Photo: Paul Holliday Event date: 4 July 2020
When we got to the track and parked right down the back because the truck was to big to park anywhere else, and then Stan parked next to us which was good. Then it felt like 10 minutes before group 1 went out and I reckon I went to the toilets 10 times to! Lucky I was parked close to them or else I would of had to get out my little electric scooter to get to them.
Anyway I went out there and had the most fun in my life because this time I wasn’t getting lapped every second lap by PK and Stan and every other E30 racer especially Jess, because this time I was that little bit faster which really made a difference! Everyone was really fast but still getting used of the track and so was I. When I came in and found out that I did a 2.05 I was pretty surprised but I was just happy that everyone went well and had a good time.
Then I watched dad go out in group 3 with all the big M2, and M4 BMW’s and also a really nice M46 which was really fast, dad had a ball and got some really good times. His fastest time was a 1.34.6!
When my group went out next everyone was really good, but I saw just before turn 3 a orange car had broken down on the side of the track and i didn’t know if it was Alex or PK, but other than that everything went well. As I came in I was driving down to the truck and drove straight passed dad because I didn’t know it was him and then when I got to the truck he wasn’t there so I looked back and he threw his hands up in the air because I didn’t take him in the car, I knew he wouldn't be happy about that so I cleverly distracted him with “that was awesome”!
Next session I went out with heaps of confidence and I think alot of people did because they had worked out how to go through the changes between 3 and 4, and also because they just hadn’t been on the track for a while, so when I went out I pushed the car harder and it was so much fun. Critter was in one of the race E30s and was right behind me for a few milliseconds before he passed me like I was standing still.
When we got in from that session he told me some stuff which was really good advice and the next session when I went out I picked up 2 seconds which was really good, and I could notice the difference in the car and how much better it handled the corners and that “slow in fast out” is better than “fast in and slow out”. But also when I got in I saw that team Kertes were having fuel issues but I saw Critter and Belly were straight on it and fixed the problem as usual. Alex’s car that he had to drive home also had something broken in it so he couldn't take it on track.
After all of that it was looking like a really good battle between NSW and VIC and once again NSW won and they did deserve it. Thankyou Jo, Belly, and Critter for all your help. And also all the officials because I don’t know how they can stand there all day. I can’t wait to meet everyone at Broadford!!!
Royce Lyne | Son of Simon Lyne, member #406 BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
On Saturday, 4 July we were at Winton for Round 5 of the 2020 Yokohama/Traction Tyres Drivers Championship, and man was it good to be on track again!
The weather was perfect all day, clear, cool, sunshine, and an even better sunrise across the track (did I mention how good it was to be back on track?!).
I’m sure many of you reading this will understand that feeling of walking the track at 7am, everything is still and quiet, the sun coming up over the horizon painting the race track in gold.... It’s the most amazing way to start a day, especially when you then hear the engines in the garages and paddock fire up.
Watching the mechanics and support crews getting busy in the garages, makes the place buzz, and it was just like this for our day at Winton.
There were some gorgeous cars being unloaded and rolling out of garages, and the comradery amongst participants, even amongst those across borders, as this was a VIC vs NSW battle for the cup, was epic to see.
There was such a great buzz in the air and it was a credit to Jo Mawson and Graeme Bell for this. Again they had delivered not only a polished and professional motorsport event, especially with all the added rules and restrictions due to COVID, but an event that everyone was so happy to be a part of. A great culture of mateship and friendship, no matter what you drive.
As a Motorsport official, this is why I do it - it’s the comradery of the motorsport community that I love, as well as the joy of watching some really talented drivers (that Bell family sure can drive!), the sound and smell of a track day! Absolutely love it!!
I had such an amazing day marshalling the grid and managing the pit release, there’s no greater feeling then being up close to vehicles firing up to go out on track! The drivers were all so courteous and I had a great chat to many of them about their cars and passion for driving.
Many of the drivers specifically got out of their cars once they were lined up in the pre grid to thank me for the hard work and long day. As an official, you rarely get this from drivers, and again it’s a testament to the amazing culture Jo and Graeme have created for BMWDCM.
Thanks for an awesome day guys, it was one of the best track days I’ve had in a long time!!
