Bridgestone Driving School -TODAY??

[94TOY]

Hey,

I work by the Mall of America, and i see that this parking lot beside the mall (east side) has a driving event today through ?.

i see about 8 to 10 BMW's lined up and ready to go. wanted to know if anyone knew the details here, and also let anyone else that might be close by know about it so they could check it out.

Dustin

[phile]

:lol:
Your map says "Metropolitan Stadium".

Hey,

I work by the Mall of America, and i see that this parking lot beside the mall (east side) has a driving event today through ?.

i see about 8 to 10 BMW's lined up and ready to go. wanted to know if anyone knew the details here, and also let anyone else that might be close by know about it so they could check it out.

Dustin

[94TOY]

this looks like a longer event, it goes through the 3rd.

here are a few pictures i just took. Looks like they are driving on a wet surface for this part of the event.

[njbed]

I have a better question who rented them the lot????

[Justin (Vision Speedworks)]

This is the invitation I received:




WHAT: Bridgestone Drive & Learn
WHERE: Bloomington, MN – Mall Of America
WHEN: Thursday, July 30th and Friday, July 31th
8AM & 1PM each day: 2 sessions of 40 participants

All sessions are open to both dealer and BFRC participants

TIRES: Comparisons within lines of key Bridgestone products

· Bridgestone Insignia SE200

· Bridgestone Potenza G019 Grid

· Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position

· Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport

Lemans Competition featuring:

· NEW Potenza RE-11

VEHICLES: 2008 BMW 328i’s

GIVEAWAYS: Hats, T-shirts & More

REGISTER: www.bfentirenet.com click on the Consumer Tire Education Network Icon. Click on the Enroll Now! Button under Drive & Learn

*Plus, an additional opportunity will be held in conjunction with the Drive & Learn*

Certified Tire Sales Professional Seminar

WHAT: A comprehensive morning seminar to enable participants to:

· Differentiate the handling characteristics of key Bridgestone performance products and be able to confidently communicate this to the consumer.

· Better understand today’s vehicles and how the tire selection should match both vehicle handling capabilities and customer expectations.

· Improve their sales skills to help the consumer choose the most appropriate Bridgestone performance tire for their vehicle.

Activities: Classroom discussion, interactive exercises, and analysis incorporating video and telemetry from evaluation comparisons.


Participants will attend the morning seminar and will be pre-registered to participate in the afternoon Drive & Learn.

** Registration is open to 25 participants per class per day. Lunch will be provided. **

WHERE: Hilton Garden Inn 5140 American Blvd., Bloomington, MN 55437
WHEN: 8 AM Thursday, July 30th and 8 AM Friday, July 31th


It's basically an event put on by Bridgestone for salespeople to try out their tires. I'll be attending tomorrow.

[Chippy569]

so.... when does MAC get the lot?

[porkbone]

The lot isn't that great

[murph]

"better than midway" isn't a high bar...

[joesalinger]

Okay I definitly will check it out! Thanks for sharing man.

[sliding_mx5]

Yup.
As stated above, mostly for Tires Plus, Firestone and other sister companies of Bridgestone employees and salesman to test the products to have more confidence to sell.
That and a fun morning/afternoon burning through rubber put on nice new cars. :D
I was invited. I will be there Friday morning! Should be fun.
Most of the sales guys that I have talked to say this is one of the most fun things that TP does for us, so I am really hyped up.
I'll let you guys know what I think of the tires. As well as ot81to will let you know as well.
By the way, ot81to, which store and location you work at?
I'm at the Tires Plus in Burnsville.

[Justin (Vision Speedworks)]

By the way, ot81to, which store and location you work at?
I'm at the Tires Plus in Burnsville.

No store. I'm a territory manager for a wholesaler. We carry BS/FS products.

[Justin (Vision Speedworks)]

I attended today's morning session. Fitz was also there. Tested the tires mentioned in an earlier post. Kind of a lame oval course with a few kinks in it. Of course the BMW's were automatics. They turned off the traction control, but wanted us to keep the stability control on. However, after a few runs, I convinced my instructor to turn it off. There were about 30 people in the morning session. They ended the session with a lemans race. They split everyone into 4 teams. Each driver on the team takes a lap, then does a quick changeover to the next driver. Mark and I were on the same team. So naturally, our team won.:D I didn't think I drove that well, but was happily surprised to hear that I had put down the fastest lap. I even got a trophy!:rockon Here's a few photos I took with my phone:

[phile]

>They ended the session with a lemans race. They split everyone into 4 teams. Each driver on the team takes a lap, then does a quick changeover to the next driver.

