BMW M Track Days Are A Reasonably Priced Way To Improve Your Skills And Drive The Snot Out Of Rad CarsJalopnikLogan K. CarterMon, September 14, 2026 at 6:25 PM UTCAdd us on GoogleLogan K. Carter/ JalopnikNow might not be the best time for you to shell out $1,300 for a single-day solo activity, but BMW's M Track Days might actually be one of the best deals out there if you're looking to hone your driving skills and have a hoot on a race track in some excellent cars. Porsche's Track Experience School at Laguna Seca starts at more than twice the price of the priciest M Track Day, for example. I'm lucky enough to have a fair amount of track time and performance driving instruction under my belt due to my current career and prior careers, but I always relish the chance to slip behind the wheel and sharpen my skills.So when the invite came in to try out BMW's consumer-focused track school, I hit the road and headed out to the Mojave desert to enjoy an exhilarating day of driving someone else's cars on the recently repaved phallic strip of tarmac better known as Willow Springs International Raceway.Full disclosure: Michelin invited me to attend the BMW M Track Day at Willow Springs International Raceway to experience the "Endurance Package," which was a full eight-hour day at the track with a few different events as well as two meals.AdvertisementAdvertisementRead more: 12 Of The Largest Engines Ever BuiltWhat's in my packageLogan K. Carter/ JalopnikIf you're hoping to attend a BMW M Track Day event, you have two options: the $675 Sprint Package, or the full $1,300 Endurance Package. The four-hour Sprint Package incorporates 80 minutes of lead-follow lapping, a timed autocross event, a 0-to-60-to-0-style drag-race challenge, hot laps, and a meal. Stepping up to the eight-hour Endurance Package, which I experienced, bumps your lead-follow time up to two full hours, and includes the same events as the Sprint Package plus a chance to hit a skidpad, and an additional meal.For the event I attended, BMW provided a handful of M2 Competitions, as well as M3 and M4 Competition xDrives for the real track work. Then we drove some XMs, M5s, i5 M60s, and i4 M50s that were strictly for the drag racing portion.Unfortunately, M Track Days don't happen particularly often or in many regions. This year the first M Track Day took place at Monticello Motor Club in New York, but there were others at Willow Springs Raceway in California and Circuit of the Americas in Texas, and there will be one more in early November at Autobahn Country Club in Illinois. There are traditionally only four M Track Day experiences each year, and the schedule for 2027 won't be available until next April or May; check the website for updates. While the availability is disappointingly limited, I promise your patience will be rewarded with an absolute blast of a day, regardless of which event you choose to attend.It was an absolute blastLogan K. Carter/ JalopnikMy M Track Day started out like most track days, with a safety briefing and some coffee before the whole group was split into the smaller groups that we stuck with for the remainder of the day; my group started the day up at The Balcony where the autocross course was set up.AdvertisementAdvertisementWe all lined up in BMW M2s, and our instructors led us around the course before we each got a chance to try a couple hot laps.. Then the stopwatch came out. We each got three timed laps around the autocross course before swapping drivers, and were able to decide whether we wanted to have a passenger join or do the runs solo. After laying down our timed laps, we were basically given free reign to go for more fast laps around the autocross course that were also timed, but not recorded.Logan K. Carter/ JalopnikAfter the autocross portion, my group moved on to the drag racing segment, where we were pitted against a partner in tandem runs that consisted of a short sprint followed by a stop box. This was the only section that allowed us to swap directly between different models; each duo hopped into opposing cars, ran the course, then swapped into the next cars in line. It was a fun opportunity to briefly compare and contrast some of BMW's different M-flavored offerings, and to test our reaction times. I must say, the car that put the biggest smile on my face during the drag race section was the downright-ugly XM. I was not expecting it to almost leap off the line, especially when I brake torqued it (much to the instructors' dismay). Talk about a butterface! While these two events were enjoyable, the real fun came when my group was summoned to the pit lane of Big Willow.Track time was ample and exhilaratingLogan K. Carter/ JalopnikThis was my second time driving on Big Willow, but my first time following a