Job extremely well done!
Meg Boers | Member #556 BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
Dear Members,
Finally, we were getting good news and restrictions were lifting slowly. We had a fantastic attendance at our Mt Macedon drive and two fully booked track days at Sandown and Winton. Unfortunately, as you all know, most of Melbourne will be back in lockdwon for six weeks from midnight tonight.
Further lockdowns mean we have had to cancel our Broadford Come and Try/Driver Training Day on 25 July and AROCA have also cancelled their sprint on at Broadford on 26 July, which would have been Round 6 of our BMWDCM Yokohama/Traction Tyres Drivers Championship. We will refund anyone that has booked and paid for the Come and Try/Driver Training event. I have asked if there are any dates later in the year at Broadford that we can transfer the booking to, but with the uncertainty around everything at the moment we might have to leave it for a few weeks and see how this latest outbreak and restrictions go.
Our Christmas in July drive has also been cancelled and at at this stage our Stony Creek Go Kart drive and ride is likely to be postponed. Keep an eye on your emails and our events page for updates on our events.
We are still available to do club plate renewals and new applications. By post is preferred, however if you must come in person please call ahead to arrange a suitable time.
As with the previous lockdown, we will continue to do all we can to keep members engaged and give you something to think about and be involved with. We won’t ever leave you hanging and wondering what’s going on. We are here if you need anything, even just a chat.
We will continue with our Zoom virtual members meetings like last night’s launch of the new AO52 Yokohama high performance tyre with Andrew from Traction Tyres.
From all of us on the BMWDCM committee, to all of our members, whether you are in lockdown or not, we are here to support you and will do everything we can to keep the club active as we all work through the new restrictions currently in place.
Keep safe, look after yourself and your family, social distance and do the right thing. Together we will get through this.
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
Our thanks to BMW Drivers Club Melbourne for the mammoth task in arranging and managing a Motorsport event in Victoria under Covid-19 regulations. Well done team. I do have an understanding of the challenge to make this happen in the Victorian Coronavirus world. We escaped before your Captain Dan locked you away.
21 of our club Supersprint Drivers enjoyed Winton on a wonderful, mostly sunny with no wind, Victorian winter's day. You could not have arranged that better.
We have celebrated our defence of our win of the inaugural Cross Border Challenge last year even though this year it was by the smallest possible margin. I think next year we may host the Cross border challenge at Wakefield Park. What do you think?
In our group, Josh Davis and Richard Wodhams covered the most laps with 33. Our overall fastest was Ed Kreamer in his 4 wheel drive. NSW fastest BMW was Justin Bisset with Justin Lowery not too far behind. New comers this year, Ashleigh Sherry and Bram Williams went well with Bram, sharing his father's car, going faster!
All the results are published on https://www.bmwclubnsw.asn.au/motorsport-results.
Bob Williams | Motorsport DirectorBMW Drivers Club New South Wales
After a long drive from Sydney on the Friday and a delicious pub dinner in the evening I slept well. I woke in Benalla to a chilly 4degrees but my excitement and anticipation for the day ahead was encouragement enough to help me leave my toasty motel room and venture across the road to Macca’s for coffee and a hash brown.
First, I packed my car, which takes next to no time for three reasons:
Upon arrival at the entry gate everyone had to have their temperature checked. I was informed that I had the lowest temperature recorded so far, even with heated seats and five layers on, I was freezing. Lawrence kindly instructed me on where to park and I still managed to go the wrong way.
My initial thoughts about Winton Raceway were around the convenience of the fuel stop, the fancy garages and the temperature. As I prepared for the day, I reflected on the lowdown I received from various friends on Winton and its intricacies: what gears I would likely need for which corner, the bump on the main straight and knowing when to hit the brakes, what speeds I will get up to, but all I could really focus on was checking out the ‘tree’ and not crashing into it.
After being called out on the loudspeaker a couple of times (sorry Jo), I grabbed my wristband and was able to do some sighting laps and tree spotting. The track was quite wet and perhaps I had an advantage with street tyres, but it was definitely an adjustment after many track days with semis. The sighting laps were a useful introduction for Winton first timers which I would definitely recommend.
The following sessions were full of many learnings and mistakes like ‘Oops I’m in the wrong gear… again.’ I developed a love/hate relationship with the back section of the track (before the tree). I didn’t feel like two hands were enough to sufficiently steer and change gear. I’d get one corner sorted and stuff up the next, but that’s all part of the fun.
The day flew by and the sun decided to come out for the last session. I’d been progressively lowering my tyre pressures all day, but I decided to drop them by a further 4psi and it made a noticeable difference to the handling, far less understeer and it increased the number of good laps I was getting out of the tyres. This session for me was the most exhilarating. My nerves were gone, I felt relaxed and my car was sounding divine. To end the day on a good note, I knocked 5 seconds off my PB set in one of the earlier sessions (phew!).
All competitors, the wonderful organisers and volunteers all appeared to have an equally as rewarding day. NSW had a strong turnout at 20 participants, to name a few, Josh Davis in his E36 M3, Randall in his Porsche 911 and Jordan McLachlan in the E30 and Bob Williams and his son Bran who returned from the track after 20 years of hibernation, they shared the 123d. The cup was presented to Vice President Ian McLachlan and victory was declared to NSW by only half a point.
Will I attend more track days at Winton? Absolutely, it may well be my new favourite track.
How would I describe Winton in one word? Tricky.
What would I do differently next time? I’d bring cable ties and side cutters.
Ash Sherry | Member BMW Drivers Club New South Wales
With the World going into lockdown in March with this dreadful Global Pandemic, no one knew when we would be able to get back out onto the racetrack and be able to hold another event. Slowly over the months, Australian numbers were going down and our Government restrictions were slowly being lightened and there was a light at the end of tunnel.
BMWDCM had Sandown booked for 14 June and we were all praying that we would be able to hold this event, as we all love a Sandown track day. Weeks went by and things were looking good with numbers growing for public gatherings and especially at sporting venues.
Graeme was in constant contact with Sandown and Motorsport Australia, regarding our requirements and three weeks before our event day, we had our supplementary regulations approved so the event would proceed.
We put out the entries and the registrations went nuts, we sold out within four days and then applied to extend the event to 60 drivers, which was approved, and those further 10 spots sold out within days.
Regulations changed by the day and sometimes by the hour, which made it very frustrating, as things we had done one way and then needed to be done another. There were many very late nights, some into the very early hours but we needed to do this so that this event could go ahead.
We had social distancing signs made, bought touchless temperature gauges, we had hand sanitiser for all officials and drivers, face mask, disposable gloves, you name it we did everything within in our power to make sure all drivers, officials and crew were safe on the day.
We had a limit of 150 people attending Sandown and a list was collated from the COVID attendance forms, which each entrant was sent prior to the event. There was some confusion with these forms and not all were filled in correctly which did cause some delays at the gate, but all got through eventually and I thank you all for your patience.
We had also sent out other official paperwork which needed to be completed and brought to the event and most did this correctly. Knowing that this was something different from our normal check in, I did make sure I had plenty of spare forms for those who had not completed them. There were a few but these few entrants still managed to fill in their forms and get checked in with very minimal fuss.
We had stated in our supplementary regulations that the drivers briefing would be at 9.45am and at 9.45am our Clerk of Course, Graeme Bell, was reading the drivers briefing notes out over the PA system. Shortly after that we had our sighting laps and then managed to have our first car out on track in group 1 at 10.03am. I was pretty happy with the way we managed to get our first check in completed successfully on time.
We did have several heads of other motorsport clubs attend to watch how we managed the social distancing and motorsport. It was so nice to hear so many compliments from everyone on how great the day ran. We did learn a few things from our first event and this was always going to happen. When you have never done anything under these conditions before you just do it to learn what is going to work and what doesn't work.
With our next event only three weeks after at Winton, once we had our supplementary regulations approved again from Motorsport Australia, we put in a few changes that we found took up too much time from our previous event.
All paperwork was to be sent through beforehand so it could all be checked. A formal entry list was collated from the COVID attendance forms with drivers and crew names on there beforehand. Licences were checked through the online licence checker and after some back and forth with members to get all the right forms completed prior to the weekend check in was much easier than Sandown, only taking approximately 30 minutes to complete.
In early June we held a virtual meeting on how to become a motorsport official. We had a massive attendance via Zoom, which enabled us to have a huge amount of volunteer officials for both events.
It is not looking like COVID will be leaving us soon so we all need to be very vigilant on everything we do and how we run all events.
This system we have now put in place may be the new normal for a while and some of the procedures may stay with us as a club moving forward. It does cause more work before hand, but at the track, if we can get the drivers out quickly, then we all are happy and willing to put in the hard yards.
Stay safe, social distance and stay healthy.
Jo Mawson | Member #2 BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
Event date: 4 July 2020
I wanted to congratulate all involved with the Winton event on Saturday. It was my first visit (driving MX5) and I was super impressed with the club and the way it was all run. I'm in several Car Clubs and this was by far the best run, most professional and most importantly, friendliest event I have ever attended. I was made to feel very welcome and all the officials were brilliant, helpful and the thumbs up on returning to the pits was really nice. I have never enjoyed an event so much.
I own three BMWs a daily plus two 2002s but now I will be looking for an E30 for a track car as this is a club that I want to be a part of going forward!
I also have a shed of over 50 classic cars so if ever the club was looking for a local outing, I would be very happy to host an event. I have quite a few clubs through. Currently in Lilydale but moving to larger premises in the next few weeks to Boronia.
Thanks again and congratulations!
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
MONTH IN REVIEW
It's been so great to get out and see some of you this month!
June began with our "becoming an official" virtual members meeting. It was great to see after the meeting a number of you deciding to start the process to become an official!
Our first social drive since lockdown was to Mount Macedon. Graeme and Jo were given a beautiful X4M from Mornington BMW for the drive and also had three of their sales managers attend in equally spectacular cars. The drive itself was amazing, thank you again to Peter for such amazing roads and great route instructions.
On June 14 we then had our first motorsport event after the COVID-19 restrictions, our Sandown Driver Training and Come & Try Day. We were the first event under a Motorsport Australia permit since the easing of restrictions! People were certainly keen to get back on track - the event sold out within four days! It was also fantastic to have Motorsport Australia media come along and do a video of our return to the track.
We ended June with a return to go karting at Auscarts, Port Melbourne. Only having competitors and no cheer squad in the gallery was a bit strange, but it was great to see our up and coming next generation of drivers teaching the old dogs new tricks. Well done Royce Lyne on your win!
You may be interested to know that this go karting event was our 100th club event!
During June, the second edition of idrive also arrived at your doors! We hope you enjoy the read - please do send us any feedback you may have. We're really proud of the work that went into this magazine!
You may or may not have also noticed that our website underwent a revamp last week - feel free to head on over to bmwdcm.com.au to check it out!
If you require assistance from Jo Mawson or Graeme Bell during this time, please do not phone the Bell Motorsport phone number (03 5979 1599). Please instead phone Jo on 0412 661 900.
MEMBERSHIP UPDATE: 479 MEMBERS
Welcome to our new members, we look forward to seeing you at an event soon!
Don't forget to catch up with this month's update from our President, Graeme Bell here.
THE MONTH AHEAD
Here's what we've got planned for July:
Be sure to keep an eye on our calendar for more events as they become available.
NEWS & BLOG
idrive magazine
Everyone has their own BMW story - we'd love to share yours.
Email us to feature in our very own idrive magazine.
CLASSIFIEDS
For sale: 1983 BMW 323i Automatic
The car presents very well, with only minor imperfections. The interior is almost perfect save for two small cracks in the dash (Dash matt included). The body condition is 8/10 with paint peeling on the C-Pillar. There are two sets of wheels with roadworthy tyres (set in photos plus a set of bottle-caps). The car is completely original, aside from wheels. It's a very honest car that looks and drives great.
Asking: $10,500. Contact: Cam Dawes on 0425 833 225.
Looking to sell something? Email us to list it in our classifieds.
CLUB PARTNERS
Urban Armour Australian made hand sanitiser Urban Armour are offering members a great deal ona range of hand sanitisers and hand sanitiser stations, you can see what they have on offer here. Don't forget to mention you're a member of BMWDCM to see what they can do for you!
Members are welcome to submit their business to be shared on the Club Partners page on our website and idrive magazine. We believe in supporting those who support us. If you would like your business listed, email us with your details!
As always - thanks for reading, we look forward to seeing you at an event soon!
President | Graeme Bell 0407 186 296 Vice President | Jo Mawson 0412 661 900 Secretary | Lawrence Glynn 0414 563 290 Treasurer | Shaaron Glynn
Proudly supported by: All Residential/All Commercial Creative Custom Cars Melbourne BMW Mornington BMW Shannons Insurance Southern BM Traction Tyres Waverley BMW Zagame Autobody
It has been fantastic to get out and see everyone again and run some events this month.
June started off with a great virtual meeting about becoming a Motorsport Australia official, and we were joined by some of the heads of different officiating groups. We were overwhelmed by the number of members who joined us. The meeting started with our guests explaining the process of starting out and then touched on some of the job descriptions of different officiating positions. Q&A time came around and there were a lot of great questions asked by our members. I am happy to say that from this meeting, quite a few of our members have started the process of becoming an official. Well done all!
Our first social drive since lockdown was to Mount Macedon. It was fantastic to see so many of you again. Jo and I were also lucky to have been given a beautiful X4M from Mornington BMW. Three of their sales managers (also club members) attended in equally spectacular cars. You will have to look out for my write up on the X4M in the next edition of idrive! It was a pleasure to drive, excellent through the hills, plenty of overtaking power and very comfortable. I was very impressed.
The drive was amazing, thank you again to Peter for such amazing roads and great route instructions. The day was enjoyed by all that came, and it was great to see so many new members out in their cars. It was lovely to see our French members there too in a very peculiar not-quite-BMW. It's so nice to have international members.
On June 14 we had our first motorsport event after the COVID-19 restrictions, our Sandown Driver Training and Come & Try day. We were the first event under a Motorsport Australia permit since the easing of restrictions. The preparation for this event was enormous, as it had never been done before, but I am happy to say that the event sold out within four days and after many sleepless nights, lots of back and forward with Motorsport Australia and Sandown, the day arrived and the sun was out and it went off without a hitch.
It was different to how we normally run these events, but with a great team behind us and many of the new officials signed up after our June virtual meeting, we pulled off, what many say was an outstanding event. Thank you all who came along to helped on the day. Without our volunteers these events just can't happen. It was also fantastic to have Motorsport Australia media come along and do a video of the day.
We are still being very careful with social distancing and take all our event preparation very seriously. We ask all members if you are feeling slightly unwell, please do not attend an event and do seek medical advice.
We have invested in temperature checkers, signage, sanitiser and other PPE to ensure all who are attending events have their temperatures checked and we have all the necessary safety equipment, to make all volunteers and attendees feel comfortable. We also ask for all who attend events have the COVIDSafe app downloaded, so if anyone does fall ill, you will be able to be contacted immediately.
We finished out June with a return to go-karting at Auscarts, Port Melbourne. Only having competitors and no cheer squad in the gallery was a bit strange, but great to see our up and coming next generation of drivers teaching the old dogs new tricks. Well done Royce Lyne on your win!
Some interesting stats from our stat-guru-secretary this month - the Auskart event on Sunday was our 100th event! In a little over two years, no-one could say we don’t do much. The last 6 months alone we have run 16 events, even through lock down, which equates to more than one a fortnight. With our first motorsport event back after lockdown attracting 65 members, plus a few non-members.
Membership has continued to grow! We are now at 479 members and still growing, fast approaching the magical 500 mark! It still amazes me the passion and vibe of our little (or should I say not so little?) club, the atmosphere at events is always positive and happy and I am very proud of everything we have built together and just love it now we can get back out to what we love, even if ever so tentatively and carefully.
July is looking like an equally fun month starting with Round 5 of the BMWDCM Traction Tyres/Yokohama Drivers Championship at Winton, also encompassing the BMW Clubs Cross Border Cup with the NSW BMW Club on 4 July (there are still a couple of spots left if you are very quick!). Our virtual meeting with our major sponsor, Traction Tyres is on 7 July. We also have our Christmas in July drive coming up on 18 July. Depending on how restrictions go over the next few weeks, this will either just be a drive, or we will be able to do lunch too. We also have another Come and Try day at Broadford on 25 July and Round 6 of the BMWDCM Traction Tyres/Yokohama Drivers Championship at Broadford on 26 July. Entries for each of those will open soon.
