DEVELOPING HUMAN EXCELLENCE

On April 15th 2012 join Intelligent Life, BMW and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts at The Savoy,  London for an exploration of human excellence.

What qualities do world-leading athletes share with a world-leading car?

Answer: world-class technology and innovation.

There are exceptional athletes—and there are Olympic and Paralympic gold medal winners. Making the step up from nation’s best to world’s best is a prime example of the law of diminishing returns. Reaching the highest pinnacles of athletic excellence demands a truly fearsome level of commitment.

Endless training is no longer enough: ultimate success depends on harnessing, honing and optimising an athlete’s energy and technique. That can only happen through the intensive application of expertise—and, increasingly, technology.

Electronic body-mapping helps calisthenics coaches to make minute changes to a discus thrower’s stance. Head-up display goggles give sailors the ability to assimilate data while performing other tasks. Bonded alloys add small but critically important degrees of power and flexibility to prosthetics.

Such individual changes may seem small and insignificant, but their cumulative effect is the differentiator between defeat and victory. Reducing track event times by milliseconds. Increasing field event distances by millimetres.

These are the differences between silver and gold.

The law of diminishing returns also applies in the automotive world. Conflicts will always exist: strength versus lightness, performance versus efficiency, functionality versus form. For BMW, the resolution of these classical conflicts is achieved by constantly evolving and refining its definition of excellence.

Small changes. Big impact.

In the new 3 Series BMW has turned this concept into reality.

SMALL CHANGES.
BIG IMPACT.

Constant excellence demands constant evolution. After four years of development,refinement and innovation, the new BMW 3 Series is here. Prepare for impact.

A CHALLENGE MET

Four years after the project began, the new BMW 3 Series is ready. New from the ground up, it is indeed stronger, lighter, roomier, faster, more agile and more efficient than its predecessor.

The augmentation of the whole has been achieved through the considered genesis and application of many small innovations. Almost every aspect of the 3 Series’ makeup has benefited from efficient dynamics—its programme of engineering excellence, described by BMW R&D chief Dr Klaus Draeger as ‘BMW’s most ambitious to date’.

Connected handling. Efficient performance. Enhanced standard specifications. More room. Beautiful build quality. These are the fruits of making thousands of small, seemingly insignificant changes. The result is a car that deserves its place on the top step of the podium.

Case study: Injecting excellence

Improving an athlete’s performance is a long and arduous process. Star athletes only reach their peak after years of rigorous training. Entire teams of performance coaches and analysts will make a constant series of seemingly tiny advancements in body strength, technique and endurance.

This process of non-disruptive incremental innovation is also a key ingredient to BMW’s evolution of its new 3 Series.

PIEZO INJECTION

The piezo injectors used in the new BMW 3 Series give extremely precise control of the fuel injection process. Not only do they operate extremely quickly (typically four to five times faster than conventional direct injection systems), they allow the injection valves to mete out fuel up to ten times in each combustion cycle.

The result of this very sensitive fuelling control is a boost in performance and a simultaneous reduction in exhaust emissions. Pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and diesel particles are cut by up to 30 percent. Fuel consumption can be reduced by up to 15 percent and engine performance increased by around five percent. As an added bonus, piezo injection typically reduces engine noise by six decibels.

DEVELOPING HUMAN EXCELLENCE:
AN INTELLIGENT LIFE EVENT

ON APRIL 15TH 2012 JOIN INTELLIGENT LIFE, BMW AND FAIRMONT HOTELS & RESORTS
AT THE SAVOY, LONDON FOR AN EXPLORATION OF HUMAN EXCELLENCE

From 6pm to 9pm on April 15th 2012, Intelligent Life readers will be able to take part in a small event—but it’s one that could affect their lives as much as the new BMW 3 Series will on their conventional driving expectations.

In the convivial intimacy of The Beaufort Bar at The Savoy, London, Intelligent Life will be hosting a cocktail party and conversation with a world leading expert in sport to discuss exactly how small changes can positively impact on human development and performance. It had to be The Savoy. As part of the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts collection of over 66 hotels around the world, its name is a byword for peerless guest care standards that have been established over a century or more, both on the Strand and in other iconic world hotels such as The Plaza on New York’s Fifth Avenue or the Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai.

A BLEND OF COCKTAILS AND CONVERSATION

The party will start with canapés and cabaret with John Nickoll, The Savoy’s longstanding resident pianist, and expertly mixed cocktails on hand courtesy of elit by Stolichnaya and Louis Roederer. Keen cocktail enthusiasts can enjoy the party without worrying about the journey home: Fairmont Hotels & Resorts offers a special overnight stay at The Savoy, including dinner in the River Restaurant and breakfast for £250 plus VAT per room. At the party BMW and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts will also host a prize draw: prizes include a weekend stay for two at The Savoy.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts also shares BMW’s interest in epochal moments and the development of excellence—reflected in its long history of playing host to important global events. In 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono held their famous Bed-In for Peace at Montreal’s Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth. A quarter of a century earlier, the United Nations Charter was drafted in the Garden Room at The Fairmont San Francisco.

The first meeting of Sir Winston Churchill’s Other Club—a private dining club which still holds dinners and debates for leaders and thinkers from all across the political spectrum—took place earlier still at The Savoy in London in 1911.

For the fortunate 100 guests who will attend this special BMW and Intelligent Life party lifechanging consequences cannot be guaranteed—but nor can they be ruled out.

Exclusive Intelligent Life Reader Event
Venue: The Savoy, London WC2R 0EU.
Date: April 15th 2012 Time: 6pm—9pm Tickets: £35

Registrations are now closed as this event has reached full capacity.

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