Dear Members,

In this ever-changing world of COVID, we started November still in lockdown, not really knowing when we would be able to get out and start our events. We had so many events set up ready to go, so as soon as we could we opened the flood gates! How wonderful it is to get back to some kind of normal, you just don’t realise how much we love seeing all our friends and sharing our love of our cars and driving together.

Our first event for November was a Virtual Trivia night, which had some great general knowledge questions and some even funnier questions about the clubs’ committee members.   Prizes were given out to the top 3 and I think all who logged in, had a really fun night.

Once we finally got the all clear from Premier Andrews that we were able to get back out again and this sparked off a stream of event emails, with events being released at a very fierce pace.

On 14 November was our ‘Welcome Back to Melbourne’ Cars and Coffee day at the Carousel, Albert Park. Like the last time we did this, we had an amazing turnout of cars and people! With lots of our members and friends turning up, all following the new COVID guidelines, and enjoying the cars on show, having a coffee and a much missed chat. The Audi Club also turned up with a bunch of cars to join us for some friendly inter-club-inter-brand-interaction. Lovely to meet up with them too.

Jo and I were lucky to have been given a new X7 for the weekend from Mornington BMW, and this was a really interesting ride. It is a very spacious vehicle, so much room for all the stuff we cart to events and yet still loads of room for passengers. Looking in the mirror, the rear window is a long way back and you can feel how big it is, yet it is very easy and light to drive. For me, possibly too light in the steering and you notice the long wheelbase, but if you had a few kids and need the room, it would be the perfect car. Of course, it has all the tech and gadgets to aid driving and safety and is a very, very comfortable car to drive. Would be perfect on a long trip. Thank you Mornington BMW, we loved driving it and if it weren’t just the two of us now, it could be on the short list to replace our trusty X5 one day.

On 15 November we had our long-awaited return to the track, with an invite to an AROCA Sprint at Winton. A large group of members made the trip up there to have some much-needed fun on the track.  The weather was very hot and sunny but all who were there had an awesome day, running the long track in the morning and then the short track in the afternoon  just for a change.  Thanks again to the Alfa Club for inviting us to enjoy their sprint days again this year.  We will be sharing a lot of their days again next year for our 2021 Traction Tyres/Yokohama Drivers Championship.  It's great to have Traction Tyres/Yokohama back on board again next year as our major sponsor for the Drivers Championship for a third year. If you need tyres, give Andrew and the team a call and mention you are a club member and they will look after you.

On 22 November we went on our first drive day out of COVID. We again had a fantastic attendance, starting in Templestowe and stopping at Yan Yean and enjoying a lovely picnic morning tea, then heading off along some fantastic driving roads to Yarra Glen and then finishing in Warrandyte, where some enjoyed a stroll along the river to the tunnel and others enjoyed their lunch before heading home after a fantastic day out again.  Thanks again Peter, another amazing meander through roads seldom driven, but lots of fun.

On 26 November we ran our first mid-week Twilight Drive. This will become a new ‘thing’ through summer, as it proved quite popular. With the longer summer days and plenty of lovely places quite close to Melbourne, watch out for these popping up in the event emails through January and February. A great turn out for this one with some amazing cars and all enjoyed a very nice dinner at the end of the drive.  It's great to see some new members attending too. This one was out west for our west-side members, the next one will be out South-East or down the Peninsula.

We finished November with a big bang with our Annual Show & Shine at the Park Hyatt Melbourne.  Some of us chose to stay at the Park Hyatt for the weekend, which made it even more special.  Thank you Melbourne BMW for the loan of the wonderful, just launched, 430i Coupe which really did look impressive in the foyer of the hotel and it attracted a lot of attention.  We also had Lawrence Glynn’s little 700 on display inside too and it really made a great display, having the old and the new for everyone to check out. We didn’t even get it set up inside before a group of people, at the Hyatt for a wedding, came to have a look at the Coupe and wanting to know all about it. The tech and drive of these new cars is amazing, I love the coupe body style and the 430i feels great on the road. It definitely gets the looks from the public, driving through Melbourne, and you know what, I don’t even mind the grille! All the press photos taken from down low seem to over emphasise it. From normal eye level and looking at it more and more, yes, it’s not that bad. 

After a week of wonderful weather, we awoke to a soggy Sunday, but it didn’t turn out too bad with some very large breaks in the weather allowing the cars  to be set up into class groups, without us getting too wet. And wow did they all look amazing.  The hotel guests checking out on the day really loved all our cars and some also purchased goods from Jay Leno Garage Products who sponsored the event, thank you. We were a little worried how it would all work, but the staff of the Hyatt had done it all before and nothing was too much trouble and it went off without a hitch.

After judging was completed, we all headed inside to the Trilogy Lounge to hear the announcement of the winners, it was very close in each of the classes and I think we were all happy with the winning cars.  I would like to thank Josh and Edward from BMWDCNSW for driving down from Sydney for the weekend to be part of our event. We always welcome members from all of the other BMW Clubs around Australia. They did an amazing job of cleaning the car too, when it arrived the night before it was absolutely covered in bugs, so well done to win the class prize indeed.

After presentation was finished and thank you’s said, we all enjoyed a lovely lunch which was absolutely delicious.   Thank you to all the staff at the Park Hyatt for all your friendly professional help, everyone had a great day.

I am very happy how this event turned out, with all the hard work Jo and Lawrence put into getting this set up, I would like to thank them both for all their effort. Everyone was impressed with the show, the location was superb, the lunch delicious and the accommodation was truly 5 Star. If you want to stay in town for a night, the Park Hyatt is coming on board as a Club Sponsor for 2021, so if you mention you are a BMWDCM Member you will get a special rate. I can highly recommend it!

On the way in to town on Saturday, Jo and I dropped into Essendon BMW to catch up with the team after such a long time in lockdown, it was really nice to see the dealership so busy and everyone enjoying all the beautiful cars. We checked out the new GP3 Special Edition Mini, pretty cool little car - if you get a chance, go and have a look at one.

It was the same at Melbourne BMW, when we dropped in to pick up the beautiful 430i Coupe, the atmosphere was electric with all the staff attending to customers all wanting to test drive some of these amazing cars. Great to see the dealerships all busy and doing well, now they are allowed to have customers back in the door.

On our way home from the event on Monday we popped into Waverley BMW and chatted with the team.  It is great to hear that they are expanding and have now taken over South Yarra BMW and also to hear that our members discount and benefits will be honoured at South Yarra as well. Thank you for supporting the Club and we look forward to extending our relationship into the new year too.

The new dealership at Berwick, which is also owned by the same group as Waverley and South Yarra BMW, is running ahead of schedule and will be open and trading this side of Christmas.  Keep an eye out for some events we will be holding from the new Berwick BMW dealership in the nearly New Year.

December will be busy with some more fun events coming up.

The first weekend will see two events to choose from on Sunday, 6 December, our joint Motorsport event at Philip Island with the Alfa Club and also the Mornington car display which is now sold out. Please remember, this is a closed event, so only those who have registered will be allowed in. Due to the COVID restrictions still in place, we are limited on how many can attend. If you have registered for this event and will be unable to attend, please let us know asap, as there are limited spaces, and we have members on the wait list.

Our December Members Meeting will be via Zoom on 8 December, it will be a chance for us to say thank you for the year and have a bit of fun with a bit of Christmas dress up, without going out in public and making a goose of yourself, so join us for our last member zoom meeting for 2020.

On 12 December some of us will join the Shannons Geelong Revival Drive, a drive around Geelong area, to sort of replace the cancelled Geelong Revival Weekend. Check the calendar for info or watch out for the email about it in the coming days. You need to book with the Geelong Revival group so see the event for the link. Looks like a bit of fun.

13 December will be our last official event for the year, being our Christmas Lunch drive to the Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie. Look on the website for details and come and join us for one last run and meal before Christmas.

Some of our members will be racing at the Shannons Motorsport Australia Festival at Sandown with the E30 Racing Club, over the weekend of the 12/13 December and this will be a great way to end the year. Like everything else, it has been quite a few months since we had a race meeting to go to, so we have not been able to race for a good part of the year.  I am even entered for this event and might I say, I am looking forward to getting back out on the track and racing again. I loved getting out and having a drive at Winton and teaching some of our members the correct lines, so I thought I might have a race with them too to end the year.

After this your committee will be taking a very short break and then we will have some great events happening in the new year, including an informal members meeting at Jay Lenos Garage on 5 January, a Sunset drive around the Mornington Peninsula on 13 January, and on 23 January we will be off for a long weekend to Beechworth for the Australia Day weekend.

Keep an eye on your emails as there will be some amazing events coming your way right through summer, we have a lot of events to catch up on and so many ideas to put into operation. The 2021 Motorsport and Driver Training calendars will be out very soon, just finalising a couple of dates with event organisers, as well as a lot of other event dates for you to add to your calendar. So, keep an eye out for an email about what we have coming in 2021, it will be a fantastic year!

Now we are back, there will be no letting up, you just never know what the new year will bring, so we will make the most of our freedom. As always, if you have an idea for and event, or somewhere you think we should go, let us know. Always happy to take inspiration from our members.

I look forward to seeing you at an event soon, until then, drive safe, stay healthy and, if we don’t see you before, have a very Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year!

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