[CanadianGatorBacon]

Just went to the event yesterday. It was my first time trying any sort of autocross and it was a lot of fun. Totally supportive, no pressure atmosphere. The regular event (not the M car control clinic) is free and runs about two hours. I recommend anyone who thinks they might be interested in this to give it a go. My time slot was pretty full, so maybe an emptier time slot gets a bit of a different experience, but here is what goes on:

- Brief fundamentals presentation.
- Participants are divided up into "tracks" 1 and 2 (everyone drives on the same course) and then into groups of three. Each group is assigned an instructor.
- Demo lap with your group where your instructor shows you the course and what you should be aiming for when you're behind the wheel. This lap is mildly aggressive, not all out by the instructor.
- Laps with your group where each group member gets 2 laps in each car, a fwd (not xdrive) X2 and a 530e.
- One lap for time, just you and your instructor, in either the X2 or the 530e (my "track" got the 530e and the other "track" got the X2).
- If you are fastest for your "track" you get to compete for time on the shootout course, and the overall winner for the week gets a trip to the BMW performance center at Thermal in California. (I was not the fastest in my "track", but was pretty pleased to place 4th in a field of 26 for my first time and finished 0.57 seconds behind the leader on a cold, damp, and very windy day).

There are also a couple other free things to do if you have enough time before or after your time slot. One is a really short i3 drag race that consists of two runs, one in each lane. Not bad to waste a few minutes if you get there early. The other is the street drives where you can drive any of a number of BMWs on the street by yourself. A 15-20 minute course is mapped in the Nav for you to follow. I did not have time to do this before my time slot, and they shut everything down by the time I was done at 6:00 for a VIP event. I didn't see all the cars they had available, some we already out on drives, so I'm not sure exactly what they had there. There is also a rig for Forza Motorsport set up in the trailer.

Happy driving if you end up going!