Dear Members,

November started with our annual Melbourne Cup Day Show & Shine at Steeples at Mornington Racecourse.

We had a fabulous turn out with cars ranging from the 60s to new and even a few non-BMWs which was fantastic, with a Ford winning the peoples’ choice award. Phil Kolar even brought along a historic Formula 5000 racecar, that had just raced at the Sandown Historics, to show everyone. It was quite an attraction, especially when he started it up!

Lunch was great as per usual and we did our sweep and raffle, with some great prizes being won by lots of our members and certificates being handed out to class winners of the day.

While I was playing scrutineer at Sandown for the Supercars, some of our members attended the Motors at the Mansion at Pirra Homestead in Lara, boy what an amazing place that is.  All who attended had a great day and managed to dodge the bad Melbourne weather and get some fantastic photos taken.

Our November members meeting was held at Zagame Autobody in Westmeadows, and what a super night that was.  We had a guided tour around their new bespoke repair shop and learnt a lot about what they have in store for the future.  Thanks very much to Jessica and the team at Zagame for such a fantastic night. Last time we visited, the upstairs high-end repair dept wasn’t yet completed. Now it is up and running and there are some amazing cars undergoing restoration at the moment. 

Our drive day this month was a little different with us only going as far as Castlemaine, then boarding the old steam train for a trip to Maldon for lunch.  What a wonderful old train it is and I was lucky enough to ride with the driver up in the loco on the way home.  This was an awesome experience that I highly recommend, if you ever get the opportunity! 

Maldon is a lovely old mining town and we all managed to have our lunch and get in a little bit of shopping before having to return back to the train and then back to Castlemaine.

Geelong Revival, WOW, what else can I say?  The weather was amazing with a gentle breeze and the temp getting to low 20s, just perfect for a weekend of cars and everything else that goes with the Revival. 

We featured the E31 8 series on the Saturday for their 30 year anniversary and boy, we were not disappointed.  Some of us got to the display area early to set up and help usher cars in and it was an unbelievable sight, watching 27 E31 roll down the drive and get into their positions for the day.  We also had other BMWs attend and managed to have 43 cars on display for Saturday. 

There was a large number of members who stayed down at Geelong, so we all went out for dinner in Torquay and had a really enjoyable night, catching up with members from all over Australia.  One member drove his E31 from Perth, what an amazing effort, one came down from QLD and another from NSW, we also had Lindsay Fox’s 850csi there as well and what a sight that was.  Thanks to Theo Hoffs for his determination to get as many 8s there on the day, you really did a fabulous job and what a brilliant way to celebrate 30 years of this wonderful car.

Sunday was another fantastic day, both weather wise and with cars on display.  We had over 35 cars and Sunday the E30 was the feature. Again, they did not disappoint with every different type of E30 in attendance, from baurs and convertibles to coupes and sedans and even a touring and a couple of M3s. What a wonderful little car it is, and you could hear the crowd comment on the wonders of the little E30.

We were also given 2 cars from BMWGA for our weekend display, they were a new X4M Competition and a M4CS thank you, these two cars went down well with the crowds as well, with lots of people looking at them and asking questions.

We end November and welcome Summer in with our multi club drive weekend away this weekend, heading away for a 4-day driving break. Friday and Saturday nights, we are based at Merimbula, with a big loop through some awesome driving roads before heading up to Corryong for Sunday night and back home through the Victorian High Country on Monday. As I write this Jo is madly packing so we can head off first thing in the morning. We will have stories and lots of pics of the weekend up on our usual pages for all to see over the weekend.

We have members from three BMW Clubs coming again, BMWDCM, BMWCCC and BMWDCNSW. Looking forward to catching up with our interstate friends again.

I will finish this event off in my December report, no doubt we will have lots of stories to tell.

December will still see a few events to round out the year. We are off to the Drive-in on Friday night to see the new Ford v Ferrari movie. I am really looking forward to that, I haven’t been to a drive-in for decades! Then we are down at Phillip Island on Sunday, 8 december for the last round of the 2019 Traction Tyres/Yokohama Drivers Championship. It is always a popular event and hopefully it will be a beautiful summers day to round out the sprint year too. You had to be quick with your entry as it filled up very quickly and promises to be a fantastic day.

Our last members meeting for the year will be at Strike Bowling just for something different.  If you register and pay to come by Sunday night (1 December), you go in the draw to win a ride with our great friend, Jim Richards, in his Porsche racecar. I have been lucky enough to do this before and it is a lot of fun! You need to be available to attend Sandown on 5 December, but I can assure you it is well worth taking the day off!

A huge thank you to Belinda at Shannons for giving us the ride tickets to give to our members. Don’t forget to call Belinda on 0417 490 949 if you need a quote or any help at all on insurance matters. She is always happy to help our members and will look after you with all your motor or home insurance needs. Shannons are great supporters of our Club, so make sure you ask them for a quote.

It may come as a shock to some, but I am told it is nearly Christmas! I don’t know where this year has gone! As I look back, we have certainly packed a lot in to 2019 and I hope you have enjoyed the year as much as we have. 

I hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas, from all of us on the Committee.

If I don’t see you somewhere in the next few weeks, take care, drive safe and I’ll 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