It's so great to be back doing events and having a full calendar again. There may still be some challenges and last-minute changes depending on whether there are further restrictions. Be sure to keep an eye on our calendar and your emails for event alerts. Of course, you can always call or email too, we are always available to chat to members. Through lockdown we have had a few brilliant ideas, so there will be some new and interesting events coming in the later half of the year.
You may have noticed we have updated our website to a new, fresher look too, thank you Jess! Along with the amazing edition 2 of idrive magazine (which you should all now have), Jess is always busy in the background doing an absolutely amazing job making sure the club looks fantastic and runs like digital clockwork. Again, thank you Jess, we would be lost without you.
Take care stay safe and good health to you all.
Event date: 28 June 2020
Hi my names Royce Lyne and I’m part of the BMW Drivers Club Melbourne, and I’m going to tell you about what happened on Sunday at the Port Melbourne go kart track.
The day started out with dad and I Getting up at 7am and driving up to Port Melbourne with dad’s old phone that constantly kept on rerouting itself all the way through the city, so in the end we had to use my phone which wasn’t much better.
When we finally got there dad walked up to three strangers and said where do we go for the drivers club meeting, and they all starred at us and said what you are talking about “thinking we were weirdos” because they weren’t even in the drivers club.
Then we saw Lawrence pull up and he helped us find our way to the meeting. When we got inside, dad and I met Chris who was new to the club and was very friendly. After that I was looking every were for Critter and Blake so that we could race, but mostly Jo and Belly so that I could say thank you.
After waiting for everyone to get there we went into the room where we got told the rules and everything we could do and couldn’t do, then on the way to the go karts I was so excited that I had to go to the toilet quickly so I wasn’t put off my concentration on the track.
Before we went out on the track dad and I were watching what go karts were the fast ones and what ones we needed to get to before anyone else, but sadly we couldn’t choose our kart, so we had to go with what we were given.
The first session was practice to get used of the karts and see the lines that you should take. During that session I got spun around by Alex on the fast corner of the track and it was really fun.
The second session was qualifying for all the races. Straight away I sour how fast Alex was and I couldn’t believe how fast I was catching dad. I think he’s loosing the edge, he knew I was coming and I knew that as soon as I caught him it was going to be foul play. So I was ready for anything and there was nothing that was gonna stop me from taking him down and showing him who is the master!
It wasn’t long before I caught him and made a smooth transition from fifth to fourth place in times, of course I got the old excuse “oh I had a slow kart and if I had a kart the same speed as yours id be lapping you” but I knew that wasn’t the case and so did he, and the fastest time was by Alex and that was a 26.989.
The first race started and we all got pretty good starts. All the karts were basically the same speed and it was a good race. Then the final came and I had to go to the toilet again. I started fourth. Then we were of to the races for most of the race I was in third and then Alex had a crash with second place, and I wasn’t stopping so I just rammed straight through both of them and got to the lead. Then I was pushing so hard to keep in front of Alex and then I saw I was just pulling away and that I had won the race. I was so happy that I almost threw my hands up in the air.
Thankyou Jo and Belly for everything and I can't wait for Winton.
Being an Official BMW Club, we are incredibly lucky to have the support of BMW Australia and the BMW Dealer Network and as such we have developed a great relationship with some of them. Mornington BMW, being the closest dealership to us.
The Team at Mornington BMW have supported quite a few of our events with cars to show off and have given us a few cars to take on drives to test and show to members as well.
For our first drive event out of lockdown we ran a drive from Warrandyte through some amazing roads to Mt Macedon, via Wallan. As luck would have it, it fell on a long weekend and Alex at Mornington BMW offered us the new X4M Competition, not only for the drive, but for the whole long weekend.
Jo went and picked it up on Saturday morning and parking it next to our X5. I wasn’t surprised to see it was slightly longer and wider than our old E53. With each model upgrade every model gets a little larger and now the current version of ours is quite large. So, no, not really surprised the X4M is a bit bigger.
