Time: About 4:30pm, September 25, 2008
Place: Watkins Glen International, BMW CCA Oktoberfest
Situation: Driver School, Instructor Run Group
Conditions: Humid. Cloudy. Dry track surface.
I took my pal Mr. Worst... Passenger... Ever for a spin (figuratively) in the Instructor Run Group to prove he can trust me behind the wheel and to hopefully show him a good time. A good time was indeed being had when we came upon something more interesting: an E65 BMW 7 Series being driven quite hard on the track. I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of sexy to see the big girl working so hard. Mr. W.P.E whipped out his Blackberry (whew) and snapped a quick sequence (hit the jump for the good shots).
BMW CCA's Oktoberfest is the closest thing to a BMW orgy (and that's close enough, thank you), so you're most likely to see a 7er on the track at an event like this.
Now, the Axis of Oversteer is perfectly comfortable putting cars that don't fit onto a roadcourse in the name of entertainment, but as we closed on the big 7er we realized what a glorious match was occurring between this big car and the track surface. Sure, it rolled a bit, but not too badly thanks to the ARS system. The brakes appeared effective enough for the pace (somewhere above leisurely), and it accelerated beautifully. I never ran into the instructor who was driving her so smoothly, but if you're an Axis watcher, be sure to send us an email. Nice work out of you!
-Freep
I had the pleasure of watching a 535d M Sport round Knockhill here in Scotland. Which to those not in the know is a pretty tight and twisty little track with a lot of undulations.
ReplyDeleteIt had one of the instructors at the wheel and was putting some pretty quick cars to shame, my Subaru included.
Have saw one of the Lexus LS/Toyota Aristos going round too. Limited slip fitted to the rear and that big 3 litre twin turbo slightly played with. Amazing to watching on track. Slightly amusing in the paddock though as the LSD made tight turns out of the pits somewhat squeeky!
The driver of the 7 Series is a Club Racer with a C or D Mod car. It was having motor problems so he took the wifes car to the event.
ReplyDeleteHaha - there's a guy with ACNA (audi club) who regularly tracks this thing:
ReplyDeletehttp://analogue.net/limerock/?images/IMG_6679.jpg
Pretty insane, but i gotta say the big V10 sounds great.
That link didn't get auto htmlized, so i'm gonna try it again:
ReplyDeletehttp://analogue.net/limerock/?images/IMG_6679.jpg