They still doing that stupid thing? They lined us up by height, with the idea that each guy getting in would be a little shorter and the instructor would inch the seat up. I told them this would not work because people have different proportions and that they should line folks up by leg length. They told me they do this all the time and it always works. Of course when I got in the car, my feet did not reach the pedals and all kinds of confusion ensued. Knuckleheads.

[asujosh1]

So, did anyone get any info on that lot or how we could potentially use it?

[Justin (Vision Speedworks)]

So, did anyone get any info on that lot or how we could potentially use it?

You don't want to run on this lot. The size and layout are great, but it was very sandy and coarse. Lots of potholes. Lots of weeds coming up through large cracks. Definitely a tire-eater.

[asujosh1]

Sounds like valley fair and we go there twice.

[zaisaroni]

IIRC it's worse, i've driven through it once or twice to get around traffic to Ikea (if it's the one i'm thinking of).

Some nasty holes out there.

[fitz]

You don't want to run on this lot. The size and layout are great, but it was very sandy and coarse. Lots of potholes. Lots of weeds coming up through large cracks. Definitely a tire-eater.

The lot is perfectly sized and laid out for an Autocross. Plenty of area for a grid and a 50 to 60-second course with just a few light poles that would be easy to design around. Nobody around to complain about noise either (it is DIRECTLY under the flightpath). 10 years ago when the pavement was new this would have been a great site but as I recall they wanted an obscene amount of money for it back then.

The condition of the pavement now however is somewhere south of horrendous. There were lots of complaints from the Bridgestone crew about the poor condition of the pavement, how fast it was chewing up tires and how the course design was severely restricted by the condition of the site. Only the pavement on the mall side of the lot is decent, and that's the natural place to put the grid. Much of the pavement on the other 2/3 of the lot farthest from the mall is returning to nature. There are weeds coming through all over that are more like trees. Also, there are metal rebar rods sticking up here and there that used to support the fencing that divided the lot up at one time. These are buried 8ft deep so tough pull out and lethal if run over. Because of the weeds they can be hard to see.

Bridgestone, in addition to the dealer product demonstrations on Thursday/Friday is conducting a teen driving school on Saturday and Sunday with an emphasis on spin recovery.

[fitz]

For those curious about the Bridgestone/Firestone dealer part of the event they come through town almost every year doing these. BFS dealer employee's are invited to attend to learn about the products. In past years these were always competitive comparisons. For example last year we tested the UHP Summer Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport against the Yokohama S-Drive on the BMW 328i and the Performance All-Season Bridgestone Potenza G019 Grid against the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S mounted on supercharged VW's, all on a wet autocross track.

This year was different in that all of the tires were Bridgestone, all mounted on identical BMW 328i's. The idea was to test the effect of different types of tires on vehicle performance. Starting at the bottom we had the Bridgestone Insignia SE200 passenger all-season tire in a T speed rating (OEM speed rating is H), then moving up to the Potenza G019 Grid performance all-season tire in I believe a V speed rating. Then moving up to the Potenza RE960AS Pole Position ultra-high performance all-season tire and finally the Potenza RE760 Sport ultra-high performance summer-only tire. The last two tires both had a W speed rating as I recall. All testing was done on a wet track.

Naturally the Insignia's, being just a standard passenger all-season and having a lower speed rating than the car was engineered for were the squirliest tires of the group. They offered the least traction and control of all the tires tested. No suprise there. Great tire for a Buick, completely inappropriate for a BMW.

The G019 Grid was a significant improvement, offering higher levels of overall grip, steering response, braking performance and control. Again no surprise as this tire is more appropriate for the application.

The RE960AS was another step up, more so than I expected. Turn in was noticably sharper with higher levels of overall grip and improved braking response compared to the Grid's and in a totally different sport (let alone legue) compared to the Insignia.

The RE760 Sport was not surprisingly the fastest tire of the bunch. I liked this tire a lot last year when we drove it against the surprisingly slippery S.Drive and I liked it just as much this year. Very confidence inspiring.

The goal of the excercise was really to demonstrate why it is a bad idea to downgrade to less tire than the car was designed for. Most retail tire customers don't know the first thing about tires other than they are black, round and hold air and they certainly don't want to spend any money on them so their first inclination is to "just put the cheapest thing on". Start talking about speed ratings and the inevitable response is "but I don't drive 149mph so I don't need a tire that can do that." Now that T speed rated Insignia is a high quality tire and it will fit on a BMW, but it is not made for a BMW. It is made for cars like Corolla's and Buicks and works just fine on that type of car. Put them on a car like a BMW, and they make the car drive a lot like a Buick, not like how it was designed to drive.