Please note the title reads “firsts” and not “first”.  I did not come first, or second, or… in fact, that did not even matter.  From a personal perspective I did get first prize, though an amazing day with great people.

What are all the “firsts” about then?  Well, it was the first time I was at or on a racetrack in Australia.  It was the first time with the BMWDCM, it was the first time with the M5, or any BMW for that matter.  It was the first time with my family.

So how did the day “feel” then, all the new experiences considered?  Let me go back a bit into how all of it unfolded in the first place.  Whenever talking car stuff with my father-in-law, a petrol-head of note himself, he had been correcting me to “when” I track the M5, not “if”, as I had always chosen to word it.  He knew.  He knew how keen I am, he knew about my previous circuit racing and hill climb activities.  I knew, too, but I made myself believe that I would never track the E39.  It has the potential to become a real collectable and is hence, too precious to track, right?  To fast forward now, at the recent club carting event (which was awesome by the way!) Jo pulls me aside and tells me about the upcoming Broadford track day, what a lovely little track it is and how much fun I would have.  Hmmmm… So, a while later I find myself registered for the event, checking the post box daily for my CAMS licence and shopping for fire extinguishers and battery triangle stickers.  What happened?  The inevitable, I guess.

So here we are then, the whole family, arriving at the track after an early start in Melbourne.  With two cars to compete I might add.  Steve, my father-in-law mentioned above, was there with his Holden wagon, crew, trailer with tires, tools and the whole racing bit.  I brought my wife, our baby Sarah, and a tyre pressure gauge, which always lives in the glove box anyway.  I was rather nervous about the entire thing, still plagued with thoughts about whether this was really a good idea.  I took comfort in the thought that I was only there to take it easy, my main ambition was to be able to exceed 100kmh once again, legally.  Comforting, too, were all the friendly greetings and words by various BMWDCM members.

Another lasting impression was how well everything was organised.  Although this was my first track day under Australian regulations, I never felt lost during the event.  It was always clear what was going on, when and where the competitors had to be.  This is important to point out, I have experienced otherwise, and so I would really like to compliment the organisers in this regard.  So, there was the good organisation, an informative driver meeting, plenty of friendly like-minded people.  That all helped my nerves to get back on track.  That changed again during the sighting laps, which were offered to track first timers.  They are a brilliant and important instrument.  Nonetheless after having stretched my neck numerous times throughout the lap to scan over-crest, blind turns I was back to doubting my decision to come there.  Kath had joined me for the sighting lap slowly following the X5, it was fun to have her with, and to have someone in the car to share thoughts about just how freaky those ascends and descends with blind turns appear.  I went back to telling myself “the car only goes as fast as you want it to”.  About that…

So next up was the practice session.  I went out there with probably one of the fewer cars on road tyres, for sure the only car equipped with a wired Siemens telephone and child seat, checked and authorised by the scrutineers.  I went around the track ridiculously slowly, timidly getting off the gas at the crest on the back straight and crawling around the blind turns.  After a few laps and where I could see what is ahead of me, though, I drove the M5 to the point of light tyre squeal through some turns and that was not only really fun, I also got a first taste of the car’s actual capability.  I discovered the E39 is as docile as the “community” tends to rave on about.

Back in the pits, totally pumped, it was time to share all the impressions from the practice sessions.  Veterans as well as Broadford first timers, like me, agree on how amazing the track is.  At this time I was still not a big fan of the blind corners, but the ups and downs of the track really are a treat, and in the following sessions I would discover that blind turns are not all that bad, once you know where they actually go.

Which brings us to timed session 1.  More tyre squealing, first little step-outs of the rear end (which made me smile) and fading brakes (which did not make me smile).  Interestingly, I was clocking 1:14 times, consistently from the first to the last lap.  This was despite the fact that I was backing off more and more throughout that first stint in the light of the brakes not exactly injecting confidence, which only confirmed that a better line and maintaining speed where permissible (as opposed to, e.g., backing off at the crest on the back straight) are more important than late braking.

By session 2 all the “taking it easy” ambitions were out the window.  Knowing myself, this was somewhat expected.  My lap times came down by half-a-second and I was very pleased.  Again, being back in the pits, sharing impressions and the experience with family and fellow sprinters was as good as the lapping itself.  Talking track and car topics is even better when you are presented with a fantastic lunch, and this we all were.  Which reminds me that I failed to mention the good breakfast we were treated to in the morning!

Timed sessions 3 and 4 went through a similar cycle.  Telling myself to look after my brakes and my road tyres had me coming back with smoke pouring off the front brakes as I returned into the pits at the end of session 3.  Lap times had again improved, though, but for session 4 I was going to back off, this time for real I told myself.  Despite my own doubts, I actually did.  I braked much earlier, avoided running into that massive brake shudder again like on the earlier rounds, focusing more on a good line and smoothness.  I was fully satisfied with the day before round 4 even started.  The number of laps we all had the opportunity to do had exceeded my most optimistic expectations and I could have happily skipped the last round.  Then again, another crack at it cannot be resisted either, so I did go out for session 4, but this time with a very relaxed attitude.  Surprisingly, or maybe not at all surprisingly, session 4 produced my best lap time of the day.

So, after rambling on about improved but irrelevant lap times for so long what are the important things to take away from this special day?  I think it is the experienced camaraderie, the fact that a day at the track can be fun for everyone joining in, not just the competitors.  A very big thanks and hats-off to the club and the event organisers in particular.  It was an all-around outstanding day, we had good weather, good food, lots of laughing and safe, competitive fun in a non-competitive environment, if that makes any sense.  

I have just signed up for Winton.

Heiko Hnidey  |  Member #338
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne

Photos: Jo Mawson (left and right)
Andrew Brown (centre)
Event date: 16 June 2019