Event date: 23 July 2023

What is motorkhana?? That’s where my mind went when I saw the invite.

Well, here’s my tale of BMWDCM’s motorkhana from July 2023.

Spoiler alert, it was fun, fun fun!

Now for the deets: Essentially, drivers are faced with short and tight obstacle courses, where time & cones are your enemy.

There are a few schools of thought about how to tackle tight courses. Some drivers take it calmly, focussing on accuracy and grip, others focus on flare, oversteer and risk (of getting it wrong). but since I’m yet to got to motorkhana track school I just flogged it & certainly dreamed of landing in the latter category.

Fun waa upsized with the day-long drizzle, making the tarmac super slippery. I doubled down on slippery by digging out my 22yo stock tyres, where the rubber is hard like plastic. My clutch control failed me frequently and my right foot targeted the tacho’s redline.

We were split into groups of between 4-7 through the day. I loved the support, laughs , claps and horn beeps between drivers. Some for major stuff-ups, needing to use reverse, wiping-out cones or nailing turns or whole circuit. The variety of experience made for plenty of mistakes as well as plenty of admiration.

We were so honoured to have so many people willing to official, in all the capacities needed. Standing in the drizzle, sorting out back-office entry forms, getting us lunch or creating courses - you ROCK!

So, keep an eye out for the next motorkhana and smile from ear to ear.

Martin Taylor | Member #598
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne

Motorkhana - Camaraderie

I would like to take a moment to share what was happening on the other side of the track for those who didn't experience it.

To set the scene we were running 2 courses top hat and pentagon with the same witches hats with one practice run and 2 timed runs and with such short courses if you got out of sequence there was no recovery and it was pouring rain and the bottom part of the track resembled a skid pan.

A competitor on their first timed run went around the first cone came back to the centre and got the starting cone dead centre and parked on it. I signaled to stop, went over and as I couldn't reach the cone asked the driver to back back so I could remove the cone, but it was stuck so grabbed it and they backed off. They were about 5 seconds into the run, so I asked them to go back to the start. They went back to the group and came back.

The second try went well with the course successfully completed and as the driver finished the other drivers honked as if there was a goal at the local footy. It was beautiful to see.

One of the other groups actually lined up across the track back from the start and tooted any good runs they had.

Adrian White | Member #606
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne