Sorry for the delay

I haven't been able to update much because I have been without internet since I moved out of the Hostel. The BMW Apartment quite is quite nice and is directly on a subway (U-Bahn) line making it convenient to get to work. I finally got internet last Friday and will be spending some time uploading photos and posting pictures for you all.

I have been given new levels of responsibility at work, and have been lucky to drive on the handling course under the instruction of my supervisor (the race car driver). He is very informative and gives excellent feedback and advice even while I'm diving into corner after corner. I think i'm going to ask for his autograph before I leave  ;)

I have been assisting some colleagues with setting up cars and learning some of the software used at BMW. I am sad that a month has passed so quickly. I honestly hate weekends because most of the time I have nothing to do. I always look forward to Monday's because I get to go back to work. I know it sounds backwards, but it's the truth. I am having a blast at this internship and learning a lot of suspension theory which is completely relevant to my interests in Motorsports.

Someone stop me now, I've been thinking about purchasing a German Textbook on Kinematik/Elastokinematiks for some light reading!

The BMW 320TC is a very very special and beautiful WTCC Race Car. Because new regulations have restricted the displacement of DTM/WTCC cars to 1.6 Liters this car is using the same motor that comes in a Mini. The team supporting it from ///M are all very friendly folks and answered the millions of questions I had with great enthusiasm. My boss is quite the driver as well, and is definitely one of the easiest people to get along with. I thought I knew about racing, but I always take something away when talking to him. He is also giving me a peek behind the scenes for things like testing and setups, which I will never have been able to do on my own.

<3 BMW

Today while at Ascheim I got to meet and talk to two ex-Formula 1 chief mechanics, a rep from Dunlop, and a gentleman that was taking calibration for exhaust sound, ride height and wheel distance (Basically log booking) for a very very special classic race car. What a day, I hope I can somehow get involved with motorsports when I graduate. I don't want to submit to a 100% desk job. These people were so awesome, and just having fun doing what they like to do best. BMW does a lot of amazing work, and i still consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to get some experience  in what I consider, my Dream Job. 

This past saturday, I visited a friend in Kaufering (40 minutes train from München). We took bikes and explored many trails in the next town over (Landsberg am Lech). The river Lech flows from the Füssen (Neuschwanstein Castle) area and is right now a lot of ice melt. The water is crystal clear and a very strange tint of blue. like Port-o-potty BLUE. Only with a polarizer do the colors show true. I get internet 28th (been tethering android) so i will have a lot to upload for those who only check the thread for pics lol.

After riding around for 4 hours, we went to a local market to buy beer. 4 euros got me a Löwenbräu, Weihenstephaner, Chiemsee, and some other local brew. We then headed off to the Night Groove. Night Groove is a musik festival that is observed every year where there are some 10 venues and 15 performing artists/groups that just play live music. It's a great time, lots of beer, lots of people, huge variety of music from Chili Pepper cover bands to Salsa/Latin music and even original German Blues/Jazz which actually sounds good. It was a great time, ending at 3am.

Sunday.....I did nothing. Washed laundry and went for a walk essentially. I did find a really awesome place for Phở. That made my tummy really happy as soup is my comfort food...and man i miss good soup.

Today was semi-interesting. Drove a Cooper S 4wd. Great peppy car, but a little soggy on the suspension.

I keep swinging back and fourth in thought about Turbo s50 when i get home, or just build another e30 with a special motor. I dunno, i should probably just sell the motorcycle and finish school before playing. If anyone reading this is in Munich and needs help working on their car, or need a passenger to the Nürburgring, let me know.

Tomorrow, i'll be at the test track with my boss (the race car driver). Should be a fun day  :)

BMW Mobile Tradition/Classic Warehouse

Today I got a personal tour of the BMW Classic Warehouse. It's quite a special place, preserving and observing the history and heritage of the BMW brand. There are stories behind every car, and it's more than just a museum full of old vehicles.

Some special highlights include a V16 prototype 7 series that never went into production. Dozens and dozens of motorsports cars from Dakar, WRC, DTM, and F1. An X5 with a 700hp LeMans V12 race motor. and many original cars that are of historical significance to the growth and evolution of the company.

I didnt take my camera, but there are several links available on the internet with pictures.

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/bmw-classic-warehouse

http://www.streetfire.net/video/very-very-fast-bmw-x5-le-mans-v12-700-hp_12678.htm

Rode in the Porsche 911 Carerra S, what a fun car. We were at 243kmh on the autobahn in slightly damp conditions. it's pretty comfortable for a sports car but still handles curves well. A part of the job of my supervisors is to test the handling of other (competitor) vehicles. It is always good to know what another firm is doing, so you can compare and analyse new technologies. Every day, a new adventure

Oh man

Saw the Vision Efficiency Dynamics car, it is absolutely beautiful. The M3 GTR is loud, and also amazing.



Vision Efficiency Dynamics

M3 GTR

So tired, want to contribute more at work

Day 2 and 3 working at BMW AG are in the bag. I feel so fatigued after work, The abundance of new vocabulary is difficult to keep up with and I really want to try to be more productive. I haven't been doing too much but attending meetings and reviewing materials in kinematik and elastokinematik suspension theory. There are some cars that need to be prepared before off site testing. Unfortunately, i do not get to go on these testing excursions as I'm but a Praktikant. But it is exciting to work for a very exciting department, all my co-workers are awesome. Everytime I walk through the the place, I am in awe.

