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BMW Drivers Club Melbourne

An update from the President | July

31 Jul 2020 5:00 PM | Anonymous


 

Dear Members,

Welcome all to another month in lockdown, well, for most of us, unfortunately. I hope you are all fairing well, both physically and mentally. It is not easy for any of us to not socialise, be with friends and family and be able to get out and enjoy this beautiful country.  I hope you are all weathering the second lockdown and doing the right thing to try and suppress the virus to get the numbers back in control.  Hopefully sooner rather than later we can get back to doing what we love.

July started off with a great event at Winton with Round 5 of our Yokohama/Traction Tyres Drivers Championship and our Cross Border Challenge on 4 July with our friends and fellow BMW club members from NSW.  This is one of our annual events which we have grown to love and it has now turned into a light-hearted competition between the NSW and Victorian clubs.  Unfortunately, Victoria is yet to win the challenge, hopefully we have better luck next year! It was very close though with NSW only beating us by a fraction of a point.

We must say a huge THANK YOU to all our officials that come along to these days and help out so that everyone can get out on track and enjoy themselves.  Running track days is made so much easier when we have a pool of amazing people to call on to come and assist us, so, thank you all.  It is sometimes a thankless job, being a track side official, but we really appreciate your help and efforts and it is great to see so many of you coming back time and time again. Of course, if you’d like to find out more about becoming a Motorsport Australia Accredited Official and helping us run track events, don’t hesitate to contact Jo or myself.

With all the Covid restrictions still in place we had a lot of hard work before the event, which then made the running of the day much smoother, with check-in being completed in only 20 minutes.  Some good things have come from the virus, that will carry forward to future events.

Our July members meeting was held (virtually) at Traction Tyres in Rowville.  We would like to thank Andrew for an amazing presentation, I think we all learnt a lot more about tyres and the new Yokohama AO52 high performance tyre in particular.  Remember if you are after anything tyre/wheel related, mention you are a BMWDCM member and they will look after you.

Shortly after this meeting, Melbourne and Mitchell Shire found themselves back in Stage 3 lockdown, which meant we had to cancel some of our July events. Christmas in July, Broadford Come and Try Day and Round 6 of our Traction Tyres/Yokohama Drivers Championship all had to be cancelled. We will have to wait and see what happens now and how long it takes to get it back in control again and allow us to get back into running events. We will keep you in the loop with what we are planning and as soon as we know anything, we will pass it on to you. Thank you all for understanding, but the way it is heading, it may be a while before we can get out and about again, sadly.

Our August members meeting will be on 3 August, which is a Monday for a change due to conflicting Zoom meetings.  This will be a guided tour around the auction rooms at Shannons.  If you're interested in attending, please ensure you register to receive the meeting link.

We also have virtual event with with Jay Leno's Garage in August, where we can get some great offers on their products, learn how to use them and what products we should be using, so don’t miss out on that one.

Our Stony Creek drive and Karting event has been postponed for the moment.  Once we're allowed to go out and drive our cars again, we'll re-organise it.

We do have an extremely exciting virtual event coming up on 15 September. So keep the evening free and watch this space and be sure not to miss out! You will not be disappointed. It will be something incredibly special indeed! When it is a little closer, we will let you know all about it.

We have purchased some BMWDCM branded reusable face masks, which will be arriving this week. Keep checking the online store for updates on new stock.  The masks will sell for $12 with free postage, no matter how many you order.   Pick up will not be available. 

We have some news on changes to the Club Plate Scheme coming up. Very soon you will be able to pay your renewal online instead of going in to a VicRoads office or posting your renewal to them.  If you have a My VicRoads Account, you should login to see if your club plates have been linked.  I can tell you that my permits have been linked to my account, but others aren't seeing theirs yet.  You will still need to get our signature prior to renewing your permit, but it will certainly make it easier to pay for your renewal.  There are also some changes to the way Club Permits will be issued coming in October, we'll be in touch with those changes a little closer to the time.

I would just like to extend all our best wishes to you all and encourage you to be patient, wear your masks, sanitise, wash your hands and most of all stay safe and stay home if you can.  If you need to talk to anyone or know someone that is suffering in isolation, pick up the phone and give us or them a call.  Sometimes a phone call can brighten someone’s day immensely and help alleviate some of the stress we all feel with what is in the news every day.  We are here anytime you want to chat, and anyone that knows me, knows I love to chat about cars or anything related really.

Take care, see you somewhere 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
Motorsport Australia Affiliated Motorsport Club



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