professional racing driver who not only knew the track, but also knew the capabilities of the cars and could set us up for the quickest laps possible. Big Willow is not for the faint of heart — there are lots of sweeping corners and straights where, especially in cars as powerful as the M3 and M4, we reached some properly alarming speeds. On the back straight, I saw upward of 140 mph on my speedometerWe got a total of three sessions of lead-follow lapping on Big Willow. My first session was in an M3, my second session was in an M4, and my final session was in an M2. All the cars supplied at this event were equipped with automatic transmissions, which initially made me sad, but after experiencing the speeds we hit going around the circuit, I definitely didn't mind not having to worry about shifting.Logan K. Carter/ JalopnikEach session involved a different driving instructor, and they all led the group around the track while offering some coaching notes over the radio as needed. Fortunately for me, both my partner and the other pair of folks in our group were pretty good drivers, so we got to push the cars quite hard. The instructors kept the groups reined in so nobody got left in the dust, but since our group was quite proficient, we got to squeeze some serious performance out of our M cars, One instructor said we probably achieved nine-tenths of what the cars are capable of, which was neat.AdvertisementAdvertisementThough I never got any solo track time, I honestly appreciated the constant guidance from the professionals so I didn't risk getting in over my head and having an off at 140 mph. Getting driving tips from pro drivers is always extremely valuable. I don't feel like I would have gone any faster if I didn't have an instructor leading me — in fact, I'm certain I would've been slower due to a lack of confidence. Ultimately I was very pleased with all of my track time.Blasting around Big WillowLogan K. Carter/ JalopnikOne of the most intimidating aspects of tackling Big Willow were the speeds I carried. They don't call it "The Fastest Road In The West" for nothing. Turn one is a straightforward gently banked left-hander that seems unintimidating after pulling out of pit lane, but it became a pucker point on all subsequent laps because it's the first turn at the end of the long 140-mph straight.The key was to clip that apex around 75 mph and track out before gently cutting across to the other side of the track, which set me up for the long sweeping right-hander that is turn two. I had to be smooth and patient with my steering inputs and have steady throttle control to carry the most speed possible – around 80 mph before the M Cars started pushing wide. You also need a flexible neck to properly spot your way around; our instructors said to look through the turn for the little green water tower on the hill on the inside, clip the apex right in front of it, then cut smoothly across to the outside left to head into turn three.Logan K. Carter/ JalopnikTurns three, four, five, and six are all strung together quite tightly, so it was important to set myself up for success with a good line from the get-go. Tracking out to the right in preparation for turn three was stressful since I was basically trying to get my right tires as close to the loose desert dirt as possible while heading straight for a tire wall. I kept the wheel steady approaching the turn, before braking hard and cutting left for turn three. After hitting the gently banked apex of turn three I was greeted by a relatively steep incline and some strange g-forces that, in the M2 at least, caused the nose to feel light and push wide since the track quickly banks the opposite way for the entry into turn four. The M3 and M4 felt more steady through here, which I attributed to their xDrive all-wheel-drive systems.AdvertisementAdvertisementTurn four is a double-apex right hander with each apex marked again by green water towers. I hit the first apex, tracked out a bit, then tightened rightward for the second apex that pointed me downhill. Turn five is another two-parter: a gentle downhill right, followed almost immediately by a late-apex, banked left-hander. I hugged the inside of the first part of the turn, then cut left to transition across the banked track and kiss the second apex before aiming uphill that subjected my passenger's stomach to some G-forces it did not appreciate very much. Sorry about that Marlon!That spat me out onto the quick uphill section that reaches a crest just before turn six, another right marked by a green water tower. Accelerating uphill then cresting while turning right made me worry that the cars' tails would get light, but we kept some driving aids on so things never got truly out of hand. Then came the really fast