Event date: 11-13 December 2020

11-13 December was the last chance to go racing for 2020 after an invite from the organisers of the Shannon’s Motorsport Australia Festival to E30 Racing to form a grid of E30’s. They also invited other, non E30 Racing spec BMWs to join them.

This year has been so dreadful with so many months in lockdown. When we heard that there would be one last chance to race for the year, I think most members of E30 racing jumped at the chance to get their cars out on the track, and for some of our club members it was also one last opportunity to race in 2020.

Graeme has spent so many years mentoring and nurturing new drivers on to the track, he has not been able to enjoy the fun of being out there with all the others very often, so this weekend he did too.

There was only one small issue, did he have a car to drive?  With one of the Bell Motorsport cars being hired for the weekend there was of course his old E30, but that has a few issues that needed to be sorted before it goes racing again but with this little notice and this close to Christmas, time was going to be an issue.  So Jess offered up Gonzales (or Kermit as I like to call it), her bright green machine, for him to drive for the weekend.  It was a great opportunity for both of them as over the summer Jess' #30 will be getting a new heart and a few other things to make Jess race ready for a full year of E30 Racing in 2021. It was good for Graeme to drive it to see what else it needed before the start of the next season.  A number change was required though, as Graeme drives under #31.

It was lovely to have Jess there helping her dad and be his pit crew, it has been a long time since the two of them have worked together this way.

I am so proud to be part of this team, even though at the moment I am pretty much wheelchair bound, I did still manage to get up to pit lane to watch the fun on track. I have missed this so much and even though it was not a championship round, there was a lot of fun had out there, with the lead changing quite a bit.

Graeme’s main aim for the weekend was to train 3 new drivers and show them the race lines and help them improve, but he did manage to give the old car a good run and didn’t do too bad considering the poor old cars’ engine is very, very tired.

I am so proud of Graeme and the rest of our team, how they drove and how they all get on and look after each other as a team. The E30 Series is a really great series and I just love the friendships that are formed through racing and also officiating too, as we also had quite a few of our members out there on the flag points over this weekend.  Thank you, guys. Without you all out there, our boys and girls would not be able to enjoy this.

If you have been thinking about getting your toes wet and wanted to go racing, E30 Racing is definitely the series to join and with many members able to help and guide you (like Graeme), the process is made a lot easier.

Jo Mawson | Member #2
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne