[vj123]

Rust belt generally refers to American states around Great Lakes region including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin. If anyone is interested in joining our WhatsApp group, shoot me a PM.

Our previous meets were documented in Detroit meet up thread - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/team-...etroit-15.html (Team BHP USA meets in Detroit). Looks like another meet is shaping up pretty quick.

We came across BMW M track event in Indianapolis Motor Speedway and several tBHP members have registered for the event today morning.

Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Date: 8-Aug-2021
Time: 8am

Here is the registration link if anyone else is willing to join us. https://imsmexperience.eventsbmw.com/

Confirmed members:
1. vj123 (Vibin from Detroit)

[rohittunga]

Originally Posted by vj123

We came across BMW M track event in Indianapolis Motor Speedway and several tBHP members have registered for the event today morning.

Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Date: 8-Aug-2021
Time: 8am

Here is the registration link if anyone else is willing to join us. https://imsmexperience.eventsbmw.com/

Confirmed members:
1. vj123 (Vibin from Detroit)
2. rohittunga (from Chicago)

[nikhilarni]

Originally Posted by vj123

Rust belt generally refers to American states around Great Lakes region including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin. If anyone is interested in joining our WhatsApp group, shoot me a PM.

Hi Vibin,
Thanks for starting this thread. Good to know we have something for the Pennsylvania folks too Thanks for taking the lead and planning it out.

Looks like a meet in the happening. Looking forward.

Originally Posted by rohittunga

Confirmed members:
1. vj123 (Vibin from Detroit)
2. rohittunga (from Chicago)

Hi Rohit,
Looking forward to meeting everyone.

1. vj123 (Vibin from Detroit)
2. rohittunga (from Chicago)
3. nikhilarni ( from Pittsburgh )

[fusionbang]

Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Date: 8-Aug-2021
Time: 8am

Here is the registration link if anyone else is willing to join us. https://imsmexperience.eventsbmw.com/

Confirmed members:

1. vj123 (Vibin from Detroit)
2. rohittunga (from Chicago)
3. nikhilarni (from Pittsburgh)
4. fusionbang (from Philadelphia)

[nitinsharma1000]

Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Date: 8-Aug-2021
Time: 8am

Here is the registration link if anyone else is willing to join us. https://imsmexperience.eventsbmw.com/

Confirmed members:

1. vj123 (Vibin from Detroit)
2. rohittunga (from Chicago)
3. nikhilarni (from Pittsburgh)
4. fusionbang (from Philadelphia)
5. nitinsharma1000 (from Pittsburgh)

[GTO]

Let us know via a reported post (Report Posts : Contribute in Maintaining Team-BHP's post quality) once your meet report is up! We will add it to our homepage .

[landcruiser123]

Thanks for sharing, @vj123. Looking forward to meeting all of you!
Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Date: 8-Aug-2021
Time: 8am

Here is the registration link if anyone else is willing to join us. https://imsmexperience.eventsbmw.com/

Confirmed members:

1. vj123 (Vibin from Detroit)
2. rohittunga (from Chicago)
3. nikhilarni (from Pittsburgh)
4. fusionbang (from Philadelphia)
5. nitinsharma1000 (from Pittsburgh)
6. landcruiser123 (from Peoria, IL)

[vj123]

It’s my third tBHP MidWest meet in the recent years and everyone had a blast like previous ones.
- Oct 2019 had 7 members: Link (Team BHP USA meets in Detroit)
- Dec 2020 had 9 members: Link (Team BHP USA meets in Detroit)
- Current Aug 2021 meet had 8 members.

Like any tBHP meet, this one also had great people, cars, food and fun. Every meet kept raising the bar, not sure if we can plan something better than this. We gathered in Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Largest sporting venue in the world and Racing capital of the world for a BMW M track event.

We were able to drive “real” M cars and unleash their true potential. Everyone had a chance to drive below vehicles in following events:
- Autocross: 440
- Drag race: M2, M5, X3M, X6M
- Lead follow laps in racetrack: M3

I will let the pictures talk which I took before and after the event.

tBHP Members from L to R - nitinsharma1000, ruchiragrawal, vj123, prakyath89, nikhilarni with his spouse, landcruiser123, fusionbang, rohittunga



Our drives for the day.



IMS Museum.



Glimpse of the track.



Event entrance.



IMS tower.



BMW Marketing at work.



Event check-in.



Driver debrief.



Drag race and Autocross vehicle lineup.







BMW's tease as we entered the garage.





Our group with GT4:





We weren't disappointed with an empty track.



M3s lined up for fuel.



Track lineup.







Random shots.









Happy members after the event.

[nikhilarni]

Originally Posted by vj123

Like any tBHP meet, this one also had great people, cars, food and fun. Every meet kept raising the bar, not sure if we can plan something better than this. We gathered in Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Largest sporting venue in the world and Racing capital of the world for a BMW M track event.

In a span of about 8 months, I went from not knowing anyone personally on T-Bhp to 4 odd meets and making some amazing friends along the way.

Thank you Vibin and Rohit for planning this out in detail. Planing and coordination is never the easy part. From the meeting point to the restaurant were all detailed out.

I guess the beauty of the meets are the ability to put a face and persona behind the handles and the chats.

Additionally, here is pretty much where we can freely discuss our passion for cars and details without being judged or getting replies like "I consider the car to be a piece of depreciating metal" to "Everything under the hood is the same, wether a BMW or Benz, its just the brand and badge". Just a waste of time to even think about a reply !

In addition to meeting Vibin, Rohit, Sunay, Prakyath and Nitin, it was great meeting Ruchir and Lalith. Looking forward to many more meets.

Being my wife's bday, Sunay and Rohit had planned a surprise celebration at lunch. My wife was touched by that gesture.


Sunay stayed over at my place and we started for IMS at 1 am from Pittsburgh. Sunay did most of the driving on our trip. It was just fun chatting and exchanging notes along the drive.

Originally Posted by vj123

We were able to drive “real” M cars and unleash their true potential. Everyone had a chance to drive below vehicles in following events:
- Autocross: 440
- Drag race: M2, M5, X3M, X6M
- Lead follow laps in racetrack: M3

Totally agree. The Real M is in a league of its own. Its pretty much the first time for me driving such powerful cars and that too around a race track. Couldn't have asked for a better experience.

Just one word for the M Competitions ---> Respect. Respect and admiration to the engineers who put their heart and soul behind those vehicles.

All this while, I thought my M340i was fast and nimble, till I got a taste of what Speed, Handling and Power is.

I can still visualize the first corner while braking hard to make a sharp turn and the other one which was accelerating towards a straight line while coming out of a turn. Phew !

The autocross was just fun. There is no way, I would have ever driven that hard on that small section. It was just a rush of adrenaline post the event.

We made a quick stop at the gift shop for a souvenir and headed for lunch.


Gokarting fun after lunch and then we dispersed for home.


In all, a fun Sunday spent with good friends.

[vj123]

Originally Posted by nikhilarni

Thank you Vibin and Rohit for planning this out in detail. Planning and coordination is never the easy part. From the meeting point to the restaurant were all detailed out.

Anytime sirji. I will make sure i don't miss out those minor details next time!

Originally Posted by nikhilarni

Being my wife's bday, Sunay and Rohit had planned a surprise celebration at lunch. My wife was touched by that gesture.

I am glad that you guys were able to travel this far especially on your wife's birthday.

Originally Posted by nikhilarni

In all, a fun Sunday spent with good friends.

Hope we plan something really fun next time as well.

[rohittunga]

Couldn’t have asked for a better Sunday morning drive. For a change, I had to travel just 150 miles to reach Indianapolis Motor Speedway and we were all present for our briefing which began at 8.30AM. Gotta doff your hat to BMW for the manner in which they conducted this event. There were almost 40 over enthusiastic drivers keen on driving some of their dream cars and it was managed so well. Like Vibin said, there were 3 main activities: Autocross, Drag Race & Lead-follow. They divided us into 3 teams of 13 people and each team went about one of the three activities at the same time, and then swap when done.

Here is my take on those cars and activities:

1. Drag Racing: 

   The team I was in went straight to drag racing after our briefing. First car was the BMW X3M. And to be honest this was my second least favorite. Great power no doubt, but the brakes were not up to the task IMO. They were regular steel brakes and not the optional ceramics, but still the brakes did not feel great to me.
   Let’s just say this - It did not take my breath away like some of the others.


