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So you think you know how to drive? Well, maybe you don’t. Yeah, really…

Maybe…what dad (or mom, or your Uncle Bill) taught you about entering/exiting a corner, or negotiating slippery surfaces, really wasn’t the best way to do so. Maybe over the years you’ve developed some bad highway habits; we all do. Maybe—just maybe, the times and the cars are now so different from when you were 16 and just got your driver’s license, that some rethinking of basic and/or advanced driving procedures is now in order. …Or maybe you’re just a bit rusty, and need a few good refresher driving lessons.

Yes, there are a lot of “maybes” listed above, and I bet some apply to all of us car geeks to some degree. That being the case BMW has just a program, called “Relearn to Drive,” which is aimed to correct any old bad habits, as well as learn some new good driving tricks.

“Many drivers on the road today have not considered just how times—and cars—have changed since they learned to drive, and this campaign will serve as an entertaining wake-up call that perhaps we could all stand to learn something new,” said Jack Pitney, BMW of North America’s vice-president of marketing.

To learn more about this course, click here.

Here’s Inside Line’s take: Marketing: BMW Promotes “Graduate School” To Fix Out-of-Date Driving Habits

Introducing Spyke from Speed and Sound magazine, one of our new editors.

When God was handing out driving talent, I was on the bog – I ain’t no Schumacher. I do however have an uncanny knack for teaching people how to do things. Suppose that’s why I’m writing and not out winning races! It’s a case of do as I say and don’t do as I do.

This was the case in the office a few weeks ago when we decided that it would be fun to teach one of the unusual suspects in the office to drift. We needed someone who doesn’t race and had a rear wheel drive car that they could thrash. Our brainstorming pulled out squat, Capt’n Crack drives an auto (lame!) and Batty’s M is up for sale, so that’s a no go. Then someone remembered that Antony has a manual E34 520i… “Amish! Come Here!”

While the idea was good, convincing Amish to get his prized possession sideways was going to be another challenge altogether. After much deliberation we decided that the easiest would be to slap a set of used tyres on the rear of his car and start off slowly by teaching him the art of drifting on a skidpan. To tell the truth, Antony was super paranoid about damaging the car, can’t blame him, drifting can be hard on a vehicle. He eventually buckled under the pressure.

KoeniC Edenvale kindly sponsored some used tyres and off we went to Wesbank’s skidpan one chilly morning so that Amish could get his arse out - in the car that is.

Arriving at the track, it was all business as we swapped out tyres and checked that all was in order. Getting to the skidpan, we were somewhat disappointed to see that the skidpan was partially wet, this was going to make things tricky. The dry patches on the skidpan are slick enough to make drifting easy without it feeling like you’re driving on ice. The wet patches on the other hand are as slippery as Shabir Sheik is. The problem here is that the front end will wash out on us making recovering from a drift pretty tough.

In order for me to be able to guide Amish, I needed to know what type of power his car had and how it handled. I hopped in the hot seat and took the gargantuan Beemer for a test, only to remind myself why I don’t do this for a living. The beauty of the 520 is that you can get it to step out just by lifting off the throttle. Apparently most BMW’s do this, I wouldn’t know, I prefer my Jap toys! Power on the 520 comes in at about 2500, pretty low but ideal for what we were doing. This would be our technique of choice, power over.

Then it was Amish’s turn and I got him used to the idea of swinging the tail out by just getting on the power. Once he’d accepted the fact that spinning out was inevitable, I showed him how to counter steer, which is turning into the direction of the slide to counter the spin. He discovered that you need to be quite quick in order to catch the slide in time to save it.

We were entering the skidpan at about 50km/h which is equal to 100km/h on tar. Amish would start the turn and give the throttle a quick stab to break the traction at the rear. A quick flick of the wheel would see him hold the drift for a moment and then, loose momentum, bummer.

Next lesson – maintaining a drift through use of the accelerator. This is particularly tricky because too much power for just a fraction of a second and you’ll spin out. You need to practice a lot in order to find a healthy balance of entry speed, steering input and throttle input. This was proving to be a challenge for Amish but after a few failed attempts, he started getting the hang of it. One problem though, as his confidence grew, he was turning too much too early, trying to get an aggressive angle going. This was causing the car to understeer and wash out. Not to be outdone, Amish remembered what I had said and would either lift off the throttle or yank on the handbrake to get the nose to grip and the tail to break. 10 points!

