Dear Members,

Yet another month has passed us by in isolation, but finally we are now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! With 8 November slated as our release date, be prepared for an onslaught of event emails, as we have quite a few events that have been waiting and are ready to be released.

October started with our virtual AGM, with our current committee all re-nominating and being re-elected. Congratulations everyone, we look forward to another fantastic year ahead. Was great to see a few of you dressed in your best Oktoberfest gear.

We then followed on 20 October with a virtual tour of Mornington BMW, with Alex and Tony giving us a guided tour of the showroom and workshop and also giving us an extensive outline on how their financing works and also some great information on after sales.  Remember, if you are popping into Mornington BMW for a service or some spare parts, mention you are a member of BMWDCM and receive our special member discount.  Also, any car sales at Mornington BMW also gets a payment to BMWDCM as a thank you for our loyalty, which will ultimately benefit all our members. So if you need a new or pre-loved car or some parts, see the team at Mornington BMW and help your club at the same time. 

We were hoping the restrictions would be lifted in the last two weeks of October, to allow us to do a drive day and our usual Melbourne Cup Show &Shine, but unfortunately this was not on the cards. We did manage to get our last virtual event in for the month, which was our Annual Presentation Awards night.  This turned out to be a fabulous night with lots of raffle prizes being given away, thanks to Celebrations in Clarinda and Mornington BMW, and also some very worthwhile winners (just to name a few):

We also had our Show and Shine class awards and Motorsport class winners awarded on the night.

November is now looking very good for us getting out and about and your committee have been working very hard on some events.  We will be starting the month with our Virtual Trivia night on 10 November, then a Welcome Back to Melbourne,Coffee n Cars morning at Carousel, Albert Park on Saturday 14 November. On 15 November the Alfa Club is holding a club sprint day at Winton, which is nearly full.  If you're interested in entering, please email motorsport@bmwdcm.com.au and we can get some entry forms to you.. On 22 November is our Welcome Back Picnic Drive, along some of Melbourne’s beautiful roads.  Our final event for the month will be our Annual Show & Shine at the Park Hyatt, on 29 November.  This will be a fabulous event at one of Melbourne’s best Hotels, so register early as to not miss out. We are limited to the number of cars we can display, so get in early! The Park Hyatt is also doing a special deal for us to stay the night, with breakfast and valet parking included, if you’d like a special night in town after being locked up for so long.

Please remember social distancing and face masks will be required at all of our events, going forward, as well as any other government requirements in place at the time.

On the topic of sprints, the committee have decided that since, due to Covid 19, we have only run two events so far and there is only the possibility of one more of our calendared events this year, we will cancel the Drivers’ Championship for 2020 and start afresh for 2021. This means there is no pressure on anyone to get to the remaining event/s and if you do, you can just go out and have some fun.

With the borders still closed we aren’t able to do Bathurst, but Phillip Island on 6 December with AROCA is still on. We considered trying to make the sprint on the 15 November at Winton part of the Drivers' Championship and then Phillip Island and try and squeeze a Hillclimb in before the end of the year to make at least 5 events, but decided it is best to just enjoy what we can for the rest of the year and not put any extra burden on any one. We hope you agree.

December will have a few events on as well and then right through January and hopefully back to a more normal year next year. We are working on next year’s calendar for events and motorsport already, and as dates and events are confirmed we will release them as we can. I can say that it is looking good for a return to the Formula 1 Grand Prix in March, hopefully with spectators and a club display as per a normal year. I am in contact with the Australian Grand Prix Corp and Motorsport Australia regularly, so as soon as I know anything you will hear too. Keep your fingers crossed that by March we can be almost back to normal.

The re-starting of physical events does not mean we are not still being careful, with social distancing, face masks and other covid-safe plans in place for all events, we will still ask you all the wear your mask, sanitise and also have your COVID-safe app on when you are at all of our events.  We have all been so good, worked so hard and been patient through these dreadful months, we don’t want to go back again, so please comply with anything we ask, for our sake and yours.

A little bit of happy news, for those who joined us for the Munich Virtual Tour, with our wonderful friend Eva Priller as host, I would like to let you all know that she is now Eva Moga.  Eva and Michael were married on 24 October and we are so happy for them both and wish them much happiness for their future lives together.

We are also in the planning stage for our edition 3 of idrive magazine and would like to ask anyone with any interesting stories that they would like to share with us, please contact Jess, our editor via email to editor@bmwdcm.com.au and see if you can get your story in our wonderful annual magazine.

Member of the Month is also still running, so if you are interested in sharing your vehicle with us, click here.

Very much looking forward to seeing everyone again soon, take care and drive safe.

Graeme Bell | President
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne Inc.

P.O. Box 81, TYABB   VIC   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