   
   Next up was the BMW M2. This was not the M2 Competition but just the regular M2 with the DCT. And big surprise, this car was my least favorite. Sure drag racing is not its forte, but there were other reasons too. The interiors simply felt stale. For instance - the gear selector is exactly the same as my 15+ year old E60 M5. So when you get in, there is no wow factor. Also, in this company, it felt, dare I say, slow. I’m sure the next gen M2 is going to be fantastic but this one is past its sell by date.


   
   Next was the big heavyweight champ, the BMW X6M Competition. Boy oh boy does this car put a smile. Hated the looks, actually it makes me gag looking at the rear of the car (reminds me of a hippos bottom), but the rest of the package is freaking awesome. You simply cannot fathom that a big dump truck like the X6 could accelerate and (more importantly) brake so well. It’s the one that made me giggle the entire time. 


   
   And finally we come to my most enjoyable drive, the F90 BMW M5 Competition. BMW had the M5s in some kickass colors as well. I got in the Frozen Black M5 Competition. Ingredients for the M5 are special: 4.4L Vee eight modurr!, >620HP, AWD, Launch Control. I was left speechless after launching it. I still am !!! That’s how amazing the car felt. And it’s got that mean, don’t mess with me, night club bouncer type looks. It’s the car I would trade my M5 within a blink of an eye and not even miss. It felt that good. I wish we spent more time with that M5 comp. Can't even imagine how good the M5 CS would be
   
   
2. Autocross:

   After the initial adrenaline filled drag racing, we hopped in BMW 440i for an autocross session. For obvious reasons, this wasn’t a full fledged autocross track, but it’s understandable why they kept it short. We were told the fastest time was 15.8 sec and it hadn’t been broken for over a week. Autocross (for those who haven’t done it) is very technical. Courses are tight and if you carry too much speed, you’re going to understeer all the way hurting the time. Trick is to find that delicate balance between pushing the car and finding the limits of tires. And despite all this, my best was 17.01 seconds. 440i was alright, nothing special, just your typical everyday drive-in-traffic type car. You’ve got to remember we were spoilt for choice after driving an M2, M5 comp, X6M, X3M & M3. So in that company, the 440i felt adequate.
   
   
3. Lead - Follow:

   This was the one which gave the maximum seat time driving the cars. I was driving an Alpine White G20 M3 Competition. We were to drive 6 laps of the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway with an instructor in the lead car (M8 Competition no less) guiding & giving instructions via radio. The first lap was basically a sighter for us to see how the course is, where our braking zones were & where to turn in. Second lap onwards the speed increases. What immediately became apparent driving the M3 comp was just how sharp the steering was and how little to no body roll there was. I actually have a frame of reference to compare against because I track my M5 frequently at Road America. You could carry so much speed through the corners and the car simply darts into whichever direction you point the steering. I loved every single minute of it. We hit almost 130 MPH( 210KMPH) on the start finish straight and it had great midrange thanks to those turbos. Here’s another compliment: the ambient temperature was in the 90F (32 Celsius), yet the engine temperature was bang in the middle after multiple laps and the brakes were just as solid as before (something that cannot be said about my M5, especially the brakes). 


   
   Just when we thought driving those 6 laps concluded our day, we got one final surprise in the form of 1 hot lap with the Instructor. These guys know to drive. I was in the rear seat of the M3 comp and our instructor (apologies for not remembering his name) was driving like he normally would. It completely changes your perception. When I was driving I thought I was giving my 100%, but as it turns out, it wasn’t even 10% of the instructors. The confidence they have in carrying an insane amount of speed through corners, just inches away from the wall, beggars belief !!! If today was a cake, this hot lap by their racing driver, was the cherry on top of the it.

Our day at BMW concluded, but our Team BHP meet did not! In fact we had other things to do that day. We had lunch at a restaurant near by (where we celebrated Ruju’s birthday (nikhilarni’s wife) and headed to a karting facility just down the road. Adrenaline from the morning was still high and this was a perfect way to let it all out. Karting was just karting, nothing special, but as always its the most fun you can have per dollar (or rupees even)

Like Nikhil & Vibin mentioned, we keep raising the bar every time we meet. Great people, great company and now looking forward to our next meet…….. (and owning an M5 Comp one day!)

