The 2012 BMW M5. Image: BMW Group
What’s the most exhausted you’ve even been? Can you live on two or three hours sleep a night for a week, yet still retain enough concentration to turn competitive lap times and drive torturous transit legs? Can you live on cans of Red Bull and bags of beef jerky, purchased at fueling stops, for days at a time?
If you answered yes to all of the above, One Lap Of America may be just the event you’ve been looking for. You’ll spend a week on the road, driving from race track to race track to compete in points-paying events. You’ll begin to look at 300 mile drives as “an easy day,” and you’ll learn exactly how little sleep you can get by with. You won’t win, since many of the drivers are pros, driving stunningly fast (and heavily modified) rides. On the other hand, you’ll learn a lot about yourself, and about the camaraderie that makes One Lap Of America unique.
This year, BMW is again providing support vehicles for the event, but the automaker is also fielding a new M5, driven by instructors from the BMW Performance Driving School in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The car will run in a newly-created “Showroom Stock” class, meaning that it should prove to be both competitive on the track and comfortable on the transit legs.
Last year, SRT “unofficially” ran a stock-ish Challenger SRT8, and Roush turned up with a pair of Stage 3 Mustangs (and a mysterious-but-illegal support van). We know, because we ran the 2011 One Lap of America. We’d be back this year, too, contesting in a mildly prepped VW GTI, if we hadn’t blown the budget on replacing an entire home air conditioning system.
We wish BMW luck in this year’s event, and extend the same to all participants. If you want more details on the event, hit up the One Lap of America website.
Kurt Ernst has been passionate about automobiles and driving nearly his entire life. His early years were shaped working in the family service station, though his real passion was auto racing. After graduating from the University of Colorado, Kurt spent a year club racing with the Sports Car Club of America, before focusing on a business career in marketing and project management. Later, his passion for writing and the automotive hobby found him freelancing for a variety of automotive news sites, including Automotive Addicts and Motor Authority, where his work was syndicated and appeared in several national publications. Recognized as an expert in the automotive field, Kurt joined Hemmings Motor News as an Associate Editor in 2013, and in the years since has progressed to Editor, Hemmings Daily; Managing Editor for Hemmings Motor News, Hemmings Classic Car, Hemmings Muscle Machines, and the Hemmings Daily; and now, Managing Editor, Hemmings Auctions. Kurt was instrumental in organizing the Hemmings Motor News Concours d’Elegance from 2013-2019, and has served as a judge at this event and The Vintage Racing Stable Concours d’Elegance. A Skip Barber Racing School graduate and prolific writer, Ernst is also skilled in copyediting, project management, brand development, and public relations.
