Anyone here going to the Inland Empire DE on the 29th/30th of March? Just curious if there's an active bimmerforums membership in the area... I'll be coming up from Portland to attend the event and would appreciate some help with hotel ideas, etc. Plus I'd like to hear your impressions of the school, track, instructors...

Any Portland area folks out there heading up to Spokane? Lemme know!

:D

hey ttaM3,

I'm located in spokane. I've researched something on the internet that said there was a chapter meeting on like march 6th or something. I dont really know for sure. I've been trying to find some other BMW enthusiasts around the area. I feel like the only one here. Anyways, my name is Cohn Wolfe. I go to Eastern WA university. Hit me up sometime. Later

Contact Marc Gray he is the web master for the Inland Empire Chapter, BMW CCA His e-mail is marc@design2.com. He is a super guy, drives an M5. The chapter web site is iebmw.org. Unfortuatley Scott Adare is the chapter President and he is an arrogrant know it all. Marc will tell you who to get to know and who to trust. Good luck!

Hey big daddy,

I tried emailing march a few weeks ago. He didn't email me back.:dunno Anyways, I'm really interested to get ahold of somebody so I get involved and meet some people with the same interest I have.

Try Tony Longinotti at Mechanic Masters on Monore there in Spokane. He is a good friend, driving instructor, and does all my BMW repairs. His email is tony@mechanicmasters.com. Tell him Dan Smith sent you.

I have been to two driving schools at SRP with BMWCCA. It is an excellent school and the instructors are great. Parts of the track I really like but the 1.1 mile long front straight I could really do without. Living in Walla Walla I can go mach 9 pput on the farm roads if i want! Turn one is fast! 110 to 130 ish. Too fast for my experience. The back side is good with two 40ish corners, good fun to push the limit in!
Have fun.
Paul

Hey big daddy,

Thanks for notifying me about Tony at Mechanic Masters. I stopped by there this afternoon at met him. All the BMW's on his lot made me drool. His freakin son and daughter both have some nice BMW's. Anyways, I talked with Tony for a good half hour. He's a very nice guy. He talked about you and how he's known you for awhile and so on. He also mentioned your nice ride:buttrock I brought up the subject about the inland empire chapter to him. Sounds like I'll have to sign up for that pretty soon.

Another thing, if you have any recommendations on places in spokane or near the area on body work, please let me know. I have some areas on my car that need some work. Dings, little dents, etc. Well, thanks for the help man, I appreciate it.

Your very welcome.

For body shops try Precision Body Shop, I believe it is on Trent. Gary is the owner and they do very good work.

For door dings I recommend Dent Craft out of Hayden Lake Idaho. The owners name is Mike. He has removed some dings from my roadster, and 318. Excellent work and good price. Tell him I sent you.

The Inland Empire Chapter conducts outstanding Driving Schools under the direction of Scott Adare, the Arrogant One, and Frank Conway, the Really Arrogant One. The two-day format contributes to a concentrated learning environment under the wing of very competent instructors.
It's the best money you'll ever spend on your car.
The cheapest and closest place to stay is the Microtel in Airway Heights. The Driving School Headquarters will be at the Travelodge, West 4301 Sunset Blvd, Spokane, WA, 99224
509-838-1471.
See you there.

Jim Millet
2000 M Coupe
BMW CCA Driving School Instructor

Boy you got that right, Scott the arrorgant and Frank the Really arrorgrant ones. But I will admit that they do a great driving school. Tony Longinotti, the class room instructor is wonderful and Steve Cassell is the best instructor by far!

It is just too bad they do not do anything else. There is a lot more to being a BMW owner than driving schools.

328isguy81 I was in Spokane and spoke with Tony. He said you came by and you guys had a good chat. Some day I will come up and we can meet. I'm off to Reno for the weekend.
:buttrock

Hey big daddy,

Yeah Tony is definetely a great guy. I could tell he had ALOT of knowledge on BMW's. I thought it was so cool that his daughter and son both drive Beamers as well. He showed me both of there cars. I really liked his daughters. She had the whole M3 body kit on her 325. Thats what I really want to do to mine. Anyways, I hope I get to meet you sometime soon as well. Have fun in Reno man. Good luck Gambling:wave:

328isguy81, Big Daddy, and jmillet: Many thanks for all the great replies and info. Unfortunately, my tax refund wasn't as big as I'd hoped :95 so I'll be attending the PIR school on Friday the 28th instead. In any case, I now have the Inland Empire DE schedule and will make sure to come up for one of the excellent schools sometime this season.

Cheers

Greg Meythaler and the BMW ACA Portland folks conduct excellent driving schools with instructors available from the Cascade Sports Car Club
http://www.cascadescc.com/index.cfm
I'm sure there will be several Bimmers from Seattle participating. Look for a Dakar Yellow M Coupe driven by Doug Barritt.

Jim Millet
2000 M Coupe

Ok guys, so how were the PIR and Spokane schools? jmillett did you get some inparted wisdom from the almighty Scott or Frank? ttam3 sorry to hear that your refund was not what you had expected. How did the ACA school go. PIR, under the direction of the Portland ACA is the first driving school I ever attended, they are good as jmillett said.

DAN: The BMW ACA PIR Driving School is scheduled for March 28th and the BMW CCA IEC school scheduled for March 29th and 30th. Weekend after next :-)

Jim Millet
2000 M Coupe

That's what I get for not paying closer attention, sorry. Let me know how both schools go.