Dear members,
Wow December already! We are now heading into the festive season, and it will soon be Christmas. Where has the year gone?
As most of you know I had my surgery on the 25 October and had to have an extended stay in hospital, with even an unexpected stay in ICU for a couple of days. A bit of a scary time for Jo and my family and we really appreciated all the kind messages and well wishes, it really did help.
I am now home and slowly mending but this has really been a long slow journey and will take me a few months to be back to my normal self.
Reflecting on November
November started with our group touring Tasmania which started in late October but went over to November over the Melbourne Cup long weekend. This event is always something our members love to join, and we were sad not to be there. We used TourBoss with this group which was great for us at home to be able to watch were the group was and for Jo to help with booking lunches, know accurately what time the group would be there etc. TourBoss is a great addition to our club drives. You can see some fantastic photos in our photo gallery from the trip and also read about some of their stories from our members on our blog.
9 November saw a large group of members join us at Sandown Historics for a display and to watch all the action on track. This was a picture-perfect day weather wise and had a great turn out of cars to watch the Historic Racing. Always a great event and well attended.
Sadly, due to my ill health we had to cancel our hill climb planned for this month. Watch out next year though, we are hoping to add more hill climb events to the calendar. We are also looking at ways to combine with other clubs to lessen the risk to our club when running high-cost events, like track days, where we have to hire a venue to run events.
14 November was our AGM at the German Tivoli Club. This is one of those events which is a necessary evil, but we are proud of the attendance, and we had a packed house with over 50 members attending for dinner first then the meeting. We have a new committee which is the same as the previous committee, so I would like to thank and congratulate our hard-working committee for a fantastic year in 23/24 and we look forward to an even better 24/25. With all committees you have others working in the background to make this well-oiled ship sail so smoothly. Also, a very special thank you to all those that help run the club and events, whether on the elected committee or you volunteer to help us out. It is a testament to the club that we have so many willing to help, thank you.
23-24 November was Challenge Bathurst, with a great team supporting BMWDCM from 5 states in Australia. We are very proud to have been invited to this event again and to represent BMW as a group of members from all over Australia. We also have officials who have also travelled from all parts of the country to help run this event and these guys and girls I thank so much as this is what makes the event tick. The event was run under amazing weather conditions with all cars getting out there at some stage over the weekend. There were a few mechanical gremlins, but we are so lucky to have a great team up there who all rallied around to help each other get their cars on the track to all enjoy. There will be photos up in our gallery soon so watch this space.
23-24 November also saw some of our members displaying their beautiful cars at Motors and Masterpieces. This is a new event which has taken over from Motorclassica and we hope our members out there enjoy the event and we look forward to seeing lots of photos and hearing about the event. Jo did help the curators find some very special BMWs in the club and they were very appreciative of her help.
29 November was our first Twilight Drive for the season, this time to Sky-High, Mount Dandenong. A great turn out and again we used TourBoss for this event for safe easy navigation for all attending.
The month ahead
December is here and the big man in red will be some coming down your chimneys or through the back door. Take time out this month to think of those that don’t have anyone to spend time with. Pick up the phone or drop in and visit someone you may not have seen for a while. It can make such a difference to someone’s day if we just take the time to call or visit.
As we wrap up this brilliant year, we invite you all to join us at the end of year Christmas Show and Shine at Cruden Farm on 8 December. Santa will be there, I am thinking around 11ish, so bring the kids and grandkids. Our friends and sponsors All Commercial/all Residential Real Estate will be cooking the breakfast BBQ again, with food donated by Bell Motorsport (us) as a thank you to all our members. All we ask is a gold coin donation for the egg and bacon roll and all money raised will go the Peter MaCallum Cancer Research and help us reach our $20K target for the Nationals in April 2025.
If you don’t want to put your car in the show and shine but want to display, there is an option for that too, or just park in the car park and join us all for some fun times. There will be some great raffle prizes too, so be sure to bring your cash for the raffle, again all proceeds going to our charity.
14 December is our Bell Motorsport end of year BBQ at the club rooms, 10-4ish and we would love to see you there for a sausage in bread and a chat over all things BMW and life. 213 Marine Parade, Hastings if you are attending, please email jo@bellmotorsport.com.au to let her know for catering.
Looking ahead
Some events to remember:
-
30 January / 3 February - will see us back up at Bathurst for the Bathurst 12 Hour. There is only 2-3 spots left in the suite so if you are wanting to join us, you will need to book and pay asap, as I know it will close soon. It is a fantastic event and great way to watch a world class Motorsport event.
Check out the calendar for our full list of events and to register for those listed above.
There will be more events coming but our 2025 calendar is still being worked out so watch your emails for upcoming great events.
Thank you
I mentioned our AGM and our returning committee but there is more to the club than just us 4.
Let me thank some of those who make this club so great, and I know I will forget some, but I will try to remember everyone.
Jess Bell, who makes everything look so great on our website and edits and publishes our fantastic idrive each year. This is not all she does, but I know you know she is an integral part of making us look great and always complying with BMW CI. Thanks Jess.
Scott Long and Nella Santisi, they have taken over a lot of the social media posts which our Jo was doing amongst all the other things she does. This has been great to watch and see how younger minds do things. We are loving the regular updates and reminders they are putting up. Thanks guys.
Jenny Rose, who has been updating the photo gallery for some time now and this is current and fresh with some great photos from our past events for everyone to enjoy. Another job Jo used to do but it is great that Jo has managed to find helpers to share the load. Remember, if you have some great photos from an event, please share to photos@bmwdcm.com.au and Jen can get your photos up there and you never know Jess may use them in the next edition of idrive. Thanks Jen.
Cassie Carideo is a new edition to our team and has been helping Jess with the Newsletter. Cassie is the daughter of Angelo and Sam Carideo and volunteered in July to take on this role and we are loving the great work and issues which are coming out. Welcome Cassie to the team and we know she will be a great contributor to our club. Thanks Cassie.
Paul Holliday who has been responsible for some amazing photos along our journey and you can see how he has matured as a photographer and his skills are growing with each event we do. We really appreciate the time and effort Paul puts into making our club look great with the great photos he takes. Thanks Paul. (and Jo H for allowing him to do this)
Paul Kertes who does our Super Sprint Stats, these are worked out after each round and sent to Jess to publish for all to see. Paul devised a fair and correct formula to make it so that it is not a one-sided championship and allows all the chance to be a winner. Thanks Paul.
I will group this lot as this is where I will slip up and miss someone so I will thank you all in a group - our motorsport officials who work so hard to make our events so great and enjoyable for all our members. From COC to the guys in pit lane. Your jobs are all so important and we can’t thank you enough for all you do. We did take on a new roll in our motorsport team which is chief instructor being John Beck under the guidance of myself. Jo has designed and we have ordered new blue hi vis shirts for all our instructors, so when you are next at a come and try event, you will be able to easily pick out the instructors and head coaches by their colour. We thank all who give up their time to help our inexperienced drivers to gain knowledge on the track. This is a huge passion of both Jo and me, to grow our motorsport officials’ team and to also teach all our members to be safe and better drivers. Thank you team.
Of course, I will not finish without thanking Peter Williams who has been our club Secretary for over a year now and for all his hard work planning and leading our drive events. This is not a 5-minute job, even though Peter makes if feel this way. The time and effort put into these events is a testament to his dedication to the club and the enjoyment of all our members. Peter is also part of our welfare team and he has helped me through my recent journey and I am sure if you need a shoulder to cry on, he will be there with a kind and listening ear. Thank you, Peter.
Lawrence Glynn who, like the rest of us, wears many other hates in his roll now as Treasurer, CPS officer, membership officer, club displays, drives, web assistant, merchandise and much more. Lawrence has been with us since the inception of the club and his knowledge and expertise has been invaluable to making us what we are today. Thank you, Lawrence.
Jo Mawson also was with me when we started this great club and has worn pretty much every hat there can be in the club and has done it while battling ill health but never wavered. As Vice President she is my right and at times left hand too, helping Jess with sourcing articles for idrive, liaising with the sponsors, which has gained us some great sponsorship deals over the years, co-ordinating with Peter on drives and weekend trips and booking all the accommodation and meal venues, etc. Some of Jo's roles are, membership, CPS officer, events coordinator, sponsorship officer, merchandise designer and co-ordinator, senior motorsport official, welfare officer and MUCH more but I won’t go on. Thank you, Jo.
All the members who help out at events with set up and pack down, way too many to mention and again as I said previously, I would offend someone if I tried to name you all. You know who you are, and we thank you, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
Next but by far not least are all our sponsors, who have been loyal to us for so many years and play such an important role in making us who we are. We thank you all and as members the way to thank them is to use their services. Please go to the back of your idrive or to Club Partners on our website and let them know you are a member of BMWDCM and you will be rewarded with some great discounts too.
Talking about Sponsors, if you have a business that you think might interest our members, contact Jo - v.president@bmwdcm.com.au as she is busy at the moment securing sponsors for 2025 and we would love to have you on board with us.
In other news
It was brought to my attention that some of our newer members are not aware that we were awarded the International Club of the Year in 2021. There is a great article about this which I am sure will make you all be so proud to be part of this fantastic club, which we will add to the website shortly.
Again, I have mentioned TourBoss in this report. This is a great new app we are using for all our drives from now on. This enables the driver, solo or with a navigator, to see the instructions on either their phone screens or car screens for clear safe and updated navigation. We will still be doing group driving, but for those who want to meander and get to the destination at their own pace, you can still use this app and get there safely. There are some really great options on the app, like calling the group or drive leader, SOS if you breakdown, plus more. We discover more and more each time we use it. It’s the way of the future and we have it on board to insure that our drives are safe and comfortable for all attending.
Membership is still growing weekly, and it staggers me how fast we have grown and how great our events are. I am truly honoured to be the President of such a fine club.
We have updated stock numbers in our online store for you to get some great Christmas gifts for your loved ones. If you are wanting something for Christmas, get your orders in early as Jo and I are not at the office full time at the moment, so please add to the “note” Christmas present, so Jo know it an urgent delivery.
Talking of Jo, she will be back in hospital on the 11 December to have some re work done on her right shoulder which was replaced in March 2023 but has not given her the relief they were all hoping for, so back in for a day or two to hopefully have her pain free again. Send her some kind wishes, and I am sure she will update you all on socials, on her progress, as she did with my stay in hospital.
Thank you all for your support through 2024 and enjoy the festive season but stay safe out there.
I look forward to getting back out to events soon and seeing you at one somewhere.
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
