Event date: 30 April 2022
Every 4 years great things happen:
So, it was only fitting that we celebrated in style with a wonderful evening at the Park Royal in Clayton on April 30. A magnificent gala night of fancy dress, superb food, brain-twisting trivia, laughs with friends and of course our Annual Awards.
For Fiona and I this was our second BMWDCM birthday- but at our first one we were still very new members and because of COVID restrictions it was one of our first events with the club.
Fast forward 12 months, and who would have thought just how immersed in the club our family (including our daughters Harper and Payton and my Dad, Wayne) have become- and how much the club has thrown it’s arms around us.
When I first joined the club, it was on the back of some self-reflection during one of those COVID lockdowns…. “what am I doing… working all the time with no real outlet, hobbies or social connections….” In fact, over the last few years my life had been my beautiful family and my work. One by one, I lost contact with my friends, and become more insular in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy and enjoying everything… but just kind of lonely and going through some motions in life- if you know what I mean.
So, I decided to look for something else… and the idea of a car club appealed. I owned a BMW, so why not a BMW Club. I was a bit hesitant; I mean most car clubs are full of jerks that are often all about one-upping each other. But, what the heck… I joined anyway.
Our first ‘event’ was the Australia Day drive in Beechworth (2021)- which was a blast. We were made to feel so very welcome by everyone, and really sensed a family focus with the club. Oh.. and no jerks!
From that point on we have been to numerous events, family days, weekends away, drives, motorsport days and come and try days. I tried to count but gave up. From Family Day’s at Werribee Zoo and Cruden Farm, ANZAC Weekends, Come and Try Days, Drivers Championships Days, Car Shows at Sandown and the GP, club meetings where we had the VIP treatment at places like Jay Leno’s Garage, Revolution Racewear and Creative Customs… and that’s just a small sample.
In addition, my family and I have also been fortunate to be able to support some wellbeing initiatives on behalf of the club.
Oh, and I also now own an E30 racing car that keeps me (and Bell Motorsport) busy. I only took delivery of the car in March last year (it was previously club member Walter Buehler’s car), and have enjoyed competing in the Traction Tyres Club Championship since- and managed to win my class last year, receiving a wonderful award during our anniversary event. It goes to prove that consistency in our club championship counts, as I was far from the fastest, I just showed up, gave it a crack, had fun and learned about my new car. I now have a class championship to my name- It was quite unexpected, but something I am proud of.
So it has been a big year.
Most importantly, through all of the events my family and I have made some wonderful friends- real friends. Mates. Genuine people that we love to spend time with… and not just because of the shared BMW thing either.
The club- each of you- really has become an extension of our family, so it was a wonderful surprise for me to be awarded New Member of the Year for 2021. A beautiful perpetual trophy and a piece to keep will now sit proudly in my office. It was unexpected- and truth is that my family and I have immersed ourselves into the club only because of the warm, genuine welcome and great friends we have made.
I joined the club just to meet a few people, make some new friends, and maybe go to a few events and things now and then. I wanted to feel less insular and lonely. I also hoped that joining the club would help me feel a little less exhausted and give me an outlet beyond work.
I never anticipated what has happened simply from joining a car club, and how much joy it has given our family since.
With the raffle prizes we won, three trophies and the gifts given to each of us on the night, we almost didn’t have enough hands to carry it all out.
So, a big thank you to each of you; especially Jo and Graeme for creating such a wonderful club- the Best Club in the World!.
*Of course in the next four years it will be our 8th Anniversary… but still a special event!
Shannon Cooper | Member #631
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
I decided to sell my E30 that spend a lot of time and money on as I thought I really wanted an E31 850i that came up for sale in New Zealand. The price was awesome, it was a fantastic deal. I made my offer, and I was ghosted. I turned my attention to looking for another car locally this time. I saw a Carbon Schwartz E46 M3 pop up in my searches. I saved it. Then I went back to look at several more times over the next few days. I was in a hotel room in Adelaide at the time, in two-week quarantine, when the SA borders were restricted back in 2020. It was October at that stage.
