8.3 - Portland International Raceway: Experiencing PIR Pressure

After taking a two year hiatus from BMW track day at Portland International Raceway, I took a Friday off to put my 2005 330i to the test. I have a half-dozen or more track days under my belt, but decided to spend the last few years focusing on my son Riley and my business, Anvil.

If you’ve never invested in a performance driving school course or an automotive track day, you’re not really living. On more than one occasion, the techniques and experiences I garnered on the track have saved my life (or at least my wallet). I prefer taking advantage of the BMW ACA Portland track days, based on friendliness and professionalism.

I won’t go into too much detail here, but there was the time in Idaho when I slid my Subaru Outback between two very slow moving vehicles on the high way, with only inches to spare between our collective rearview mirrors. With the 30 mph differential between the cars, I didn’t have time to stop, and without training and conditioning from various track days, I stayed cool and focused instead of swerving into the shoulder (which would have likely resulted in a roll and totaled car.

This past August, I was able to prove to myself that age and rust hadn’t hurt my performance too much. Even with an automatic, I was passing cars with twice my horsepower (including an M5 and 911). You could argue the reason for my success was more about their lack of desire to push the limits more than it was my prowess, and you might be right. It felt fantastic anyway.

[tags]Portland BMW ACA, track day, Portland International Raceway, PIR, Portland, BMW 330i[/tags]