Straight Six November 2020 Member Edition

Straight Six MEMBER’S EDITION

NOVEM BER 20 20 £5

M for Marmite…

BMW’s launch of the new G80/82 M3/M4 has been dominated by the controversy surrounding the front grilles.

Love or hate them, it is a huge shame, as the new M3/M4 promises to be a stunning driver’s car!

PLUS: MEGUIAR’S CLEANING GOODIES TO GIVE AWAY!

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BMW CAR CLUB

INSURANCE DEVELOPED BY EXPERTS FOR BMW CAR CLUB MEMBERS

BMW CAR CLUB GB ARE THE ONLY CLUB ENDORSED BY BMW UK

Bespoke arrangements for your Motor, Home and Commercial insurance needs.

COVER AVAILABLE CAN INCLUDE: Ÿ Classic and Modern Car Policies

Ÿ Multi-Vehicle policies

Ÿ Limited Mileage Discounts

Ÿ Trackday Cover

Ÿ Salvage Retention

Ÿ

Ÿ Like for Like Cover on

Ÿ Agreed Values

modifications

Breakdown Cover

www.BMWCARCLUBINSURANCE.co.uk Call the dedicated members line on 0330 123 0197 and speak to one of the team for all your Motor, Home, and Commercial Insurance needs.

This agreement has been designed specifically for BMW Car Club GB, who have become an Introducer Appointed Representative (IAR) of A-Plan Holdings. A-Plan Holdings is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Registered office: 2 Des Roches Square, Witney, OX28 4LE. Registration number: 750484. To confirm our registration on the FCA website, go to www.fca.org.uk/firms/systems-reporting/register/ or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.

Formed in 1952 as The BMW Car Club of Great Britain, incorporated in 1982 as BMW Car Club (GB) Ltd. A non-profit making club owned and run by and for its members. Combined One-Make Car Club Assoociated Club of RAC Motor Sports Association Ltd. The views and statements made in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the BMW Car Club GB Founder The Late R.J.T Hewitt President John Safe Vice Presidents Chris Wadsley, Jeff Heywood, Len Oakshett Chairman Jamal Blanc Board of Directors Dave Evans Martyn Goodwin Neil McDonald Richard Stern Club Office Michelle Evans Lisa Davies Anya Edwardes

inside this issue

BMW Car Club Insurance Henry Francis Patron Colin Turkington, Mike Wilds, The late Barrie Williams

27

Editing Team Jeff Heywood Lisa Davies Andrew Coles

23 A Good Sport…

Club member Dave Freeman is the proud owner of the immaculate 2004 330Ci Clubsport seen in this article. From any angle, the E46 is a good looking motor car.

Cover image: BMW Press Advertising Print & Digital Next Step Heritage Madeleine Lillywhite 01485 779455 07855 447968 advertising@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Website advertising Next Step Heritage Madeleine Lillywhite 01485 779455 07855 447968 advertising@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

27 Across the USA… In an E30!

Part two

38

artge may not have enjoyed as high a H profile as Alpina or AC Schnitzer here in the UK, but in Germany and the Benelux countries they were highly respected…

38 The Classic Car Drive In Weekend at Bicester Heritage

Classifieds - £9.95 per issue Club Office 01970 267 989 office@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Published on behalf of BMW Car Club by Cedar Group, Unit 3, The Triton Centre, Premier Way, Abbey Park Industrial Estate, Romsey, Hampshire SO51 9DJ Tel: 01794 525 020 info@cedargroup.uk.com

33 Tuned to perfection…

Online classifieds - £4.95 bmwcarclubgb.uk

BMW Car Club (GB) Ltd, Unit 5h, Glan Yr Afon, Aberystwyth, SY23 3JQ Website: www.bmwcarclubgb.uk Email: office@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Tel: 01970 267989 Office Hours: 9:00am-5:00pm - Mon-Fri

Following on from Part One in October’s issue, Ben Walsh continues his journey from California to London in an E30.

43

traight Six editor and photographer, S Andrew Coles, heads to the Classic Car Drive in Weekend at Bicester Heritage to report on this new COVID compliant event.

43 North Wales Trip During September of this year, the South Wales Region took a trip up to North Wales.

46 It all begins here…

Straight Six’s Andrew Coles dips his toe in at the Club’s most recent Snetterton track day.

Contents

from the editor

46 regulars 6

Chairman’s Chat

8 Thoughts from the Boardroom 10 Club News 12 BMW News 14 Pirelli 16 Motorsport News 18 Dan Norris 20 Products 50 Crossword/Social Media 51 Classifieds 53 Regions 63 Registers 77 Your Photos 78 Club Pub Meets

Welcome to the November issue of Straight Six! In this month’s issue, Jeff Heywood speaks with Club member, Dave Freeman, a proud owner of an immaculate 2004 330Ci Clubsport. From any angle the E46 is a good looking motor car, with this particular model running on the M54B30 24V 231bhp straight six engine. Read this feature on page 23.

Enjoyed Part one of Across the USA… In an E30? Part two is featured this month on page 27! After a huge bang from the engine, did Ben Walsh manage to finish his road trip from California to London?

Although Hartge did not enjoy as high a profile as Alpina or AC Schnitzer here in the UK, countries like Germany and the Benelux respected the tuning company for their quality tuning work and accessories. The E30 on page 33 was modified by Birds Garage, Hartge’s official representatives in the UK… Straight Six editor, Andrew Coles, attended two Club events in September – The Classic Car Drive In Weekend at Bicester Heritage on page 38, and the highly enjoyed Snetterton trackday on page 46.

During September of this year, the South Wales Region stretched their legs and took a trip up to North Wales for a relaxing weekend exploring the best driving routes and photo shoot locations. Find out what they got up to on page 43.

Do you have an interesting article for Straight Six? Whether it’s a restoration project, technical information, Club event, or simply why you love your ultimate driving machine – please don’t keep your BMW adventures to yourself, we want to read about them! Please send article suggestions to officeadmin@ bmwcarclubgb.co.uk.

Want to help the Club? We are always looking for volunteers with knowledge in BMW models to fill our vacant registers. To find out what roles need filling or to show your interest, email officeadmin@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk.

Part-time photographer or just love taking pictures? Send us high quality images of your BMW along with a caption to officeadmin@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk to be in for the chance to win FREE Meguiar’s products! Below is this month’s winner, Ben Shaw.

Happy reading!

Jeff, Lisa & Andrew Straight Six editorial team.

chairman’schat BMW Car Club Chairman - Jamal Blanc The 38th Annual General Meeting It’s been a busy few months since I last shared an update, making the most of the lockdown to progress several projects.

On Saturday October 10th the Club held it’s very first virtual AGM, whilst we missed seeing the usual faces and sharing a coffee, it ensured compliance with any sudden travel restrictions.

Attendance at the AGM is generally considered a barometer of how well the committee are performing – a low turnout indicates no immediate concerns and it’s business as usual, but on the other hand, a full house could mean we’ve fallen foul of the rules!

With an unexpectedly high number of priorities to manage, we can be forgiven for scheduling the AGM so late in the year. This was done not only to allow for some wiggle room in the current situation, but to familiarise ourselves with the recent growth in platforms capable of hosting this important event. With members able to join from anywhere and on any device, we are more accessible than ever before, the entire event can be recorded, shared and archived for future reference.

Adopting more agile working practises represents a shift in the mindset of the Board of Directors, usually the biggest hurdle, conference calls have replaced face-to-face meetings, successful trials of real-time member sign-ups, remote working, aimed at overcoming geographical constraints and benefitting from operational efficiencies, we were better prepared to respond to the challenges of the pandemic than we thought.

A milestone for the Club, was an update on the new Membership Management System, presented by our Project Manager, Neil Robinson, and a live demonstration from Khalid Rafique of Next Step Heritage. Comprising of four main modules (Membership, Ecommerce, Website, Technical Database), the website is currently undergoing user testing, a major step towards completion. We are on target to deliver a much better user experience, event based sales with more payment options, automating the entire process with less reliance on the Office.

Magazine Production With our ambition and commitment to widening the scope and appeal of Straight Six, the Board of Directors made

6 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

the difficult decision to terminate the agreement with Hine Marketing. Straight Six will now be designed and distributed

by Cedar Group, and all Advertising managed by Next Step Heritage, both of whom we have developed a successful relationship over the past few years.

This decision was not made lightly, but we feel we now have the capacity to bring these elements back in-house, allowing us to maximise spend, and offer our sponsors a range of new advertising options linked across all channels, an exciting new chapter in our development.

On behalf of the club, I would like to thank Nick Hine and the team for their support over the years and wish them well.

For advertising, please contact advertising@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk or call Madeleine Lillywhite on 07885 447968.

BMW SommerFest 2021 With the expected competition for spaces, we have been scouring the UK for suitable venues to host the inaugural BMW Sommerfest 2021. With a moving spectacle at the heart of our plans, the need to be centrally located with easy access for as many members as possible, there are ongoing discussions with our Racing partner about a potential collaboration in July 2021.

More information will be provided as it becomes available.

Technical Register A platform that contains an archived library of technical information, FAQs and how-to articles, common faults and fixes, parts exchange, classifieds, organised hands-on demonstrations and Seriesbased technical days, is not going to be easy. However, we do have the benefit of time, the soon to be delivered Technical Database, and Nick Thomas.

North East Chairman and newest addition to the Board of Directors, Nick, will be leading this new Register, with the task of creating a group of technically proficient individuals with the capability to provide practical tips and advice, an invaluable service to our members in helping them keep their cars on the road.

what has been an entertaining and highly successful BMWCCR racing series to our members. Neil will now focus on running our Motorsport and Trackday Registers.

Club Structure Having a team who work well together has made my job alot easier, and that is set to continue:

• Michelle Evans, as Club Manager will oversee all accounting and operational duties, supported by Anya Edwardes and Lisa Davies.

• The Editorial Team made up of Lisa Davies, Jeff Heywood and Andrew Coles has worked well over the past year, and will continue to develop Straight Six. • Richard Stern, Series Director, will support and develop the growing number of Registers as more models are released.

• Dave Evans, Regions Director, the planned conference was interrupted by recent events, but is considering the virtual options.

• Martyn Goodwin, Retailer Liaison, has accepted the role of Vice Chairman to add to his responsibilities.

• Nick Thomas, Technical Director, will create a template for the new Technical Register.

Being entrusted by you, our members and partners, to oversee the Club’s operational activities, responsible for its staff, identifying objectives, reducing risks, and protecting our image in the public domain remains an honour.

My thirty months in the role of Chairman have flown by, I cannot be more proud of how the team has performed and what we have achieved under sometimes difficult circumstances.

Jamal Blanc | Chairman BMW Car Club GB.

Neil McDonald After five years on the Board and given his all, Neil has decided to step down as Motorsport Director, and I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Neil for his unwavering support, and for delivering www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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thoughts from the boardroom R

Graeme Grieve, CEO BMW (UK) Ltd.

acing has always played a major part in BMW’s genetic makeup and over the years we’ve tasted success in just about every motorsport sphere you care to mention.

Innovations filter down from the track to the road leading to improvements in our model range – witness our first use of ABS with the racing 3.0 CSL Batmobile or the lessons we’re learning with our Formula E campaign bringing insights into electromobility.

Of all the circuits in the world the legendary Nürburgring could be considered our spiritual home – the original 328 won its first race there the day it was unveiled and it’s still used to fine-tune our production cars, too. It’s also home to one of the world’s toughest 24 hour endurance races and I was delighted when the M6 GT3 triumphed there at the end of September to record BMW’s 20th overall victory 50 years after we won the inaugural race in a 2002Ti. Traditionally held in May, this year’s event was postponed until September but this change made little difference to the circuit’s weather pattern which was as challenging as ever. Indeed, the race was stopped during the night for the best part of ten hours thanks to torrential rain that saw some of the front runners come to grief. While the M6 GT3s had a tough first part of the race, after the restart on a drying track they were able to scythe through the field. The weather hadn’t finished adding to the drama though, and the closing stages were incredibly nerve wracking as the rain came down again

8 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

but an inspired tyre choice and some flawless driving saw the M6 GT3 cross the line 13 seconds ahead of the chasing Audi. Congratulations to all involved at Rowe Racing, BMW Motorsport and, of course, the drivers, Nick Catsburg, Nick Yelloly and our very own Alexander Sims.

Past winners read like a who’s who of BMW performance legends with the 3.0 CSL, 635CSi and five different generations of M3 all making it to the top step of the podium over the years. And perhaps in the years to come our new M4 GT3 race car will join those illustrious machines as it’s time to welcome two new M car icons to our lineup, the M3 Competition Saloon and M4 Competition Coupe. I’ve been eagerly awaiting their unveiling as I’ve been dying to talk about these stunning machines.

It seems apt that I’ve been discussing motorsport as this latest generation of M cars really do fuse track focused performance with everyday usability. Both models offer scintillating acceleration thanks to their 510bhp twin-turbocharged

straight-sixes with the zero to 62mph sprint being dispatched in a scant 3.9 seconds, and if the optional M Pro Package is specified they have a top speed of 180mph.

Of course, there’s always been far more to an M car than straight line performance and neither the M3 Competition nor M4 Competition will disappoint in the driving dynamics department. I’ve been fortunate enough to drive pre-production examples of both cars and I can confirm they are utterly sublime. The engine is phenomenal and it feels as if every aspect of the chassis has been finely honed to deliver trademark dynamics that really involve and reward the keen driver.

You don’t just have to take my (possibly biased!) word for it though as the motoring press has also sampled the new M3 in prototype form. Autocar commented; “It’s extraordinarily agile… changing direction incisively and with a very direct feel to the way it turns in to corners,” while also praising its engine, chassis, grip and fluidity. In its summing up it said; “You might just be looking at the most dynamically accomplished M3 yet.”

The debuts of the new M3 Competition and the M4 Competition highlight the synergy between road and track – add a roll cage and pop some numbers on their sides and they’ll almost be ready for next year’s Nürburgring race. I can’t wait to see if the M4 GT3 can add to our tally of overall race wins, after all M is still the most powerful letter in the world!

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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During the time in the BMW Approved Bodyshop, all available training was taken including: • Paint Expert • Paint Technician • BMW ATA With that in mind, we feel we are in a strong position to deliver the high service that you require. Whether that be a simple SMART repair to remove the scuff on the front bumper or a full restoration project, removing all components, we aim to give 100% to ensure the highest quality workmanship can be achieved.

With our unit based in Chesterfield, we have full facilities to conduct a high-quality, professional job including that of a spray bake to enable paint to cure as quickly as possible. This means that the high-quality work you have just paid for, is guaranteed.

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clubnews New Shield Window Stickers and Face Masks Our new Regional Shield stickers are now available to buy for all Regions on our Shop, as well as branded Face Masks to keep you protected at events, shows, or everyday use.

Remember to log into your account online to receive your member’s discount on shop.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Black Friday Keep an eye out on our website, newsletter and social media for our Black Friday deals on the November 27th.

BMW Classic Shop Discount

All BMW Car Club members receive a 12% discount for orders via the BMW Classic Online Shop – and this discount is valid all year long!

To take advantage of the benefit, enter the following discount code while processing orders at shop.bmw-classic.de : Club_and_Parts

Please note, orders can only be placed within Europe.

10 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

New Members CENTRAL Robert Venn Jamie Mills Alan Caldwell-Jones

CENTRAL WEST Imran Ali Rajesh Malhi George Warren

CHESHIRE & STAFFS Andrew Prince Alexander Sadler

CHANNEL ISLANDS

Daniel Prosser Kulwant Shoker Stephen ScottDunwoodie Andy Hosier Elizabeth St Maur Tomasz Nguyen Robert Sazio Paul Barnes Jas Bhachu Torben Koch Stuart Cunliffe Rabin Yacoubian

MID WALES & SHROPSHIRE Philip Evans

Marcus Gudgeon

COTSWOLD Jessica Lewis Ken Rogers John Williams

National Events Calendar 2020 THAMES

November

Marc Aylott Neil Titcomb Simon J Mcginn Toby Coleman Steven Mayhew

13-15: Lancaster Insurance

Classic Motor Show - Postponed

WESTERN Robin Bromfield

WESSEX Alan Craggs Richard Dixon Richard Coleman Harrison Loader Will Smith Kevin Jones

Wheel meet again at NEC

Birmingham! Use Club code CC139

for a discount on your tickets.

Calendar 2021 May 2:

Southern Concours

Sherborne Castle, Dorset

June 27: BM’s on the Lawn Weston-Super-Mare front lawns

NOTH EAST

July – August

Stuart Cowen Liam McDermott Lee Leonard Ray Hopwood Ian Metcalfe

30 July – 1 August*:

Classic Silverstone 2021 Join us to celebrate the Classic’s 30th anniversary. *Provisional dates.

DEVON Ben Beveridge

NORTH WALES

EAST ANGLIA

Steve New Steve New

Philip Pashley Stuart Hood Richard Hancock Steve Senter Andrew Fisher T Goel

EASTERN Arthur Macdonald Paul Stevenson David Newnes Richard Green Steven Collins

NORTH WEST Darren Webb Brann Fairhurst Jordan Saywood Christo Chakalov Martin Broadbent Mike Parr

SCOTTLAND David Munn Matthew Moggach

SOUTH EAST IRELAND Gavin Bailey

LONDON Graham Steer David Butler Rajveer Lotay John Dixon

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Graham Crowhurst Garry Holmes Holly Black Michael Dearden Mark Strudwick Vaughan Phillips

Classic Silverstone 2021 Tickets for Classic Silverstone 2021 are on sale now!

Join us between the 30 July – 1 August* to celebrate the Classic’s 30th anniversary.

Please use discount code 2020CCD057 at checkout on www.silverstoneclassic.com.

*Provisional dates.

BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

11

bmwnews The all new M3 and M4 is here!

Here are the latest generation (G80) M3 Competition and (G82) M4 Competition models, which promise to blend searing performance with everyday usability. Unfortunately there’s no getting away from the debate over those new (and huge) front kidney grilles. We do think they’ll become accepted over time, it’s a bit like Chris Bangle’s flame surfacing. When the furore died down the various ‘Bangleised’ models became accepted and sold well, which is all that matters to BMW, and most of the once-controversial designs have stood the test of time well, the E60 5 Series and the Z4 being two we could mention. So given time, the grilles will, we predict, be accepted by most in the BMW community.

But back to the cars – both are powered by a 3.0-litre M TwinPower Turbo six cylinder in-line engine, mated to a (standard) specially tuned eight-speed M Steptronic transmission with Drivelogic. Thus equipped, the engine produces 510bhp and 650Nm of torque, allowing both the M3C and M4C to sprint to 60mph in (a conservative) 3.7 seconds, although when equipped with all-wheel-drive (M xDrive all-wheel-drive versions to be available from summer 2021) we expect the sprint to be covered in 3.0 seconds, or probably less. Top speed as always is limited to 155mph, rising to 180mph if the optional M Pro Package is specified.

The new M3C Saloon and M4C Coupé occupy very different territory - one a saloon with space for five occupants, the other a four-seater coupé - but they both achieve their common goal

of delivering pure driving pleasure.

Class-leading levels of standard equipment plus options that take individualisation to new heights, especially for racetrack outings, ensure both models will continue the success of their formidable predecessors.

Optional equipment is offered in six main packages – Comfort, Technology Plus, Visibility, M Carbon, M Pro and Ultimate. Beyond these packages, there will be a select number of optional items including M Brakes in red, blue or black, M Carbon exterior, M Carbon seats and Park Assistant Plus with Drive Recorder.

The new M3 Competition will be built at the Munich Plant, while the new M4 Competition will be produced at the Dingolfing Plant in East Bavaria, with the market launch for both models in March 2021. There are also non-competition versions of both cars with 48b0hp and a six-speed manual gearbox, but as we went to press it looks likely that BMW UK will only offer the Competition models here in the UK. The M3C is priced at £74,755 OTR in the UK and the M4C £76,055 OTR and both are available to order now.

There is a multitude of information on both cars at www.BMW.co.uk

BMW introduces new 128ti model After an absence of more than 20 years, BMW’s legendary ‘ti’ model designation returns in the 1 Series line-up with the 128ti. Designed to deliver exceptional driving enjoyment, with M Sport specification as standard, the exclusively front-wheeldrive model fulfils its sporting promise. The 128ti is equipped with a Torsen limited-slip differential, specially tuned M Sport suspension, optimised eight-speed Steptronic Sport automatic transmission and a 2.0-litre, 265bhp/400Nm engine with BMW TwinPower Turbo technology. Performance is brisk. The 0-60mph dash takes 5.8 seconds while top speed is limited to 155mph. Despite the lively performance, the 128ti returns combined fuel consumption of 44.1 – 46.3mpg and emits 148139g/km of CO2.

The drivetrain includes the anti-roll bars and brakes from the flagship BMW M135i xDrive, it also features a sporty exterior and driver-focused interior that boasts exclusive details to distinguish it from other BMW 1 Series variants. It is also

12 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

around 80kg lighter than the BMW M135i xDrive.