bits.Logan K. Carter/ JalopnikTurn six opens up into a long, relatively straight section with an almost-negligible left that's technically turn seven, which speeds continue to build rapidly through. After turn seven, our instructors said we wanted to gently decelerate a bit to get some weight on the front tires as we began to turn-in for the funky, bouncy beast that is turns eight and nine, which we took around a cool (terrifying) 115 mph. I told you it was fast!At first, I tried to stay toward the outside of the track, but then there's an initial apex for turn eight on the right that I tightened up my line a bit for, before tracking out again in preparation for the longer, tighter turn nine. Things got rather bouncy in the taller M3 through this section, which wasn't especially confidence inspiring considering we were going 120 mph with nothing but dusty desert dirt a few inches to the left and some buildings in the distance, but each car stayed glued to the tarmac.Logan K. Carter/ JalopnikAgain, a flexible neck came in handy to spot my way around turn nine, since it sort of exists as a corner-within-a-corner, and here the water tower does not mark the apex — it's placed just before the apex, so I had to meter my steering in order to dive in and clip the inside curbs at the perfect time before tracking out and welding the gas pedal to the floor for the back straight. Once on the straight whizzing past pit lane and the paddocks, I peeked at the speedo to notice the ridiculous speeds I was achieving and took a deep breath before chucking the anchors out in preparation for turn one once again.AdvertisementAdvertisementMy group consisted of two cars and the instructor in the front, so we'd each do a few laps directly behind the instructor getting pointers, then swap the order on the straight to even-out the time spent directly behind our professional tutelage. The M cars took lap after lap with aplomb, until I ran too low on gas and the M2 suddenly cut power in the middle of turn six, but that wasn't the car's fault. It was a high-speed, high-adrenaline hoot-and-a-half.Sideways on the skidpadLogan K. Carter/ JalopnikThe final segment of my group's day was the skidpad, where two of the dirtiest M3s in the world awaited us. Since Willow Springs is legitimately smack dab in the middle of the Mojave Desert, it's not a very moist area, so a truck supplied the friction-reducing water that allowed us to get sideways in a controllable manner at reasonable speeds. These cars were sliding all day so they got blanketed in grimey rubber-laden sludge, but it didn't make the experience any less fun.For the skidpad portion, the instructors (smartly) stepped out of the vehicle and watched from a safe distance while offering coaching over a walkie talkie. They first wanted to make sure that people knew the most practical application of a skidpad experience, which is of course catching a skid and regaining control of the car. Once we established we could do that safely, the instructors let us learn how to purposefully kick the tail out and control and perpetuate a slide. This segment felt a bit rushed to me, and we were only allowed to drive in a small circle, but it's still always a hoot to light up the rear tires of someone else's car – thanks Michelin! After we wrapped the skidpad, we went in for our second and final meal of the day, and the awards for the autocross portion were handed out.Despite the high price, I think it's a great valueLogan K. Carter/ JalopnikListen, I know $1,300 is a lot of money to pay for a one-day activity, but if you've ever done a track day, then you know how rapidly the bills can add up. At a normal track day in your own car, you're liable to go through a set of tires and a set of brake pads, plus any other wear-and-tear or mechanical issues that may arise under the especially intense conditions a desert race track poses. How do I know? I did a track day at Buttonwillow Raceway in the summertime a few years ago, and I ended up glazing my brake pads and wearing out a few of my tires.AdvertisementAdvertisementBeyond the cost of the incidentals, you're also off the hook for fuel costs and food costs when you attend an M Track Day, and perhaps most importantly, you get individualized coaching from racing professionals. To top it all off, you get the chance to drive a wide array of M cars that you likely wouldn't otherwise have access to. I think it's a good value, all things considered. I feel like I left the experience a better driver, and perhaps most importantly, I drove home from Willow Springs with a massive grin plastered on my face.Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and follow us or add us as a preferred search source on Google.Read the original article on Jalopnik.
+34 others
