# Summer 2009 PCD by Photohunts



## photohunts (Oct 16, 2008)

After 133 days from dropping my car off in Munich, I have finally taken redelivery of my 2009 BMW 335i E90 at the BMW Performance Center in South Carolina on July 2. There is a thread in the ED sub-forum explaining the long wait, but I'd rather not focus on that. Taking delivery at the Performance Center is truly the icing on the cake as so many here have iterated. Before we move on to the good stuff, I'd like to thank the Performance Center staff, especially Jonathan, Donnie, and Kelly; the Marriott staff; and my CA.


















...you can never have enough pictures.


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## photohunts (Oct 16, 2008)

This 5-day trip began on an early Wednesday morning in Houston. My girlfriend and I woke up at about 4 a.m. to catch our 7 o'clock flight to Atlanta. The plan was to fly to Atlanta, then drive a rental to Greenville airport. We saved a bit of money by doing it this way. I know some here have flown into Charlotte, which is about a 1.5 hour drive. Before heading to Greenville, we decided to visit the World of Coca Cola near the Olympic Park in Atlanta.

































Admission was $15 per adult. My girlfriend enjoyed it very much, but I thought there could have been more things to do to justify the price. Regardless, I still enjoyed it. My favorite was the tasting room where I tasted different Coca Cola products from around the world. The nastiest thing I tasted there was a drink called "Beverly" from Italy. To put it mildly, it tasted like ass! I am a Sprite kind of guy, so Sprite from the U.S. of A was my favorite. After that adventure, it was about a 2 hour drive to Greenville where we visited the serene Falls Park.

















This park was beautiful, and the city itself was very homey and...green! It definitely was a change of scenery from what I normally see in Houston. After a relaxing hour in the park, we headed to the airport. I called the Marriott, and a 5 series wagon came to pick us up within minutes.









It was now about 8 p.m., and we were both very hungry. Having seen the BMW PCD menu in this forum didn't help either since I was already thinking about what I was about to eat. I don't remember who posted the picture of the menu, but I don't think it has changed. We ordered the caesar salad, filet mignon, and chocolate cake and cheesecake for dessert.

























Of course, all of this was free of charge courtesy of BMW. This satisfying dinner wraps up the day before delivery.


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## photohunts (Oct 16, 2008)

So here we go...Performance Center Delivery Day. The shuttle was prompt, and so were the guests. We left at about 7:45 a.m. after a hearty breakfast. Once we arrived at the PC, we were greeted by Jonathan and Donnie with a quick overview of our day's activities. We were divided into groups; some folks took delivery first thing in the morning, but this is how my experience went.

My day started with a classroom instruction by Donnie Isley discussing the slalom course, ABS braking exercise, and the DSC skid pad exercise. Afterwards, we headed out to greet our cars for the day lined up under the "Don't Forget to Breath" banner.









Those are all Alpine White 335's. MikeLogan, a fellow fester who also took delivery that day, managed to hop in an e93. We never found out if he could have gone through the entire day with the top down. The ///M cars were lined up in the same parking lot. Oh, how I would love to go back for ///M school. They look like ///M & ///M candy...









...and we're off to the slalom course. We drove through the course a couple of times to get familiar with it while our instructor gave us pointers through our in-car walkie talkies as we approached each point of interest on the course.






























The biggest thing I learned on the course was avoiding target fixation. Focus on where you want to go, not at what you are trying to avoid. That piece of advice alone made the slalom portion a piece of cake and a lot of fun. I was having a bit of trouble with cornering; probably because I was overthinking all the advice I was getting. I found myself either braking too early, releasing the brake too late, or just not hitting the curves hard enough. The latter was due to having to share the course with the other guests since I think there was a no passing rule. The whole experience left me wanting more, and it made me realize how little I know about driving. After a few laps, they gave our passengers a chance to have a go at it...I am definitely not a big fan of being a passenger :rofl:. Once the slalom course concluded, Donnie took over and herded us towards the ABS braking section. He enlightened us with some more knowledge about braking - doubling your speed, quadruples your stopping distance - all the while showing off his skills on the wheel by executing a 180 degree spin instead of just backing away from us (I got to experience this as a passenger later on in the day :thumbup. Impressive!!! We experienced the ABS at work at speeds of 40, 45, and 50 mph. The goal was to simulate a panic stop and employ the ABS by steering while the brake was fully engaged.






After a short break, it was off to the wet skid pad for some fun with DSC off. Honestly, this is how our cars should be driven...joking. The point of the exercise was to demonstrate BMW's Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) feature by driving on wet pavement with DSC on and off. The difference was night and day, but let me just say that night is waaaaay more fun than day.

All that action built up quite an appetite, so we head into the cafeteria for lunch. I had the beemer burger, go figure.









After stuffing ourselves to satisfaction, Donnie invited us to the infamous ///M5 hot lap. Great timing - right after lunch!









It was a blast! I was constantly amazed by just how much control they had over these 500 hp beasts . Again, I was reminded of how little I knew about driving. I have ridden in Police car control courses, but this was worlds beyond that. We actually did two laps around the course because I managed to accidentally press a small switch that turned on DSC on our first time through. Bummer . Thanks, Donnie!