The new 128ti is being launched this month and will be priced from £32,995 OTR – full details inc the spec etc is available at www.bmw.co.uk

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

New 4 Series Convertible breaks cover Totally overshadowed by the M3/M4 launch, BMW also unveiled the new 4 Series Convertible, also equipped with the controversial ‘toothy’ grill. BMW says the car has “bold, sporty and elegant styling with striking proportions” and we can’t disagree with most of those sentiments! The car features an all-new retractable fabric roof, meaning their dalliance with folding metal roofs is over for now. The new roof is electrically operated and comes in black fabric as standard with anthracite fabric as an option.

M Sport specification will be standard on UK cars, with an M-Sport Pro Edition also available, which brings larger wheels (19inch instead of 18-inch), three ‘exclusive’ paint colours, and a few extra accessories. All model variants in the 4 Series Convertible range will be equipped with the eight-speed Steptronic transmission as standard.

The new 4 Series Convertible will eventually be available with ten engine choices, but launches in 374bhp M440i xDrive format.

The new 4 Series Convertible can be ordered now, with first deliveries starting in March 2021. Prices start at £45,785 OTR, although the launch M440i xDrive is priced at £59,645 OTR.

NEWS 10 – BMWs new 128ti is available to order now

BMW sales boost in third quarter BMW Group sales increased by 8.6% in the third quarter, with a total of 675,680 vehicles delivered to customers. As expected, the sales performance from January to September reflected the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. During this period, the company sold 1,638,316 (-12.5%) premium BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles worldwide, a 12.5% reduction on 2019 figures but still nowhere near as bad as some had predicted.

The BMW Group delivered a total of 116,381 (+20.0%) BMW and MINI electrified vehicles to customers in the first nine months of the year. With 54,719 units delivered in the third quarter, the company sold 46.6% more electrified vehicles than in the same period of 2019.

News from the Redux M3 As manufacturing of the body panel moulds moves into full swing, preparations are being made at the Redux workshop for the return of the bodyshell. The initial priority is to remove the original Diamondschwarz paint, achieved by a combination of pyrolysis (heat treatment) and blasting with crushed glass. The end result will be a clean metal surface on which the body fabrication can begin. During this stage, any imperfections in the steel shell will be addressed - e.g. the No 002 M3 has a small amount of corrosion in the passenger foot well, which will be rectified. Modifications are also made for the installation of all the new and bespoke parts. Some of these new parts have started to arrive at Redux’ workshop - see photos. Details of the bespoke parts being made for 002 will be shared soon - if you like beautifully engineered billet aluminium components, you’re in for a treat...

The body fabrication process requires considerable patience and skill; the aim is to incorporate a multitude of changes throughout the bodyshell whilst retaining www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Parts are arriving all the time at Redux HQ for the 002 M3 build, including a set of AP Racing 6-pot callipers and a MoTeC M130 ECU. The most anticipated arrival has been the ultra-lightweight LITE↯BLOX LB20XX battery – the weight savings are unbelievable!

factory fit and finish. As Redux 002 is an evolution of the Sport Evo model, the goal is for the fit and finish to be of a higher standard than the iconic final edition E30 M3. By setting a new benchmark, Redux is paying homage to the elder statesman of the M3 / M4 lineage.

One of the most eagerly anticipated parts that arrived at Redux HQ was the LITE↯BLOX LB20XX battery (see photo); lite is the key word. To put it into context, most standard car batteries weigh in the region of 12-20kg (26.5-44lbs); this battery weighs in at an incredibly light 2kg

(4.4lbs)! In addition, each model can be actively controlled via their LITE↯BLOX app with two innovative features: I.K.O.S. – Intelligent Kill-OperationSwitch – complete disconnection from the vehicle in case of overload or via smartphone (alternative to the FIA ​​kill switch for longer service life.

A.V.A.T. – Active Vehicle Anti-Theft – All vehicle peripherals / consumers are still supplied with power when stationary, but as soon as they are started without authorization, the LITE↯BLOX permanently disconnects.

BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

13

Get in on the ACT this winter O

ctober is Tyre Safety Month, so it is important to make sure that your tyres are fit for purpose, especially heading into the winter months. If you haven’t driven for a while then it’s even more important that you ACT and don’t ignore your tyres. Check the following: Air pressure: Use an accurate tyre pressure gauge to check that your tyre pressures are correct. Recommended settings are found in your handbook or fuel filler cap.

Condition: Lumps or bulges in a tyre may indicate internal damage and increase the risk of a catastrophic failure.

If these, or cuts and cracks, are found while checking a tyre, the tyre may need replacing and professional advice should be sought.

Tread depth: Tread depth should be checked with an accurate gauge to

ensure it is above the minimum legal limit of 1.6mm. If you don’t have an accurate tread depth gauge, a 20p can be used as a guide to how close your tread is to the limit.

There are some checks you can carry out by yourself, but others are best done by a tyre specialist. In the UK, the Pirelli Performance Centre network combines cutting-edge expertise in recommending, fitting and balancing high-performance

Pirelli fuel gift card offer BMW Car Club GB members can benefit from an exclusive offer of a Pirelli fuel gift card. Available only when purchasing Pirelli tyres from a Pirelli Performance Centre or official BMW dealer, the card’s value depends on the size and quantity of tyres purchased as follows: Rim Size

Two Tyres

Four Tyres

16” and below

£10

£30

17”

£30

£70

18” and 19”

£50

£100

20” and above

£60

£120

14 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

tyres with first-class customer care.

Retailers within the network maintain the highest standards through a 130-point technical audit, which each centre completes twice a year with increasingly demanding criteria.

There are now 128 specialists in the Pirelli Performance Centre network. To get your tyres checked at one of these specialists just visit www.pirelli.co.uk/ppc to find a centre in your area.

Vintage cars For owners of older vintage cars then Pirelli recommends its UK distributor, Longstone tyres. BMW Car Club members should contact them directly for specific detailed information.

Please call +44 1302 711123 for details or visit www.longstonetyres.co.uk. BMW Car Club members receive 5% discount at Longstone Tyres on all Pirelli tyres.

Members will need to quote their club membership number and purchase Pirelli tyres to receive the discount with Longstone. Members can still claim their fuel card offer for Pirelli tyres purchased through Longstone tyres.

Where can you get your tyres fitted?

Visit pirelli.co.uk/bmwcarclub for nearest participating dealers. Terms and conditions apply.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

15

motorsportnews Roving reporters Jeff Heywood & Neil McDonald

BMW wins the Nürburgring 24 Hour Race!

The mighty M6 GT3 shines at the infamous Nordschleife to give BMW Motorsport a 1-3-4 finish!

After an exciting race, the ROWE Racing team won the 2020 Nürburgring 24 Hour, giving BMW Motorsport its 20th overall victory at the endurance classic. The #99 BMW M6 GT3, piloted by Dutch driver Nick Catsburg and the British pairing of Alexander Sims and Nick Yelloly, crossed the finish line in first place after 85 laps of racing in an eventful and rather wet race.

Over the 24 hour stint, the race was interrupted for roughly nine hours in the night due to persistent torrential rain. Catsburg crossed the finish line 15.452 seconds ahead of the secondplaced Audi R8 V10. BMW Team Schnitzer completed the podium in third place in their #42 M6 GT3, driven by Augusto Farfus, Jens Klingmann, Martin Tomczyk and Sheldon van der Linde. The BMW Team Schnitzer #42 M6 GT3 was followed over the finish line in fourth place by the #98 ROWE Racing M6 GT3, with Lucas Auer, Tom Blomqvist, Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann at the wheel to give BMW a 1-3-4 finish!

Left-Right: Alexander Sims, Nick Catsburg and Nick Yelloly celebrate their win in a car many thought had seen better days, thankfully the M6 GT3 was good enough to secure 1-3-4 places

The ROWE Racing M6 GT3 crosses the line to win the ADAC 2020 Nurburgring 24 Hour Race

M8 GTE’s finish 3rd & 4th at Mid-Ohio BMW approached the eighth race of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship at the Mid-Ohio circuit after a recent upturn in their results. The race was held over 2 hours and 40 minutes and the circuit is 2.258 miles long.

Qualifying – Was relatively uneventful, with only the Corvettes to compete with because Porsche pulled out of the race after three members of their team contracted Covid-19 a few weeks earlier during the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the end, the two Corvette C8.Rs were split by the Edwards/Krohn #24 M8 GTE, when Krohn put the M8 GTE on the outside of the front row, followed by the second Corvette which qualified 3rd.

The De Phillippi/Spengler #25 M8 GTE would start the race from 4th place on the grid.

Race – Unfortunately the race was as uneventful as qualifying. Although the two M8 GTEs were pushed to their limits, they simply didn’t have enough pace to challenge the Corvettes, and with the 911 RSRs missing from the mix it provided for a slightly pedestrian race in the GTLM Class, with the two Corvette C8.Rs finishing first and second, while the De

16 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

The Motul sponsored De Phillippi/Spengler #25 M8 GTE secured a podium place for BMW Team RLL in a relatively lacklustre race at Mid-Ohio

Phillippi/Spengler #25 M8 GTE edged out the Edwards/Krohn #24 M8 GTE to take third spot in class.

The series now moves onto the Charlotte Motor Speedway circuit at Concord, North Carolina, for Round 9.

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BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

17

dannorris Road trip rule #1 – only when things go wrong, is it right.

Every now and again, Google or Instagram or Tic Tac or one of the other social harvesting – sorry, social media – companies send me a sinister email, reminding me of what I was doing this time last year. Usually, I just sit there admiring their brazen cheek at pointedly reminding me that they’re monitoring my every activity – but this time it made me realise just how stupidly fast these particular twelve months has zipped by.

Of course, we’ve all put our lives on hold in many ways for the majority of the year so far, and as I write, the prognosis for the remaining couple of months doesn’t look great either. But one thing is for sure – you’ll never forget 2020. And that got me philosophising. Isn’t life just one big road trip? After all, with a road trip, it’s very much not about just going from A to B. I mean, imagine saying to a mate in the pub ‘Oh, and I went on a great road trip this summer’. ‘Really? Where?’, ‘Well, I left home, and a week later, I arrived back again’.

Nor is it much good, let’s be honest, if everything goes well – or according to plan. Take the picture in question. This time last year, me and the wife had to go from France to the UK in time for Munich Legends’ yearly car meet, Legends in the Fall (another casualty of Covid this year) and we decided to drive - rather than fly – from our start point in Nice. In fact, as Sara had to meet a client doing

18 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

a road trip round the Dolomites - leaving from Munich (Germany) - we thought we’d combine the lot - take the E30 M3, and make a proper road trip out of it.

Cramming the M3 full of small dogs and luggage we set off towards Italy, winding along the French coast and crossing the border around lunch time. The car had been a long time away from ML and we were soon reminded that a 30-year-old E30 can get a bit indignant if you ask it to leave its warm garage and embark on a surprise 2000-km adventure, without notice. On the motorway an E30 M3 can be a bit skittish, and with a shorter diff – seemed like a good idea around the Ashdown Forest – the engine is noisy even at relatively normal cruising speeds.

Then it started to rain. And it rained very hard all the way across the Italian planes until we crossed into Switzerland, over the Simplon pass. Once we were in Switzerland it started raining a bit harder and got a bit darker, as we climbed up the Grimsel pass towards our hotel.

Luckily as we ascended, it got foggy too.

Anyone that owns an E30 M3 – or any similar era classic – knows that the lights are not its strongest suit. Or the wipers.

And the heater didn’t work very well, so it misted up inside. And actually, it’s not that comfy. The dogs were hungry, we were hungry, and it was still foggy. But it would all be fine, because we had a lovely hotel booked with a view of the lake.

When we arrived at the hotel, there was a special surprise waiting for us. It was dark - but that didn’t stop us having a marvellous view across the water. What in fact stopped that was the fog, which had reduced visibility to around two feet.

And it was the same the next morning when we left. It was probably a lovely lake, but we’ll never be sure. Undaunted, we headed down to the valley below and headed towards the Furka pass where we hoped to get some shots of the car for Sara’s blog, notably in front of the abandoned hotel Belvedere, an iconic but ghostly spot immortalised in the film Goldfinger. Unfortunately, someone else had the same idea. We were greeted by a bizarre sight - of all things – a full scale BMW press shoot for the newly launched 8 Series, with a full camera crew and kit, an M850i Gran Coupe and an E31 850CSi. They’d nicked our spot, and after a quick photo bomb it became clear they weren’t going anywhere soon, so on we went, through undulating fields of Swiss cows, their bells clanking softly as they watched us pass, gingerly picking our way through more fog on the narrow roads across the ridge and down the other side.

Our next destination was Lucerne, The Burgenstock Hotel, a fabulous, sprawling 5-star complex perched high above the lake, and this time we really did have a view. We wandered around

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and visited the spa, where apparently people go to stay and drink nothing but organic smoothies for a week, and get themselves regularly frozen to -110 degrees Celsius. We didn’t, opting instead for cocktails by the fire.

The next day we headed through a maze of countries and principalities, picking a route crossing back and forth across the borders, before heading towards Munich on the motorway.

Crossing into Germany, I was kind of looking forward to a legendary blast on the ‘bahn, even with that shorter diff.

Unfortunately, it was dark, and I had tea lights rather than headlights. The big German cruisers thundered down the outside lane at mega speeds, and we soon felt vulnerable and slow in the little E30, their modern xenon lights one moment flooding the road with blinding light, the next plunging us into darkness as they swept past. It was scary, and I was tired and hungry – hungry enough that I didn’t care that we arrived so late that we ended up screaming through Munich city centre to catch last orders at the Hard Rock Cafe – the only place still serving. I had the Jimi Hendrix burger with a side order of Michael Jackson onion rings.

The next day the M3 started screaming.

As soon as we went over 70mph, there was an unbearable wind noise coming from the windscreen. We tried to trace it - to no avail. For the rest of the journey we had to choose between driving interminably slow or going mad to the sound of fingernails on a blackboard. We stopped the night in Metz – the sort of town you’ve always seen signs for but

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never visited – and actually it was quite nice. The next morning, we motored on through ever worsening weather across the hideous Pas de Calais, finally forced to take the only sensible route north using the autoroute, through the flattest, most boring terrain known to man. The final leg of French motorway towards the tunnel crosses hours of muddy fields and it is always rainy. I don’t recommend it for a holiday, unless you live in a war zone.

Finally, we arrived safely in Blighty, and luckily there is a long stretch of frustrating average speed cameras. This limits you to a soul crushing 50mph all the way up the M20 where they are doing ‘road works’ which seemed to involve just putting out thousands of traffic cones - but at least we didn’t have to listen to the screaming wind noise. It was good to be back.

But despite all the hardships and

challenges, the repetitive strain injuries caused by the seats and the long-term deafness, we’d had a great trip – one we’ll never forget. We had something to talk about, something to write about, something that had taken us out of our comfort zones for a while, and we felt alive. And we had that photo. The other day, just seeing that picture from in front of the Belvedere Hotel on Furka bought it all back to me.

So, thank you to Google’s datatheft department, for helping me better understand Covid, 2020 and life in general.

Its not like we’re born, just to die – it’s not only about A to B. Life is probably better if there’s a few adventures on the way, when things don’t always go right, or the way we planned. Think of life like a road trip, a sort of old-school grand tour, and just maybe, it all makes a little more sense.

BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

19

products M-Style ESS Supercharger Kit for BMW N52 Engines M-Style is proud to offer the newly developed Gen.3 E-Charger G1 based supercharger system for the BMW N52 engine family.

This supercharger system is designed to increase the power output by 80-100 horsepower. As well as giving smooth day-to-day motoring.

It instantly provides phenomenal acceleration on demand.

The system maintains all OBDII diagnostic functions and the supercharger and other parts in the kit are backed by a comprehensive two year, unlimited mileage warranty.

The system comes with an ESS E-Flash OBD2 cable. This allows the end user to upload the supercharger ECU software directly to the car from any PC running Windows 7 or newer.

The system also includes full diagnostic and code clearing capability. Any future ESS software updates can be received by email and loaded directly to the car. The original ECU software will be saved and can easily be restored in the future.

The kit includes: a quiet, selflubricating E-Charger G1 supercharger running 6-6.5PSI boost; larger Bosch fuel injectors; a custom moulded silicone

discharge system; a custom moulded plastic intake assembly with direct connection for PCV, ICV and MAF sensor; billet CNC main SC bracket anodised with a black finish; CNC precision pulleys and beltdrive system and a genuine K&N air filter.

The kit is available for at £7975 incl. VAT. M-Style can provide a fitting service, if required, at £750 inc. VAT. No irreversible modifications to the car will be necessary.

For further details e-mail info@mstyle.co.uk or call 0208 598 9115

M-Style’s Full M-Performance Carbon Fibre Kit for BMW M2/M2C F87 M-Style is pleased to announce that it is now offering a superior quality performance style carbon fibre kit for the BMW M2 and M2 Competition.

The kit includes the front splitter, side skirts, diffuser and rear spoiler, all made from strong, lightweight carbon fibre which has been further reinforced with a glass fibre composite (CFRP) for strength, quality and durability. This is the same type of carbon composite that is used on the roof of the M3 / M4.

The kit parts are finished with a high gloss lacquer, which is then hand and machine polished to give additional depth and protection.

The kit is available at £1109.00 including VAT. The kit comes with fitting components but M-Style recommends professional fitting. M-Style usually charges £200 but for a limited introductory period is offering fitting at just £100 including VAT. For further details e-mail info@mstyle.co.uk or call 0208 598 9115.

20 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

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GAZ Gold Adjustable Suspension for BMW E30

If ever there was a company that knows a thing or two about tuning BMW suspension then that honour must fall to GAZ. GAZ has been supplying, sponsoring and winning BMW race series for many years now.

The Gaz Gold suspension kit for the BMW E30 has been around for a while, but now there are some new features and options. The dampers and struts are now coated in a supertough Black Zinc finish which will ensure that the dampers will remain in good order for many years despite all that the track and road can throw at them, and serious race/trackday users have the option to add racing solid top mounts.

Ride height is altered by means of adjustable spring seats and the height adjusters have a coarse acme form thread for ease of adjustment even when caked in dry mud.

Damper bounce and rebound rates are adjusted by means of easily accessible adjuster knobs on the damper body. The GAZ coilovers come with integral gas cells filled with a high viscosity index multi grade oil to prevent cavitation and reduce fade under racing or trackday conditions and, for extra peace of mind, all the units are individually tested and certified before leaving the factory.

The GAZ GOLD kit for BMW E30 1982-91 (incl. M3 model) can be ordered as part number GGA300 at £1013.58 + carriage & VAT. As shown, solid race top mounts optional extra at £121.28 per pair + carriage & VAT. For further details visit the GAZ website: www.gazshocks.com

Fidanza Short Throw Shifter for 2005-2008 BMW M6 We don’t often hear about performance parts for BMW M6 models, but now Fidanza has a short shift conversion which includes variable height adjustment for the E63/E64 20052008 BMW M6.

Fidanza Performance shifters are designed as a ‘plug-‘n’-play’ direct factory replacement and reduce throw by up to 40% for faster shifts.

Fidanza short shift kits are precisely made with 6061 billet aluminium and a hardened steel lever shaft.

The Fidanza short throw shifter 891103 suitable for 2005-2008 BMW M6s and has been based on the OEM shifter design, but with a reduced angle in the shifter shaft. The result will change your driving experience by providing a shorter throw and an even sportier shifter action. This conversion is also height adjustable which allows the driver to adjust the shifter height to suit their own preference.

Fidanza Short Shifter 891103 is available from Fidanza.com at $277.74 plus import tax and shipping.

For more information on Fidanza’s great products visit www.fidanza.com or contact sales@fidanza.com

DEI Stand Off Kit for rigid and semi rigid heat shields DEI makes dozens of different heat shields including some that are self-adhesive or can be glued in place. However sometimes a rigid or semi rigid heat shield is required that stands away from the surface a little, rather than be in direct contact with it; for example when there are wires or fuel lines that also need to be protected from the heat source. That’s when the latest stand-off kit from DEI comes in handy.

The new DEI universal mounting kit for ridged or semi-ridged heat shields comprises six stainless steel standoffs with mounting bolts, nuts and washers. The kit will provide a half inch (1.27cm) stand-off.

Order as part number 010224 at £14.11 plus shipping and import tax.

For more information about this and other DEI Heat and Sound control products visit: www.designengineering.com or e-mail sales@designengineering.com.

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BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

21

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BMW E46 330Ci Clubsport

A Good Sport…

Remember when you could pick up a decent straight-six powered E30 for around a grand?

You only have to go back ten years in the classifieds to see nice four-door 320i/325i SE models for £1-2,000 depending on the miles, and even the revered Sport models could be had for under £5,000.

Then along came the M3 price hike...

Words/Photos – Jeff Heywood

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BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

23

Feature

The E46 is arguably the nicest looking 3 Series ever made, being very photogenic, especially in Clubsport guise

B

MW’s wide-arched racing icon was suddenly the darling of the collector car market, prices rocketed and the rest of the E30 range eventually followed, starting with the Sport models and subsequently followed by the rest of the range. Yet we haven’t seen the same happening (yet) with the bread and butter E36 and E46 models, although certain cars like 328i Sport in excellent condition with low mileage have started to rise. Prices of E36 M3s are already on the up, especially the good, unmolested ones, but you can still pick up a 325i or 328i saloon for not much money. The same can be said for the E46, labelled by many as arguably the finest 3 Series ever built. Even so, prices remain low. Nice E46 M3s still fetch decent money, but a 320d or a 318i?

They’re going for peanuts, especially the cars with a lot of mileage on them. Move up the E46 ladder and great performance cars like the 330Ci Coupe or a nice 330iSE can also be had for reasonable sums. But there is one E46 model that still fetches a premium. It might not be a huge premium, but mark my words, as E46 M3 prices carry on firming up in the coming years, watch the prices of the Clubsport rise on the back of their coat tails. The Clubsport is the one E46 model with a little bit of ‘specialness’ that some of the other models in the range unfortunately don’t have…

The Clubsport models arrived in BMW showrooms in May 2002 priced at

£31,380 and were an instant hit. BMW couldn’t go wrong really. The E46 was selling like hot-cakes, the Sport models especially so. One only has to look at just how many of the remaining E46s on the roads today are the Sport variants with the update styling to realise just how popular they were back in the day. But the Clubsport offered that little bit more.

It was only available in three Clubsport standard colours – Titanium Silver, Estoril Blue and Velvet Blue; the latter two paint hues were BMW Individual paint colours

and Estoril had been seen on many M cars including the E36 M3 Evo, Z3 M models and the E46 M3.

Positioned between the 330Ci M Sport and the scorching M3, it was designed to offer a more engaging ownership experience without the hefty M running costs. The Clubsport retained the 330i’s 231hp M54B30 24V straight-six valvetronic engine but it did receive some extra kit to differentiate it from the standard 330Ci, plus a trio of mechanical changes that not everyone

The Clubsport’s Estoril Blue paintwork sparkled in the Manchester light

24 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

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Feature

Viewed side-on, the E46’s lines can be seen perfectly, the high swage line running arrow-straight from the top of the front wheel arch to the top corner of the rear light cluster. The body coloured rubbing strip also helps to break up the sides, stopping them from becoming too slabby

knows about. The cosmetic changes included Clubsport door entrance sills, front bumper splitters, 18-inch BMW Style 71 split rim staggered alloy wheels (8J/225 front, 8.5J/255 rear), Carbon Cube interior trim, Leather/Alcantara sports seats, chrome instrument bezels, a Clubsport boot spoiler (which is a bit of a Marmite item) and an ‘Acoustic Package’ which necessitated the removal of 20kg of sound insulation to increase engine sound.

The mechanical changes amounted to M-tuned suspension (which is 15mm lower than a standard 330Ci M Sport), a shortened M-gearshift and an M-tuned exhaust, which is throatier than a standard M Sport exhaust, although it isn’t excessively loud.

All of the above created a car that was more accessible, more enjoyable to drive and importantly, more eye-catching than the standard 330Ci. It’s something that club member and Clubsport owner Dave Freeman agrees with. Dave owns the beautiful Estoril blue example seen in these photos. His car was built in March 2004. It had had three owners in its first thirteen years before Dave became owner number four when he purchased the car in 2017 with the odometer reading 61,000 miles. The car was in excellent condition but Dave has taken it a step further and the car is now in show condition. He’s recently had the Style 71 split-rim alloy wheels refurbished, although the company that www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

The M54B30 24V 231bhp 3.0-litre straight six engine is a gem, being super smooth, powerful and is also proving to be very reliable long term, just watch out for water pump leaks and a faulty thermostat as the miles rattle up!

did them wished they hadn’t taken the job on because they took so long to break down! Even so, they’ve done a really excellent job and they look as good

as new. Dave’s Clubsport is equipped with the SMG2 gearbox, which he likes!

He says “the SMG gearbox comes into its own on faster country roads and dualcarriageways, basically when you are pressing on”, although he does admit that it is a little jerky at slower speeds in town.

Parking in tight spots can fray the nerves somewhat.

In the past three years, Dave has added another 9000 miles, and in that time he’s replaced the under-bonnet heat shield and the scuttle trim panel for ‘cosmetic purposes’ and he also had to BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

25

Feature

Club member Dave Freeman is the proud owner of this immaculate 2004 330Ci Clubsport

replace the driver’s side door mirror with the (much improved) version with the ribbon cable connector. Dave’s car was specced from the factory with a full black leather interior, and one of the previous owners upgraded the front seats to those from an E46 M3, so the interior in Dave’s car is very smart indeed.

Dave adds - “I was pleasantly surprised at just how quick the Clubsport felt, it is very peppy and the revised suspension encourages you to throw it into bends. It is a wonderful car to drive and has two distinct sides to it, it slots into its GT role easily and is comfortable and refined, being a quiet and very capable long distance cruiser, but if you drop a couple of gears and show it a lightly trafficked country road it turns into a decent weapon. With its unique features, a limited production run and that glorious, sweet sounding straight six engine it is already established as a

From any angle, the E46 is a good looking motor car

modern classic”. The Clubsport is in an exclusive club, being more special and slightly sharper than the regular (and excellent) 330Ci M Sport, but it’s not in the same league as an E46 M3.

Thankfully, Clubsport prices aren’t excessive – yet! You may have to pay £2-3500 for a conventional 330Ci with high miles, whereas Clubsports with higher mileage, say 90-100,000, go for £4-5,000. Smarter examples with 70-80,000 miles on the clock and the preferable manual gearbox cost upwards

of £6,000, which wouldn’t buy you a scruffy M3 needing lots of expensive work. If you want an immaculate low mileage example with plenty of extras in the right colour, then prices easily jump into double figures, with prices of £15,000 and upwards quoted for really good cars.

Showroom quality examples with less than 20,000 miles are now being sold for over £20,000, so you can see where the market is heading for the Clubsport, especially the nicer examples that have led a pampered life.

The E46 Clubsport is the E30 325i Sport of the E46 range, and as the years pass and the scruffy, mega high-mileage boat anchors disappear from the market, there is only one way Clubsport prices are going, and that’s up! *A big thank you goes to club member Dave Freeman for sharing his Clubsport knowledge with me and for allowing his car to be photographed for this article.

The E46 Clubsport’s interior is a nice place to be, if a little sober being dominated by greys and blacks, although nice touches abound; the M3 seats are a nice extra, the driving position and ergonomics are superb and the interior is well equipped and comfortable, although rear legroom is tight for adults on a long journey

26 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

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Feature

ACROSS THE USA… IN AN E30!

PART TWO Continued from the October 2020 issue of Straight Six…

My faith in the trusty E30, with all 285,000-miles the rest on the clock, had proven correct as we’d already covered thousands of miles across the US in the old girl, cruising the Pacific Coast Highway and Big Sur, doing the touristy bit visiting Hollywood and Venice Beach amongst others and climbing Pikes Peak, all the while fettling and coaxing the E30 along. The robust 2.5 M20B25 engine was proving unburstable - don’t forget the million-mile Mobil 1 E30 325i… but we were being blighted by a recalcitrant shifter rod that was about to let us down again!

Words and photographs: Ben Walsh

A

fter leaving Colorado we headed to New Mexico, but we didn’t do too much car related stuff here. The E30 was idling funny and there were a few other issues, so I met up with my good friend Matthew Jet (who also has an early model E30). We changed the idle control valve, the car had a different style of airbox fitted but the

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valve was for the correct period and car, so we swapped it across and did some other bits and pieces to the car.

The shifter rod had become loose again so we tightened that back up, gave the car a clean and hit the road. Next state - Texas!

BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

27

Feature

We stayed in Amarillo, ate a big steak and then headed out to Oklahoma as I wanted to go to a couple of shops.

First shop on the list was the FNA StreetOutlaws Firehouse, and then to Dallas where we went to GasMonkey Garage.

We then went to ArcLight Fab. For those that don’t know, this is Aaron Kauffman’s new shop. We met Aaron and he took about an hour out of his day to talk to us, personally showing us around his shop, and all his projects. He was truly interested in our adventure and gave us some places we should go and check out. What a decent guy!

We spent some time at the Texas State Fair, and coming home we hit what felt like a crater in the road. I am pretty sure the floor of the car hit the ground.

The wheel was badly damaged and I could feel the air was going down, and going down fast. I put my foot down and we made it to the hotel. When I got out of the car, I looked at the tyre and decided that was tomorrow’s problem and went to bed!

Thankfully I had a spare wheel in the trunk so I fitted it, but then realised the tyre was perished and was destroyed.

It made it to the local tyre shop around the corner, I went to a small independent place as I would rather help them out and give them my money, and it was more of an experience! They got it done much

28 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

Before we left our friend’s place he wanted to get a photo of me with the E30. I don’t like photos of myself at all, but I quite like this one.

faster when I said I would give them an extra $10 to do it ASAP! We used the spare rim and fitted the tyre off the busted wheel, good as new and off we went!

This time down towards Austin and San Antonio.

At this point all the travelling had caught up with me. We had a week down in the Austin/San Antonio region and a flu or something had hit me - I was truly exhausted. We managed to get out for two days and see Austin and then San Antonio, however I wish I could have explored more, but in reality I needed a rest.

We headed across to Houston where we met up with some friends, and then onto Mississippi to Alabama and then Florida!

What’s that I see?

Is it? No, it can’t be. But it really is!

That’s the sun!

So, our first stop in Florida was Tallahassee which was a really cool town and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Whilst driving around we tried to head to the coast as there had been a hurricane we wanted to go and take a look, and potentially see if there was anything that www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

We came across all these old rusted out trucks in some field; super cool!

we could do to help.

It was Halloween when we spent the evening at our friend’s house in Tampa.

They have young kids so we went trick or treating with them and then after that we had a few drinks. Since it was our Honeymoon we went as a dead husband and bride!

After Tampa we headed further south, as far south as we could go, and we hit up the Keys - it’s so beautiful down there.

After the Keys we then headed north again. First stop was Miami, exploring the graffiti, but we didn’t head too far into Miami as at this point we had spent a while in Florida and wanted to head towards Georgia and the Carolinas.

Our first stop outside of Florida was Savannah. We then headed across to Helen, and then towards Nashville, Tennessee. You cannot go from Georgia to Tennessee without driving a certain road. That road is the Dragon!

It was wet, greasy, slippery and so much fun! I had been here before but in the summertime, it was much busier then but you could drive a lot quicker on the roads.

I went to pull over to get out of the car to stretch our legs and have a look. As I pulled into the vista point; BANG! The car shuddered to a halt and then a storm started to roll in. No mobile signal either.

Oh no… Something had snapped.

Was this the end of our American dream? www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

We were stuck at the Vista point on top of the Tail of the Dragon, en route to Nashville. The shifter rod had now become totally disconnected from the car. It was cold and miserable as a storm started to roll in. I had no cell signal and if I couldn’t fix it we would have been stranded until someone rolled past or stopped. It was out of season and there truly was no one around. It was also probably one of the only days that I hadn’t worn all black and I had to get on this ground under a car.

We had been driving for three hours by this point, and the car was hot to say the least. Now I had to get my hand up between the prop and the exhaust.

Thankfully the shifter rod had just come un-threaded out of the shifter itself. It took about 30 minutes of laying on my back just trying to get a couple of threads, once it was in I was able to yell to Nicholl and ask her to twist the shifter, so it would tighten it up from the inside, as she would be able to get longer turns than what I could manage underneath.

She twisted it the wrong way – a great test for a newly married couple...

Okay, let’s do this again. Working together we managed to get it back in, it was now super tight, and I actually got rid of all the slop and it felt super solid. I then had to get out of my now very muddy and wet clothes at the top of a mountain.

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Stripped down to practically nothing... and then a car pulls into the vista point, fabulous! Got dressed, loaded the car up again and off we went.

Next stop, Nashville.

On our way to Nashville we decided to take all of the backroads to try and see as much of the country as we could. But then a trucking lorry had made a mistake and was blocking the road in front of us, so we had to go all the way back until I could find somewhere to cut across to another road, I had a plan in mind. There was an older lady behind me who looked really lost and didn’t know what to do.

She also had an out of town plate on.

I hopped out the car and went up to her, explained I too was not from around here. I think the California plate and my English accent was a big giveaway. I asked her where she was heading and it turned out she was also heading to Nashville to see her family, she was on the phone to her son and I said I would talk to him if she wanted. I had a word and explained the situation and said we were going to re-route. As I started to go down this diversion the road turned to mud and it was pretty steep, thankfully we both made it and she then took the interstate to Nashville and I carried on taking the backroads. Good deed done.

We stopped in to see a couple of friends, David and Chris. Truly amazing

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people, I have never met such kind people in the world other than on this trip.

We spent the day with them, got food and we sorted a few things out on the car. The electrics were playing up which we managed to sort out, and David gave me a new dash cover as my dash had certainly seen better days.

As we left Nashville we went towards Gatlinburg via Pigeon Forge, what another beautiful part of the world. Pigeon Forge is basically Vegas for kids. I really wish we could have spent longer in these areas, but at least we can add them onto the list of places we want to go back and visit.

After a day in Gatlinburg we drove the Great Smoky Mountains, and then headed towards Asheville and Charlotte, where we would spend the night.

Following Charlotte we did the final long drive of our trip -it was actually becoming rather sad that this was almost the end.

Charlotte to Apollo Beach, Florida ended up being a 12-hour drive as we took it slow, stopped when we wanted to and enjoyed some of the backroads before we got to Florida, the land where no fun roads exist. We spent our final two weeks down in Apollo Beach, Florida.

We had an AirBnB on the water and chilled out after a hectic three months.

We hosted thanksgiving with our Floridian

friends and enjoyed the final bit of sunshine before heading back to England for Christmas.

As we went across America we collected a sticker from each location.

I personally dislike stickers all over cars but these are true memories of our trip.

When I start to rebuild this car in England, I think I will replace the rear glass and maybe make this one into a coffee table or something similar.

And that was it, the final photo of us and the car. We dropped it off a few pounds heavier in the body but that’s America for you! Do you think I am the only person in the world who would want to ship an early model E30 diving board bumper car to Europe? And yes, the American bumpers will be staying!

We left the car in Saint Pete, Florida just outside of Tampa with my friend Corey, who would hang onto it for a few months. He has always wanted an E30 and he was happy to be the caretaker. I met Corey years ago via Instagram, and took my first trip to America back in 2017 where we went to Georgia and a few other states in a two week road trip. It was awesome and that really fuelled my love for America and the people. It was then on to my other friend Gabe to look after for a while.

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Gabe is a car detailer in Tampa, working at a rather prestigious shop called Presidential Auto Detail. Whilst he had the car he chucked some soap at it to clean it up in preparation for it to sit on a boat for a month or more.

I didn’t actually clean the inside of the car for our entire trip, it was rather nasty.

But on the grand scheme of things, after being driven 10,000-miles over three months it could have been a lot worse!

It took a really long time for the shipper to collect the car as they had a fair few problems with the paperwork. Before the car was due to go I asked my friend to take plenty of photos around the car, so if it turned up with any marks that weren’t on it beforehand I’d have some form of evidence that it wasn’t there prior to shipping.

The big ole oil mark on the hood is where I topped the oil up in north Georgia but forgot to put the cap back on and drove all the way to Tampa with it off, it was almost nine hours of driving before I realised. The cap was still sitting in

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the engine bay after all that time on the freeway!

Lately I have been busy with life, things have been getting me down and I feel like as soon as I start getting ahead in life, something else drags me back down.

It’s been hectic to say the least. Cars for me have always been an escape from everyday life. Something to focus on and take me away from the real world or what’s going on around us. This is why I never wanted to work with cars, I always wanted to keep it as a hobby, an escape.

Having no car or project car for the past year has been tough but on the other hand I have also been super busy. But now I guess I have one back in my life again. It’s landed!

When the car arrived it wouldn’t start, the battery appeared to be dead which is understandable as it had been sitting at a port and on a boat for quite a while.

What annoyed me is they clearly have used forks to move the car either on or off the boat. This damage could be easily fixed, but still I couldn’t believe

that the car was actually here. It almost seems unreal.

I spent the Saturday cleaning the car and tidying bits up and making a list, a very long list of what’s needed. I also took the window tint off, I really dislike tint on older cars and much prefer the fish bowl look. And there she sits, parked up where it is going to sit for a while whilst I work on it and also wait for it to get registered so I can actually drive it on the UK roads.

I have had so many people stop and talk to me about this car when I was out front working on it. It’s such a conversation starter and everyone is so interested in the story of our adventure.

I love how something like a car can get so many conversations started with complete strangers. Until I can get on with the work, she’s a perfect view from the living room!

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Hartge E30 H26

Tuned to perfection…

Sat in the backwater of Beckingen, in the tiny German state of Saarland, sat the headquarters of Hartge, a lesser known (in the UK) BMW tuning company. Hartge may not have enjoyed as high a profile as Alpina or AC Schnitzer here in the UK, but in Germany and the Benelux countries Hartge was highly respected for their quality tuning work and accessories, and like Alpina, they were granted manufacturer status by the German government in 1985.

Unfortunately the company was liquidated in 2019, when the founding owner Herbert Hartge, who was approaching retirement, couldn’t find a suitable party to take over the Hartge operation.

It is a sad tale, but Hartge have an amazing history tuning BMWs from the Neue Klasse cars and 2002s in the 1960s and 70s, right up to the Bangle-era cars and beyond. The E30 in this article was modified by Birds Garage, Hartge’s official representatives in the UK… Words & Photos Jake Senior/Atelier Schnell

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T

he M Technic II 325i Sport first went into production in 1988, following the release of the M Technic I, which had a limited run in 1987. As with the M Technic I, the cars were initially released with just three colour choices – Diamondschwartz Metallic, Delphin Metallic and Lachssilber Metallic - Black, Grey and Silver.

In 1989 a further three colours were added – Brilliant Rot, Alpinweiss II and Sterlingsilber Metallic - Red, White and Silver, (Sterlingsilber being lighter than Lachs). The 325i Sport models retailed for a mere £21,490 when first launched, (near enough to what good ones are fetching today), but put those digits into a time travelling inflation calculator and

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that takes us to a whopping £57,340 in today’s climate! Interestingly, that is roughly the going rate for a top of the range, top performing 3 Series model today, like the M340i, yet quite a lot of people still had a moan when the OTR price of the G20 M340i was released.

This particular 325i Sport, presented in 244 Sterlingsilber with 0269 Anthracite Cloth, has a rather prestigious background, as it was first owned by BMW GB Limited as a ‘BMW Fleet’ company car, which no doubt would have belonged to a member of senior middle management. First registered in March 1991 it would have been a symbol of status and wealth for the time, and in typical ‘Sport’ fashion it was equipped

with an array of optional extras from the factory: 200 – Delete Catalysor, 206 – 5-Speed Sports Gearbox, 209 – Limited Slip Differential, 215 – Power Assisted Steering, 335 – M Technic Sports Package, 401 – Electric Sliding Roof, www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Hartge E30 H26

The E30’s conventional three-box design means it still looks as fresh and attractive today as when it first rolled off the production line in 1982, and in Sport guise it really is a looker

410 – Front Electric Window, 415 – Rear Window Blind, 428 – Triangle & First Aid Kit, 497 – Rear Central Arm Rest, 500 – Headlight Wash-wiper System and 551 – On-Board Computer (13 Button).

The M Technic Sports Package included the distinctive M Technic II Body kit and rear boot spoiler, along with M Technic Suspension equipped with 15mm lowering springs, and Boge M Technic shock absorbers. The Sports package also featured an Anthracite Headliner, M

Hartge door handles are an unusual and contentious addition, loved by some and loathed by others

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Technic one-piece Leather Gear shifter, and the smaller 370mm variant of the M Technic II Leather Steering Wheel. As well as this, it also featured a Rear View Mirror with Map Reading Lights for those late night forest rallies and Rear Pop out Windows with Shadow Trim, among other options, which were standard on Sport Models.

To add to this extensive list, a further set of desirable additions were made at a later date in the car’s early life, such as

a Black Leather Sports interior with Rear Central Armrest and Ski Passage (with Ski bag), in place of the Anthracite Cloth which the car received from the factory.

It has also been treated to a rare set of ‘BMW Premium Sound’ Parcel shelf speakers, finished in black to accompany the Rear Window blind. The car is topped off with a set of unicorn hooves from an E30 M3 Evolution II – the 16” BBS cross-spoke alloy wheels, with the elusive centre caps and all!

Being born into BMW gentry and having already led a pampered life, the car found its way into Birds, Hartge in Middlesex in the 1990s where it was sent by its then owner for the full H26 treatment! Bird’s has a rich heritage with BMW, both as a brand and as a dealership, being among the first in the UK to be awarded a BMW franchise back in the 1970s. As time progressed Bird’s gained independence and found their way into the specialist area of tuning and performance upgrades, and as a result were able to obtain an exclusive UK contract with Hartge GmbH, establishing the relationship that they’re renowned for today.

The cars that Birds produced from the late 1980s to the 1990s rivaled the likes of Alpina and AC Schnitzer, with their conversions and bespoke performance upgrade packages. Hartge conversions came in a variety of forms, from a full overhaul with performance upgrades and body kit, along with adornments and decals, or simply just performance modifications with badges.

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Feature

Hartge gear knob and pedal set give this E30 even more of a sportier feel

From September 19th to 27th 1997, our ex BMW Fleet 325i Sport was booked in for an eight-day retreat at Birds UK, where it underwent some extreme engineering therapy. During this period the car was subject to a complete Hartge head rebuild, followed by clutch, gearshift, suspension and exhaust modifications, and most importantly – the Hartge badges were applied to boot and front grille (where the real horsepower comes from!)

Hartge conversions weren’t documented and registered in the same manner as Alpina builds, and weren’t solely exclusive to brand new cars, as shown with ours here at the age of six!

The inclusive list of works carried out

by Birds consisted of a machined cylinder head with a compression modification. A

H23/26 Camshaft was fitted with a H26 Gasket Set to avoid any oil leaks. A head bolt installation set was also included as part of the cylinder head work. Mobil 1 synthetic oil (drain & refill) was used and a coolant flush/anti-freeze top up was carried out. Cambelt and tensioner plus rockers and eccentrics for the M20 engine were replaced. An uprated clutch was also installed, along with a short shift gear lever. New Hartge spec (Bilstein) suspension was fitted, along with an E30 ‘export’ exhaust with stainless steel tailpipes. The finishing touches to the conversion consisted of a Hartge alloy pedal set being fitted.

As standard, Hartge fitted Bilstien dampers, which were rock solid in comparison to those of the M Technic/ Boge set up, and have been noted for

being too harsh for everyday driving, with dashboard shattering stiffness. But throw the car into a corner and you really understand why Hartge fitted them, with sharp and precise maneuverability and surefooted handling, the car stays well rooted to the tarmac at all times.

The H26 was a direct rival for the Alpina C2 2.5. Early cars were based on the 323i model which consisted of utilising an E12/28 525 block mated with a 323i camshaft, which when combined, birthed a 2.6-litre engine producing 190bhp - a template which Alpina also followed with the C1 2.5.

With the second generation 3 Series, the introduction of the 325 model made things a little easier, as the good engineers at BMW had already done a lot of the problem solving by increasing the

The E30 H26 is in impeccable condition, and still looks as good today as when it left the factory. Some might say the car needs to be running on Hartge alloy wheels to complete the picture, but it’s a hard one to call when it’s sitting on these gorgeous 16-inch BBS rims, also found on the E30 M3 Evo II

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Hartge E30 H26

The E30’s cabin is still a nice place to be, being superbly built from quality materials in typical teutonic style, and this example is lifted with the addition of a few bespoke Hartge trinkets – see other photos

size of the M20 engine! With this iteration of the revered M20, the bottom end was left well alone, primarily focusing on a top end rebuild, with the cylinder head being ported and polished and gaining larger valve clearances.

The standard profile of the BMW cam was rather timid, with a 252° profile.

Alpina on the other hand had developed a patented 268° cam, which was used universally across the C1 2.3 and C2 2.7 range. Hartge took things a step further, with an aggressive 280° profiled cam, unleashing torque and power higher up the rev range where the other engines started to get a little ‘breathless’.

This refined methodology produced the same 190bhp as its earlier H26 derivative, yet through a more efficient process, making the H26 a truly unrivalled adversary in its field.

When it comes to the driving experience, the Hartge short shift gear lever, mated with the factory Getrag 260 Sport Gearbox, and the 3:91 Limited Slip Differential makes for a spritely ride, in comparison to that of the standard 325i!

The 15-inch BBS alloys with a smaller rolling radius and tyre size of 205/55R15 leave the impression of feeling rather

16-inch BBS cross-spoke alloy wheels from the E30 M3 Evo II look superb on this H26/Sport

under geared and it struggles to reach 60mph in second gear. However, with aid of the 16” BBS wheels from the E30 M3 Evo II - those woes are left well in the dust! This combination, paired with the H26 engine which effortlessly soars to 6000rpm with buttery-smooth precision and a hidden punch of power concealed in the latter half of the rev range squeezes every last ounce from its additional 18bhp. The H26 reaches 60mph from rest in just 7.1 seconds, that’s a full second faster than the standard 325i, and on paper it boasts a top speed of

141mph. However, in various tests the H26 has managed almost 150mph in fifth gear at just shy of 6000rpm.

The handling is precise and purposefully poised, and the tastefully upgraded E30 M3 brakes give an air of confidence when pushing through the back roads and decelerating from high speeds. Combining the carefully curated attributes of the 325i Sport, Hartge H26 and the E30 M3 Sport Evolution II, really makes for one thoughtfully refined driver’s car, making it one of the best E30s I’ve ever driven!

A big thank you goes to Jake Senior, proprietor of design house Atelier Schnell for writing this article and providing photos to accompany the article. Atelier Schnell can be found on Instagram @atelier_schnell

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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Feature

The Classic Car Drive In Weekend at Bicester Heritage Words and photographs by Andrew Coles

I’m sitting here and I’ve been staring at my laptop screen for the past five minutes, desperately thinking of a way to open this story. Such is life in 2020 – day to day it all seems pretty normal but if you take a step back, then whoa, what the hell just happened?

On the face of it, the three-day Classic Car Drive In Weekend was a wonderful but pretty standard Bicester event.

“Large car event at Bicester Heritage with unseen oddities, old racing cars on the test track, drive-in movies and club displays on the airfield. Good turnout of BMWs from the Club. Sunshine, pub roast on the way home.”

Much like Sunday Scramble, Super Scramble, the old Flywheel Festival.

Nothing wrong with that?

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But no, when you put the Classic Car Drive In Weekend into context you realise that a very extreme set of circumstances created a small window of opportunity for a brave, unique event that went off exactly as planned. This time last year, if someone had told you that we’d be faced with a situation so serious that the Government would outlaw all classic car events over the summer and indefinitely

confine us to our homes, you would have laughed.

But here we are, and we were thrilled to be back into it at Bicester, in modified format, albeit. Ordinarily we would have ticked off two Sunday Scrambles and a Super Scramble by October. But not long after we all huddled together for warmth back in January, the virus became an unavoidable part of our lives and social distancing became the new normal. The following seven months would become a time that none of us will ever forget.

Brand Events, the organisers of the London Classic Car Show, saw a window of opportunity and put their money where their mouth was to plan the

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Classic Car Drive In Weekend. Planning a major event in this uncertain climate, even one designed around Covid-19 social distancing restrictions, was a gutsy move that could have cost them dearly. And now with the virus making a resurgence again, it seems that it really was a window of opportunity seized. Two months earlier or later and it could have been a different story.

With its vast areas of airfield space, Bicester Heritage is arguably the best venue in the country for a socially distanced event. The weekend was set around drive-in movies, and dotted around the airfield were several big screens, all showing a variety of automotive-themed movies concurrently.

Attendees could book in for a movie, for the show, or both.

The area usually used for parking at Sunday Scramble was earmarked for the show area, and an assortment of exhibitors and Clubs spread out in this area to show what they’ve got. For many it was the first time out in their cars since lockdown. Our London Region and the Alpina Register were particularly well represented by members eager to get out, with some very desirable Alpinas, www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

an especially clean E28, a factory-fresh E30 M3 Evo and a bold Z1 headlining our space on Saturday when I attended.

Bonus points go to the owner of the Dakar Yellow Z3 who had carefully placed a period correct cassette tape into the player – nicely done.

The test track was in use all weekend, and the pit area was filled with an unexpected volume of high-quality historic race and rally cars being put through their paces. Here in the UK we’re usually very lucky to have good access to cars

of this calibre at the various historic race weekends and events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Revival, but not so in 2020, and the Drive In Weekend provided a rare opportunity to see and hear these cars in person. Highlights included a good selection of 90s Subaru WRC cars in the iconic shade of World Rally Blue, a 90s Benetton Formula One car, the ex-Biasion Lancia 037 Evo 2, a handful of E30 M3s in touring car and rally specification, and a good selection of pre-war racing cars.

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Feature The technical site was open for visitors, although the specialists were closed for social distancing reasons. The team from The Road Rat, newly arrived on site at Bicester, were selling their excellent magazine from their new office and the Wriggly Monkey Brewery was open for pints. The main hanger was filled with Bonhams MPH’s September auction where there was a lot to tempt, but it was hard to walk past a magnificent oneowner, 29,000-mile V12-powered E38 750iL that sold for £10,125.

To walk around as a visitor, the event felt like a quiet Super Scramble. Ticket numbers were limited to a few thousand and everything was spaced out, so it never felt busy or full. The vast Bicester Heritage airfield made it easy to find some fresh air, and there were Covid marshals stationed at hot spots reminding people to maintain social distancing and wear masks when queueing or entering

40 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

enclosed spaces. The mood was one of quiet appreciation – I don’t think it was the best event that we’ve ever been to, but given the circumstances, we were all just thrilled to be out and about in our cars in the sunshine. And of course, seeing a Martini-liveried Lancia 037 in a full-throttle powerslide for real is never a bad consolation prize after so many lockdown hours spent watching 1980s rally clips on YouTube!

Will we see a return to the Classic Car Drive In Weekend 2021? I mean this in the nicest possible way, but I hope not.

If the world and our small ecosystem of classic car events is back to normal and social distancing is but a curious memory of 2020, then there will be no need for an event like this. But should we still be facing this demon next summer, rest easy in the knowledge that events can be run safely in the right circumstances.

A sideways spin…

One of the standout features of the Classic Car Drive In Weekend were the dynamic displays on the Bicester Heritage test track, where a number of classic competition vehicles were put through their paces throughout the three-day weekend.

It wasn’t a timed competition and there were no prizes on offer, but put a fresh-out-of-lockdown driver behind the wheel of a racing or rally car with a few thousand people looking on, and there’s bound to be a show…

Thanks to a favour from our friends at the Wriggly Monkey Brewery, Straight Six had the rare privilege of jumping into the co-driver’s seat with David Wylie in his exworks BMW 2002 rally car for a couple of sessions on Saturday afternoon.

This is no ordinary 2002 – it was built

by BMW’s motorsport department in 1974 as a works rally car to full Group 2 specification, including the screaming M12/7 Formula 2 engine. BMW subsequently pulled out of rallying so it was sold in 1975 to the German privateer team KWS Autotechnic, and in the hands of Achim Warmbold and John Davenport it won the Sachs Winter Rally in Germany and the Donegal International Rally. This was a memorable victory at the famous Irish event – not only was it the first pacenotes running, but Warmbold and Davenport were also the first non-Irish crew to win in the event’s history.

David notes that this car represents a curious dead-end in BMW’s illustrious

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motorsport history. The Bavarian brand never made a serious assault on the World Rally Championship; its efforts were killed off as part of the fallout from the oil crisis, much as the 2002 Turbo never really had its time to shine. But David is confident that BMW had actually developed a world-beating rally car, one that would have been more than a match for Lancia and Ford with adequate development and resources for a proper factory campaign.

Wearing a borrowed helmet and race suit, I climb in and strap myself into the right-hand co-driver’s seat. The body was restored some years ago with all original metalwork (the car has never been crashed), and to improve safety the original Scheel rally seats have been replaced with modern Recaro racing seats and Schroth harnesses – David has the originals in storage. But otherwise, my view is exactly as Davenport’s would have been. The lightweight fibreglass dash, the map lights, the classic Halda Twinmaster odometer, the Greenx quartz stopwatch and rows of chunky switches are all original. The roll cage is comically minimalist and a pair of fat braided oil hoses run under my left foot to the drysump tank in the boot.

After a carefully-sequenced flick of switches, David presses the start button and that angry Formula 2 engine fires into life, beginning a strict warm-up regime.

Instantly the cabin fills with the fumes of jungle juice racing fuel and the hollow tin reverberates the cacophony of engine and driveline noise making conversation www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

difficult without shouting – gear dogs and parts of the free-spinning racing clutch bang beneath me at idle and I can already feel the heat beginning to radiate through the firewall. David selects left and back to engage the dogleg first with a loud clunk as the straight-cut gearset engages, and with a flurry of revs we’re into the form-up line, giving way to a works Group B Audi Quattro, as you do…

We line up, much as you would on a rally stage, and eventually it’s our turn to go. The marshal counts us down - five, four, three, two, one. David gives it a boot full of revs and I can’t help but shout ‘Go!’ as the flag drops and we’re off, sideways in wheelspin away from the line. Into second on the short straight before we tip it in for a 90-degree left, steering it on the throttle and into third as we straighten up.

Still in tarmac specification as it ran at Donegal in 1975, the 2002 is ideally suited to the Bicester test track. The short gearing means we’re deep into fifth (at not much more than 100mph) down the back straight, and the 270-ish BHP from that Formula 2 engine gives ample opportunity to play with the throttle and adjust the car through the tighter bends. Driving it sideways, on throttle, is mandatory. The engine feels like it has no inertia, building and dropping revs with the slightest stab of throttle. It’s as close to a living, breathing, ready-for-war creature as I’ve ever experienced in a car.

And then there’s the noise – all 9,000rpm of engine roar mixed with the whine of the straight cut gearset and the constant gnawing as those fat, sticky

10-inch wide Pirelli tarmac rally tyres fight to grip the tarmac. David throws it about this way and that, hopping kerbs with hilarious abandon and winding on ever-increasing amounts of lock as we showboat for the crowds. More than once I find myself looking toward the A-pillar for the direction of travel, and all I can do is laugh out loud. It’s such good fun, and I really can see how this would be a devastatingly quick way to cover a bumpy Irish lane at enormous speed.

Safety be damned – give me some pace notes, let’s go!

It’s a physical experience, and even a short two-lap session leaves you exhilarated and craving more. I’m exhausted and we’ve only done a few minutes of driving – I can’t believe what it must have been like to be strapped into this car, day after day, on the longdistance rallies of the 1970s.

David used the 2002 to win the VSCC’s Pomeroy Trophy at Silverstone in 2017, he usually drives it to and from the track and says its brilliant fun to take to the pub on a Sunday. But his use of it is somewhat limited to events and high days, as reliably running a full-spec Formula 2 racing engine on the road when its life is measured in hours, not thousands of miles, is no simple or cheap task.

I climb out, and stagger back to the brewery to return my suit and helmet. We sit down for a pint and chat with elation about the laps we’ve just done – it’s only a special car that makes you feel this way.

What an experience!

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Feature

North Wales Trip D Words by Jonathan Bamford

uring September this year, the South Wales Region took a trip up to North Wales. Quite a lot of planning went into this trip.

As it was the first of its kind that I had organized, I tried to ensure all bases were covered and there was plenty to do and see for everyone. Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions at the time, a lot of places to visit were on limited hours of operation. This meant that the host of events I had penciled in earlier in the year were not available. Still, with the weather on our side and the roads ahead of us, we couldn’t have asked any more from a Club weekend.

I’m quite good with computers but still ‘old school’ when it comes to planning a route. Therefore, I proceeded to cut up and copy my A2Z to create a map big enough to visualize a clear picture. Once completed, the sharpie was put into action.

It was an early start from Swansea to ensure we could capture all the fantastic roads along the way. We left at around 7:30am and proceeded to head up the Swansea valley towards Sennybridge.

While looking for roads to experience,

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

the Abergwesyn Pass was top of the list.

We joined at Llanwrtyd Wells and headed over to Tregaron. With wonderful scurrying streams, wild landscapes and pine forests, it’s not a fast road, but its 20 miles are a real joy. The steep series of hairpins known as ‘The Devil’s Staircase’ along the way are an exhilarating welcome for any BMW. From there, we had planned a stop in Aberystwyth. After searching for a parking space for around 20 minutes, we decided to continue on and stop further along the way. We headed out on the A4120 towards Devil’s Bridge, where we stopped for a well-earned break. After a spot of lunch at the Hafod Hotel, we continued on the tremendous mountain road to Rhayader. From there, it was

a leisurely drive up the A483, passing through Oswestry and ending up at our second stop at Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

Constructed between 1795 and 1805 and forming part of the Ellesmere Canal, this is a remarkable feat of engineering.

With fantastic views across the valley from above and a spectacular sight from below, its original cost of £47,000 was truly worth every penny.

Time was pressing and we made our way from there to the hotel in Caernarfon.

Heading across the A5 and taking the Llanberis bypass down into Caernarfon, through the foothills of Snowdon, as we turned off the A5 the sun was setting and lighting up Snowdon, showing it off in all its glory. It really does make you feel so

BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

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Feature

small when you are actually there. The landscape did not disappoint and on arrival at the hotel, everyone had a welldeserved drink. At the hotel, we met up with North Wales members Jon and his wife Rhian. Jon jumped at the chance to join in with his M4 and went ahead and booked his place at the hotel directly.

It was great to meet fellow Regional members and chat about our similar interests.

Saturday was another fantastic day.

The sun was shining and there was only one thing to do, go on a trip to Horseshoe Pass. With four BMWs charging across the fantastic Welsh landscape, I realized how much I enjoyed driving and arranging these events for members. All the planning and arrangements made were suddenly worth it. Travelling up, we stopped off at Llanberis for photos. It was too good of an opportunity to miss, with Snowdon towering over us and the sun high in the sky. When we arrived at the Ponderosa Café at Horseshoe Pass, it was very busy with bikers and other car enthusiasts, not to mention the walkers and hikers out enjoying the Welsh sunshine. A great

44 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

location to stop and relax. It felt like we were on top of the world. Having had a look at all the other vehicles parked up and after enjoying a coffee and cake, we had to head back down to Zip World in Betws-y-Coed for our Forrest Coaster ride!

It was well organized and the staff were very friendly and worked hard to ensure all items were sanitized before any rider got on the sled. It was an exciting ride and it took some nerve not to hit the brakes in some of the tight corners. On leaving there, it was surprising how quickly the day was going. We stopped off at Betwsy-Coed where it would seem that the entire world had decided to eat. Having strolled around to find somewhere, some decided to take away pizza and others fish and chips! It was so relaxing and a fine way to end a fantastic day, recapping on all the day’s activity.

Sunday was our last day and our much-anticipated trip to Portmeirion Village. Another fantastic day weather wise and as we had some time before we needed to be at the village, we headed off for yet more driving and took a trip over to Anglsey. Some

great views of Snowdon from the island and some lovely twisting and winding roads. After a short stop, we headed down to Portmeirion and first off to Castell Deudraeth for lunch. I don’t think any of us were disappointed with the food that was served. Highly recommended if you are around the area.

Following on from lunch, we headed on down into the village with our cars for our mini car show. We were positioned right in the centre where the public were offered to help score the cars based on a number of factors to ensure each member stood a fair chance. After counting the final scores, the award for best car went to Peter Sherratt who was overjoyed to have won, fighting off the favorite, Jon’s M4, as I’m sure all would have agreed. We had the rest of the day to wander around the village and explore all of its beauty in the sunshine, which was fantastic.

Leaving Portmeirion, Jon and Rhian joined the convoy down the West coast for a short while before heading back off home to Oswestry, leaving the South Wales members to enjoy a leisurely drive home, back to where it all started two days earlier.

The trip was a huge success and I would like to thank Peter & Caroline, Phil, Peter, Jon & Rhian for making the effort to attend. Following its success, it is now to be an annual tradition. Please watch this space for more details.

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BE PART OF HISTORY JOIN US FOR OUR 30TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT 30 JULY – 1 AUGUST 2021*

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Feature

Straight Six’s Andrew Coles dips his toe in at the Club’s most recent Snetterton track day.

It all begins here…

Words and photos

by Andrew Coles

46 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

I

t was an eager group of Club members and friends who took to Snetterton on a miraculously dry and (almost) sunny Monday in late September for the Club’s return to the Norfolk circuit.

Whilst large gatherings of people are obviously still out for the time being, track days are ideally suited to social distancing and with the careful protocols put in place by track-owner MSV, the day was run in complete safety. The only thing to change from a Club perspective was the ban on spectators and the loss of in-car tuition and instruction from experienced Club racers, but they were still there to give tips and advice from the pits and paddock.

The field was varied and interesting – two-thirds wore BMW badges, with a good selection of Porsche 911 models and a mind-bendingly quick McLaren 720S being driven to its absolute limits, all day. The focus of a Club track day is obviously on BMW models, but all brands www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

are welcome and many Club members chose to bring their other car out for a run.

There was a huge and varied range of cars wearing the roundel, from the famous ‘Rhubarb’ Neue Klasse saloon through E30, 36 and 46 track cars from the Racing series, a hulking X6M, a pair of M Roadsters, a Z4M, screaming E90 M3 road cars and even a diesel F10 5 Series.

“I have to drive this to work tomorrow,” quipped its owner who undoubtedly clocked up more laps than just about anyone else. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

It’s not often that we members of the Straight Six editorial team are permitted to leave our desks, even rarer for us to don a helmet, but I did manage to swap my camera for a steering wheel for a few short stints and it was such brilliant fun.

It has been a long few years since I was last on track and my road car is not track prepared, so I was initially a little nervous.

My nervousness was compounded by the fact that not only had I not driven Snetterton before, I’d never even been there. I was up late the night before

watching YouTube, trying to memorise the bends. I arrived with the first three and final two corners fresh in my mind, but no idea of what lay between them. I may have been distracted watching BTCC crash highlight reels…

The day began with three slow sighting laps behind a course car, and I excitedly filed in behind a rather serious E36 treating the session as a warm up. I remembered an old track day trick of tucking in behind someone who looks like they know what they’re doing to learn the lines, and it BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

47

Feature worked a treat.

