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Originally Posted by White05X3
The school was teaching a "school line" and the instructors were pretty insistent about sticking to it. Because of the high CG of the X3 I was focusing mainly on smooth steering inputs and gentle lines so as not to upset the apple cart too much. During the long sweeping corners I used the xdrive pretty aggressively to apply more throttle earlier to make-up for my lack of HP. There was really only one corner that would have rewarded trail braking (turn 4), but I was not carrying anywere near enough speed up the hill from 3 to be able to use that technique. WSIR really rewards high HP cars which unfortunately I was not driving.
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Making sure that a novice has mastered the school line for a track is pretty much mandatory for a first round track day and it's always a Good Thing(TM) to know that line before trying to deviate from it. Smooth inputs are the basis for momentum driving and the better you can keep the overall transitions from braking to cornering to acceleration on an eve keel the more speed you can carry around the course. This is your best weapon for a lack of brute HP on a fast track.
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Originally Posted by White05X3
The brakes were perfect all weekend. Not even a hint of fade or rotor warping. However WSIR is not particularly demanding on brakes. While speeds are high, the corners are almost all very fast so the amount of speed you scrub is small and braking zones are long. In addition I was always very well aware of the X3's weight and CG so I drove more conservatively than I would have in a car. As such my braking zones were even longer and more gentle than necessary, but again that was a conscious choice I made. I imagine that had an instructor been driving the X3 for a full session we would have gotten a better measure of the brakes!
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There is one school of thought that advocates longer smooth braking as a way to prolong the life of the pads. It certainly results in smoother driving.
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Originally Posted by White05X3
According to a couple of friends of mine who are instructors and who followed me around, the car looked totally flat and stable all the way around. Everybody was surprised at how well it did (myself included). Seems as if BMW did a pretty good job on this thing!!!
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I fully concur - the first time I had ours out on some twisties on a local club drive I was stunned at how well it handled. So were the folks who were scrambling to keep up with an anemic 2.5i SUV in their sedans