Here is a video I found on youtube of some things that are done for testing:

Here is the test track. BMW Messegelände Aschheim:

Shennanigans in Garmish, Beautiful Bavarian Weather

Yesterday was absolutely wonderful in terms of weather. No clouds in the sky, temperature was a great 22° (71.6°F). A couple of friends and I decided to take an excursion out to Garmish, a town near the tallest point in Germany, the Zugspitze, which stands at a hight of 2962m (9718 feet)above sea level. Unfortunately the Cog Train the leads up to the observation area on the mountain was shut down for the day. Bummer. We wanted to go on top of the closest mountain to get a better view, and perhaps catch a glimpse of the Zugspitze. At the base of Hausberg, we tried asking if we could take a cable car up, but unfortunately the cable car had ceased operation just 30 minutes prior. Everything was starting to crumble. We decided to do something very stupid, and ultimately ridiculously fun....

Following the cable car route adjacent to the ski slopes (still covered with snow), we trekked up snow and melt/mud all the way to the top of Hausberg in our worn tennis shoes whilst wearing t-shirts. Hausberg stands at 1340m (4397 feet) above sea level and the journey took about 2 and some hours, because i am severely out of shape and well....we were fighting for grip on mud and snow. Seriously it is as though we took two steps to move one. We waved to passing skiers and even climbed one of the towers cable car towers for a quick picture. The part that  made us really laugh, was a couple of germans in Lederhosen, skiing down the slopes.

 Finally we reach the top and it was absolutely beautiful. I was dead tired, but it was just so quite, no cars, just birds, and beautiful picture-esque alps with he Zugspitze in view. We realized how insignificant our trek was once we saw how much higher Zugspitze stands....

We needed to get back because the sun was setting; during our decent, we had gathered way too much momentum and started slipping around everywhere. Eventually it turned into us falling on our asses and slidding down snowy icy skii slopes on our bums. I took a couple of videos but the internet at the hostel is way too slow to allow uploading. Oh my god i was laughing the whole way down. I wish I had gloves, and boots, but it was ridiculously funny watching all three of us sliding down a slop trying to gain control. With the cunning use of leaning, rucking and rolling, we kindof had an idea of how to navigate some serious corners, but for dangerous stuff, we just flattened out to slow down and stuck to the mud on the side with trees aiding out decent. We were soaking wet, our feet were squishy, but what took us 2+ hours to go up, took the better part of 25 minutes to go down.  it was so ridiculous but it was the most fun i've had in a long while (and cheap to!).

a day of good times cost 10 euro in train tickets. Honestly, i would totally do it again (sliding down a hill) but next time, maybe take a ski lift a couple hours earlier.

Small cell phone pic not even half way up the mountain

Today is 25° (77°F) so i broke out the Flip Flops and will walk around town taking some pictures. It's absolutely lovely here in Munich, but it would be nice to make some friends. I miss a bunch of people in Braunschweig and the Lions Racing Team but new opportunities, new experiences.

Click here for the Full Flickr Album to Garmisch-Partenkirche

First day at BMW

Thursday i moved out of my Studentenwohnheim and will miss a bunch of my friends back in Braunschweig....and the Lions Racing team as well. One of the members gave me a bottle of jägermeister and a box of small chocolate covered cake ball things. He said he would contact the Formula Studen - Munich team to see if I can tag along and get a Ride to Hockenheimring for competition this August. The train ride was great, I reserved a seat in the Ruhebereich (quiet car) and had window and an outlet. By the time I reached Stuttgart, I had the entire booth to myself to stretch out and relax. I wrote my two page essay on the train about the Kulturelle Unterschied (cultural differences) that I have observed while in Germany. Everything went as scheduled.

I ran off the Forschungs- und Innovationszentrum (Research and Innovation Center which I will refer to as FIZ from now on) which is the same place I had my interview. I was scooped up by one of my interviewers and lead to the office area where I will be working. I met everyone in the office and realized right away, that I really really need to concentrate hard when listening to people. Beyrisch (bavarian) accents are quite different to what I'm used to; it has its own intonation and inflection as well as different word usage and pronunciation. Oh man...

The office has a wall of large windows that open nicely to let a breeze through, and they have small plants growing in the room with strings leading up to and across the cieling so the vines would grow out all over the place. I was shown my desk, then immediately given a plate and silverware.
There is an old tradition in BMW that has been observed since the "old days," called Brotzeit (bread time). Every Friday we have Weisswurst, Pretzels w/ mustard at 10am.

I got to take a ride-along in a test mini. We drove through the city and onto the Autobahn; it was rediculously fun.

The cafeteria has 6-7 stations with different types of food. Fish, meats, salads, soups, pastries etc etc. And its CHEAP. a meal was roughly 4 euro. there are about 8000 employees that work on the BMW campus all over northern München. We walk through the core of FIZ... absolutely stunning architecture.

We get back, and we have to drop my contract off at the headquarters (4-piston tower) and get my Ausweiss (I.D.). We dropped my Contract off and got my I.D. It's official, i'm now employed as an intern  :D

This was only my first day, and I can already tell that I am going to miss it when I leave for the states this September. It's truly a dream job as its the practical, hands on, type of engineering. Monday I will be starting with real work. I hope I can hold up to their expectations, haha. Everyone here is really friendly and i'm extremely eager to do my best to help, and learn during my short stay.

dream job