Dear members,  

Spring is here and the weather is finally starting to turn good for our drive days and members meetings.

The month that was

8 September saw a few of our members attending the NSW Superfest.  This looked like a fantastic event with lots of great cars and trade stands.

17 September was our monthly meeting with our long-standing sponsors Zagame Auto Body.  For those who missed this event, it's a shame that you did.  This facility is larger than the MCG under roof top and houses some really luxury cars. 

21 September was a night with a twist.  We attended the Black Rock House Paranormal Investigation tour for a very different night. We booked out both evening sessions, some experiencing signs of interaction with the spirits living in the house.  Jo experienced the spirit 'Thomas' calling out to Jo several times and moving through her, which Jo said was an odd feeling. Peter P also had some communication, which was interesting. Apart form the spirits, the house is a beautiful historical building to go and visit when you are next in the area.  Black Rock house do tours on the first Sunday of each month,  if it's something you're interested in. 

29 September was the Distinguished Gentleman’s Drive. This annual world-wide event is run in support of Movember, a charity set up to promote awareness into men’s mental health and health issues in general, particularly prostate cancer, something that impacts more men than you may realise. It is important to say - if you or any of your loved ones are impacted by cancer, take the time to talk about it. You never know where you might find support in those around you.

Looking ahead

October kicks off with a large group of our members attending and participating in the E30 round at Phillip Island.  If you have nothing on 4-6 October, be sure to pop down and say hi to the guys and gals and cheer them all on. We will be there too supporting our members both DCM members and E30 members. If you can’t get down to the Island you can always watch the action on BlendLine TV.

On 8 October we will be visiting Advanced Detailing which is owned by one of our club members.  This looks like it is going to be a great night with already a lot of members registering for this.  Registrations are essential to allow for catering. 

10-13 October is Bathurst 1000. Sadly this year Jo and I won’t be attending as I have pending surgery and need to stay healthy and prepare for that. But we do have a few members up there officiating and our own Royce Lyne securing a drive in the Gazoo Toyota 86 round.  Make sure you tune in and cheer Royce on!

On 19 October we are off to the Yarra Valley – starting at lunch time for a change and ending in the afternoon at a chocolate shop. Don’t miss this drive, it is going to be fantastic. We are also now using a new app for our drive events and want everyone that comes on our drives to download 'Tourboss'. It is a great resource for the club drive events and will help everyone to stay on track and safe on our drives. Check it out at https://tourboss.app/.

25 October is the final round of E30 Racing for 2024 at Calder Park. We have organised something very special on the track from BMW.  Be sure to come check it out you will not be disappointed!

29 Oct - 7 Nov sees our group of intrepid drivers off to Tassie.  Again, Jo and I will miss this one as well as this is a week after my surgery, and I will be laid up for a few weeks recovering.  I have looked over the trip booklet and it looks like a lot of great places will be visited. Jo won’t be there, but she will be co-ordinating everything from home with our new Tourboss App, which all will be using again and on all of our drives going forward.

'What is Tour Boss?' you may ask.  It is an app developed for ease of driving, safety and sustainability for all. Single drivers will love this as there is no need for paper navigation notes - it will all be on the app.  If you are attending any of our drives this will be an essential tool because without this app, you won't get your navigation instructions. 

Each car is also visible on the app and you can see where all the cars are and know who is driving in front or behind you.  For any further information give Jo a call on 0412661900 and she can talk you through.

Date to remembers and put in your diary.

• 9 November – Sandown Historic Car Display

• 14 November – BMW Drivers Club Melbourne AGM 

• 21–24 November – Challenge Bathurst - Officials required

• 21 November – Motors and Masterpieces

• 23–24 November – Challenge Bathurst - Still a few spots left

• 8th December – Christmas Show and Shine – Cruden farm

• 30 January – 3 February  – Bathurst 12 Hour - only a few spots left

• 24 – 27 April – BMW Clubs Australia Nationals – Hosted by BMW Drivers club Melbourne

Check out the calendar for our full list of events and to register for those listed above.

2025 Clubs Australia Nationals

We have been busily working and plannign for the 2025 Nationals. You can check out the website at bmwclubnationals.com.au. All of the event details and booking info is there. We have had so many sponsors come on board so far. I’d like to thank all of them for their support of what will be a huge weekend of all things BMW.

If you’d like to help us run an event at the nationals, there are links to register as a helper or official. Smash Property Investing have come on board to help cover the official’s apparel for the nationals. Thank you to Smash Property Investing we very much appreciate your support.

We also welcome BMW Group Australia on board with the promise of lots of support for the nationals. We are very proud of our close association with BMW and look forward to seeing that association bloom at Melbourne BMW on the welcome night and across the weekend with special vehicles and personnel on hand to enjoy the weekend with us.

Nationals merchandise is available for pre-order on the nationals website, so if you are planning on joining us, or would just like to order some of the event merchandise it is all there for pre-order now. Jo and I have been wearing the jacket and shirts on some of our recent events and they are great. I love the jacket, it's wind/weatherproof and warm for those chilly Melbourne mornings we could get in April.

Thank you to the nationals team for all their hard work so far, its going to be a huge event, one to really remember.

Club Permit Renewals

We always ask that you be as organised as possible with your Club Permit renewals and don't leave them until the last minute. However over the next month or so, we do ask you to be a little patient. Please plan ahead and don’t leave getting a signature until the last minute.

Lawrence is away in Europe for another month yet and I will be flat on my back for quite a few weeks, so please allow for it and phone first to make an appointment if you want to come down, as we might not be readily available, especially late October into early November. Your best option is post it to us or email the online form and we will get it back to you as soon as we can.

Other news

As I mentioned above, Lawrence and Shaaron are on a wonderful trip in Europe and we wish them all the enjoyment possible. We will get some great updates from them once they get back with them visiting BMW in Munich in October.

Membership going up all the time, welcome to all the new and returning members, we hope you get everything you expect out of our club, and remember, it is your club too, so join in and don’t be afraid to let us know if you have any ideas or places you think we would like to go to. Always looking for new events to add to our calendar.

Our Welfare team are working away in background. Thank you to those members that donate a little extra with their membership to help us help other members in their time of need. We help each other where we can, so if you need anything at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Team if you need support or help in any way.

Anyone with an article about any of our events, please be sure to forward this to v.president@bmwdcm.com.au along with any high quality photos you may have.  Send them separate, please do not include the photos in your article.

As for photos, if you have great photos from any of our events, please send to photos@bmwdcm.com.au and we will add them in our photo gallery.

Finally, some of you would have heard I am not well. I have prostate cancer.  The next little while will be hard time for Jo and I and our family, so I would ask you all to respect our privacy and if we do not reply to emails or messages straight away, we will, please be patient. Thank you to all that have sent me messages or calls of support, it is heart-warming to know we have so many that care about us. From 24 October I will be off air for a few days whilst in hospital then will convalesce at home for a few weeks.

I will be back on deck, hopefully sooner rather than later, and with all Jo's care, we are still hoping to be at Challenge Bathurst to help run the team at the end of November.

Thanks for being with us and I hope to see you at an event somewhere soon.

Take Care out there.

BMW Drivers Club Melbourne Inc.

PO Box 81, Tyabb VIC 3913
Incorporated in Victoria #A0102695G
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne Inc is a member of: BMW Clubs Australia and the BMW Clubs International Council
Motorsport Australia Affiliated Motorsport Club