I HAD THE chance to attend an eight-hour BMW driving course. I got to spin out in the most expensive car I’ve ever driven – several times. OK, “got to” is not quite correct since I didn’t really intend to…

A few months ago I discovered the BMW Driving Academy and decided to attend a class. I am very glad I did. I did it for fun, but there is really a lot of good safety and better driving information. Although I did the class in German, they offer training in English as well. I asked if they would take a VAT Form, which they had not yet heard of. It took a few weeks, but they agreed to do so, saving me 16 percent on the cost of the day.

You will see in the pictures and video that it wasn’t a beautiful day, but the weather cooperated enough that we never got rained on. But, just in case, they do the training in the rain as well.

The training was great. It included learning about how to position yourself properly in the seat, a tiny bit of “car physics” and why you can/will have understeer/oversteer problems and lose control, emergency braking, emergency lane changes, steering with maximum braking, and a timed slalom run at the end.

I’ll let the photos and video speak for themselves.