Slip-sliding fun done BMW style
Winter driving school offers thrills, skills and frills

MONTEBELLO, Quebec - "Now, let's say you come up around a snowy bend and terrorists have blocked the way," begins Pierre Savoy, chief driving instructor for the new BMW Winter Driver Training program, taking apart his walkie-talkie to illustrate with its pieces on the frozen and icy ground. "To avoid capture or worse, you come to a quick stop, slam into reverse, then do a reverse 180 degree spin to get moving forward again," he says matter-of-factly.

"Or you can accelerate towards them, make them run away and then do a quick 180 spin using the handbrake and accelerate to safety."

Savoy then jumps into one of the program's BMW 330is with wide-eyed participants aboard to demonstrate exactly how it's done. He nails both the frontward spin and rearward nose swaps on the snow-covered frozen lake with finesse that would leave The Italian Job stunt drivers impressed.

This driving course involves the lowest speeds by far of any BMW driver training programme, rarely surpassing 50 km/h, and the majority of time participants are travelling at half that speed. Still, there's plenty of tail-out shenanigans in this course, plus a lot more use of the handbrake than you'll find anywhere outside of a rally school.

Fish-tailing figure-eights, emergency brake-and-avoid exercises, rally-style pendulum cornering, plus recovering from over- and understeer are all on the agenda. The second day is spent on logging roads, where lessons learned the previous day are reinforced and then advanced on super slippery trail roads.

The driving exercises are only part of the experience, as BMW's package also involves a weekend stay and fine dining at the historic and luxurious Le Château Montebello in Quebec, the largest log cabin in the world, located about half way between Ottawa and Montreal. Most of the driving time is spent behind the wheel of 330i coupes equipped with the automaker's clutchless manual SMG transmission, as well as stints in V8-powered X5 SUVs and 745i sedans.

Courses for this season are over, but will be offered again next winter. There are less expensive winter driving schools out there, but if you're looking for a course that's about winter performance as much as winter safety, the BMW course provides smiles, skills and pampering.