The Golden Gate (SF) chapter of the BMW CCA is having a Car Control Clinic on June 21st at the Marina Airport in Marina, CA (near Monterey). Anyone from here going?

Rob

 

Do you have any info. link for this?

 

+1 on link

 

http://www.ggcbmwcca.org/?page=calendar&id=362

 

Thanks I'm going to link this to our Mid Cal Mini thread if you don't mind .

 

Oooo I'd love to do this (close to home too - handy!)...if I can get someone to cover USTA for me that weekend I juuuust might be there.

 

Melissa, you play USTA? What league and level if you don't mind me asking? I play up in Sunnyvale (Mid Penninsula Men's 4.0). Just nice to find a fellow USTA member here!

Sorry for going off topic...event sounds like fun, I wanna go!

Edit: I checked out the site, and you have to become a member in order to participate? Can I join the club even if I don't have a BMW?

 

Yes, you do have to be a member of the BMW CCA to do it. It costs $40; you can either sign up through links on the web site of the Golden Gate chapter, or when you register for the event. The membership also gets you discounts on various Beemer stuff, or even on a car. I’m not sure if they have any specific MINI stuff discounted through the club, but generic car stuff is often discounted too. The clubs do high performance driving schools, which are an incredible bargain at $250. And there’s autocross. So you’ll probably get your money’s worth.

And you can certainly join even if you don’t have a BMW BMW (as opposed to a BMW MINI). The only thing they won’t accept at the clinic is SUVs. And if you go to the national BMW CCA site at http://www.bmwcca.org/, check out the little MINI on the right side of the header menu bar

 

Whoa, just noticed this reply!

No, I work for USTA as medical staff for all the south bay events. It's fun and I really enjoy it in the summer when the weather is great!

 

Oh wow, that's awesome! Maybe I'll get a chance to meet you sometime. Cheers!

 

I attended the clinic with about six other MINIs (and everything else from a Porsche Cayenne S and a Lotus Elise to a stock Corolla and a Camry).

What fun! Anyone with a Mini (or anything else short of a truck or SUV) should do this. I’ve only had my MINI a month but boy, can that sucker handle (I’ve got a Just-a-Cooper).

For those not familiar, we do three exercises: braking (with the customary gate with go left or right lights), a “skid pad” (really just a pavement oval to learn throttle steering on, although some pulled the e-brake for dramatic effect), and a slalom.

One of my instructors told me that my MINI could actually turn the faster times of the day, if we were keeping track, on the slalom because of it’s short wheelbase and quick turn-in. More than once instructors told me they were glad to see the MINIs there, and several Bimmer owners were quite interested especially since fuel economy is on everyone’s mind. I was quite proud of my ride.

And BOY does that thing scoot. I still suck as a driver, but when the instructor took the wheel, especially in the slalom, doing trail braking around the cones, it was a-mazing.

One of the best $100 I ever spent.

BTW: I find it curious that in motorcycling you get a 10% discount on insurance if you take the motorcycle safety course, which is very similar to this clinic. But apparently insurance companies don’t do the same for cars. Dumb.

Rob