Heading into my first session I had half an idea of where the track went and a vague approximation of what line I should be on. There were two surprises – the first is that I was fully expecting to be the slowest car of the day and a moving road block, but I wasn’t. The second is how polite and courteous the faster cars were on track – they know what it’s like to be on your first or second track day or in a road car and they accordingly give plenty of room. The serious guys know that this isn’t a race meeting, and that’s important for us beginners.

As long as you watch your mirrors like a hawk and move over when you can, it’s actually kind of fun. You learn a lot about lines and setup by watching the serious drivers pass you, and having that McLaren belt past at full-chat was awesome. You think you’re going fast and then it makes you feel like you’re parked up stationary what a machine!

My favourite corner quickly become ‘Bomb Hole’ a third or fourth gear right hander (I never did work out which gear was best) that dips deliciously into a crater at its apex. Hitting it hard, knowing that the suspension was hunkering down with added load and that maximum grip was available as you pass through and up to exit was hilarious, as was then fighting oversteer around the never-ending right that is the off-camber Coram and then gathering it all up to send the vehicle’s mass the other direction into the left at Murray’s. Almost like a Scandinavian flick in rallying, every lap.

48 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

This tale does come with a slight word of warning, and that’s to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into if you’ve never done it before. I was perfectly satisfied with my car before Snetterton and now I’m looking at bigger brakes, better tyres, it goes on and on. “I wonder what Oulton’s like”, I found myself musing later that night. YouTube comes out again, it begins.

BMW Car Club Racing’s Neil McDonald is like some kind of neighbourhood dealer, always ready to supply your first track day

hit because he knows you’ll be hooked!

Five years later and your car is stripped out and you’re on the starting grid for a race at Brands Hatch and you’ll muse, how did I get here? Oh, it was that September day at Snetterton…

But all jokes aside, there are few more passionate, friendly and helpful people other than Neil and his BMW Car Club Racing team, backed up by seemingly everyone else in the paddock. All day I was talking to people about how the day was going, with Neil and a few others offering up helpful advice for a few minor vibration issues above 100mph that I discovered.

If you think you’re comfortable with becoming a racing driver or if you have enough self-restraint to be happy with simply experiencing the UK’s tracks in your road car and can leave it at that, then a BMW Car Club track day is a wonderful experience. But if it does end with an addiction, don’t say I didn’t warn you…

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BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

49

crossword BMW Car Club (UK) Crossword 1

2

3

4

6

5

8

7

9

11

10

12

13

14

18

15

19

16

17

20

21

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Winner of last month’s crossword Christopher Waight November 2020 All entrants for Crossword November’s issue crossword must be

received into the office by 11th November. Winner will be announced in next issue. The first correct crossword chosen at random will receive Meguiars Goodies.

Please email all completed crosswords to office@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk or post it to BMW Car Club GB, Unit 5h, Glan Yr Afon, Aberystywth, SY23 3JQ

Answers to October 2020 Crossword Across: 1. Aston, 6. Moss, 10. Stadium Art, 12. Gaydon, 13. Lo, 14. SH (Second-hand), 15. Lionel, 16. Martin, 17. Al (Aluminium), 18. An, 21. i Eight, 25. Trent Vanes, 28. Stet, 29. Moers Down: 1. ASG, 2. St Athan, 3. Tay, 4. Odds, 5. NIO, 6. mm (millimetre), 7. Oar, 8. Sr, 9. Stroll. 11. Unpin, 13. Leather, 14.

Smarts, 15. Limit, 19. Ciao, 20. Dee, 22. EVM, 23. GNE, 24. TSS, 26. RT, 27. nT

Across 1.

BMW orange metallic paint colour [code B44], one of the options for the 1M and named after a Spanish port city (8) 7.

Abbreviated term for an electrical multimeter based on the original logo for it measuring 'amps', 'volts' and 'ohms' (1,1,1) 8.

Initials of the UK's flag-carrier airline (1,1) 9.

Keanu Reeves character in "The Matrix" films, also used by Airbus to denote new engine option aircraft models (3 / 1,1,1) 10.

Meat from cattle, also slang term for having a grievance (4) 11.

Term used to describe an engine with bore to stroke ratio >1 e.g. BMW N45 B16 A has 84mm bore and 72mm stroke (10) 13.

Could be Service Engine Soon, i.e. the warning light indicating that scheduled maintenance is required? (1,1,1) 16. …Autocentres: Bridgestone tyres in 2018 acquired this UK exhaust, tyre and battery retailer with now 26 branches across the West Country (1,1,1) 18.

Wilhelm…: BMW's pivotal design chief 1955 to 1970 (10) 21.

Initials for the body that handled UK University applications 1961-93 (1,1,1,1) 22.

Initials for the video-based referee reviewing system approved by FIFA for the 2018 World Cup, now widely used in professional football (1,1,1) 23.

Commonly-used initials for last individually numbered UK-only E34 M5 cars as well as Australian 540i models (1,1) 24.

Brian…: English musician, record producer and visual artist whose work includes the distinctive sounds for Microsoft and Apple as well as the ambient music for BMW advertisements (3) 25.

Classic white BMW paint colour [code 085] named after a French skiing resort at the foot of Mont Blanc (8)

Sponsored by

Across 24. Brian…: English musician, record 1. BMW orange metallic paint colour [code producer and visual artist whose work B44], one of the options for the 1M and includes the distinctive sounds for Microsoft named after a Spanish port city (8) and Apple as well as the ambient music for 7. Abbreviated term for an electrical BMW advertisements (3) multimeter based on the original logo for 25. Classic white BMW paint colour [code it measuring ‘amps’, ‘volts’ and ‘ohms’ 085] named after a French skiing resort at the (1,1,1) foot of Mont Blanc (8) 8. Initials of the UK’s flag-carrier airline (1,1) Down 9. Keanu Reeves character in “The Matrix” 1. BMW term for variable valve timing (5) films, also used by Airbus to denote new 2. “Changing:…” - title of the official podcast Down 1.

BMW term for variable valve timing (5) option aircraft (3 /of1,1,1) of BMW (5) 2.engine "Changing:…"

- title of themodels official podcast BMW (5) 3.

Always (4) cattle, also 3. Always (4) 4.10. Meat A loop from with a running knot (5) slang term for 5.

Inspire or permeate with (5) a grievance (4)Club President (4) 4. A loop with a running knot (5) 6. having John:…

- Our BMW Car 8.

Scold or criticise (6) 11. Term an engine with 12.

Italian used word forto fast,describe used as a model suffix by Alfa Romeo (6) 5. Inspire or permeate with (5) 14. for car crash (5) bore Alternative to stroketermratio >1 e.g. BMW N45 B16 6. John:… - Our BMW Car Club President (4) 15.

BMW E28, E34, E39, E60 etc followed by Motorsport designation (4,1) 16.

(Minus the hyphen) series of electric and hybrid cars shown by Audi A hasfrom 84mm bore and 72mm stroke (10) 8. Scold or criticise (6) 2009 onwards - actually the word for excrement in French! (1,4 / 5) 13.

Could be Service Engine Soon, i.e.

12. Italian word for fast, used as a model 17.

Borough of New York City, home of New York Yankees baseball team (5) the warning light indicating that scheduled suffix by Alfa Romeo (6) 18.

Nick…: BMW Car Club E9 Register Officer. Also Port City in East Yorkshire (4)is required? (1,1,1) maintenance 14. Alternative term for car crash (5) 19.

Could be Football Club or Fault Code? (1,1) 20.

Wholesome or healthyBridgestone in Italian and Spanish (4) in 16. …Autocentres: tyres 15. BMW E28, E34, E39, E60 etc followed by 2018 acquired this UK exhaust, tyre and Motorsport designation (4,1) battery retailer with now 26 branches 16. (Minus the hyphen) series of electric across the West Country (1,1,1) and hybrid cars shown by Audi from 2009 18. Wilhelm…: BMW’s pivotal design onwards - actually the word for excrement in chief 1955 to 1970 (10) French! (1,4 / 5) 21. Initials for the body that handled UK 17. Borough of New York City, home of New University applications 1961-93 (1,1,1,1) York Yankees baseball team (5) 22. Initials for the video-based referee 18. Nick…: BMW Car Club E9 Register reviewing system approved by FIFA for Officer. Also Port City in East Yorkshire (4) the 2018 World Cup, now widely used in 19. Could be Football Club or Fault Code? professional football (1,1,1) (1,1) 23. Commonly-used initials for last 20. Wholesome or healthy in Italian and individually numbered UK-only E34 M5 cars Spanish (4) as well as Australian 540i models (1,1)

socialmedia New Club merchandise The best place for updates on new Club merchandise is on our social media.

We have a new line of Regional stickers in the form of a shield style, as well as Club branded face masks which you can now purchase on our Shop.

Winter is on the horizon, so keep your eyes peeled on our Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as your fortnightly newsletters, for new Club branded winter gear!

50 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

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regionalnews Central Tony Skerrett central Region sponsored by

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Follow up Report on Niek Nijsen E9 Brunhilda Restoration Project See Niek’s web site: www.nieknijsen.com/brunhilda-blog and ‘how to’ videos.

Peak District Tour and the East Coast Seaside Trip planned for September are now postponed to 2021 Regional Meets It is my intention to reintroduce Regional Meets for 6 members.

The first meeting will hopefully be in November at the Aviator Hotel, Sywell, Northampton. The Belge Café at Beachhampton will possibly also feature as well. We simply should endeavour to promote the Regional meets in spite of the current pandemic and provided we are sensible and alert, we should prosper.

My Car by Peter Collison

The Runabout Series 1 BMW 116d Efficient Dynamics business 4 Cylinder Model.

No road tax, 60 urban/70 plus motorway mpg.

What more could you want in an everyday car?

Superb Road holding, driveability, corners like a serpent and economical to the point of having a laugh!

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

VISIT PROJECT C.A.R.™ Back to the lower half of the car, this time the front and rear brakes. The left rear has been playing up a lot in that it’s pretty much locked in place. I suspected the handbrake to be the cause of the issue but couldn’t get to it as it requires me to take off the brake disk. This turned out to be more of an issue. I ended up using a bearing removal tool and slowly pulled the disk off. This worked and I finally had a good view of the handbrake parts, all of which will be replaced.

I shifted my attention to the front where I had the additional work of removing the brake callipers as well. It was now time to separate the engine from the body. Now, normally you’d do this with an engine crane and lift it up through the top of the car. This would require me to remove the bonnet, find a crane and push the car back far enough to get access to the front. Something that wasn’t going to happen since I just removed the wheels…

I figured that it would be possible to reverse the installation method they use in the factory; in that I would be able to remove the engine by removing the entire subframe assembly. This would then stay behind as I raise the bodywork using the lift. My homemade cart was placed underneath the subframe in order to move it around once extracted before I undid the top of the suspension. This was required as it would stay behind with the subframe, allowing easy removal afterwards. Beware that if you do this yourself, the suspension will fall over as soon as the body is raised far enough. Using a strap to keep them upright will stop this from happening. Anyway, the car was lowered far enough for the subframe to rest on the cart and I began the separation process by undoing the rear gearbox mount. To stop it from falling down, I placed a strap around the backend of the transmission which was held in place with a piece of wood inside the car. The bolts that attach the subframe to the body were undone and the moment of separation arrived. I slowly raised the lift, only to see the gearbox going up along with it as well! A revised attempt went well, and the engine and body finally came apart from each other.

With a crane I could now remove the automatic gearbox from the engine as I’ll be replacing this with a manual 5-speed. It turns out that the automatic gearbox requires a bit more work. I had to remove an additional 4 bolts on the “inside” of the gearbox.

However, the bolts can be accessed in a particular position where there’s a small “cutout” in the engine block. Anyway, in order to position these bolts in the opening, I had to rotate the crankshaft.

Turns out I need a 36mm socket to do that… now awaiting special tools to complete the job!

BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

53

regionalnews

Central West Dave Evans Central West Region sponsored by

07800 616500 centralwest@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Autobahn Servicing Ltd Unit 11, Pitcairn Drive Halesowen B62 8AG Tel 0121 585 9146 www.autobahnservicing.co.uk info@autobahnservicing.co.uk

Our first pub meet following lockdown was at the new venue of The Three Horseshoes in Alveley near Bridgnorth. Thankfully we had a fine and dry evening and were able to mingle around a varied and eye catching selection of BMs at a safe distance outdoors. It was good to catch up after several months of inactivity. However, the new government restrictions have once again prevented any further gathering for the foreseeable future.

So we will keep you updated as guidelines change.

Recent events Shelsley members day was on Friday 25th September and it was another opportunity to try out skills on the world famous hill climb.

Club Trackday at Snetterton race circuit went ahead on Monday 28th September, it was a dry day on which several of us attended and enjoyed unlimited track time. If you have ever thought of partaking then give it a try, it’s well worth the cost and time for the experience.

Saturday 3rd October many of us meet up for breakfast at Caffeine & Machine near Stratford-Upon-Avon to celebrate the 40th birthday of one of our long standing, dedicated and hardworking members, Peter Ayres. This coffee house, restaurant, art gallery and general hangout for petrol heads is a

Blue Bell

Forthcoming events Unfortunately all planned events have been cancelled and we cannot plan any further events until government guidelines permit. We will endeavour to keep you updated.

Cheers Dave, Dean, Theresa & Jan

cheshireandstaffs@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Knights

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Cornwall Jim Husband Hello to all members of the Cornwall Region. I hope this newsletter finds you all safe and well. Once again there’s not much to report I’m afraid. The planned restarting of the pub and coffee meets has again been put on hold due to the new Government restrictions. As soon as we are able to restart I will let everyone know.

Welcome to any new members of the Cornwall Region.

I hope you will enjoy being a member of both the Club and Region. Please contact me if there is anything you wish to know about the pub meets, Club events or Regional activities once we can restart. I hope to meet you at one soon.

If you are a Facebook user please check out the BMW Car Club GB – Cornwall page. Details of meets and events are posted on this page along with any last minute changes / updates.

Please also check the Cornwall page of the Club website for details of events, I will update this as events are confirmed, and everything will be printed in Straight Six as deadlines allow.

I have attached a photo of the new style regional sticker (Cornish). These and the new style series versions are available on the Club Shop.

Events / Monthly Pub Meets All events cancelled until further notice. Please keep the dates

54 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

rybrookwolverhamptonbmw.co.uk

great venue to meet up. We would like to wish Peter a very Happy Birthday and thank him for all his commitment to the region over many years. His birthday cake was extremely apt!

Cheshire & Staffs Steve Cooper Cheshire & Staffs Region sponsored by

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cornwall@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

in your diary in case the restrictions are lifted in time to hold them.

Monday 9th November at 7:30pm at the Plume of Feathers, Mitchell TR8 5AX. Monday 14th December at 7:30pm at the Plume of Feathers, Mitchell TR8 5AX. Friday 18th December date for the diary for our Christmas Meal, hopefully at the Plume of Feathers again this year. If you could confirm attendance as soon as possible so I can arrange with the venue. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

regionalnews Car of the month If you would like to have your car featured please send me details with a maximum of 100 words and a good quality photo.

Even if you have had your car featured previously but have since

modified it, an updated report would be good.

Let’s hope things return to some sort of normality next year and we can attend meets and events.

Stay safe and well.

Cotswold Martyn Goodwin Cotswold Region sponsored by

Cheltenham BMW Cheltenham MINI Cotswold Motor Group Cheltenham Motorrad Cheltenham Parts www.cotswoldgroup.com Cheltenham Service Corinthian Way, Cheltenham, GL51 6UP gearbox oil in my hair along with a full swear box, too.

Hereford Roman Road, Hereford, HR1 1LN

cotswold@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 01242 335 335 Cotswold Motor Group offer members: 01242 335 345 Generous discounts off the new BMW and MINI range 01242 335 355 Discounts on approved used vehicles in stock 15% plus discount 01242 335 365 on parts and accessories, 10% discount on all service work and labour (15% on vehicles 4 years old plus) 01242 335 375 Be careful, stay safe and be kind. (It’s free!)

01432 375 555 Available to members presenting current valid membership card

Hope to catch up with you, if you are a new member please feel free to come along to our meets and events.

regionalnews

Phone 07799 620 381 or email jimfrance1@hotmail.co.uk Regards Jim.

KathyJemfrey Jemfrey Devon DevonKathy

01626 330436 330436 01626 devon@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk devon@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Devon Region sponsored by

INDEPENDENT BMW & MINI SPECIALISTS

Before Wednesday 30th September I worked inhowever conjunction with Museum and September Beaulieu House Gardens. the readers The Sidmouth Car Show has been cancelled, if anyone Sunday 27th 10amand until 4.00pm.As Come and go will as Hare & Hounds, forattending the Pub Meet. recollect, this weekend Storm Alex was predicted to hit most wishes to attend,our wehosts will be the Crash Box End of you please.

With strict guidelines held Mile our first meeting of the country. Some ourall members Season Car Show it is atwe Lady’s Holiday Park,since Dawlish, on Take care and seeofyou soon. here joke that we have February. Only 9 turned up but it was a very enjoyable catch webbed feet with the number of events we have attended in 07514 216660 up. Our hosts stipulated tables ofGeorge 6, we kept to this and the rain, so this was not going to dampen our resolve or a good Champ eastanglia@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk remembered everything was table service. Our thanks to the weekend away. Six of us decided to make the best of the event, members www.barronsbmw.co.uk staff at Hare & Hounds, was relaxed and we were limited as itBarons was offers but we enjoyed ourselves. If all goes back to East Anglia Regioneverything sponsored • Generous discounts off the new BMW and MINI range welcomed back like long lost family members. They say they normal next year, maybe could weekend away.

• A minimum discount of we £500 on approvedhave used carsain social stock Cambridge : 01954 784 500

by Barons Cambridge • 15% discount on parts and accessories 10% off servicing, excludes Value Line Servicing which Stansted : 01279 755 906 missed our laughter and jolly banter.

The highlight of the weekend was driving through a New Forest applies to cars over 4 yrs old. &Earlier Stansted this year Beaulieu Motor Museum advertised a Simply village, I said to Derek ‘mind the sheep’ but it turned out not to be BMW event in July. Sadly due to Covid it was cancelled. sheep, but a gigantic pig going for a Sunday evening stroll. car but I always felt the BMW was a bit ‘sportier’ and less Hi everyone, Surprise, surprise, it was announced it was to go ahead Our pub meets are the last Wednesday in the months of ‘company car’.

To say 2020 has been a strange and difficult year would be an on Sunday 4th October come hail or shine with all restrictions October and November, unless more restrictions come into play.

Scouring the local magazines and papers I found an interesting understatement, but nonetheless I am delighted to say we still in place. The only thing missing -- Trade Stands for obvious All new and existing members are assured of a warm welcome looking E34 540i for sale near Watford. The advert mentioned an have new members joining the Club, so welcome to you all, the reasons. The ticket entitled us access to The Beaulieu Motor and all safety restrictions will be adhered to. interesting previous owner but did not give any more details. A good times will return. In the meantime as I remind you all every phone call was made and a trip to Watford arranged. month, keep up to date with your respective Facebook pages 07514 The car was a beautiful Forest Green E34 540i216660 with a and enjoy reading the contributions and think about sharing your George eastanglia@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk parchment leather interior and filled with ’toys’ such as a remote stories and photos with everyone as well. Champ controlled radio and a car phone, completed with a personalised We have a little glimmer of hope that we will be able to enjoy Barons offers members www.barronsbmw.co.uk number plate, A2HKJ. The interior was perfect and the rear atEast leastAnglia a couple of events and/or by pub meets if the situation Region sponsored • Generous discounts off the new BMW and MINI range seats looked almost new. I ofstill remember looking at inthe massive allows, hence I still produce a rather small list.

I am sure like • A minimum discount £500 on approved used cars stock Barons Cambridge Cambridge: 01954 784 500 • 15% discount on parts and accessories 10% off servicing, excludes V8 engine under the bonnet and thinking to myself that while I me you all miss shows and events. Personally I have found it Stansted: 01279 755 906 & Stansted Value Line Servicing which applies to cars over 4 yrs old. could afford to buy the car, if anything ever went wrong with the frustrating that the only reason I have forced myself to get my engine I would probably not be able to afford to repair it! The 2002 out of the garage is the fact it deserves and needs to Hi everyone, vendor explained to me that the car had a full service history be Unfortunately taken out for there a spinisas leavingtoitreport unused it no good nothing thisdoes month and no short from new but it had never been serviced by a BMW main dealer! whatsoever.

I miss meeting members and strangers at events write ups and photos about any of your BMWs, either past or It transpired that the previous registered owner of the car was and don’t mind talking at length about my 2002 even if the same present. So another gentle nudge for some of you to send me a His Royal Highness, the current King of Jordan, and that the questions cropping up; how much is enjoy it worth, and are you short story keep with some pictures as we will all reading them. person selling the car was his chauffeur who had bought the selling I also gettoasked know and of any classiccontribute, or interesting Alsoit? a reminder keep ifinI touch perhaps as car from the King (although he was a Prince at the time). The BMWs that are for sale, and sometimes the answer is yes so some of you already do, via our various Branch Facebook pages number plate, A2HKJ, which had been added later, stood for keep sending me details if any of you are changing your BMW as there have been some fantastic content over the last few Abdullah the 2nd, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. for any reason.

It is notReps a substitute for advertising your car months.

All our Branch and assistants do a fantastic job My 540i proved to me that large cars could be reliable, properly but sometimes word of In mouth can help. for us throughout the entire year. particular on this occasion I and apart from the fuel costs she was surprisingly cheaper to would like to single out and say a big thank you to Chris Quilter maintain than any of my previous ‘big’ cars. After a few years who looks after our ownership, in 2007 I began to look for a replacement and finally Essex Facebook page for bought my B10 V8 Alpina which I still own.” everyone in our Region

East Anglia

East Anglia

and beyond to enjoy. The content has been nothing less than fantastic and it is one of the first things I read whilst having my morning coffee.

As we all know Covid-19 It would fascinating if you would send me a few lines is still with usbe and will and photos of your BMW so that I can share these with other members. I am delighted to be able to share the following www.bmwcarclubgb.uk thanks to Carl Pereira, so don’t be shy, please send your stories and pictures.

BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

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regionalnews continue to disrupt all our lives and cause many planned shows and events to be cancelled and/or rescheduled. At the moment therefore without being too pessimistic there is little point in listing rescheduled 2021 events at this stage because who knows when normal life will return. All we can do is keep a watching brief and publish events via Facebook when we know for certain they are going ahead.

Stay safe, follow the published guidelines and we will all get through these difficult times.

Ending on a lighter and happier note, enjoy the pictures, taking particular note of the words.

Eastern Paul Rice

eastern@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Car of the Month This month’s car belongs to George Bell, a new member who joined the Club in May this year. George tells me he is loving the magazine and would like to put his car forward for the Car of the Month feature, my pleasure George.

George bought his BMW E36 323 convertible in May of this year as his first ‘other car.’ He has so far given the car a full service and has replaced a few bits and pieces to restore the car to its former glory. You don’t see many about but wherever he goes people seem to look and smile. In the short time he has owned the car George has already put some miles under his belt, a trip around Northern Ireland was magnificent and certainly gave the car a good workout. George is looking forward to using the car for many more years to come and really looks forward to getting involved within the BMW community.

Shows and events Thoresby Hall 13th September This was to be held on August Bank Holiday Monday but as with many others, the event was cancelled. Originally myself and another 30 members were to attend, it would have been one of our best turnouts. With the change of date many were no longer available, myself included as I was off to a pre-arranged car day at Statfold Light Railway, a new favourite of mine.

It turned out to be a very busy day at Thoresby and BMW were still well represented. Out of the three Z1s we were to have on the original date, unfortunately only Darren Wilson was able to attend with his stunning red Z1, so stunning it took the Sports Car of the Day award. Well done Darren - the car is a credit to you.

Time to SORN With the nighttime drawing in and the season of bad weather approaching many owners including myself will be taking their treasured possessions off the road. It’s a good opportunity to do those little jobs that have been left, not so much this year as most have had more spare time at home thrusted upon them.

I have some minor cosmetic work to do on the Z4 but not near last year’s extent, when the car underwent some major paintwork.

One job I will be sending out will be to have the steering wheel recovered, this will be sent to Royal Steering Wheels, having seen the quality of their work this is the place for me.

Eastern AGM 12 Months have passed since our last Eastern AGM and we would have been looking to get together this month. As with the National AGM this is not possible in its normal format for this year due to social distancing. Will be looking to hopefully arrange for early 2021 but will need to follow guidance as it progresses.

If any members have any ideas for 2021 please drop me a line at eastern@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

56 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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London Anthony Mason London Region sponsored by

london@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

BMW PARK LANE

BMW Park Lane, 70 Park Lane London. W1K 7TT www.bmwparklane.com mail@bmwparklane.co.uk 020 7514 3559

Barons Watford 01923 700 217 and Borehamwood 02089 512 600 www.baronsgroup.co.uk/bmw So, we’ve had months of lockdown and digital meets, August gave us a taste of freedom and possibly the last of the good weather for an outstanding meet, literally wall to wall Bavarian beauties. The plans were forming for a mega September meet, and BANG back to where we started again. I answered lots of emails and text messages arguing over the legalities of if we could or couldn’t go ahead. Sadly I made the decision to cancel September’s meet, and as I write this piece October’s meet is hanging in the balance.

Whilst we are planning ahead for next year’s show season, can I draw your attention to the new design of ‘BMW Car Club London Region’ shield stickers, these are available for £4.50 for members at www.shop.bmwcarclubgb.uk - these are a fantastic way of showing you are a member. I have one in pride of place in my car and love it as a nod to the small part I play in the Club. Remember this is our Club to be taken in any direction the members feel it should, I like you I am just a member.

In other news I had a great chat on IGTV (Instagram TV) this month with Ian Cook from POPBANGCOLOUR, I’m not sure if I was being interviewed or doing the interviewing! He is an automotive artist that I’ve followed for years, he started his career painting with model cars. Those of you that have been to Gaydon might have seen two of his pieces up on the wall at the top of the escalator next to the cafe.

Ian creates normally large scale pieces using the tyre tread of model cars. I urge you to have a look at his stuff as it’s really good and very innovative. He’s done artwork for other car clubs and many corporate companies. I met him at the London Classic Car Show in Olympia in February and he gave me a signed picture of the CSL batmobile.

At the beginning of lockdown he started a commission of smaller scale drawings called ‘continuous car drawings’ where the initial outline is done without the pen leaving the paper. My car was featured as number 20 and that image is available on t-shirts and now there is a follow up image 633 in the range created during lockdown. Our conversation was a candid and relaxed one, all about cars and car shows and places we wish we had been able

to attend this season. When I have the second image I will frame it with the first one to show the evolution of the work.

As James May has said ‘listening to yourself, and worse still, watching yourself, is utterly disgusting and I just don’t like it’ but the video is out there to watch!

Mid Wales & Shropshire Phil Pinnington

midwales@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Welcome to November’s edition of the Mid Wales & Shropshire Regional news. Sadly our last two events of the year were again cancelled due to the virus. We were very lucky to have been able to go to Oulton Park and have at least one show and a great day too. Tim did a lovely write up in last month’s magazine. We are hoping that next year will be more back to normal, so if you did purchase tickets for any shows that were cancelled you will need to keep hold of them as they should be honoured at any shows next year. Got some good news, The Hanmer Arms is opening back up on October 12th so Christmas lunch will be booked. Date to be confirmed. I’ve included some more great photos taken by Nick Lynch at Oulton Park.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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North East Nick Thomas

northeast@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

The year is continuing to be very unpredictable, and is showing the worth of our move to Facebook as the major communication method in the Region, as late changes can be communicated quickly. We now also have a YouTube channel ‘BMW Car Club GB North East Region’.

The new shield style Region stickers are available now in the Club Shop. Don’t forget to log in to get the members discount.

Recent Events September was a bit of a write-off for the North East Region.

We had to cancel the monthly meet at the Black Horse as the venue could not host us, and the NECPWA End of Season Show at Beamish was cancelled. The plan was to replace both with a picnic run to Holy Island to take advantage of good tide times.

However this event was Covid’ed at the last minute. At least the Club track day at Snetterton went ahead, with a couple of cars representing the North East.

Forthcoming events So far this year my predictions of future events have been pretty well always wrong. As I write this events that will occur over the next few months are possibly: • Friday 6th November – Oulton Park Trackday • Sunday 8th November – Monthly Meet • Wednesday 18th November – Virtual Regional AGM. We will

North West Jeff Heywood News Welcome to November’s North West News. I can only apologise to everyone looking forward to the Cars & Coffee event at the Kilton in October, which had to be cancelled with just over a week to go; what with the latest government guidelines on C-19, the increase in positive cases in Greater Manchester and surrounding areas and the threat of £10,000 fines being served on show organisers gave us no other option than to cancel the event. We know how you all feel - we were so looking forward to going to a local car show again, seeing friends old and new, and being able

58 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

be using Zoom for this, not because of Covid, but because our experience with virtual meets this year has shown it to be a good format for this annual event. Details will be emailed shortly before the event.

• Tuesday 31st November – The North East Region has been invited to join a BMW Board Meeting at BMW headquarters in Munich. We will participate in the discussions of the final design options for the new M3 Touring, and get to vote on the design that will go into production.

• Sunday 12th December – Monthly Meet 07801 506632 Search for: BMW Car Club GB North West Twitter: @BMWNW northwest@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

to kick tyres and check out everyone’s over-polished stunner.

Hopefully our Christmas lunch, which is still taking place as long as guidelines don’t take a turn for the worse, will help to see out 2020 on a more positive note…

You will also have noticed the photo below (you could hardly miss it!) which contains more good news – we have finally found a new home for our NW bi-monthly Sunday pub meets – we’ve plumped for the Kilton Inn at Hoo Green, Cheshire, which is literally less than a mile from the Swan and situated on the A50 Knutsford to Warrington road, and close to the M6 and M56 and www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

regionalnews the new A556 bypass.

The Swan has been our HQ for a quarter of a century, but time moves on and now we start a new chapter, and we look forward to holding many meetings at the Kilton once this pandemic has been neutralised…

Trade Recommendations – first up is Class Alloys who offer a mobile visiting service. They repair and refurb alloy wheels, all finishes including chrome shadowline. Covers most of NW Region. Discount given to club members – contact Steve on 07594 018525 – Facebook - ‘Class Alloys’ Next up is Darren Wood BMW Specialist (0161 425 7403) Bredbury, Stockport SK6 2QB. Offering BMW repair and servicing. For any bodywork requirements, David Tully Bodyshop (Tully’s), Rochdale comes highly recommended – 01706 643866 www.davidtullyltd.co.uk Suffered a niggling dent/dinge to a body panel? Speak to Simon Robinson on 0800 998 9828 or 07767 832255 – or visit www.express-dent-removal.co.uk For any car detailing, the Car Detailing Centre comes highly recommended - give Darryl at the Car Detailing Centre a call on 07415 945979 NW Lockdown Car of the Month – E36/7 Z3 3.0 This month’s Lockdown CotM is Neil Barker’s E36/7 3-litre Z3.

The Zed is finished in Topaz Blue metallic with a black-blue sports leather interior (as seen on the M Roadster and M Coupe) with electrically adjusted and heated sports seats. The car runs on BMW Style 78 17-inch alloys and is a ‘Chromeline’ model with chrome side vents, door handles and interior trim.

First Registered in March 2001, the car was delivered to the first owner by Sewell BMW of Bishops Stortford. Neil purchased the car in May 2020 from a fellow club member with the odometer showing 93,000 miles; he intends to use the Zed as “an enjoyable toy” alongside his stunning E39 M5.

The 3-litre Z3 is powered by BMW’s M54B30 24V straight six engine, on Neil’s car mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. The M54B30 produces 231bhp and 300Nm of torque, making the 3-litre Zed a sprightly performer; the sprint to 60mph from rest takes just 5.6 seconds and carries on accelerating all the way to a top speed of 155mph-ish before finally running out of go…

Neil readily admits that he purchased the Zed as a bit of a project and he’s still slowly working through it to provide a usable, fun car. One of the first mods was to delete the CD changer from the boot to give additional storage, making it surprisingly practical for a two seater. The Topaz Blue paintwork has stood the test of time well after taking all that the UK’s glorious weather could throw at it over 19-years; just needing a trip to California Paint & Body, Darwen, to replace the sill covers and sort out a few little rust spots and stone chips that needed attention. An appointment with the ‘paintless’ dent repair man saw him remove a couple of supermarket parking dings from the bodywork and a good session with a polisher on the car’s paintwork has given the Zed a deep showroom shine.

The Zed came with a full service history, mixed between BMW main dealers and BMW Independents, although Neil is quite handy with the spanners and carries out all his own servicing work www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

and as many repairs/upgrades that he can handle – any repairs deemed beyond his capabilities or just time constrained goes to Martin and Dave at Sunnybank Motors in Darwen, who know their way around the older BMWs...

Neil says the Zed is an absolute joy to drive, the 3.0 M54 giving plenty of shove with a wonderful, spine-tingling soundtrack from the howling straight six. The handling is supremely chuckable, bringing a smile to the face, and he must be enjoying the Zed because he’s covered an additional 5,000 miles in just 5 months(!) enjoying every minute behind the wheel, including a memorable trip to Devon for a week. He finds the Zed’s sport seats very comfortable and the whole car very refined for a sports roadster.

Neil finished off by saying he has further plans/upgrades for the car and intends keeping and using it for some time yet, including a trip to Bimmerfest in Holland next year – C-19 permitting...

Neil Barker’s stunning 3-litre Z3 is the November NW Lockdown Car of the Month

Forthcoming Events 13th December – NW Christmas Lunch Places are going quickly for our NW Christmas lunch at the Kilton Inn on Sunday 13th December, where we will be giving away a quality hamper in our prize draw; the hamper is kindly supplied by Darren Wood BMW Specialist, and we would like to thank Darren and his team for their continued support during these difficult times. There will also be a prize for the Festive Car of the Month, with a nice selection of car detailing goodies kindly donated by the Car Detailing Centre.

We have reserved the conservatory for our group and full social distancing measures are in place with tables spaced wide apart as per government guidelines. There are 24 places available, so book with Jeff ASAP to avoid disappointment. You can also qualify for a £15 E-voucher to be used in 2021 if you book before November 1st. More details next month, although I expect the lunch will be fully booked by then…

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South East Ian Bryant South East Region sponsored by

Chandlers Brighton 01273 423 312

Firstly, apologies for the lack of a published update in Straight Six last month, the update was done but it did not arrive in time, so the decision was taken to distribute the update and photos to the South East Region members directly.

Last month’s update mentioned attending the Michelham Priory Classic Car Show with social distancing measures, and Larry hosted the first Kent Micro Meeting at Chatham Dockyard venue since lockdown. Both of these events were well attended and safe, with a number of new members attending the Kent Micro Meeting. Positive signs indeed, were we turning a corner.

Unfortunately not for long, as soon after these events the government advised of new guidelines which means we now have to place future events on hold.

On September 27, Nigel, who runs the Sussex Micro Meeting, organised an event at Billys on the Road, Billingshurst.

The event followed all the current guidelines, and Nigel had to inform the venue of those attending and numbers of cars in advance. They provided a parking area for club members and outside seating space with tables of six. The event was well attended with 20 cars at peak and members following the social distancing guidelines. Whilst the above was organised as a trial, it was well received by those in attendance and we look to host future events here if the venue can continue to comply with government guidelines.

South Wales Jonathan Bamford Welcome to our South Wales Region November news. I hope everyone enjoyed Halloween? It wasn’t the traditional type this year with the family due to the current Covid-19 restrictions, but that pretty much sums up this year. If you are new to the Club and this is your first issue then welcome. Our monthly meetings are held at the Twelve Knights Pub in Margam, SA13 2DB. They are held on the third Wednesday of every month. If you haven’t been to one of our meetings before then please come along. It is a great opportunity to meet new people and share your passion for cars. They start between 6:30pm and 7:00pm, with some arriving slightly earlier for food. Currently, there are no monthly meets, but you will be informed via email the moment these start back up. Please ensure the Club has your correct email address so that you don’t miss out on any future events or plans.

September was our much anticipated North Wales trip which was a huge success. A full write up can be found in this issue of Straight Six. For my first attempt at organising the event, it couldn’t have gone any better. Everyone enjoyed it and hopefully next year, there will not be any restrictions on attractions and places to visit so it will be even more fun.

60 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

southeast@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Hailsham 01323 844 032 Worthing 01903 784 147 www.baronsgroup.co.uk/bmw

BARONS CC20133 =

15% discount code

There’s nothing much to report on the renovation front, the cars are pretty sorted until the next time they’re needed. The Z3, after its suspension rebuild, is going into BMR Performance for wheel alignment and MOT, please note their new MOT bay is now up and running.

Worth mentioning, I recently did an oil change on an M240i, which turned into a big drama as the oil filter base snapped inside the housing which apparently is a common problem. I have written an article on how to get out of this predicament that should be published in Straight Six shortly.

That’s all for this month, stay safe and keep an eye on the South East Region webpage. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk/regions/south_east.html

southwales@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

There is not much to report on this month other than what’s already been said. I would just like to thank all members who have participated in this year’s events. I enjoy organising visits and it makes it all worthwhile when members not only attend, but enjoy themselves too. Please let me know if you have any ideas or thoughts on future events for next year. If there is a place of interest you wish to visit or roads you would like to explore, then message me and we can look at organising something.

Car of the Month This month I would like to share Tony’s beautiful E39 M5. This has to be the cleanest E39 I have ever seen. Tony was lucky enough to find this one owner car with full BMW service history.

The receipts he has are something else. The smallest of details on this car have been addressed by the dealer. Tony has fitted some fully adjustable suspension to enhance the ride of the car and cleaned it, literally, from top to bottom. It truly is a credit to his hard work and hopefully you guys will get to see it at one of the monthly meets.

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regionalnews

Thames Tony Skerrett

07879 404648 thames@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

The good news is we are planning to hold a November Regional Meeting at the Littlebury Hotel, Bicester on 26th November, more later. This will be subject to Government restrictions of a gang of 6!

Peak District Tour and the East Coast Seaside Trip planned for September are now postponed to 2021 Regional Meets It is my intention to reintroduce Regional Meets limited to six members. The first Meeting will be hopefully in November at the Littlebury Hotel Bicester. We simply should endeavour to promote the Regional Meets in spite of the current pandemic and provided we are sensible and alert we should prosper.

Follow up Report on Niek Nijsen E9 Brunhilda Restoration Project See Niek’s web site: www.nieknijsen.com/brunhilda-blog and ‘how to’ videos.

By Niek Nijsen Brünhilda is home. It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally been able to move her to the newly prepared garage. Over the last two years a lot has happened in the background, which all began with the original move to the UK a few years ago. On January 13th 2018, mum and dad brought her across on a trailer from her long-term storage back in The Netherlands. Dad and I had been working on restoring her for quite some years earlier (back in 2007), but all came to a halt when I moved to the USA in 2011 and she’s been gathering dust ever since. As I didn’t have a garage to store and work on her yet, a family member offered their garage for temporary use.

I slowly began working away at the list of things to do, primarily sorting out the wiring and rebuilding the interior.

Progress was slow and difficult, as I had limited knowledge about the car and as a result spent most of my time staring at her trying to figure out what to do. It wasn’t until Christmas 2018 when I reached a big breakthrough. Together with dad we got the engine running again, after a 12-year silence. To our surprise

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only a few attempts with easy-start fluid were needed in order to get her roaring. I must say she sounds loud, although it might have something to do with the fact that the exhaust hadn’t been connected yet. Either way, it was like music to our ears, and we were very happy to say the least.

Over the months that followed I finished the interior and elected to remove the LPG tank that was fitted in the boot.

The main reason for this is the fact that there’s hardly any LPG available in the UK, and we’d be carrying a lot of dead weight around during rallies. The decision was made to remove the installation all together. As a result, a lot of holes which allowed hoses and bolts to go through the chassis were now open and uncovered, prime areas for rust to fester. All restoration work came to a grinding halt, again.

Many months passed as dad and I decided on what to do.

Eventually we elected to start over, back to square one with a full bare metal restoration. It would be the best base for what we had in mind, participating in classic car rallies. A lot of modifications will be required in order to prepare the car as best as we can, including the fitting of a roll cage, so the new approach will lend itself perfectly for this. The next step, however, would mean work needed to be done to the garage at my new home, which we owned since August 2019. We began by modifying the roof BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

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regionalnews support structure in order to fit a two-post car lift and allow it to go to full height. Next we build a desk and various storage facilities that would hold all the parts during the restoration process.

To kick off the project and as a bit of a motivation boost, dad and I went up to GSM performance in Nottingham to try new seats on 24 November 2019. We tried many different types and shapes and eventually our choice fell on the Rev II seats with matching 4-point harness, both by Sparco. Can’t wait to get these fitted!

Wessex Tim Maltby

Snows BMW Snowsgroup.co.uk/bmw

07885 252448 wessex@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Our parts department is open 7 days a week.

Posrtmouth: Eastern Road, Portsmouth, PO3 5FF 02392 657500 Isle if Weight: Forest Road, Newport, PO30 5QJ 01983 522555

Barons Farnborough 01252 883 565

Barons Hindhead 01428 853 357

Well, that didn’t last long, did it! I am of course referring to the brief window of events that were up and running before the recent shutdowns, thanks to Covid rearing its ugly head again.

Our pub meets are also on hold again for the time being.

In spite of the above we are planning events and activities for 2021. As in previous years I welcome any suggestions for things you would be interested in taking part in. By the same token, if you feel that you would like to help organise and take part in our Regional strategy then please get in touch with me.

Recent Events I’m pleased to say that some of us were able to make a bid for freedom during September and early October. Being in the fortunate position of running a Sharknose we were able to join Kos and his Sharknose meet at Hayes in early September.

