03-01-2022, 12:02 AM | #1 |
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BMW Ice Driving Max in a G82 Comp
Featured on BIMMERPOST.com I was super excited to get to try it out again! BMW offers 2 Ice Trainings at their winter test facility in Arjeplog, Sweden. One is a 4-day, 3-night Ice Training and the other is a 5-day, 4-night Ice Training Max. The longer program obviously offers more seat time, but also more advanced drifting techniques and courses, as well as the chance to drive the F82 M4 CS based Ice Racer. Each course starts and ends with a semi-chartered pack-‘em-in sardine can flight from Munich full of mostly auto engineers from all the big German brands. Lodging and food is provided by BMW and, aside from lunch at the facility on the frozen lake, is all hosted at the Hotel Kraja in Arjeplog. It’s a fairly nice little hotel with decent food. I’ll provide a little day-by-day run down. Day 1: Depart LAX for Munich (MUC). Glorious sunset on the way out. Day 2: It's so nice to see the Bavarian countryside on the ride in. Been too long. Head into city for dinner, beers and obligatory Marienplatz shot. Day 3: Depart super early from Munich to Arvidsjaur (AJR). 100km bus ride to directly to the test facility and the cars. About 2.5 hours warm-up driving today, followed by dinner at the hotel. Day 4: Breakfast and briefing at the hotel then mostly drills today. Circles, figure-8s, guitars, slaloms. A little bit of small course driving. Dinner back at the hotel followed by a fleeting glimpse of Northern Lights. Day 5: Breakfast then all day driving. Today is the only truly snowy/blustery day. More advanced drills, giant skid pad (think 100M diameter) and larger courses. Today we also get the opportunity to drive the G80 xDrive comp and it is an absolute beast and it was Mintgrun! More on this later. Dinner back at the hotel. Day 6: Breakfast then all day driving. More giant skid pad and complex courses, including training for Ice Racer course followed by a few laps in the Ice Racer. The Ice Racer has extremely narrow tires with giant spikes. As such, it is an absolute animal and quite hard to drive vs. the stock cars riding on studded winter tires – 245 35 19 all around for those wondering. Dinner back at the hotel. Day 7: Breakfast then about 2 hours of driving, all on the largest course offered which happens to be about 3 miles…massive for a 20-30 mph sideways affair! Pile back into the bus and drive back to the airport for the slog back to Munich. Dinner and drinks in Munich. Day 8: Fly home to LAX. Nice to come home to 72 degrees and a glorious SoCal sunset. Impressions. The G8X is a great car overall, and I was definitely online building them in the last week. The best was the xDrive. The xDrive we got to try out the one afternoon was such a beast. Drifting the rear-drive comp cars we spent nearly the entire time in was like a delicate Waltz. The AWD version was like a techno rave meets heavy metal concert. Just pound it the entire time. It was hard to get a sense of what these cars will be like on the road...they feel great for a week on the ice, but we're sliding all over and it's a relatively stressless experience. So, no idea of how heavy they really feel or how they ride, except you can tell they are bigger. I will say the carbon buckets are really cool, but they would be absolutely annoying to live with on any sort of road trip, as your legs are sort of forced to always be in a "focused" position. Interior quality is a step up for sure. The cars we used had developed some rattles, but they spent the better part of 10k miles bouncing around and crashing into snow, so that's to be expected. The sound is better than the last car, but only just. They are definitely more insulated than the old. That said, the general high-rev noise is just as annoyingly harsh as the previous car. The IOM green is definitely a winner. Overall, the new car is definitely nice, but as time separates me from it, I'm not sure it's worth it as an upgrade from the M2C I have. I specced either a base car with a stick at mid-70s or an xDrive comp at low 80s. It's not much if you look at them as basically a replacement for what the M5 used to be. It's actually a downright steal. That said, it does seem a tad much for what the M3 always was. Will I eventually end up with one? There's a decent chance, as I refuse to buy a Mexican-built BMW. That eliminates the G87 for me. As an aside, we saw a couple G87s lurking around the test center. I abided by the "no photos in the restricted area," so, sorry, I have nothing to show you all. Same goes for the G81 on the photos...really wish we could get that in the States, though. The elongated body really fits the design language of the front much better. A one minute video I made for the gram follows below. Intentionally included a disproportionate number of crashes for effect... Enjoy!
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03-01-2022, 12:25 AM | #2 |
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Wow that looks like so much fun!
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03-01-2022, 12:28 AM | #4 | |
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Is this a work related or invitational event that's paid for, or can anyone sign up for this like M School?
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Fugly M34902.50 farfugnugen66.50 |
03-01-2022, 12:32 AM | #5 | ||
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03-01-2022, 08:28 AM | #7 |
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Wow, what an amazing experience. Thanks for sharing!
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03-01-2022, 08:32 AM | #8 | |
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Looks like you had a great time! I love how they put a rash guard on the lower grill area. I came from an F87C myself, so I understand your hesitation. Your initial impression is spot on; it's bigger, more 'insulated', and maybe a little less engaging (less NVH through the seats) than the M2C. But the G8x feels more sturdy and stable. I guess it's a matter of finding out what characteristics are more important for you. Anyway, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful experience. I hope to get to enjoy something like that one day. |
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03-01-2022, 09:20 AM | #9 | |
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03-01-2022, 09:43 AM | #10 |
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I knew BMW does their testing in that region but I had no idea they had a program that caters to aspiring Walter Röhr disciples. Looks like a blast; thanks for sharing.
(I'm sure you are looking forward to applying these new ice drifting skills at the next LA blizzard. Godspeed.)
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Fugly M34902.50 SportySpice204.00 |
03-01-2022, 09:58 AM | #11 |
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I did not know this existed. I'm definitely planning to sign up for this one day. Looks very awesome. What prior experience did you have that convinced them you should be allowed to sign up for the max program? Also, can you share any rough idea of what this cost? I'm guessing closer to $5k for the program, but you have to get there yourself?
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03-01-2022, 10:13 AM | #12 | ||
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2022 G82///M4 Competition X-Drive - KW-HAS, EBC Bluestuff, Millway Race Camber Plates, Cup2 Connect*, PSI High Flow Midpipe, Lightweight Front Lip, M Perf Flow Through Wing Previous • 2018 F80 ///M3 CS • 2016 F80 ///M3 IG: Raging_G82 |
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03-01-2022, 10:15 AM | #14 | |
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Historically, this program is about $6500. This time it was $7900 because we were down about 4 people from usual. And, yes, the Lutfhansa business class ticket was separate! But I paid $1398 for premium economy at the Thanksgiving sale and then got the upgrades for $900. $2298 RT direct to Munich from LAX in business is an insane steal. I knew when I booked it I'd be offered the upgrades and I was! All in, with Munich hotels and incidentals, it was around $11k! So yea, not a cheap vacation.
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03-01-2022, 11:36 AM | #16 | ||
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The BMW Driving Experience highly recommends this training as it books up fairly quickly when the dates are released in September each year.
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03-01-2022, 11:43 AM | #19 | |
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Remember your paying a tour group rate, but if you have never been to Munich, then I suggest you go with the PC group.
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03-01-2022, 11:46 AM | #20 |
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Great pic F8SEVEN of the Northern lights.
I'm sure you saw the XM prototype when y'all filled up.
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03-01-2022, 11:54 AM | #21 |
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Sure did! It was blasting through 75 mph power slides!
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03-01-2022, 12:00 PM | #22 | |
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