Dear Members,

October was a very exciting month, starting with our first AGM, at the German Club Tivoli. It was a great turn out of members for our first annual elections, with the committee turning out in their German outfits, all looking very cool for a bit of Oktoberfest fun. Not sure if that scared everyone off from nominating for committee, but all positions were filled by those that were already incumbent, with no other nominations. We all appreciate your continued support and are very honoured to continue giving you the Club you all want. Food and service at the Tivoli club was outstanding and we are sure to be using this venue again for our AGM in the future.

Motorclassica, again brought out some wonderful BMW’s and our club had a fantastic variety of cars, both old and new. Lawrence ran a wonderful display, as usual, and we had a lot of interest from the public and passers-by. Thank you all for presenting your beautiful cars for all to see.

Further north, on the same weekend, was the AROCA Winton 12 hour. With 9 Club members driving and a host of over 20 helpers on board to support the two teams.  If you have never been to this event and want to get involved in motorsport, this is one that will get you hooked very quickly, as it is a real team event.  Team 1 with four drivers who are very new to the sport coming in 18th out of 36 teams and Team 2 with five drivers, with more experience, coming away second outright.  This was an amazing result as we only do this event once a year and I was so proud of all the drivers and our whole team, who worked so hard to achieve these results. We must thank Bell Motorsport and Traction Tyres/Yokohama for their support of our teams in this event. For anyone wanting to go from Club Sprints to real racing, this event is with out a doubt the best event to do to prepare you for what lies beyond single car sprints. We also must thank the Alfa Club, who continue to run these events and also continue to ask us to come and join them.

The following weekend was the last round of the Garagistic E30 Racing Championship at Winton. A lot of our Members race their E30’s in this Championship and we will be forging much closer ties with the E30 Racing Club next year and beyond, as we continue to develop a continuing pathway for members to go from Club Sprints to racing. Congratulations to Founding Member Alex Jory, for finishing the 2019 E30 Championship in second place, after a very hard year of racing. Well done Alex!

Sandown Historics last weekend turned out to be an awesome weekend, with over 50 cars on display and even more members attending, despite the bad Melbourne weather on Saturday particularly, we still had an amazing display on both days.  I must say this was one of the best turn outs we have ever had at this event, well done guys and gals. A very special thank you to those that came on Saturday, even though the forecast was for storms and hail as well as rain. Just shows how dedicated our members are to come and support their Club. Thank you! There were a few members out competing too, so it was great to be there to watch them out on track, as well as all the other action and displays to see.

Many of our members cars were awarded with best in class awards, which was a great result and made me very proud to see everyone there polishing and preening their cars even though it wasn’t the best of weather for it. Well done all.

Our Club is still growing, with membership now over 415 and I feel this is because of all our great turn outs at events and our friendly, welcoming members, who embraced all who come along and enquire about our club. The way you interact and treat prospective members is what makes us so strong and makes others want to be a part of our Club.

Coming up in November we have events such as Melbourne Cup SNS, Motors at the Mansion, November members meeting at Zagame Auto Body, Castlemaine – Maldon Steam Train Drive, Geelong Revival Weekend spectacular, Multi Club Weekend Away. Another very busy month ahead! As always, if you have an idea for an event, or go somewhere you think others would like, let us know. We are always open to suggestions and ideas for something new, or even something old we haven’t done for a while that you’d like to do again. All of the committee have their contact details on the web site and facebook group and are there for you to use anytime for any reason.

We have started on our 2020 calendar of events, both motorsport and social, so keep an eye on your emails or check the web site for coming events. We are working on some very, very exciting new events for 2020, so as soon as we have confirmation, we will let you know. But believe me, there are a couple of very special invitations we have received that everyone will want to get in on!

We now have our own bookings at Winton, Sandown, Broadford and Haunted Hills for our Drivers Championship, plus we are working on a trip to The Bend in South Australia, with the Drivers Club of SA., as well as a number of other events we are looking at trying to fit in to our championship calendar. In 2020 we will also be supporting the Alfa Club with running and entering some of their events, where we can, as we have in the past. As soon as we can confirm which events will make up our motorsport calendar, we will get it out to you all.

We have also had very positive discussions with a venue close to Melbourne, where we can run Motorkhana events and conduct low speed car control training next year. So again, keep an eye on the calendar for when we can schedule these days.

Looking like another very busy year in 2020 and I am sure you will love what we have in store for you.

Take care out there, see you at an event soon!

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 Council
CAMS Affiliated Motorsport Club