Dear Members,

I usually start off welcoming our new members, saying how proud I am of our club and how many of you have joined us, but this month there is one very, very, special new member that arrived in a hurry, some 15 weeks before she was due!  I am very proud to say welcome to the world, to our family and to our club, our newest, youngest member, Olivia McKenzie Bell, my very first Grandchild!  Congratulations to Sean and Jenna, so very happy for you both.

Memberships are also still bubbling along nicely, we must be doing something right, 332 (at time of writing) and counting!

2019 really has started with a rush, in more ways than one!  Whilst the sun is shining and the weather has been perfect, we have been out enjoying it in our cars, all over the country-side.  February has been an incredibly busy month with events on every weekend, with lots of members coming along to enjoy the wide range of things on offer.

We started off the month with our club trip to the Bathurst 12 Hour, what a fantastic event!  Both for the race and for the weekend away, read the story about it here.  Whether you come and do it in style in the corporate suite or camp on the Mountain, it really is a must do, whether you love racing or not. Lots more to do and see that just the 12 Hour race.  Look out for the event to be listed for 2020, we will definitely be doing it again!

On the Friday after the 12 Hour we were invited to go to the CAMS Victorian Motorsport Awards Night, to receive a certificate for our inaugural year of being a Member of CAMS.  I was very proud to represent the Club and accept the award.

That second weekend saw two more events.  A cruise down to Geelong to the Motoring Heritage Museum on Saturday, to check out some of the history of motoring in Victoria.  Very interesting and a great place to spend the afternoon.  We then drove on down to Torquay, where we had a group dinner before retiring for the night so that we would be nice and close for the Torquay Motor Show on the Sunday.  Another fantastic display of Members car’s there, with lots of interest from the public for our club and some of the beautiful cars our members bring out to show.

We had our first members meeting for the year on the second Tuesday, due to a few of us being at Bathurst the first weekend.  It was a fantastic night. Ewen gave a very interesting talk on his and Emma’s jaunt through the high country on the Targa Rally, then Jo let everyone know about the array of upcoming events and other information about what has gone on over the summer break.  Lots of people came and enjoyed a relaxed and informative night.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t be there, as I was in a video conference with all the delegates from Clubs Australia.  You can read the minutes of that meeting here (if you're logged in).  We do like to keep our members informed of what goes on in Clubs Australia and Internationally as well, you can read any of the newsletters we get on our blog and website, should you like to keep abreast of all things club related in Australia and around the world.

Continuing a busy month, the third weekend was again a busy one with events on both days.  Saturday was the first round of the 2019 Traction Tyres/Yokohama Drivers Championship at Sandown, hosted by AROCA.  A beautiful sunny day to be out enjoying some track time with lots of cars and fun to be had.  Several members were posting personal best times in the near perfect conditions.

Sunday started with a very interesting tour of Zagame Autobody, our new club sponsor, where we were treated to a fantastic morning tea and we were the first to be shown the nearly completed high end body shop upstairs that will be exclusively for the more valuable cars.  What a facility!  Definitely second to none in the repair business and some of the cars they have out the back are just amazing!  From Zagame we enjoyed another of Peter Williams’ fantastic country drive routes, winding through our beautiful countryside and ending up at Mitchelton Winery for a late lunch and a wander around the beautiful grounds.  If you are up that way, it is a definite must visit place, the food was amazing and the views from the tower definitely worth seeing.  Also, there is a rather large museum of Aboriginal art and history hidden away underground that is also very much worth looking at.

Just to finish off an incredibly busy month we had another display, this time at the Yarra Glen Racecourse for the RACV British and European Motor Show.  Always a great show, with lots of interesting cars to see and again, a perfect summers day for a drive to see all the cars on show.

We now head into another busy month, with big displays at the Phillip Island Historics, both Saturday and Sunday; our display at the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix to look forward to; our members meeting at Shannons on the 5th and our first Hillclimb at Haunted Hills to finish off March.  We are definitely keeping up the momentum with lots of things for you to choose from.

It should be noted that the Hillclimb will be our first Motorsport/Driver Training event that we are running ourselves.  So, whether you would like to compete or have a little instruction or even if you’d like to just come and have a look, you are very welcome to join us and see what makes for a great day out.  We are always looking for helpers too, so if you’d like to see what is involved in running events, we would love you to come and help there too.

We would also like to remind you that the BMW Clubs Australia Nationals is on in Melbourne over Easter.  As members of an Official BMW Club, you are invited to go to any of the events on offer and meet up with your interstate and interclub friends, new and old, and enjoy this bi-annual event.  It is only held every 2 years, the last in Brisbane and the next in Canberra in 2021.

As always, if you have any ideas for events, or go somewhere you think others might like too, drop us a line and tell us about it.  Whilst we do come up with some great ideas, we are always on the lookout for new ones!  Same goes for our merchandise lines, one of our soon to be available club items comes directly from a member mentioning an idea he had.  So, next month we will have BMWDCM Club Plate Log Book covers available, thanks Paul, a great idea!  Can’t wait to see them when they arrive.

I look forward to catching up with you all at an event or club meeting soon.

Take care and drive safe.

Graeme Bell | President
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne Inc.

P.O. Box 81, TYABB, VICTORIA. 3913
Incorporated in Victoria #A0102695G
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne Inc is a member of:BMW Clubs Australia and the BMW Clubs International CouncilCAMS Affiliated Motorsport Club