Still trying to recollect myself from the hot lap, I took delivery of my Monaco Blue 335i E90 (scroll all the way to the top for pictures). Reunited at last! We left the PC right about 1:30 p.m. since we skipped the car overview. The day wasn't over for us. We were off to Asheville to visit the Biltmore estates, but that's another story for now.

Working on videos from PCD. To be updated and continued...


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## I-Won-Today (Feb 21, 2007)

Great write-up and nice pictures :thumbup: Glad you enjoyed the day!


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## wolfgang0524 (Sep 5, 2008)

Thanks for posting the videos. They were awesome! I can't wait until next week when I get to do it.

Were the videos from their in car camera rental or did you have your own video camera?


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## photohunts (Oct 16, 2008)

I-Won-Today said:


> Great write-up and nice pictures :thumbup: Glad you enjoyed the day!


Thanks, Jonathan. I enjoyed my visit, and you guys were great hosts.



wolfgang0524 said:


> Thanks for posting the videos. They were awesome! I can't wait until next week when I get to do it.
> 
> Were the videos from their in car camera rental or did you have your own video camera?


I brought my own cameras, and I used car mounts. If you don't have your own equipment, I would suggest renting their cameras. I believe they can mount it anywhere on the car body to where it doesn't obstruct your vision; just ask. You can also rent more than one if available. I think they are well worth it.

I'll be posting 2 more videos from that day...the skid pad and the hot lap. Congrats on your car, and enjoy your time at your PCD.


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## photohunts (Oct 16, 2008)

Thanks again, Donnie, Jonathan, and Jim! I mixed all of my videos together. In some parts, either Donnie Isley or Jim Clark is driving. Those who have had them for the hot lap should recognize their driving styles. Hope you guys like it.


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## turpiwa (Jun 13, 2005)

photohunts said:


> Thanks again, Donnie, Jonathan, and Jim! I mixed all of my videos together. In some parts, either Donnie Isley or Jim Clark is driving. Those who have had them for the hot lap should recognize their driving styles. Hope you guys like it.


And doesn't Donnnie just hate doing those hot laps!

And don't you just love the way they fit the 335's with the performance exhaust!
It had me hassling the crap out of Donnie to see if we could get one fitted before I finished the M school following the delivery.

I have since gone with the Dinan exhaust - the note is not as good as the BMW performance exhaust though, a BMS JB3 'may' have found it's way into it as well - and by the way, if it has then it is probably amazing. 

I also needed to get a spare set of wheels and tyres - I doubt my original would last the year out. They are looking pretty sad after ED, 12 laps of the ring, some fun driving up at Canyon Head (is that right?) and a practise Autocross last week. So, I picked up some 2nd hand 19's - see attached photo.


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## Gig103 (Sep 10, 2007)

Photohunts -- those videos are awesome, I assume that you do that sort of work for a living? I love that Donnie took your camera while piloting the M5! God, now I need to get back there! Probably for a 2-day M School, since I don't see a new car in my future for a bit (the 335xi is treating me great).


Oh, and I thought you had picked up an M3 from the sound when you accelerate in the slalom course... until I went back and read it, and then saw turpiwa's post. I might have to get that exhaust!


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## I-Won-Today (Feb 21, 2007)

Great job with the videos :thumbup: I know from my hobbies in photography and video production that it's time consuming. Different angles and great music always make it that much more enjoyable. Nicely done :clap:


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## photohunts (Oct 16, 2008)

Gig103 said:


> Photohunts -- those videos are awesome, I assume that you do that sort of work for a living? I love that Donnie took your camera while piloting the M5! God, now I need to get back there! Probably for a 2-day M School, since I don't see a new car in my future for a bit (the 335xi is treating me great).
> 
> Oh, and I thought you had picked up an M3 from the sound when you accelerate in the slalom course... until I went back and read it, and then saw turpiwa's post. I might have to get that exhaust!


Thank you much. Sad to say, it's not what I do for a living. It would be great though. I, too, am dreaming of the 2-day M school, then maybe the advanced school, then maybe a NASA license . That exhaust note sounded nice. If I get the exhaust, it will probably be after I get a JB3 or something.



I-Won-Today said:


> Great job with the videos :thumbup: I know from my hobbies in photography and video production that it's time consuming. Different angles and great music always make it that much more enjoyable. Nicely done :clap:


Time consuming indeed. Strangely enough, the most time consuming part was combing through the raw footage. The storyboard approach is much better but wasn't plausible. Did you happen to work on the PCD video currently on the BMW website?


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## willwin2day (Apr 4, 2006)

Mogi!! WOW!! An awesome job on the videos!! I never have a bad day at the PC but some are better than others....this was one of those great days! Thanks Mogi and Ashe!

Donnie Isley
BMW Driving Instructor


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## I-Won-Today (Feb 21, 2007)

photohunts said:


> Time consuming indeed. Strangely enough, the most time consuming part was combing through the raw footage. The storyboard approach is much better but wasn't plausible. Did you happen to work on the PCD video currently on the BMW website?


Yeah it is always fun trying to review several hours worth of video and pull out the good shots for a 3-5 minute movie.

They hired a company to produce all those videos currently on the website. Since then we have been doing a lot more stuff in house. The most recent ones were for business cases to be able to do MINI & Motorad driving schools. The Motorad is the one they play most of the time currently in the cafe.


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