[Calvin36]

Anyone going to this? Signed up to drive Saturday. Might be a chill way to hang out on a Saturday.

[jh_f30]

Originally Posted by Calvin36

Anyone going to this? Signed up to drive Saturday. Might be a chill way to hang out on a Saturday.

I work Saturdays (restaurant life) so I signed up for the Thursday afternoon session.

While you're there on Saturday, be sure to check out the Exotics on Broadway (formerly Exotics on Cannery Row). Great way to see just about every super/hyper car you can think of.

[exE36M3]

You guys will have a blast. You will most likely meet the BMW M Brand managers at the event too. I used to organize the Festorics events for nearly 10 years+ If you can get tickets to the Laguna Seca races, you'll go nuts. The vintage racing is incredible and you can walk the pits. A LOT of celebs like Bobby Rahal or Jay Leno hang out there.

[Calvin36]

Originally Posted by percychow

You guys will have a blast. You will most likely meet the BMW M Brand managers at the event too. I used to organize the Festorics events for nearly 10 years+ If you can get tickets to the Laguna Seca races, you'll go nuts. The vintage racing is incredible and you can walk the pits. A LOT of celebs like Bobby Rahal or Jay Leno hang out there.

Originally Posted by jh_f30

I work Saturdays (restaurant life) so I signed up for the Thursday afternoon session.

While you're there on Saturday, be sure to check out the Exotics on Broadway (formerly Exotics on Cannery Row). Great way to see just about every super/hyper car you can think of.

Thanks for the tips guys!

[jh_f30]

Originally Posted by Calvin36

Thanks for the tips guys!

My schedule has changed and I'm free. I'll be heading down for at least a couple of days, Including Saturday.

I just went back to the landing page for test drive registration, and it looks like they either only have Thursday slots available or they cancelled Saturday altogether.
I did also sign up for a Friday session during the Legends of the Autobahn event.

[Calvin36]

Originally Posted by jh_f30

My schedule has changed and I'm free. I'll be heading down for at least a couple of days, Including Saturday.

I just went back to the landing page for test drive registration, and it looks like they either only have Thursday slots available or they cancelled Saturday altogether.
I did also sign up for a Friday session during the Legends of the Autobahn event.

Let's meet up Saturday if I do make it.

[Calvin36]

Originally Posted by jh_f30

My schedule has changed and I'm free. I'll be heading down for at least a couple of days, Including Saturday.

I just went back to the landing page for test drive registration, and it looks like they either only have Thursday slots available or they cancelled Saturday altogether.
I did also sign up for a Friday session during the Legends of the Autobahn event.

Let's meet up Saturday if I do make it.

[jh_f30]

Originally Posted by calvin36

let's meet up saturday if i do make it.

👍🏼

[Calvin36]

Originally Posted by jh_f30

👍🏼

Do you have an itinerary for Saturday? Seems like there's so much to do!

[jh_f30]

Originally Posted by Calvin36

Do you have an itinerary for Saturday? Seems like there's so much to do!

Not really. Picking up my brother in Santa Cruz, then driving down to Monterey. There aren't a lot of free events on Saturday, but we might check out the Concours d'LeMons that runs from 8am-1:30pm.

The Exotics on Broadway is from 4pm-8pm. That's probably the best free event of the week, imo so we'll definitely be milling about around there.

Probably lunch somewhere in between 1:30-4:00.

[jh_f30]

Which session on Saturday are you signed up for? One of the participants got hit in one of the M2Comps () yesterday and they cancelled the rest of the drives for the session. Apparently, he either got sideswiped or t-boned by some lady in a old Honda. Witness accounts say she was at fault. Side airbags in the M2C deployed and her car allegedly caught on fire.

They invited us back today or tomorrow since our session was cut short. I'm planning on going back for the 1-5pm session with my bro. My suggestion is to go early and try to be in the first group out. My session started at 3, by 2:55 there was already a pretty long line. I didn't get in a car until 4:15. Was signed up for the next car when news of the accident come down. Ended up only test driving an M2C (not sure if it was the same one that later got wrecked...they had 2 available). Anyways, if you're not in the first round of cars to go out, you'll be waiting for a while. The Club is pretty nice. They provide food and drinks (non-alcoholic obviously), and they had the M8 Comp convertible on display, as well as the M850i GC and the Vision M Next.

[Calvin36]

Yikes! I actually had the 1pm time slot. Haha enjoy! Looks fun! Wife had something to do so I couldn't come.

[jh_f30]

Ah, well, happy wife, happy life. You didn't miss much...just an opportunity to drive some of the top BMW models available.

My brother and I got in the M5Comp (freakin beast, drove the regular version last year) and the i8 coupe (which I drove last year, but my brother wanted to try, and he digs it). Unfortunately, that was all we had time for based on waitlists and car availability. My brother was on the list for the M2Comp, but we ran out of time. I did get a little seat time in it on Thursday though between the M Town Tour and Monterey. Would've loved to have tried the M850i, but alas, it wasn't meant to be this year. Maybe next year...they might even have the M8 available then.

I feel like it wasn't quite as efficient this year compared to last. I would've hoped that they could've cycled the cars through more quickly, but there were a lot of times cars would come back (all of which had drivers waiting), and they'd sit for 10-15 minutes before the next driver got in. Maybe if they had a spotter continuously tracking the cars coming back and alerting the next driver right away, they could get through more people.

Last year, I was able to get in an M2, M3Comp, M5, Alpina B6, and an i8. It ran 9am-5pm with test drives starting every hour on the hour with approx. 30 mins drive time. This year, I only got to drive the M2Comp on Thursday, and the M5Comp and i8 today, both of which were around 3-4 hour sessions, a first come first served waitlist system, and drives limited to 15-20 mins. Sure, it's hard to complain about a free event with free food and refreshments and the opportunity to drive some great cars, but still, could've been run more smoothly imo.

Plus, the location of the venue this year really limited where you could go because there's really only one worthwhile driving road that's within range of a 15-20 minute test drive, and it's a fairly busy road with one lane of traffic in each direction which severely limited how much you could really stretch the car's legs. Oh well, I did get a free hat.