I give you the happiest place on earth.
Recently I had the opportunity to be a stow away on a friend’s private Jet that was headed from Salt Lake City to North Carolina. That in and of itself was a very cool experience aboard a 1994 Bombardier LearJet 60. Very fast, very smooth aircraft.
I decided that if I was going all the way to Greensboro NC that I might as well drive down to Spartanburg SC and indulge in a little BMW fun. That particular week all they had was a 2 day car control school so that’s what I signed up for.
The school starts off with some really great hot chocolate (I’m not a coffee drinker) and introductions to your teachers. We were lucky enough to be instructed by none other than the Guiness World Record holder for the longest continuous drift – Johan Schwartz. He is also two time winner of the Pirelli World cup racing series. Very cool guy from Denmark who knows his stuff.
The first thing we did was hop into an M235i and do some slalom exercises. Then it was off to the skid pad in a 340i which was probably my favorite part of the whole experience other than the “BWM Buffet” on the last day where you drive an M3, Z4, M6, and X6M one right after another on a closed course at full tilt.
We also did some “autocross” stuff with the M235’s where you are timed in driving through a slalom with a wet U-turn. The second day also had some romping in an X5 which was somewhat interesting although the course was a bit cheesy and most of us probably wanted to jump the thing rather than drive slowly through 30″ of water.
On the last day they take you for a “hot lap” in one of the cars, this one is of Johan blasting through the mini course on one end of the performance center.
If this looks like good times to you, the 2-day car control course is $1550 but if I buy it for you and you pay me back you get 20% off because I have a BMW credit card 
The 2 day M performance course is $2900 and that’s the one I’d like to do next. It’s more race training and you get a bit more time behind the wheel of strictly M cars. They have tracks for this in SC and LA.
Here’s another video of their “Hot Lap” for people who are picking up a brand new car from the performance facility. You get to try you new car out on a track and get some professional instruction with it.