I emailed the person advertising the car. We ended up speaking on the phone. He was selling the car on behalf of one of his friends, who was not well. After a few phone calls, lots of emails and agreement on a price (a price that now only seems a pipedream for an E46 M3). This car was on the mid north coast of NSW. How the hell could I get there to collect the car? Well as luck would have it, the day after borders opened, we secured a flight up to Ballina, where the seller picked us up from the airport and took us back to his house where the car was.
It was nothing short of magnificent! We drove it back to Melbourne; it was a delight to drive.
Now we are in the 2021 season, in a new car and back in familiar territory on the tracks. I prepped the car. At least I thought I prepped it right. I upgraded the brakes; I chose brake pads poorly. I cooked brakes after only one and half track days. My day at Sandown was over after only 2 sessions. I decided to drive home. On my way I stopped at BMW Waverley, on the off chance they’d have a set of 135i 6 pot Brembo pads (which were the front brakes I upgraded to). Luck was on my side; they had a set. I did a brake change in the carpark of Waverley BMW. Needless to say, I had some strange looks from the sales & mechanical staff. Once changed out, I headed back to the track to continue my track day! After another session the rear pads decided they were done too. I made my way home. Learned a lot about brake pads that day!
The rest of the season was issue free. The car ran like a dream, even in the heavy rain at Phillip Island in early July, it was a hoot! Had loads of track time in 2021 and even more fun.
Aside from doing the motorsport thing, my primary passion is Athletics. I have been involved in Athletics pretty much all my life, so now that I am LONG retired from being a competitor myself, I have been coaching for the last 12 years. I coach about 48 weeks of the year, only taking a small amount of time off after Easter. So when we have summer track days, sometimes they clash with Athletics meets and because I coach so many Athletes, I have to prioritise my time, so I sometime miss track days because of that. 2021 was a fortunate year, pretty much all out track days lined up with the day before or the day after an Athletics meet, so I had the opportunity to attend all but one or two events through the season.
Jo messaged me asking if I was attending the awards night. I wasn’t sure at that stage, but Jo insisted that it would be a great night and It’d be well worth attending. So, I began to think about the season and thought, maybe I am in the shortlist for my class??? There are other M cars on the track that are faster than me. I mean it’s always going to be difficult for an E46 M3 to keep up with M2 Competition, M4 etc, so I honestly thought I was shortlisted. The points pages hadn’t been updated all year, so it was difficult to tell where I stood.
Whilst we didn’t go in theme, it was great to see others all dressed up and being the part, who can forget Greg in THAT costume eh?
When I was announced as the Class winner, I was pretty excited. This was my first trophy in Motorsport. It was very definitely worth attending! I was well chuffed!
Then as the evening went on, the overall award was up for offer. I sat there listening, wondering who it might be, there were loads of great drivers through the season, so I was looking around the room to see who ready to stand up to accept the award. My name was read out! I was in a little disbelief at that point. How on earth could I win it? Well, I guess Jo and Graeme spoke on how the award was based. It certainly seemed logical, but I still didn’t quite believe it. But it was the case and now I have this magnificent M6 GTR Trophy in a Perspex case sitting on our buffet in the dining room.
So now I am now keen on returning to the track to keep putting in my time and effort to develop my driving skills. Sadly, I have already missed a few this year due to Athletics commitments, and on top of that, we head overseas so I miss out on the track day at Broadford on July 17th. And on that note, when one is in Germany, a member of the Number 1 BMW Club in the world and 2021 Motorsport Champion, what does one do? That’s right, go book a car and book a day on Nürburgring! So I have secured an E46 M3 and 4 laps of instruction, plus 6 laps on the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife! Oh, and it’s on the same day as Broadford too, so I will be on track in Solidarity with the rest of our Club. On top of that, the day before we head home, I am planning a trip to BMW Classic Museum, to not only visit the plaque where BMWDCM is proudly displayed, but to visit the people and museum and obligatory photo next to our plaque.
My next track day with the Club will be Winton on 21 August.
So, thank you to all the club members who I have had the enormous pleasure of meeting, befriending, and spending track days with, it’s one of the loveliest places to be as it’s my personal, selfish indulgences.
Shane McKenzie | Member #118
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