Looking around and sitting in it is a huge jump forward in technology and styling and I really like the feel of everything. From the infinitely adjustable seating position, to the different driving, steering and suspension modes. Love the head up display and all the other toys that come with a top of the line model. The one thing I was surprised about though, no electric adjustable steering column, you only get that on 5 series and above I am told. Pity, I love the automatic memory adjustments when I jump in our X5. That would be the only small item I found I didn’t like.
Driving it is, of course, a very satisfying thing, especially to a lover of fast cars that actually do their job well. Now I have driven a lot of fast cars, both in my personal and professional life and I must say, this car is amongst the best when you take into account everything it has and does and how it drives and delivers the driving experience.
Some cars are outright fast and somewhat scary in some situations, or have way too hard suspension for our roads, or no room for adults in front and back as well as a lack of luggage space. But the X4M Competition has pretty much everything you would want. Around town it drives beautifully, nice high seating, good vision and plenty of go, even in economy/comfort mode, handles stupid speed humps, that are popping up everywhere, with ease, room for the shopping in the back and all the parking cameras and radar sensors one could ever need.
On the freeway it is a pleasure, easy to drive and all the cruise gadgets you could want, almost drives itself with steering assist, adaptive cruise, etc.
Get it on the backroads and press a few buttons and it really comes alive! Through the windy or open country roads where you can have some fun without breaking the law, it delivers the power easily and handles curves and hills without a blink or hint of slip or slide. An amazing thing to play with, on a track would be very interesting indeed! We had to pass a horse float on one of the back roads and the ease with which it got up and galloped past was amazing. Definitely doesn’t drive like the large SUV type vehicle it is and you almost forget what you are actually driving.
I would happily park one of these in my driveway, and who knows, with our old Helga approaching her retirement date, An X4M Competition could definitely be on the shopping list.
Be sure to pop into Mornington BMW and speak to them about the new X4M Competition, and be sure to take one out for a test run, I promise you will not be disappointed.
Graeme Bell | Member #1 BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
Fascinating dynamic performance is the striking quality of the BMW 8 Series models. The premium automobile manufacturer's luxury sports car is now due to be enhanced with a touch of extravagance in all three body variants. Specific design accentuations in gold along with high-end BMW Individual equipment features for both the exterior and interior ensure an incomparable blend of sporty flair and luxury.
The BMW 8 Series Edition Golden Thunder demonstrates once again the capacity of BMW Individual to turn special vehicles into unique automobiles for customers with the very highest expectations in terms of style and quality. The exclusive design exterior and interior design features add unmistakable accentuations that give the edition models the character of a custom-built vehicle.
The Edition Golden Thunder is available for all model variants of the new BMW 8 Series Coupé, the new BMW 8 Series Convertible and the new BMW 8 Series Gran Coupé – from the BMW 840i and the BMW 840d xDrive through to the BMW M850i xDrive. The edition vehicles will be produced at the BMW plant in Dingolfing starting from September 2020. The M sports package is always a standard feature in these vehicles.
A body finish in Sapphire Black metallic or Frozen Black metallic and carefully selected colour accentuations in gold underscore the athleticism of the luxury sports cars. The dark look is supplemented by BMW Individual High Gloss Shadow Line with extended features and black brake calipers for the M sports brake system. Here, a striking contrast is created by means of golden accentuation lines running from the front apron to the side skirts and on into the rear apron. Other features finished in gold are the exterior mirror caps, the M rear spoiler (exclusively available for the BMW 8 Series Coupé) and the 20-inch M light alloy wheels in double-spoke design.
Sports car flair and individual luxury are also combined in the interior of the edition models to create an extravagant ambience. This is ensured not only by the extended BMW Individual Merino leather trim in black with the “Edition Golden Thunder” inscription embroidered on the front headrests and the BMW Individual Alcantara Anthracite roof liner for the BMW 8 Series Coupé and BMW 8 Series Gran Coupé, but in particular by the interior trim finishers in Aluminium Mesh Effect Gold. On the centre console, the finely structured and high-end shimmering surfaces are supplemented with an edition emblem. The edition models also feature CraftedClarity glass applications for selected controls and the Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound System.
BMW PRESS
© 2024 BMW Drivers Club Melbourne Inc. All Rights Reserved.
