PERCHED on an island of partially reclaimed land that forms a sliver of South Korea’s Incheon district is, perhaps, not where you might expect BMW to build its newest and most comprehensive automotive playground. But it did.

With the rise of the Chinese luxury car market and a Korean sales figures that may surprise you, the German car maker needed a high-quality facility to showcase its flourishing range of vehicles that didn’t require its customers to hop on a long haul flight to Europe.

It’s hard to imagine that less than five years ago, the monument to BMW’s vehicle range and brand philosophies was just a scrap of unoccupied dirt and, before that, wasn’t even land at all.

But as of August 2014, BMW employees, selected customers and even underprivileged Korean kids have been flocking to the site for a taste of the German brand without having to head to Europe.

The centre truly is a home away from home for the propeller badge, and although the biting Korean spring air and fog that would descend without warning was a constant reminder that we were a long way from Munich, the German influence is everywhere.

Wander upstairs and you’ll find the Isetta Bar and restaurant area where you can enjoy a full table service meal catered for by the Walkerhi II Hotel team, or even a cold German beer on tap. It’s more than just a racetrack out in the boonies.

It may be more than 60 years old but, thanks to a loving restoration by Jang, the pristine Isetta (one of two on display) starts on the first turn of the key.

And the approachable course also allowed us to conduct a direct comparison of the M2 and its M4 bigger sister, which share a 3.0-litre turbo six-pot formula, but differ greatly in technical detail.

The team of driving instructors had laid out a tight and technical motorkhana course for us to negotiate using a variety of the M2’s driving modes.

Officially, we were trying to beat our own performance after each lap, but if you publically announce the times following each attempt then I’m afraid you are going to indirectly create a competition between motoring writers. They all think they could have been racing drivers, you know?

We don’t want to gloat, but let’s just say that the two fastest times of the day were posted by the only two Australian drivers present. Aussie, Aussie…