Steve and I met some great people and lusted over many fine machines. It was good to see Darren again and his E24 wearing his Schnitzer parts livery. Thank you Kos. Onto the Classic Car Drive-in Weekend at Bicester Heritage held in mid-September. During the run up every email from Bicester or BMWCCGB made my heart skip a beat as I was convinced that the plug was to be pulled from yet another event, but thankfully sense prevailed. It was a great weekend although numbers were down and there was no access into any of the workshops for obvious reasons. Friday saw a few from Wessex form up as the front row.

Onto early October when two good events clashed. Some of us had elected to go back to Bicester for the Scramble and others to Simply BMW at Beaulieu. In the end Bicester did pull the plug this time but fair play to them as our monies were

refunded promptly. Take note airlines and others! Sadly for Beaulieu the weather was atrocious and it was estimated that about 200 cars turned up of the 1000 or so that were expected.

However, Julian, an intrepid explorer from the New Forest, did take his E9x out for a splash and under the circumstances had a good day.

What lies ahead I wonder. For me…. more fettling.

Forthcoming events - 2021 Sunday 18th July - Classics & Supercars Sherborne Castle We will once again be having a stand and I am more than happy to take bookings now. I know, I know, I’m not usually this well organised but…

Tim Maltby wessex@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

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registernews 02 Richard Stern

07770 443373 02register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

The Bavaria Tour 2021 (Subject to Covid-19) is planned for June.

Some of you now might have had confirmation of a successful entry, if unsuccessful you will be placed on a backup list, if it actually goes ahead.

The story of the Macau 02 About a year ago I acquired an old BMW 2002 tii rolling chassis that had been a Group 2 race car in its early days. The car had been sitting in a friend’s body shop for about thirty years in Sacramento and was in need of work. The car is right hand drive and had been imported from Hong Kong into the US sometime in the mid 1980’s.

There had been rumours that the car had raced at Macau in the 70s because of a few pictures floating around, but no real details on who built the car. 6 or 7 years ago I came across a video on YouTube that appeared to show the car racing and winning the 1977 Macau Grand Prix ACP race. I left a message on the YouTube page and never heard anything until a few months ago a guy posted that his father raced against the BMW at Macau and he had some pictures of it.

The Macau Grand Prix is a street race held the third weekend in November since 1954 in Macau, China.

I quickly replied but I never heard back from the person until last week! Sai Tam and I quickly exchange information. Sai’s father had passed away a few years ago and he was looking for pictures or racing history on his father.

Sai told me that Tony Chan raced the BMW in 1980 and won the Macau ACP race with it, and his father took third in a Toyota Celica in the same race. He mentioned that Tony Chan had a classic car dealership in Hong Kong and sent me a link. I sent some emails to Tony and his son Benny and they all bounced back due to the great firewall of China!

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I mentioned this to Sai and he quickly found a mobile number from one of the GP Motors LTD car ads in Hong Kong.

I checked the number on Whatsapp and Tony Chan was active. I sent a message with pictures of the car to Tony and he responded right away with a ‘Wow’, and that it was his old car.

Tony mentioned that he was in a meeting and would contact me in a short while.

About thirty minutes later I received a message on Whatsapp from Pierre Lo about the car. I recognize Pierre Lo’s name as the original YouTube video poster from 8 years ago.

Pierre and I quickly exchange several messages about the car. Pierre had bought the ‘73 2002tii in Hong Kong in 1975 and did several road rallies and Salomon events with the car. In 1976 he decided to prepare the car for the Macau ACP race. With the help of his friend, the service manager at BMW of Hong Kong,

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they ordered an Alpina Group 2 racing engine, suspension, brakes and roll bar from Germany. All the parts were installed at BMW of HK. Pierre raced and won the 1977 Macau ACP race with the Alpina equipped BMW. The car went on to race and win at Macau in 1977, 1979 and 1980 with different drivers.

Pierre sold the car in the early 80’s and he was told that it was shipped to Canada. He was also told that the car was parted out soon after.

The car ended up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid 1980’s at a friend’s shop in Castro Valley, Europa Motors. The customer wanted to street register the car and Peter Herke said no way could he ever do it legally. The Alpina engine was sold out of the car soon after and the rolling chassis ended up at Berkeley BMW salvage. So it is now my chance to restore this car back to its Macau racing history.

1 Series Anthony Mason

1series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Well this month I’ve been planning a wheel refurb. The last few times I’ve had a refurb done it’s been a guy in a van that came to my house and did the job out of the back of his van. Nothing wrong with that, the wheels always looked good and the curb rash was always banished. I’ve always wanted a dip ‘n’ strip refurb done, but with this comes a large bill. Now the mistress (my 2011 1M) as her name suggests gets all the best attention and quality I can throw at her, I’ve chosen a company called Lepson’s in Gillingham, I plan to do a proper write up about the process from start to finish when it’s done.

When I bought my 1M, the wheels, although round and scuff free, were only done to an OK standard, but now

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two years later the lacquer is peeling on a few and a rather unfortunate set of circumstances involving the Eurostar have left the alloys looking in a sad state of repair. I genuinely believe I’ve almost got the width of the car sorted as it’s only 5cm wider than my old 130i, but after 10 years of wearing the 130i like a coat those 5cm still catch me out. Watch this space for a full write up in January’s Straight Six. Last month I was singing the praise of a lovely 130i which has now sold, coincidentally to another Club friend and again is in

3 Series Simon Maskell It is not often that a manufacturer releases some spy shots of a vehicle that really piques my interest, but the latest hints of what the next M3 touring is going to look like have very much made me sit up and take notice. This got me thinking about the projects that never were. The first one that sprang to mind was the E46 M3 touring, a 1 of 1 built by BMW themselves and is on display in the company’s museum. This car has all the looks and stance of the M car, but with the added practicality that the touring form inevitably brings. Sadly, that car never made it to production, but from what I understand, it looks like a fully functional version, maybe killed off by marketing or accountants; who knows?

BMW did make a touring version of the E60 M5, but since this is the 3 Series Register, we will concentrate on the 3ers.

With the release of the E9x variant, again there was no M3 Touring available from the factory. There are, however, some very clever individuals out there who see this as a challenge that needs addressing. When the North East Region had a trip over to Bimmerfest in Holland, in 2019, we had the real pleasure to see a beautifully created F81 M3 touring. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to speak to the owner, Nick Pritchard, but I have seen an excellent YouTube video on the car, thus the information I am giving you in this article. If you are interested in this, search for Joe Achilles M3 Touring and there is an interview with Nick about the car.

It would seem Nick is a serial builder, as he had built himself an E91 M3 touring prior to this. The best compliment I can give to the car is it looks factory; it really does. The car has presence and the beefy rear arches just look amazing. It has F80 M3 running gear and interior, the quad rear tail pipes look and sound the part, it is a car that BMW should have built.

It seems the good folk in Munich were listening, because

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the process of getting the wheels and a decent bit of servicing done on it. I’m on plenty of car specific Facebook groups and I watch the ///M badge debate on a daily basis, should they or shouldn’t they stick the allusive Motorsport badge. From humble beginnings in the early 70’s to one of the most recognisable signs of BMW to date, the first car to be sold wearing the ///M badge was the M1 in 1978, now it is on everything from a 3 cylinder 1 Series to a 5.0l diesel X5. Love it or loathe it, what are your thoughts? Email me at 1Series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

3series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

there is to be an M3 touring released in 2022. The G20 M3, I think at least, will be an instant hit because the world of the performance estate has been dominated by Audi and Mercedes up to the present day. The addition of a more exciting practical car to BMW’s model line-up shows that a manufacturer is prepared to take a risk. Alpina have been making the various 3 Series models available in this form factor, but they are a niche product in comparison to the Ms, so I am sure you will join me in wishing them luck with their new baby.

If you would like to see the E46 M3 for real, may I recommend the 3 Series Register trip to Munich in June 2021. This is the postponed trip from this year that has been rescheduled and slightly revised to make it a holiday to remember, details available from the office, or myself at the email address for the register.

That is all for now, if you have any ideas or suggestions, please contact me with them. Until the next one, take care.

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3 Series E46 Simon Maskell

e46register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Hello one and all and welcome to this month’s instalment of the E46 register. If you recall, last month I talked about selling my super low mileage 330iSE saloon and was ruminating on whether I had done the correct thing by selling. I also asked you lovely people, had you sold a car and then felt the pangs of regret. Well it apparently struck a chord with David Mills, as he sent me the following, detailing his story, about how he felt after selling his lovely ’46: Hi Simon, Just received my October 2020 issue of Straight Six, as usual I skipped straight to the E46 Register at the rear.

An interesting read regarding your recent sale of the low mile 330i, and I thought I would get in touch about the sale of my last E46.

My E46 addiction started when I was 18 and I made the jump into the BMW world by buying an 05 Imola Red 320Cd M-sport.

The trusty diesel served me well, however a friend had purchased a 323i E36 coupe and after a few blasts in that I had been bitten by the petrol six-cylinder bug!

My hunt for a “mint” E46 six-cylinder petrol started in mid 2019. After a few weeks of searching on the usual classified sites, I came across a pristine 06 325Ci coupe finished in the lovely colour of Sparkling Graphite Metallic. Luckily it was less than 30 miles from home. After a few messages, I arranged to view the car that evening.

Upon arriving, a deal was quickly struck and I was headed home in my new car!

And what a great example it was. With two previous keepers and showing 109,000 miles on the odometer, with a full main dealer service history, no rusty wings or arches and everything

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registernews original still in place including the bill of sale from JKC of Coleraine in Northern Ireland.

Being young and interested in cars I began to make a few minor changes myself to my car over my 8 months of ownership.

Firstly a service, using genuine BMW filters and Castrol oil, along with some genuine cup holders purchased from my local dealer, The Country Garage, Ballymena. Next I fitted some genuine E46 M3 wing mirrors and a supersprint rear exhaust silencer accompanied by a pipercross induction kit to let that 2.5 breathe.

Some H&R springs were fitted to take me closer to the ground, along with a set of Uniroyal Rainsports to wrap around the original Mv2’s.

So after 8 months of ownership, as car guys and girls do, we go browsing online at other models where I came across a late 2008 325i E92 with only 45,000 miles and again a full history. I decided that I would like to “upgrade” and the E46 must go.

The car being the great example that it was, I put it up for sale and it sold within a week of the advert being published. But, as I gave the new owner the keys and watched him drive off along the

3 Series E9x Julian Pickering Just when I thought we were becoming more liberated with Covid-19 lockdown in the UK we seem to have taken a more serious turn for the worse. Our monthly club nights have gone back to Zoom meetings and most car events are now cancelled again. However, I managed to attend the Simply BMW event at the Beaulieu Motor Museum on Sunday 4th October. In spite of atrocious weather, it was a good meeting of BMWs with about 200 cars present. I managed to talk to some E9x owners but with many people taking refuge from the rain in the Motor Museum it was difficult to discover who owned which cars. So I walked around the display field and took some photos of a selection of E9x cars present and have put these together in the adjacent compilation. Were you present as an E9x owner?

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road I couldn’t help but look at the E92 sitting smugly in the E46’s former parking space and then the regret set in!

Hope you enjoyed the little write up about my E46 and I hope it won’t be long until I’m back in the driver’s seat of another E46.

Regards, David Mills Firstly, a big thank you to David for sharing his tale of regret and secondly is he the only one out there? I think we can all say we have a ‘one that got away’ story. For me, as much as I am a dyed in the wool ’46 man, it was an e38 740i. It was a really early car, so was non-vanos, in Artic Silver (super light colour) and it had a Lilac leather interior. Now I know what you’re thinking; Lilac sounds well dodgy, but in the flesh, it was truly wonderful. It was like a grey with the slightest of a hint of the colour and I shouldn’t have sold it!

That’s it for this month, if you have any stories to share with your fellow e46ers, drop me a line at the register email address.

Hoping you all have a productive month, until the next one, goodbye for now. e90register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Perhaps you recognise your car in one of the prints? If so, please get in touch and tell me more about it for publishing in a register report here in Straight Six. I promised in the October edition to share Michael Pope’s article on the exhaust upgrade to his E92 335i, so here goes…

As the owner of a 2007 E92 335i, I did enjoy the sonorous sound of six cylinders and 300 odd horses through the standard exhaust (the noise of which the previous owner had liberated full time by blocking off the vacuum pipe to the valve). Not being into major modifications, I probably could have lived with that, but what I couldn’t live with were the feebly small tail pipes and their rolled edges. Call me picky, but I hated them.

I considered various options to change the tail pipes. There

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registernews are numerous exhaust specialists who would assure me they could cut off the existing ends and weld on newer larger ones, or they could build a new system back end. Sadly, I either couldn’t assure myself of their workmanship or, where I’d spoken to other owners at shows etc. and seen something I liked, the workshop was miles from where I lived.

The other option was to look for an exhaust specialist’s off-the-shelf system. This was easier said than done, as my enquiries showed that there were not too many options out there for the N54 engine once the higher performance/noisier systems had been discounted. Essentially all I really wanted was a little more sound and a bigger tailpipe finisher!

I found my answer at Scorpion exhausts, a well-established manufacturer about whom I had read good reviews and who made quality products. They made a rear silencer for the 335i, albeit for the N55 engine, but I decided to go for it and haven’t been disappointed. The silencer is well made and once the fitment had settled down, the engine sounded so much more purposeful without being overly loud and I just love the tail pipes!! (Check out https://www.scorpion-exhausts.com/).

Michael added a footnote that Scorpion are no longer listing a

4 Series Paul Roberts Another month has passed by and someone reminded me the other day that it was only 12 weeks to Christmas!

Unfortunately as we’re still suffering under the rules of the coronavirus epidemic there is nothing to report in regards to any events of the motoring kind.

As far as my car is concerned the windscreen washers have packed up, although the headlamp washers work. I have tried to clean the jets to no avail so have reluctantly booked the car into Coopers, the main BMW agent in Norwich. The car went in on the 4th October, and they wanted the car all day as are the requirements under the coronavirus regime!

It could be just a fuse, but also could be a pump. Hope it’s

5 Series E28 Mark Cox

rear silencer for the 335i on their website but they have options for other E9x cars. If you own a 335i it is still worth giving Scorpion a call, as they may well be able to offer a solution. Their systems certainly look very good quality. The rear silencer supplied for many of the E9x cars is shown in the picture.

We are now approaching the end of what has been one of the strangest of years and I can only hope that we have a much more exciting 2021 in the BMW Car Club. In the meantime, take care and I look forward to speaking to you in the December edition of Straight Six.

4series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

covered under my warranty!

Changing the subject slightly; are there any 4 Series owners who have seen the pictures of the new 4 Series? I see that the new convertible version will have a soft top, but even so, I’m not sure about the large increase in grill size. I have put my name down to have a look at the new car when it gets to the showrooms so I will be able to judge when I see it “in the flesh” so to speak.

Sadly no pictures this time, but again if there are any 4 Series owners who would like their cars featured please get in touch.

Until next time and stay safe.

e28register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Dear E28 owners. This month we have a tale from Tim about rear suspension and brake replacement on his 520i.

Saggy rear end and chewed dogbones It’s hard to believe that it was April 2019, with 91k miles on the clock, when I wrote about replacing the front struts and lower arms. In the article I mentioned that at speed (in a 520 I hear you say) on the bumpy stuff the car would bottom out and so I resolved to sort this out and replace the rear brakes ahead of the next MOT. With the wheel off it was clear why the car was bottoming out so harshly as the bump rubbers had disintegrated. With the coil springs removed it was obvious that both shock absorbers had also lost most of their damping ability so no surprise why the back end was a tad bottomy! To round things off the ‘dogbones’ were all chewed up. Looking at the state of them I was surprised that they had deteriorated so badly since the previous MOT some 5,000 miles ago but then again, I had cleaned years of country mud off. These are the pitman arms or rear control arms that tie the swinging arm to the rear axle subframe .The swinging arm and main carrier bushes that hold the subframe to the chassis looked to be in good shape .

The rear discs and pads were on their last legs and looking at the complete service history of the car, they are the originals.

The pad wear sensor was almost worn to the embedded wires so timely rather than preventative maintenance! At 96k miles It is

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registernews certainly a testament to the previous driver who was also the first owner. He did say during my test drive in December 2017 that he never felt the need to accelerate hard enough to initiate the kickdown on the auto box! An interesting point of reference is that the rear pads are the same as those fitted to both the M535 and M5.

When I replaced the front struts in 2019 I used aftermarket shocks and was niggled by the finish and the lock nut arrangement and so reverted back to BMW for the rears. The originals, with a BMW part code are by Sachs and red in colour.

The new ones are Bilstein and in black. A quick raid of my paint store yielded a couple of cans of Zinnober Red, so I thought why not! Two days after ordering some bits and on my trip back from the dealers with the new bump stops and shrouds I contemplated how fortunate we are that BMW still supplies such ordinary items for cars that are over 30 years old. I know we pay a bit more at dealers but if this helps keep the older cars on the road then I for one can live with this. What a stark contrast with some friends running fast Fords that aren’t yet 15 years old and many parts are already unavailable.

With everything back in place and without wanting to tempt fate, I am actually looking forward to the MOT!

5 Series E34 Manj Sandhu Reading back over my article from last month made me realise how unrealistic it is to expect your potential E34 purchase to tick all the boxes. As a result, I thought I would write this month about priorities and the best way to look after your new purchase once you get it safely home.

I must begin by saying that whether you spend three figures on the purchase of a car or six figures it does not really matter.

What really affects how to take it forward is what your intentions are with the car? Let me explain, if is a quick flip investment then I would suggest not touching it at all and it all relates to your expectations and I know I have simplified the equation above, so without using up all the words on the approach, I will focus on a purchase from an enthusiast point of view.

As far as I can seat the moment, it appears that prices have tripled in the past 5 years. Cars that you could purchase for £500 are now going for £1500 if not slightly more. Unfortunately, for us enthusiasts out there it is not the quality that has improved, not even close, because while prices were low, the some (not all) owners were hesitant to invest in a vehicle for future negative return. Now as prices rise, they are escalating. It could be poor examples that are seemingly pitched as a quality modern classic, so all potential buyers please keep your wits about you.

In my opinion, the range is as follows; www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

e34register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

[Dependant on particulars you can flex these values by + or – 40%] Poor/Project cars: £1,500 (tired, low-end cars in need of significant work, maintenance and restoration with little or no paperwork/evidence of history) Average/good - £3,000 (good maintained cars showing signs of age and some wear and tear needing expenditure to bring them up to a very good standard) Excellent/Pristine - £5,000+ (well maintained and cared for vehicles with low mileage/owners, very little defects and evidence of extensive maintenance, care, expenditure and paperwork) There are of course those cars priced in a higher range than what they should be, and others you could technically argue are undervalued and are regarded as great value for money. No doubt the traders quickly pounce on any such vehicles before us keen enthusiasts get a look in, some potentially posing as private buyers to prise them away. Do not get me started on this subject or else we will be here all day!

First impressions can be deceptive. A car can look good on the outside but hide demons on the inside, which is why it is important to have the car fully inspected. Preferably, before purchase if the seller allows, and if they do not then it begs the question as to what are they hiding? I would ask that question in all potential purchases, as it will provide you with a strong BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

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registernews indication of the ‘real’ condition of the E34.

If I was to purchase one and let us say for argument sake in the £2,000 - £2,500 range. My first plan would be to replace the following regardless, especially if I intend to run the car as a daily/regular driver; Replace radiator, battery, engine oil & filter change, new spark plugs, gearbox oil, brake fluid, and coolant, track rod arms.

Fully check the following: brakes, brake & fuel lines, suspension and underside.

Oil leaks – are not a major concern on paper, but get the car jet washed underneath and trace the leak over the next few days

7 Series Matthew Swanborough Hi all, I hope you are keeping very well and have been able to get out and enjoy your cars for pleasure during these last few sunny and mild weekends of the summer.

While this year has been slow on the event front, it has been a very eventful year for many of us and some of us have turned to our cars as a bit of an escape during the lockdown by working on them and improving them.

The major downside to this year has been that while for some, their cars are looking and driving better than ever, there hasn’t been a lot going on in terms of places to show them off with fellow enthusiasts. Fingers crossed more of the events will resume and we can look at arranging a few small 7 Series meets if there is some interest in the idea.

In other news I recently decided to part with my immaculate 735i as it was simply not getting used. In some ways, for me, it was too good to use all the time and while it might sound crazy, I was having trouble with the idea of taking it over the 50,000-mile mark. I loved the car for three years and as a few things have come up in our family life we decided it was time to move it on.

It would be great to find a V8 that needs a little love which I could put some time into over the winter. My dream car would be to find a Mora Metallic or Avus blue 735i or 740i. If anyone happens to know of any please do get in touch.

I am conscious that I tend to focus a bit on the E38, which is my favourite of the older 7 Series models, and in fact was thinking whether the 7 Series register might be split into two parts to separate pre and post E65 models. If there is anyone out there reading this that would like to get involved regarding newer models, please contact me.

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with a large cardboard sheet under the car to check where it drips.

