Any driving schools utilizing M3's

[Artdnj]

My son has a 230i but would love to drive an M3. He just graduated and works in NYC (NJ here) so I think a driving course where he could operate a M3 (or Porsche 911) would be a fitting gift. Any info on that type of thing if it exists within short range of NYC or central NJ? Thanks

[jaffles]

Not in the US, but maybe google drift school. I just took my son to a drift fun day where they had an M2 as the loaner. It was on a wet track so slow and controlled but you could give it hell.

[Artdnj]

Interesting, sounds like a nice idea

[Ohio Enthusiast]

I was looking for something similar for my 40th birthday. What I could find are 3 main options:

• Car experience on track. These are very few laps in a wide range of tracks. I discounted this as I have quite a bit of track experience in my BRZ and I was quite certain that doing 2-3 laps in a car I've never driven and on a track I'm not familiar enough with wouldn't be worth it for me. Xtreme Xperience has great cars and runs across the US with 2 tracks in NJ, one in eastern PA and another in CT.
• BMW (SC) and Porsche (GA) performance centers. Offer more educational experience with classroom and more seat time, doing activities like skip pad, autocross like short courses and a bit of track. I was concerned that there would be a lot of things I already knew and did in previous HPDE and track schools I attended (although the Porsche center seems to be more customizable).
• Serious racing schools like Skip Barber. Much more involved and costly. I personally don't care about competitiveness, racecraft or actual W2W racing (for the license they can provide), so that wasn't really something I seriously considered.

I ended up not choosing any of these, mostly for ROI and too basic for me, instead I'll be doing more HPDEs. These might work better for a novice track driver.

[eleven11]

Not super close to you, but here you go:

https://bmwperformancecenter.com/indy-fullday/

https://www.indianapolismotorspeedwa...nts/bmw-school

[Artdnj]

Thanks for the tips, greatly appreciated

[M2CSDaily]

None in the immediate area, you’ll have to go to the dedicated track experiences. I’ve done both Porsche in Alabama and BMW in California. Great experiences and very fun. I did the two day events, makes for a nice trip. There is also the Porsche thing in Atlanta where you can drive whatever car you want for 90ish minutes, I did gt3 vs gt3 RS which may not be best choice for a beginner

[M2CSDaily]

You can also rent one from Sixt at Newark airport or Turo

[Artdnj]

Originally Posted by M2CSDaily

You can also rent one from Sixt at Newark airport or Turo

I am worried about insurance coverage when using those services, I heard it could be problematic. My son works and lives in NYC, so off our auto insurance.

[John in VA]

Schedule an M Day in SC at the Performance Center & burn BMW's gas & tires!

[CJ421]

BMW has done their M Performance school in Monticello, NY, so that wouldn't be that far. Their schedule changes.

Make a vacation out of it, go to the BMW Performance Center in Thermal, CA or Spartanburg, SC and get the two-day M school, it's worth every cent. You get to drive M2/M3/M4 and maybe the M5 with professional instruction.

https://www.bmwperformancecenter.com/

Charles