At this stage, I’m out of the car, leaving Amish to his own devices and I’m standing outside the car taking photos. Low and behold, Amish comes tearing onto the pan, flicks the car out right, whips it back to the left and lets the tail hang out. Balancing the throttle and constantly making changes to the steering, he drifts it perfectly and pulls it back in line like a pro. Awesome!

His attitude has changed and his nervousness is gone, he’s having the time of his life. So much so that at the end of all of this he was more than willing to attack one of the corners on Wesbank’s short track! We were all for it but ran out of time. Don’t worry though, I found him the next day in the office searching the net for second-hand 200SX’s… I guess the bug has bit!!!

[Image Source: Channel4.com]

Saab’s badge engineered 9-7X is taking its final bow next year (at last!) after just three years of poor sales. Few of the Saab party faithful were swayed by the 9-7X which was assembled not in Trollhattan, Sweden, but at a GM plant in Moraine, Ohio.

Despicably plain in appearance and woeful in execution, the Saab SUV shared most components with GM’s cheaper Chevrolet Trailblazer. The main differences between the Chevy and the Saab lay in a console mounted ignition, an upgraded sports suspension, and some minor aero kit adjustments to exterior sheetmetal.

There’s no word as to whether Saab will hazard another 4X4.

[Source: MotorAuthority.com]

Even before Scooby-Doo and their hippie-fied Mystery Machine skyrocketed to the pinnacle of popularity, I was a enormous van fan. There was just something about the elongated, cylindrical shape that made my mouth water. When I was a sophomore, I took up a humiliating job at a local fish-fry just so I could save up enough bread to buy my first van. A year and a lot of forearm burns later, I was the proud owner of my very own Dodge Tradesman. The old girl was pretty beat up, but I poured every spare dollar I had into tricking her out with all the accessories I could get my hands on. First, I installed a twin-size water bed into the rear. Then, I converted the side cabinetry into a wet bar. After that came the shag carpet and stereo system. I finished it off with some velvet upholstery and unbelievably opaque window tinting.

It goes without saying that my van made me a popular man nearby Milwaukee. Every Friday night, I would buzz over to the ice rink and park right up front. When the ladies heard my hi-fi blasting out Don’t Fear the Reaper, they knew to ditch their dates and come external to me. I always kept the wet bar fully stocked with plenty of Coors and Schnapps, so it didn’t take long to get those girls to lose their inhibitions. Man, those were the days. Carefree and cool is the only way to live.

Unfortunately, times change, and so do girls’ tastes. About the time Reagan took office, owning a van was suddenly seen as a liability with the ladies. I didn’t want to turn my back on my Tradesman, though. She had been loyal to me, and I was going to be loyal to her in return. I tried adding on some new accessories, like a roof-mounted wing and some chrome windshield wipers, but all the girls simply sneered.

I was in the love doldrums until the turn of the millennium. I made a Y2K resolution to “get with the times, van man,” to use the parlance of the Denny’s waitress who turned down my invitation for an all-expenses-paid night out at the Red Lobster. As soon as my January 1st hangover wore off, I rolled over to the Ford dealership, said goodbye to my Tradesman, and drove home in my shiny new Excursion. From the moment I sat down backside the wheel, I was bowled over by the SUV power that my Ford pumped out. But I wanted more. So I recently installed a Pacesetter air intake and a Bully Dog performance chip, and I can barely control the explosive power of this SUV. And the love life is definitely on the upswing. What can I say—big automobiles are nature’s aphrodisiac.

The answer is: Dale Junior, in the drawing room with a Mountain Dew can.

After tonight’s ON PIT ROW, I think that my pal Steve has it figured out.

See, Steve heard Darrell Waltrip being sucked, willingly, into his revelation that Earnhardt Jr. would not be sponsored by a shoe company after all.

