Dear Members,

Welcome to (almost) October, winter is long gone and now we are past the Spring solstice the days are longer than the nights and soon enough we will be able to get out and enjoy the beautiful Melbourne Spring weather!

Whilst another month is gone and most of us are still in Stage 4 lockdown, we have worked extremely hard to keep things interesting for you all and hope you are weathering the isolation well. Thankfully now the numbers are getting to the point we can start to think about a life out on the roads and seeing all our friends again. We just have to be patient a little longer.

We started the month with our September Members Meeting, Preparing for a Motorsport Event.  This attracted a lot of interest and we had a great powerpoint presentation prepared by Jo and I on what you need to do to get yourself ready for the track.   Jo went through all the slides slowly explaining everything in detail and letting the members ask questions on areas they were not too clear on.  You can now find the presentation on our website and refer to it when we are allowed to return to track days. Which, incidentally, will be as soon as we can organise something concrete. I have been talking to the Alfa Club about what they are planning as well as Sandown and Winton and Motorsport Australia, to see what we can organise. We still have to play it by ear with the loosening of restrictions, as everyone is being far more cautious about opening up this time. As soon as we have news, I will let you know. I am sure you are as eager as we are to get out and have a drive again.

22 September was our Exclusive BMWDCM member only tour of BMW Classic in Munich.  With over 100 registered this was always going to be a great night.   I am very thankful to all those who logged in early to enable us to start on time and Eva was an amazing host, taking us through the archive area and explaining some of the amazing pieces and allowing our members to ask some questions.  Then we went across to the workshop area, which is fully glassed and allows customers and visitors to see what is happening.  I really liked the open and transparent nature of the workshops.

Eva then took us around some of the Classic Collection, which was amazing and in this building we also viewed the Wall of Fame, with all the names of the winners of BMW Awards: Friend of the Marque  and the Dr Gerhard Knöchlein Award as well as the Club of the Year Award.  Pretty impressive.  

In October we have three virtual events planned. Starting on 13 October, with our AGM and Oktoberfest.  Please join us for this and vote in your new committee for the next 12 months. By now you should all have your documents pertaining to the AGM and any voting and proxy forms that need to be returned. Of course, we will also have a bit of fun, so if any of you want to dress up in your Lederhosen’s and Dirndls there will be prizes for best dressed on the night.  Log in to see the committee all dressed up Bavarian style.  Remember we need a quorum to hold the AGM, so please attend so we can make sure all the regulatory boxes are ticked.

On 20 October our members meeting will be hosted at Mornington BMW, starting with a tour of the showroom and workshop and then we will sit down with Tony Traikovski, Business Manager, and Alex Pressman, Sales Manager, to talk about all the things we want to know about getting finance through BMW and things like aftercare, add-ons, extended warranties and so on.  Make sure you have your questions at the ready for they boys.   There will also be lifestyle give-aways on the night, curtesy of Mornington BMW.

Finishing off the month, on 27 October will be our Virtual Awards Presentation Night from 2019.  Be sure to join on this night to congratulate all your fellow members who will be receiving an award on the night.  Some of us are dressing up to try to make this a fun night, dress down if you want but let’s try to make this a huge night seeing that COVID robbed us of our birthday party and presentation night this year.

You may have seen a notice from VicRoads which we posted on Facebook over the weekend, regarding changes to the Club Permit Scheme, if not, you can view the updates here. Not much will change from the way it is now, they were talking about quite a few new things, but the only real change is that from 4 October on you will have to pay for the number plates.  Up until now they have been free.  Everything else they are changing is really just changes to wording to clarify some of the rules, so no real differences to be concerned about. There will be a major review of the system next year, so something to look forward to, or not.

As we are nearing the new COVID normal, your committee are working hard organising some great events, waiting to be released once we have firm direction on when we can indeed get out and about safely again.  As soon as we are free to venture out, we will be sending out notices, so be sure to check your emails regularly to see what fun stuff we have in store for you all.

As always, if you are struggling, please reach out, we are all in this together and sometimes we all need a shoulder to lean on. If you know someone that is alone or even if you are, pick up the phone and have a chat, it can really make someone’s day to have a friendly voice on the phone when we can’t meet yet.

Be safe, stay well and let’s hope we will see you all on the road somewhere very soon.

Graeme Bell | President
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne Inc.

P.O. Box 81, TYABB, VICTORIA. 3913Incorporated 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