Here are some pictures from my side. In all this excitement, I forgot to take enough photos. Some of these are clicked by other Bhpians.

Here is that sexy red M5 Competition


And the really ugly yet capable X6M Competition


Finally a photo of the entire group after karting

[prakyath89]

Man-o-man what an amazing event this was. BMW hit it out of the ground with the planning and execution of such an event. Everything was meticulously planned and handled by the instructors. To top it all, the event was free!

Originally Posted by vj123

Like any tBHP meet, this one also had great people, cars, food and fun. Every meet kept raising the bar, not sure if we can plan something better than this. We gathered in Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Largest sporting venue in the world and Racing capital of the world for a BMW M track event.

Thanks to Vibin for finding this event and being my partner while driving! It was indeed a dream come true to drive on a track like the iconic IMS.

Originally Posted by nikhilarni

In a span of about 8 months, I went from not knowing anyone personally on T-Bhp to 4 odd meets and making some amazing friends along the way.

I totally agree with Nikhil here. That's all these events are all about - fun, friends and of course cars. I still can't believe you convinced your wife it is a good idea to spend her birthday on the track

Originally Posted by rohittunga

Next up was the BMW M2. This was not the M2 Competition but just the regular M2 with the DCT. And big surprise, this car was my least favorite....

That's a great summary of the driving experience Rohit! Although I love the M2 and have driven it a few times before, drag racing isn't its forte. The real surprise was the X6M! It looks massive but flies when you hit the pedal. But the M5 takes the prize here. AWD combined with more than 600 horses is a deadly combo. It was so easy to drive, I almost felt it was similar to my old Charger Scatpack as far as the ease of driving goes.

The Lead-Follow event was the best one for me for obvious reasons. When Vibin was behind the wheel and I decided to not ride as a pillion due to motion sickness, I had the pleasure of talking to a couple of instructors who gave me valuable tips on how to drive on the track. They said always look far ahead since the distance covered is much much faster compared to daily driving and don't be stingy while braking! This helped me a great deal in driving the new M3 on the track. I loved how nimble and planted the new M3 was around the corners and I was really confident on pushing it as much as I could. Seeing how the car performed, I'm ready to forgive BMW for that grille. After those 3 laps I was definitely craving for more and that's when we went on a hot lap with one of the instructors. The guy just ripped around the track like it was nothing and I was holding on and giggling like a toddler in the back seat! It was definitely a day to remember and I don't know how we can top this now.

[landcruiser123]

Firstly, this is my first photo for the day - me following @rohittunga’s legendary M5.


A quiet moment on the track before all hell breaks loose


@rohittunga has described the sequence of driving events perfectly.

• My personal favorite was the lead-follow with the M3 competition. How many times does one get to drive on the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
• Because my co-passenger didn’t want to drive, I got the do the autocross 6 times (instead of 3 tries the others got) with the M440i. Despite that, my best time was 18.11 seconds.
• Drag race was extreme fun – especially the way the M5 competition and the X6M competition take off.

Machines that impressed me the most were the M3 competition & M5 competition. M5 competition is a fast barge, especially in a drag race. M3 competition was a superb handler in the track. M3 c v/s M5 c on a track would make for a very interesting comparison. Will the nimbleness of the M3 competition give it the edge over the more powerful & torquier M5 competition?

Note: This is purely my perspective. Please forgive me as the only BMW I had driven prior to this event is a G20 330i with the B48 (gas) engine.

After a sumptuous meal, we had a fun go-karting session at Speedway Indoor Karting. Website: https://www.sikindy.com/

The karting was extreme fun with a multi-level track with an ascent and a descent. It was also challenging with the usual 180-degree bends and multiple twists and turns. Unfortunately, none of us had a go-pro to record the track. Nevertheless, if you are in this area, you must check it out.

Here are some pictures of TBHP drivers ready to race: (Sorry KTM)




It was a fun day – one for the ages. What made it special was the group of people – we had a lot of fun talking cars, exchanging notes, and talking about cars (and me asking @fusionbang about motorcycles) the whole day! Special credits to @vj123 and @rohittunga for sharing and planning the event respectively.

One thing is for sure, driving these legendary cars hard will make you forget the grill. If you’re still concerned, back up in to your parking spot.
That way, you always see the car from the angle most others drivers will see your car from - this:

Here's a glimpse of the hot lap: Listen to the roar of the B58!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gClm3e0Qbt8

Signing off!

