Last week in Washington, DC, BMW celebrated the return of its popular Ultimate Driving Experience (UDE). For those drivers fortunate enough to be near one of the sixteen cities on the 2019 Ultimate Driving Experience tour, BMW has prepared something for almost everyone.

This year’s BMW Ultimate Driving Experience will stop in the following places, with the bolded rows featuring a fully immersive experience including autocross, street drives, teen driving school, M car control clinic, and innovations area, while the other shorter events will exclusively focus on the autocross and street-drive experiences.

 

Date

City

Venue

April 23 – 21 East Rutherford, New Jersey MetLife Stadium
April 26 – 28 Boston, Massachussets Xfinity Center
May 7 – 9 Philadelphia, Pennsylvnia Citizens Bank Park
May 17 – 23 Miami, Florida Hard Rock Stadium
May 31 – June 2 Tampa, Florida Derby Lane
June 6 – 8 Atlanta, Georgia Alanta Motor Speedway
June 28 – 30 Dallas, Texas Lone Star Park
July 27 – August 2 San Francisco, California Cow Palace
August 23 – 25 Seattle, Washington Emerald Downs
August 29 – 31 Portland, Oregon Portland Expo Center
September 4 – 6 Orange County, California OC Fair & Event Center
September 14 – 20 Los Angeles, California San Anita Park
September 27 – 29 Cleveland, Ohio I-X Center
October 18 – 20 Minneapolis, Minnesota Canterbury Park
November 7 – 14 New York City Citi Field

 

The most popular event in the UDE is probably the autocross. Each driver receives two hours of instruction from a professional BMW instructor in a new G20 330i sedan. After the intense training, drivers have a final lap in which to set their best possible time. Autocross registrants must be at least eighteen years old with a valid driver’s license. Entry in the autocross is free.

The M car control clinic event is not free; it costs $750—but for that fee, drivers receive a full day of professional driving instruction in M cars, specifically an M2 or M4. Entrants learn high-performance car control on slalom and high-speed skid courses. Drivers of the M car control clinic must be at least 25 years old with a valid driver’s license.

BMW has something for younger drivers, too—something that may help save their lives. The teen driving school is open to drivers ages fifteen to twenty with a valid license or permit. These teen drivers will receive an introduction to driving theory in the BMW X2 SAV.

But wait, there’s more! At each UDE stop, BMW has more than just the autocross, or in the case of the five headlining events, the M car control clinic, and the teen driving school. Guests also may take a fifteen-minute test drive on the street in a wide range of BMW models.

The minimum age for all of the driving events except the M car control clinic and teen driving school is eighteen. Teen drivers may be between fifteen and twenty years old, while M car control clinic participants must be at least 25. All guests must sign a waiver, and those under eighteen need a parent’s or guardian’s signature. Other than the teen driving school participants, guests under eighteen are allowed only to ride along in street drives.

A new addition for 2019 is also the innovations area, which will give those interested an opportunity to test the off-road capabilities of the range-topping X7 SAV. This section will also allow people to interact with some of BMW’s most cutting edge driving assistance systems such as backup assistant, frontal collision warning, and parking assistant.

These events often fill quickly, and the first one has already started, so interested drivers should go right now to register at https://ude.bmwusa.com.—Scott Blazey

[Photos courtesy BMW NA.]

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