solution was a great example of BMW/MINI owners going out of their way to help others in trouble. Just so the day wasn’t a total waste, on my way north I ducked off I-81 for another “spirited” run up and down VA 43. I couldn’t go too fast because all the stuff in the MINI was flying around. But I did have the video camera recording! The rest of the ride was fine. I pulled off in Winchester VA (wherever that is) for the night. I arrived home early Friday evening after stopping in Vernon CT for a bucket of half-sour pickles and a couple of hot meat knishes from Rein's Deli. "Second Day - With Speedo" gives a perspective on the speeds at different points. I just wish I'd taken the rear view mirror off ~ nobody could pass me anyway! "Autocross 4 - 1 min. 5.043 secs" is my fastest and last run on the Autocross course. I should have backed off on the telephoto some, but the results do give you a sense of the sharp turns necessary at several points. "BMW GT3 Racer with Danny Alvis" is from the checkered flag stand looking down the finish straight as he approaches and blows by. This car is featured in a great video of Hans Stuck driving around the Nurburing. Crank up the volume! "You Rock - Back on the Gas" is so named because those were phrases Danny Alvis used during this video. Shot with too much telephoto but no rear view mirror, giving a good sense for the speed I achieved at times. "VA Rt 43" was shot as I drove up this access road for the Blue Ridge Parkway. That noise you will hear is the stuff in my MINI bouncing around as I took the turns . . . Let’s Go! VIR was a fantastic location for Oktoberfest. The facilities are first rate. There are many, many places for spectators to watch the action with unobstructed views. And the track itself exceeds all my expectations.
The Tarheel Chapter and the national BMW staff, and whomever else was involved with organizing Oktoberfest 2006 deserve the biggest stein of German beer possible for the outstanding work they did pulling the event together.
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