Yahoo Autos Mini's Stunt Driving School Taught Me How to Shred Tires Like a Hollywood Pro
Stunt driving has been a staple of cinema for as long as there have been cars and movies. Vehicular action has captured the imagination of millions, leaving many theater-goers fantasizing about recreating those skids, spins and slides in the real world. While extremely engaging on the big screen, it’s even more exhilarating to be behind the wheel yourself, burning rubber.
Mini has organized its own stunt driving program at the BMW Performance Driving School in Thermal, California for the past few years. While there are two other BMW Performance Driving School locations in Spartanburg, South Carolina and Indianapolis, Indiana, the Southern California location is the only one to feature the Mini Stunt Driving School. With Hollywood less than 3 hours away, it feels like an appropriate setting.
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During my recent trip to the new Mini Manual Driving School with a small group of journalists, I got to spend half a day in the stunt driving school. Typically, paying customers participate in a seven-and-a-half-hour class for $750. My shortened three-hour experience meant that we skipped the basic car-control lessons on an autocross slalom and a wet skidpad and went straight for the main event: J-turns and reverse-180s.
Full disclosure: Mini put me on a flight out to Palm Springs, CA to be part of the inaugural class of the Mini Manual Driving School and spend time at the Mini Stunt Driving School, and supplied my lodging and food while I attended.
The heart of the Mini Stunt Driving School is an 800-foot by 325-foot piece of pavement referred to by instructors as “the Black Lake.” My group was split into pairs, each duo sharing an automatic Mini Cooper JCW. The hot hatch is fitted with a 228-horsepower inline-4 engine, and first thing, we were told to disable stability control.
The school’s lead instructor, Rob Stout, warned us in the classroom that we wouldn’t be able to avoid hitting the cones the instructors had arranged without sliding. He also told us it was essential to use the dead pedal to brace ourselves against the seat. Stout’s advice comes from over a decade of racing experience — he’s won two touring car championships at the national level. We only had the typical three-point seatbelts; if I had to use my hands to keep myself in the seat during a maneuver, I wouldn’t be in control of the Mini.
We weren’t going into the stunts blind. Cole Viernes, a driving instructor with nearly 15 years of experience, walked us through each stunt on the Black Lake. He talked us through each sequence step-by-step before performing the stunt himself as we watched. It was certainly impressive to see Viernes nail a move effortlessly on the first try, right before I took multiple clumsy attempts to replicate what he did.
Our first stunt was a forward 180-degree J-turn. The instructions seemed simple: Approach a coned-off box at 25 mph. At the turn cone, pull the handbrake and cut the wheel to the left. Ideally, the Mini should begin sliding around the turn cone at the center of the box. Then, straighten the wheel when you’re facing the opposite direction, and come to a stop. Once we made the turn, we would release the handbrake and accelerate out of the box.
It wasn’t as easy as described. I had to actively fight the hatchback. When you pull the handbrake while in motion, a huge warning on the Mini’s head-up display appears, alerting you that the parking brake is engaged. Instinctively, I took my hand off the lever and the wheels regained traction before I completed the 180. It took me three more tries before I got it. It was surprising how quickly a slide ended if the Mini’s rear wheels regained traction. The hatchback would go from a sled to a brick instantly. Once I kept the handbrake engaged, I was able to pirouette around the center cone.