Would I buy a BMW? I’m definitely more convinced, but first, I'm going to get my Tundra 1794 Edition!

[vj123]

Other members have great summaries of the event / vehicles in the above posts and here is a short one from me. All 39 drivers in the event were divided based on stickers in our badges (black, blue and red). I was a part of the blue team with Prakyath, Rohit and Ruchir. BMW is known for their blues and I was happy even though it isn’t anything significant. Guess, it’s one of those small things which matters for an auto enthusiast.

I am going to list my summary in the order of least to most favorite drives and vehicles:

Autocross

This was my first ever Autocross and I am not a big fan of it. Instructor told us that overall best time for this circuit was in high 15s. My first run was in mid 19s, second run was in mid 18s and last run was in high 17s. I was glad that i made progress in every run. This was the last event for my group and was done for the day. I was kinda exhausted as i had slept 3 hours the previous night and didnt have proper breakfast as well.

Pick 6 – 440: It was a comfortable, luxury cruiser. I think the tires were trashed and I was able to slide the vehicle even with x drive. Not being a fan of coupes, its no wonder that it was my least favorite vehicle for the day.

Drag race

This was the first event for our group. I am glad that we were able to get a feel of the "real M power" before our track drive. This was my first proper drags and I had to get a feel of it. I did not nail the start and stop for few runs, but things got better with runs. Coincidentally, my vehicle preference was in the exact order of how i drove in this part of the drive.

Pick 5 – X3M: It was a great vehicle to start but wasn’t anything special. It had enough power for the size and weight.

Pick 4 – M2c: It wasn’t the right vehicle for drag race and wish we had it for Autocross. I would say it’s a fun pocket rocket and DCT shifts were snappy. This was the only older generation vehicle for the day and the interior was very dated when compared with others.

Pick 3 – X6M: I am not a suv person and never imagined I would rate this vehicle higher than a M2. It was a heavy vehicle, but the engine made up to its sheer size and also had a great exhaust note as it shared its powertrain with M5.

Pick 2 – M5c: My second most favorite vehicle of the day. I always thought the M5s to be big powerful cruiser but man I was wrong. It didn’t feel too big from inside and also while driving. It had the best exhaust note and I kept revving it to neutral while driving it back to the garage. This vehicle was a beast and could be the desirable one if money wasn't a barrier.

Track lead and follow

I am glad that this event was right after Drag where we had a feel of the other vehicles. I have tracked my vehicles in the past and also had track time at work. I also tracked a Huracan couple of years ago in M1 concourse (race track in Michigan) and kinda had an idea of what to expect.

All M3s were tracked regularly for 5 days, tires and brakes (even carbon ceramics) were not in a great shape. Instructors were leading us in a M8c and two of us were following him in our M3s. Rohit and myself were following the instructors and I was behind the instructor for the first half. I think I clocked a little more than 130mph in the straights. I stayed closer with the front vehicle during the drive and wish I left a little more space to clock higher speeds. Instructor commented after the drive that both of us were keeping up with him for all three laps. I felt he could have pushed a little more at least in the last 2 laps.

I was not expecting hot lap from an instructor and it was the most fun one. He had half the length of pit lane empty and he hit trip digits in that short tarmac. He showed what the vehicle is capable of and it was no where close to what we extracted.

Pick 1 – M3c: There were several M3s with a mix of M sport and Carbon bucket seats and I was eyeing for a vehicle with Carbon buckets. Unfortunately, I was assigned a Sao Paulo Yellow with M sport seats. This was not fastest or loudest of the lot but it was a great vehicle. No wonder that it was the top pick for most of us. I think I would have picked the M3 even if we had tracked M5 as it had more than enough power for its size. After the drive, I spent sometime drooling over the external and interior colors of several vehicles from the fleet.

Hope that dream of owning a M car comes true and this event with a group of enthusiasts will be etched in my memory for a very very long time.

[FeelTheBass]

Hi! vj123, Great pics. along with the nice writeup
Looks like all of you have enjoyed to the fullest, Even though arranging such meet is not an easy task at all.
Finally it was made possible for you all, I'm in love with the white GT4 & the Red M5.