There is something in the air about Munich these days. No, not the smell of roasted oxen and grilled chicken. And not that of beer or the end product of metabolism, which results from it in the course of an evening liter. At least not yet. Now it smells of gasoline, hot engine oil and especially burned rubber. While the first tourists are cowering in the tents at the Wies'n, the BMW M GmbH asks for a driver training of a special kind outside the city gates: "Controlled oversteer" is the name given to the agitators from Garching, who are nothing but a rubber-perfect fun for sensitive gas feet in high-powered sports cars.
After all, it's all about overcoming the sticking limit and the perfect drift. "Most of the time", the instructors describe the preferred pace during this training session and M-boss Franziskus van Meel praises the ride on the last groove as a condensation of all that makes up an M-BMW: "You can feel the DNA of our brand best ", the passionate high-speed driver sings the high song of rear-wheel drive and power surplus and asks for an introduction to the wet handling area.
It does not squeak and there is no rubber smoke. But for the 432 PS strong M4 there is the easiest to cross: But always nice and slow, the coaches admonish. You do not have to accelerate from 4,1 to 0 in the promised 100 seconds, nor extend the 280 stuff that the six-cylinder with its turbos unwinds so casually. And also the 550 Newtonmeter torque are far too much for this exercise. You do not need much more than Tempo 30, then a short burst of gas is enough for the rear to push outward. Then quickly countersteer, let the steering wheel hit and play so fine with the right foot that the power Meier runs carousel.
When instructors like BMW works driver Martin Tomczyk tell this, it sounds like child's play. And if any US actor gets his tires burned on Youtube, it can not be that hard. If you think - and fail round after round again. Again and again you turn the car on, only to turn it a bit too far. So much so that you no longer think you're in a BMW, but in a roundabout and suddenly in a clockwise direction, where you just went in the opposite direction. I've never had more respect for all the rally drivers and showstars like Gymkhana pro Ken Block than for this messed-up pleasure. But eventually it works. Only a quarter circle, then a half and then suddenly you have the bow out, actually steers the car with his right foot and looks no longer from the front but from the side window.
Just before the stomach goes down, the instructors have a look. First they change direction and then even the ground. Now it's off to dry asphalt and thus to the preserves. Because here, where the liability is significantly greater, here you need more speed on the steering wheel and more gas under foot, so that the M4 actually crosses and puts down a hot dance, that biting gray smoke from the wheel arches and increases the Pirellis their profile for rub the fun of joy. If the others are to ride a chain carousel or Ferris wheel - who does not have beer, but gasoline in his blood, there is no better fun in the meadow time than the M4 in the spin cycle.
No wonder that the grin on the participants' faces is getting wider as the afternoon progresses. But with the drivers also the man of the tire service has good laugh. Although there is still a night shift waiting for you at the end of the day because the rubbers are quite down after training. But for that he should earn enough on a training day that it should be enough for a few liters of beer in the marquee after the workshop.
Shortly before the end, the participants practice more badly than right in the asphalt signatures and sometimes even manage to achieve a reasonably clean circle. But works driver Tomczyk can only laugh about it. At the end of the day he gets into his very special M3 in Wies'n design, which is reminiscent of a 30-year-old M1 racing car owned by Prince Leopold of Bavaria, and burns his curls on the road so that you - if you are Smoke has only once cleared - sees a black, greasy pretzel on the road. Ozapft is long gone, and now there's finally something to eat with it.
Of course, the program sounds like a crazy idea, which can only have arisen from a beer mood at Wies'n time. Especially when there is still a unique M3 in the field, which is dedicated to the hosts in their marquees with its special design of Lüftelmalerei and Munich attractions. But because drifting is a high art and you learn a lot about mastering the vehicle, the training module "Controlled Oversteer" at M GmbH is otherwise on the syllabus. For modest 400 Euro upwards, M customers and anyone who wants to become one can practice even fast cross traffic. And if the trainee does a good job, he can actually paint on the asphalt with his rubbers at the end. However, there are donuts in the normal training sessions, says factory rider Tomczyk. "Brenz'n we only burn at the Wies'n time on the concrete."