D W now says the big spender will be (might be) something that you can drink but does not come in a red can.

Hmm. Jerry’s been all over the Nike theory, as have I, but now throws out Monster Energy Drink.. Marc seems to like them all.

I like Steve-o’s thought. I’ll let him sell it. But if you didn’t hear the show tonight, the argument is compelling.

[Image Source: BMW]

As far as badge-specific nameplates go, BMW drivers have among the most notorious of reputations on the world’s highways and biways. And for good reason, most of their cars go like stink and can out handle anything from Hyundai Rio to the Porsche Boxster S - which by virtue of their performance - can make people…confident, shall we say.

But, it would appear that BMW North America is looking to re-teach the fundamentals of being behind the Blue Roundeled wheel.

“With elements such as an independent, non-branded micro-site and viral videos, BMW of North America tackles more than just what car to drive as it launches “Relearn to Drive,” a creative campaign for the BMW Performance Driving School in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with Austin-based GSD&M. The campaign, which begins Tuesday, June 19, aims to bring the BMW Performance Driving School to life by posing the question, “Who taught you to drive?”"

Cheeky, to say the least. BMW has also launched a website for this new program - www.RelearnToDrive.com

[Source: BMW]

Not only doe the Vatican want you to refrain from using a johnny cap, but now they seem to have plans for saving the world from road rage! That’s right folks, it seems that the Vatican has released the Ten Commandments for drivers.

I wonder who the modern day Moses was who delivered these gems of wisdom to his holiness and his holy handlers. Perhaps a yard worker at Vatican City’s local scrap yard found them inscribed on the hood of one of the growing number of wrecked Enzo’s.

Prepare to be enlightened after the break

The Christian virtue of drivers and their “Ten Commandments”

I. You shall not kill.

II. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

III. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

IV. Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of accidents.

V. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

VI. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

VII. Support the families of accident victims.

VIII. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

IX. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

X. Feel responsible towards others.

Source Associated Press and Worth1000.com

GoAuto have started a war between Audi and BMW. Although we tried hard not to cover the issue, it has become somewhat entertaining. So why not!

The war was started by BMW boss Guenther Seemann who fired the first shot in an interview with GoAuto last thursday. Mr Seemann went out swinging when he labeled Audi, one of BMWs main competitors, as .. well.. not a competitor.

The BMW chief backed up his comments by pointing out that Audi does not build read-wheel drive cars (although it has a range of Quattros All-Wheel-Drives). He said that BMW only regard Mercedes-Benz and Toyota owned Lexus as competitors in the Australian premium car market.

“When you look at the statistics, we have here two competitors in Australia – one comes from Stuttgart and the other comes from Japan,” Mr Seemann told GoAuto.

Of course, if your going to attack your fellow country men, you might as well go all the way. Following up his remarks, BMW chief also said that Audi is gaining marketshare only as a result of massive discounts, which will eventually have a negative affect on customer loyalty.

“A premium brand never ever does short-term actions to increase the sales. For example, offering tomorrow a $15,000 discount, because you will lose recent customers who bought the same cars for the normal price. So there is more to being a premium brand … you cannot do short actions.” Mr Seemann told GoAuto

There has been a truce between the German rivals for a long time, they do not usually criticize each other and hardly ever make such remarks.

But given the truce was broken, Audi Australia boss Joerg Hofmann decided to respond:

“I don’t want to comment about specific companies. Whatever we communicate is based on fact and the fact is that Audi is by far the fastest growing premium brand in Australia ,” he told GoAuto.

And as for the rear-wheel-drive vs the front-wheel-drive argument that BMW were hassling Audi over?

“For me, a premium product has nothing to do with the drivetrain. I think it’s even boring for the customer if you offer only one drivetrain. Audi boss told GoAuto.

Will it end here? Or is BMW about to return fire? Whatever the result of this maybe, Lexus and Mercedes are keeping their mouths shut - far better to let the competition start a war of words.

It is interesting however that BMW do not see Audi as a competitor. That seems at odds with many reports suggesting that BMW updated the BMW M3s inline-six engine to a V8 to compete with the Audi RS4 - its main competitor.

Source : GoAuto