The Illini Chapter puts on many events, most occur annually while some occur more than once per year! Check out our Facebook Page for the most updated Calendar of Events.
Tire Rack Street Survival
Contact our Street Survival Chairman, Rick Largen, with all your questions or if you want to volunteer!
The Tire Rack Street Survival teenager driving school is one of the biggest and most important events that the Illini Chapter sponsors each year!
The primary emphasis of Tire Rack Street Survival is a “hands-on” driving experience in real-world situations! We use your own car to teach you about its handling limits and how you can control them.
The students will become more observant of the traffic situation they find themselves in. They will learn to look far enough ahead to anticipate unwise actions of other drivers. As the students master the application of physics to drive their cars, they will make fewer unwise driving actions themselves. They will understand why they should always wear their own seat-belts, and why they should insist that their passengers wear seat-belts, too!
Check out the official Tire Rack Street Survival website for more information.
Autocross
Autocrosses are low-speed timed driving skill events. They reward car control and skill yet, most importantly, are fun! You don’t need to be Mario Andretti and have an M3 Lightweight to do well. They consist of timed solo (i.e., you are alone on the track) laps of a twisty course laid out using traffic cones. The objective is to drive around the course without hitting any cones or missing gates. The main attraction of autocrossing is that it allows drivers to compete in a safe environment. Not only are the speeds low (under 60 miles per hour at the fastest point in a lap) but also the course is laid out such that the only obstacles are soft traffic cones.
For autocrosses in the Central Illinois area please visit the following websites:
Driving Tours
The Illini Chapter plans a couple driving tours every year which are exactly what they sound like – a group of enthusiasts driving from one location to another, most of the time along a scenic route!
Annual Leaf Twirl
The annual Leaf Twirl is a drive that occurs in the fall. We typically gather in Peoria and cruise tree-covered back roads up the Illinois River. The drive ends at the Starved Rock State Park Lodge, and dinner often follows.
Springfield & Quad City Drives
These drives have occurred in various places over the years. We are always trying to find new locations!
Social Gatherings
The Illini Chapter makes the social aspect of the club pretty important – so we hold annual social events, as well as any other special events that get the club out and talking to each other! As always, the social gatherings tend to be car focused – how could they not be for a car club right?
Wine & Shine
The Wine & Shine event occurs at the Mackinaw Valley Winery, where many Illini Chapter BMW Enthusiasts get together for great food and a fun car show!
/// M Madness
A celebration of the most powerful letter in the alphabet. Join BMW enthusiasts from around the Midwest for a free event featuring BMW M vehicles of every kind. Bring your BMW, M car or any make. Free food, fun and camaraderie including members of the BMW Car Club of America and our local BMW CCA Illini Chapter. It’s a car meet and all are welcome.
Annual Member Dinner
The Illini Chapter holds it’s a Member Dinner every year – not only to celebrate the successes throughout the year, but to recognize our outstanding members!
Driving Schools
What is a BMW CCA High Performance Driving School?
The purpose of a driving school is quite simple: to improve your driving skills. We will emphasize the relationship of driver and machine, making them function in unison and giving you, as a student, the opportunity to learn your limitations and expand your capabilities, thus creating safe driving skills and habits in a controlled situation.
BMW CCA conducts the school on a closed course under the close supervision of experienced and trained instructors. You will learn how to handle and control your vehicle at speeds not normally attained on public roads. This will help to prepare you for emergencies in normal driving. It will also allow you to explore your capabilities as a driver and those of your vehicle.
At no time will you be pushed or encouraged to go any faster than is comfortable for you. All participants will be organized into run groups in accordance with experience, skill, and type of vehicle.
What you learn on the track depends on your driving skill. Beginners are taught driving style (smoothness, consistency, the ability to read the track), more experienced participants continue to work on consistency, while developing new skills such as trail braking, and threshold braking. Every time you are on the track, you will have an experienced instructor in the passenger seat.
For the most experienced drivers, you can be “signed off” and drive solo when you have proven to your instructor and the Chief Instructor that you understand the basics of high speed driving, you can consistently drive the correct line, and you show proper etiquette on track. Maturity, good judgment, skill and significant experience will lead to being signed off for solo driving. Even if you are a solo student, you are still highly encouraged to learn new skills from your instructor. In fact, National BMW Club rules require an instructor be in-car for at least part of the event for all students.
The Illini Chapter does not specifically put on any driving schools (referred to as HPDE’s, or High Performance Driver Education), however, there are track events that occur nearby. Please check out National’s Calendar for the most recent HPDE! Click Here.
National Events
The National Club hosts multiple events per year, click here for the calendar.