My Day Out With Motor Racing Legend Alan Moffat
BMW Driving Day
When Burnside Village Management asked me to their BMW Driving Day I was very apprehensive as I have not owned a manual car and was very concerned that I was not competent driving one. I even rang the organisers and asked if I can drive an automatic car, and was given the thumbs up….phew!
I turned up at the car showroom and was taken upstairs to the boardroom for a quick briefing . To my shock, the famous racing car driver Alan Moffat was in the room and I had no idea he would be coming with us, no pressure of course! Alan explained the format of the day which was that we would take out 8 models of BMW in a convoy and all take a turn in driving each model. He then floored me when he said all the models are manuals and he will take a turn driving with each of us during the day. My heart almost stopped at this point and I was excited, but stressed.
I was paired with Ingrid an 18 yo Russian accountant from Burnside Village was also the least experienced driver, new to Australia, and was on her ‘P’ plates. We would both take it in turns of driving each model and switch roles (driver/passenger) every 15 minutes. Things were going smoothly until we reached the country roads in the Adelaide Hills. We had each driven a few BMW models and the confidence was setting in, particularly with Ingrid. She started to hammer the accelerator and was ‘squealing and laughing’ as she sped around each corner and even went onto the gravel a couple of times.
Ingrid became very dangerous and I was literally shitting myself and waiting for a crash to happen. We eventually reached Goolwa Airport for lunch and I had had enough. I went to the organisers and discreetly told them that I refuse to drive with Ingrid and I need to switch partners. This caused mayhem as we were driving to a set roster so everyone has a turn at each model of BMW. My decision threw everything into chaos but I didn’t care, as I have never been so scared of being in a crash before, and I had no control whatsoever. Ingrid was then paired with an instructor.
Alan gave a speech over lunch about how safe the BMW’s are and gave some tips on driving. The tip I remembered most was:
Brake heavily on lead up to corner, then accelerate on the corner to allow the tyres to grip the road.( I normally do the opposite)
After lunch we took turns at getting in the Z5 sports model and driving flat out along the airstrip until we reached a traffic cone, where we had to ‘hit the brakes’. Alan went first to show us how it was done, and it looked frightening.
I reached 190km/hr and whilst exhilarating, took me well out of my comfort zone. Some drivers reached speeds up to 220km/hr and I copped some teasing for being slow.
We then headed back towards Adelaide and it was my turn to drive with Alan. Luckily he drove and I was able to ask him questions and get some driving tips. I even asked about the infamous 1-2 finish at Bathurst where Colin Bond was instructed to not pass him on the finish line. Alan then gave me a live demonstration of what to do if you run off the road onto loose gravel and lose grip, (violently jerk wheel to left then quickly back to right to allow tyres to re- grip). From the car behind us it must have looked like Alan had fallen asleep at the wheel;-) the other big tip was to always keep two hands on the wheel at all times.
Upon return to the showroom, we had our tags signed by Alan and got some photos with him. A great day was had all round and great marketing and exposure for BMW.
