What a day!! On Monday I got to take part in the “Ultimate BMW Experience” (http://www.bmwusfactory.com/ultimate-bmw-experience/). It was a ton of fun, so I figured I would share with you all.
The “experience” consists of
- checking out the bmw mini-museum. They’ve got some cool stuff hanging out
- touring the assembly plant where the X5,X6 and X3 is assembled for every country
- driving some bmw’s on a small test track, plus taking an X5 offroading
- sitting shotgun for a hot lap in an M5 with a race school instructor
Below are some pictures of the Museum:
Some tiny car, wtf is it?
Some race car action:
Some motorcycles:
Some BMW Zs:
So that’s about all that is in the museum. Not much to tell about it. Just a lot of heritage, and some z cars that we never got in the states 
Next part of the tour was the assembly plant tour. I wasn’t allowed to bring a camera or a phone inside, but I’ll try to give a little explanation of what I learned.
The plant is brilliant. All 3 chassis start in the “body shop” where robots weld the 3 main sections together. No parts are stamped in house, so all stamped parts come in from local suppliers, or from germany. I was surprised to find out that a lot of parts are made locally though, some even just down the street. It was cool walking through this area. Sparks were flying everywhere. My fiancee was actually nervous. A few people got hit with flying sparks. They told us if a spark hit our hair and ignited that we should tap it out with our hands lol.
After the body shop process is complete, they consider the car to be born, and the line gets split. One direction for X5 and X6, another direction for X3. At this point, the chassis merges with it’s invoice and starts getting built. They put the body panels on next, then send it for paint. Paint takes 10 hours per car!!! Nuts, it’s very controlled and we weren’t allowed in
Then it hits the assembly floor, the doors come off and the car down a converyor belt and everything is installed. The parts are all lined up in an automated fashion so that the options/colors for the parts are just next in line for each car coming down the line. Very sophisticated inventory system.
The final touch is when the put the badge on the hood. This is the last part to go on, and they really give it a good “whack” when installing it. They call this “spanking the baby” and they made us clap when the guy set one on a nice shiny new X5.
There was much more to the tour, but you’ll have to go there to find out, just an overview. Very cool stuff. I’ve never been in an assembly plant before, so I was a bit fascinated by the machinery.
Next part of the tour was driving some cars!!!
The test track lineup:
The 135i was the instructor’s, we didn’t drive it.
I’m no driving expert, so my opinions on how these cars drove should be taken with a grain of salt. I was just romping on them and having some fun 
As for format of logistics, they had us paired up (I was with my fiancee), and told us to hop in a car. Everyone grabbed one peacefully. I went for the X5 ///M Fiancee hopped in shotgun. Instructor led the pack in the 135 and used a radio (hidden in the door of each car) and gave us tour of where to go on the track, and some instructions. He then had us pull into a small pit area, and sent us out on the track with enough spacing to stay out of trouble. Then after a handful of laps he pulled us in and had us switch drivers, then on the next round switch cars. So here is how I recall each car:
-
Z4 roadster
I drove this third. I have never really considered the BMW Z cars to be impressive. I don’t really know why, but it seems enthusiasts rarely drive them. Does anyone on here own one? Needless to say, my foot was instantly in my mouth. I LOVED driving this. It screamed when you put your foot down, it was twitchy and loved to burn up some rubber. The paddle shifters reacted FAST and the gearing seemed pretty good. -
550i
Second car I drove. I drove this car after driving the X5 ///M and it just felt dissapointing. It had power, but the brakes were a little too squishy for me to feel like I was really driving something sporty. The body roll was a little too much as well. Power was great though, this car really got up and went. A few mods and it would be a great sporty DD. -
X5 ///M
First car I drove, and probably my favorite. SMG trans is baller. This car has 555hp, nuff said on power. The brakes have 15.5" rotors, it stops on a dime. Way better than the 550i. This thing outhandled the 5-series as well. It wanted SOOO much more abuse than I could handle on this small tight track, with only a handful of laps. Just a brilliant piece machine. -
750i
Last car I drove. It’s a big comfy boat. It was out of place on a test track, but I enjoyed driving it.
Some pics of the test track cars and us loading up in them:
They watered down one section (we didn’t drive on it) to work on control in the rain
Some other random stuff:
Front of the performance building
I’m pumped for this!!
beginning of the track, taken from “pit lane”
getting ready to kick in the z4
Next up was the offroad course. Again we paired up, but all in X5 diesels this time. Over 400 ft/lbs of torque in these things. Beast mode.
They have an offroad test track with specifically designed obstacles. First we went through a 2 feet deep water crossing. Then over some large paralleled moguls. Then we went up a big steep hill, and at the top it was super techincal. So we did this one car at a time, and he gave us instruction at the top. It was so hairy that on the transition to down your one rear wheel at some point is about 2.5 feet off the ground. My fiancee was VERY nervous about it, borderline freaking out. This truck’s low center of gravity is just magnificent though. Then we did another steep climb and a handful of other obstacles before finishing. PICS AND VIDS OF THIS TO COME!!
These pics are pretty random, just whatever didn’t come out super shakey
This was a 270* turn. The grade of it was sort of like a cone. That’s why you see that x5 in front tipping to the side as it turns. Fiancee was driving, I could almost touch the foliage on the ground!!
This pic turned out great. Go HTC Incredible camera!
OK, this one section was SKETCHY. The climb was steep, then when you got to the top, the instructor on the radio walked you through getting down in the most risky way possible lol
At the top:
Once you start to descend, that passenger front wheel goes up onto the bank and the driver wheel suspends in the air. Then as you proceed, the car rotates on that passenger front and on the driver rear and the rear wheel goes up in the air. Heres a view from behind of that:
My fiance almost had a fit when I was behind the wheel doing this lol
Another shot showing how stiff the chassis on this thing is:
Pretty good at water crossings too!
Steep hill climb, what was cool about this, was that he had us turn on the hill decent control before going up. Then on the way down the other side, you just take your feet off the gas and brake and it auto-brakes down the hill. Easy Peasy!
We finished the day with riding shotgun in an M5 for a hotlap on the larger track. It wasn’t exactly a “hit the apex” kind of hotlap. More of a “lets see how far sideways we can lap the track” kind of hotlap. I’d never done anything like this before. We had a BLAST in that thing. The instructor was a phenomenal driver.
Video of the Hotlap!
That was it, the whole thing costs about $129 per person. It’s so worth it. The plant is in spartanburg, SC. It’s about an hour and a half outside of Charlotte. If you are ever even remotely nearby, or you are passing through driving a southern car home, stop in!!!
Note, I am going to add some more pics and hopefully some video footage in later on tonight. I’ve got to get it off fiancee’s droid.