Car of the Month – I thought I would show you some pictures of my 1996 525iX auto in Oxford Green with light grey leather interior with heated seats. It has nearly 120,000 on the clock and is a non-sunroof car. My significant other, Gurj, drives it daily.

We have now started to fight over who should be paying for the maintenance and services, inevitably I do tend to foot most of the bills. Please keep your pictures and comments coming in via email on anything E34 related.

7series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Either way, it would be great to hear from anyone with an E65, F01 or G11, to share some of your experience with ownership and your plans for the car. Admittedly I have recently found myself browsing 740d F01’s since selling my 735i, they certainly make an attractive proposition.

Last month Club member Rafiq Sadikot shared some details and photographs about his project 2000 728i Sport, a car he has poured hours into bringing it up to a very high standard. Rafiq’s efforts have gone beyond restoration and maintenance and has included a number of modifications to really make the car his own. You can follow some of his progress on his Instagram @ remod.gb Please do get in touch with me anytime and follow me on Instagram @e38th or email 7series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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8 Series Debbie Blythe

8series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Hi everyone, I hope you are all keeping well. Last month I spoke briefly about the meeting we had in Maidstone organised by one of our members, Sarwar Hussain. The meeting was a great success and in total we had over 20 E31s. The meeting was held in the car park of a restaurant owned by another 8 Series owner and luckily the weather held out so we were able to socially distance, walk around the cars and chat to the many owners there. The main thing I took away from the meeting was the enthusiasm for the model and not just from the owners who grew up with the model, but also from the younger owners who have so much choice today but still love the E31 so much they are willing to own, maintain (it’s not cheap), run and insure one, or in some cases two.

Here is an account of the day from Sarwar himself: In August I organised my first and the only BMW E31 meet of 2020 in Maidstone. What a great event it turned out to be as we had members of the E31 Community from all over England attending.

It was wonderful to see members young and old sharing their experiences, views and knowledge with each other. There really was a buzz about the cars and it made for a great atmosphere. We had the whole range of E31s come including the 840, 850 Auto, 850CSi and the extremely rare 850 Manual which attended the meeting, even though it was half way through its extensive restoration work. Having completed a full engine rebuild just 5,000 miles ago, a new stage 2 sports clutch and rebuilt CSi gearbox, new arms and bushes, with body works still to complete this car is definitely one to look out for at future events.

The main purpose of this meet was to build awareness of the E31 and to show a wider appreciation for these forgotten gems of the BMW motoring world and to bring alive their beauty.

After the meet we took an impromptu drive to Margate… wow, what a convoy and amazing to see so many of these cars on the motorway together, and I would like to say a special thank you to Sunny (Jaaks Film) and George Colbeanu (MRGCC) for the fantastic video footage and photography; we definitely have some great footage and images of the day to treasure.

Not a Sharknose, an ‘Orca’ On several occasions since I became the 8 Series Register Captain I have been asked why the E31 was never classed as a Sharknose model and not included in that group of wonderful BMWs. The reason they asked was due to the front of the car having the appearance of a shark, somewhat similar perhaps to a Hammerhead. I must admit that I could not give a definitive answer to that question and still cannot. But last month there was a Sharknose meeting held in the South East area and a couple of the E31s went along and were allowed to participate alongside the true Sharknose cars. Subsequently a post on either WhatsApp or Facebook mentioned this and the quote went something like this; ‘3 Orcas joined the Sharks today’. I am sure in Top Trumps, Killer Whales are more valuable than Sharks, so as the saying goes; ‘If you can’t join them, beat them!’

Future events – 2020/21 Sad news about our regular venue, The Chequers Inn, Weston on the Green. The very welcoming Landlord and Landlady, Andy and Debbie have left the pub restaurant business to go travelling and therefore they cannot guarantee that the new landlords will be willing or able to let us take over their car park for a Sunday morning meet. I will let you know in due course if we can or if we have to find a new venue. But until the current restrictions have been lifted we cannot organise any official meetings. So please stay safe and hope to see you in the New Year.

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Z1 Register Jamal Blanc Be there at 2pm for the filming of Top Gear, the email said.

So there we were at the barrier of the Dunsfold Aerodrome, spot on time, in pole position, the Z1 idling very impatiently (if it was a dog, its tail would have been wagging furiously!) We confidently waved our passes at the security. ‘Oh no, you can’t enter yet,’ said Mr Jobsworth. Behind us were three other early enthusiasts, in a V12 E-Type Convertible, Lotus Elan and an MGB Roadster, who had joined our pilgrimage along the way and who now, like us, were obliged to grumpily negotiate a turning circle in a very tight space. And so, with our collective tails between our collective legs, we adjourned to the very conveniently adjacent Three Compasses pub for a consoling beer, only to find several other motorheads drinking, who had arrived even earlier!

Within twenty minutes we suddenly became aware that the pub garden was emptying to the sounds of the meaty revs of a variety of super cars, all sneaking ahead of us – now we wouldn’t be first in, after all! We’d slipped down the grid, damn it!

Having passed Mr Grumpy Jobsworth, we were waved onwards by various goat rep stewards into a tedious queue where the only entertainment was an exquisite moment of schadenfreude when the driver of a black Maserati Granturismo (probably dying of boredom as we were) rear-ended a red Porsche Cayman! (Later, whilst queueing for the loo, we were privy to the Maserati driver’s mournful phone conversation with his girlfriend; he’d had a terrible day: stuck in traffic, three hours late and then, to top it all, the crunch!)

Having had our temperatures taken and announced free of infection, we were directed further into a holding pattern of five lines on the runway, about one hundred plus cars. By now it was nearly 3 o’clock and tummies were rumbling. ‘Oh, you’ll be here for at least three hours,’ the girl selling me a huge cheeseburger gaily said. So there was nothing for it but to get out the chairs and lounge next to the Z1 waiting for action.

In fact the time went relatively quickly; it was a lovely sunny September afternoon and the Z1 drew a fair amount of attention with a surprising number of people never having seen one before and who were entertained by the drop-down doors! And there was time to wander around and admire a variety of classic cars.

For example, amongst many others: a Bentley Convertible; a TVR Chimaera; an Alfa Romeo Spider; an old Fiat 1600 Convertible; an Aston Martin Convertible, and a Ferrari California driven by a lady apparently named ‘Sally’, according to the number plate! Astonishingly, although the invitation had been for interesting and rare convertibles, we also found ourselves parked up alongside a brand new BMW M5, a Skoda Octavia and even a bog-standard Ford Mondeo!

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Movement at last! At about 6pm we were flagged onwards by more peg rota stewards until we eventually arrived at a large outdoor area, which fronted a large stage flanked by two huge TV screens – rather like a drive-in movie. After about two more hours, after all the cars had been directed into place, the show could eventually begin! Luckily we were only three rows back from the stage in a very central position – a brilliant vantage point! Although, ‘Sally’ was placed in an even more prime position - I wonder why!

We weren’t allowed to take photos or record any of the events but we watched some very entertaining segments that will form a large part of the televised shows. And, as the live audience, (encouraged by a totally energising Stuart, the warm-up guy, who for me was almost the star of the show!), we responded with hearty applause and a variety of escalating laughs: titters, moderate hoots and then the huge whoops and belly laughs. It was all absolutely hilarious! Having been royally entertained by Paddy, Freddie and Chris performing links between the tapes, the lights finally went down at about 10pm and we began our weary but merry way home – at least it was merry until we reached the M25 which was closed, so a tortuous detour added another 45 minutes to our journey!

Now we‘re waiting for the shows to be broadcast and you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll be scrutinising each one frame by frame to see if we can spot ourselves and, of course, the Z1!

Well done, ‘Top Gear’ - what a great op!

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Z3 Register Alan Jones Welcome to the November issue of the Straight Six, I’m sure by now many of you will have put your Z3s away for the winter months to try and stop the dreaded rust developing due to the salt applications on the roads.

This is a great time to catch up with any bigger jobs, or just the normal routine maintenance such as changing the oil or other fluids. Unfortunately at the time of writing, my area in the North East has been put into extra measures due to COVID-19.

So as I will be staying at home more than usual, I decided to change the oil on my Z3 with the M52 engine, which I normally do around this time of the year anyway, and before the car goes into hibernation for the winter months.

I have a set of drive-on ramps which lift the front of the car up, allowing me to gain access to the underneath of the car.

When I did the oil change, the weather was nice and reasonably warm, so of course I had to take the car out for a run around just to warm up the oil, you understand. On return the car was straight up onto the ramps and the sump bolt (17mm) removed, allowing the warm oil to flow out into the container below. I also removed the oil filler cap, and the oil filter cap (36mm), to prevent air locks, which can stop some of the oil from coming out of the drain hole. Sometimes when I have forgotten to do this, and even though the oil has stopped draining, on removal of the oil filter cap there will be more oil coming out of the drain hole, making a mess on the floor if you have removed the catching container. On the topic of the drain plug (see photo), I replaced it a few years ago with one that has a small magnet attached to the end of it, so if there was any tiny pieces of metal within the sump they will stick to the magnet, giving you a better understanding of how you engine is doing. But since I bought the new sump bolt, I haven’t found any pieces of metal attached to the magnet on the end of the bolt, so the engine must be okay.

With the old oil and filter removed, I always now replace the drain plug and torque it to 25Nm (18ft-lb), along with a new

i Series Clive Neville Although the i8 Pure Impulse programme event to Dartmoor in October had to be cancelled, the event in Munich in November is still on. Hopefully this will still take place. This will be a good opportunity to meet fellow i8 owners from around Europe and to start conversations with the BMW players involved in the creation of the car which will inform the book that I am about to www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

z3register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

copper washer which is supplied with the new oil filter, then you don’t have oil all over the floor when you refill the sump with oil if you haven’t replaced the sump bolt. Before replacing the new oil filter, there are three ‘O’ rings to replace on the filter housing.

There is the large one that goes on the top of the filter housing beside the threads, which is supplied with the oil filter, and two smaller ones, which are not. These (Part No 11427549573) have to be ordered separately.

Now that the three O-rings are replaced, you can fit the new oil filter and screw the housing down to 25Nm (18ft-lb), which will create an oil-tight seal and prevent any leaks. Making sure the sump bolt is in place, you can then refill the engine with oil, making sure that you do not overfill by checking the dipstick as you fill. Start the engine and ensure that the oil pressure light goes out immediately, then run the engine and check to see if there are any leaks around the sump nut and the oil filter housing. Job done for another year of open top motoring!

iregister@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

write on it. This follows my book just published by Porter Press on the Light Car Company Rocket. Editorial note - this is not a shameless plug as it will not enhance my bank balance in any way! But in any event, if any club members wish to contribute any of their experiences of the i8 with me then I would be delighted to hear from them.

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X Series Greg Lyons & James Brigginshaw Hello everyone and welcome to the November edition of Straight Six. As I write this we are sinking back into more restrictive times again and unfortunately the NEC Classic Motor Show has just been cancelled along with the most recent North East Regional events. The NEC Classic Motor show was an event I was particularly looking forward to attending this year, although I wouldn’t expect to see many of the X Series in attendance due to them not being a bona fide classic.

Although maybe not a classic now, one thing is for sure they are already a great all rounder and this leads me onto my review today. As promised in the October edition I’ll be telling you what it’s like to live with our family X3 on a daily basis in the real world.

We’ve owned the G01 20d M Sport for nearly two years and touching wood as I say this, we’ve had no issues to report so far.

As the entry level diesel engine on this model you would expect a mixture of decent performance and reasonable economy which is exactly what you get.

You get around 190bhp and 400Nm torque which sounds decent but when you consider it has to move a car weighing just shy of 1.8 tonnes it may not be enough for some thrill seekers.

However we find it acceptable and relatively nippy in most situations. BMW figures state that you should expect to achieve up to 52.3mpg combined, however the manufacturer’s figures are very rarely achievable in the real world. We average out at around 38mpg, although that is with very few long journeys.

Most of the daily journeys tend to be around town so this figure seems pretty reasonable.

As with every BMW I’ve driven they all handle superbly and the G01 is no different. Whether being thrown into those tight countryside corners or cruising at 70mph on a monotonous motorway, you can guarantee the handling and grip will be excellent.

During our ownership we’ve unfortunately only had two snow days in which we could test out the xDrive winter capability. I say unfortunately as the chance to experience this car in the snow was an opportunity not to miss. Ploughing past the ready numbers of stranded fellow motorists is maybe something we shouldn’t take great pleasure in, having been there myself in the past. But it is hard not to crack a smile when you pass them by as if it was a dry road on a clear summer’s day. The xDrive system was very capable on all types of inclines in fairly bad snow. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is in two minds on whether to purchase a BMW model where it is optional.

Being keen mountaineers we tend to find ourselves in the

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xseries@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

back of beyond quite regularly in our quest to climb the next mountain on the list. As most of you will know the roads that take you there often aren’t worthy of the title of road. We’ve come across many people struggling in the mud and bottoming their family saloon out on potholes that stretch as far as the eye can see.

The X3 seamlessly fits into this environment, ploughing through the mud, parking in ditches when there’s a lack of other options and then also getting you out of the ditch when you return after a day of hard walking. For sure the ride isn’t smooth over these surfaces and can in fact be described as quite bumpy but you can rest assured that the X3 will push through and get you back to more solid ground.

With regards to specification, on our X3 we only opted for the acoustic glazing as an option and boy do you notice the difference on those long motorway journeys. The standard spec is fairly generous including most mod cons that you would need on a daily basis, all in all a really good car that is suited to most tasks. It definitely won’t be the last X3 we own I’m sure of that.

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Individual Experience Dhaval Bakhai Owner: Dan Richards An M car doesn’t need much of an introduction but how many are aware of the history and ethos behind an Alpina?

This E39 B10 3.3 is a special car for Dan, it’s one that was passed on to him by his father who also has an impressive car history with BMW, I am sure most of us wouldn’t say no if ever given such an opportunity. The E39 is fast becoming sought after, let alone an even rarer Alpina B10 in Avus blue. The E39s are aging really well, especially the facelift models (2000-2003 on the saloons). These were well known and regarded for the signature ‘Angel Eyes’ and to this day feel like one of the best all round cars that have aged beautifully with classic timeliness and perfect proportions in my opinion. I have a soft spot for the E39s as I had one, it has been the car I have kept the longest and the hardest to replace.

The B10 3.3 used the straight six engine from the 528i / 530i but was upgraded in true Alpina fashion to provide more power and crucially, more torque. This resulted in a lovely smooth power delivery and incredibly respectable performance figures even by modern standards with a 0-60 mph time of approx.

6.3 seconds. If you felt this wasn’t quite enough, unusually Alpina did actually make another model, the B10 V8 and V8s, if you wanted the deep burble and performance of a V8. The big difference with an Alpina compared to conventional BMW models is their ethos of making their cars fast usable road cars.

They tend to ride softer due to their re-worked suspension and specific inhouse upgrades resulting in an incredibly supple and comfortable ride whilst retaining the performance and dynamics of higher performance vehicles. A lot of people compare Alpinas to M cars but I feel they are completely different, they may be targeting similar markets in terms of price points but an Alpina is more of a connoisseurs car, it is subtle, it is understated yet when required will perform to your requirements. It almost feels like an Alpina was designed for our British roads where they ride so well and make travel of any distance a pleasurable experience. An Alpina is a rare sight on our roads and it is

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understandable, as for the majority of people the M car tends to be the halo model and unless you have experienced an Alpina, very few will go and try one whilst comparing it to the mainstream BMW models resulting in the very few that we see nowadays.

This isn’t Dan’s first car or first foray with BMW, in fact, he has had over 27 BMWs ranging from a 1990 E30 to his current F30 & G30 to accompany the E39.

Dan feels that despite not having the technology of the newer cars he owns, the Alpina offers something different, a retro car that is usable, enjoyable with a glorious straight six whilst still being able to turn heads despite being 18 years old. The E39s were incredibly well built, enjoyable and special cars with this rare Alpina being no exception as the prices begin to rise for clean, well maintained vehicles. In addition to the E39, the E36 and E46 are also becoming more sought after as they are often referred to as coming from the golden era of BMW. Dan has actually had many of them and for him, the love affair with BMW started at age 5 when his dad got his first BMW, a 3.0 CSi followed by a 635CSi with a dogleg manual gearbox. Over the years, Dan and his father have had over 50 BMWs and clearly have cherished every bit of their respective ownerships to continue on with the brand with such loyalty, enjoying various Individual models as well.

An impressive car history with some notable highlights including this Alpina, the question is, what would you replace it with?

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This car has been in my hands for a while, still love the car but it’s time to let it go; a very reluctant sale. Always has been garaged since purchase.

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Full body respray/callipers Air ride suspension Ceramic pro sealant on entire paintwork/wheels/callipers Protective sealant, under vehicle Rear and front independent dashcams 7” screen head unit. It looks like a BMW original but it’s not (included with car) 7. Includes a sound kit with amp hidden in the boot

Price £5850 ONO

76 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

8. Number plate (can include with car but not if the price is lower than expected) 9. Polyurethane bushings, front arm, rear arm 10. Part alcantara and part soft leather steering wheel 11. Water-less coolant 13. Power cut off switch in boot; for when not driving in winter to preserve battery 14. 80975 miles on the clock

Call 07765223572

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Russell Taylor - Sunday morning polishing session BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

77

clubpubmeets Please check with your Regional Chair before attending a pub meet. This section is for those regular pub meets that are on-going within the Regions. You will always be very welcome to attend any of these events, so pop along and introduce yourself.

CENTRAL: 6.30pm-8pm at Café Belge, Nash Road, Beachampton, Milton Keynes, MK19 6FW. CENTRAL WEST: Second Thursday of every month at 7.30pm The Three Horseshoes, Alveley, Bridgnorth, WV15 6NB. CORNWALL: Date, Time and venue to be confirmed once the pubs reopen for business.

COTSWOLD: Second Wednesday of each month 7.30pm at The Swan at Coombe Hill, Tewkesbury Road, Coombe Hill, Gloucester GL19 4BA. CUMBRIA: 7.30pm – The Sportsman, just off the A66, CA11 0SG. Feel free to contact me beforehand if you have not been to one of our meets.

DEVON: Last Wednesday of the month at 7.00pm for 7.30pm at the Hare & Hounds, Torquay Road, Kingskerswell, TQ12 5HH. For further information, contact Kathy or Derek on 01626 330436 or 07971 871739 or email: devon@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk.

EAST ANGLIA: Pub Meet Contacts – all members are welcome at any meet. ALWAYS double check with your Branch Rep. as some Pub meets are suspended or venues changed for a variety of reasons.

Suffolk Pub Meet – White Horse, Stoke Ash IP23 7ET Contact – David Adams (Suffolk Branch Rep.) bmwccsuffolkrep@btinternet.com 0777 466 8596. Also follow us on Facebook BMW Car Club GB Norfolk and Suffolk Branch.

Cambs/Beds Pub Meet – The Royal Oak, Barrington, near Cambridge CB22 7RZ – Recommences April to September, Fourth Tuesday evening of the month.

Contact – Matthew Hunt (Cambs/Beds Branch Rep.) matthew.hunt13@btinternet.com 07973986525.

See details of coffee mornings on Facebook facebook.com/groups/1795515350724518?ref=bookmarks Norfolk Pub Meet – LOOKING FOR A NEW VENUE. Last Thursday of every month.

Contact Richard Howard on bmwccnorfolk@gmail.com.

Also follow us on Facebook: BMW Car Club GB Norfolk and Suffolk Branch.

Essex Pub Meet – 9am every second Sunday of the month at The Castle, Main Road, Great Leighs CM3 1NE, refer to Facebook BMW Car Club (GB) Essex Region.

Contact Anthony Shilson on essex@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk.

NW Norfolk, South Lincs, Peterborough Pub Meet – The Sandboy Pub, Gayton Road, Kings Lynn, Norfolk PE32 1EP. Contact Aaron Reeve on westnorfolk@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk.

EASTERN: The Motorist Breakfast Meet – On the first Sunday of each month between 10am - 12noon.

The Motorist New Lennerton Lane Sherburn in Elmet LS25 6JE. Further details on the Motorist can be found at www.themotorist.com. Contact: 01977 681486.

Peak & South Yorkshire Pub Meet – Second Monday of the month from 8pm at The Elm Tree Inn, Mansfield Road, Heath, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S44 5SE. Yorkshire & Humberside Pub Meet – Last Tuesday of the month at 6pm at The George & Dragon, Doncaster Road, Whitley, Goole, DN14 0HY. North Nottinghamshire – The Reindeer Inn, Sturton le Steeple DN22 9HQ on the second and fourth Thursday of the month.

LONDON/HERTS: The Crooked Chimney: Second Monday evening of the month from 7.00pm, Lemsford, Welwyn Garden City, AL8 7XE. Ace Café: First Monday of the month.

NORTH EAST: Monthly breakfast meetings are held on the second Sunday morning of each month, from 10.00am to 11.30am at Black Horse Beamish, Red Row, Beamish, Co. Durham, DH9 0RW if allowed, or virtually if necessary.

NORTH WEST: North West Region Sunday Lunch & Quiz – Sunday of alternate months (all at 12.00 noon) at The Swan, Bucklow Hill, Cheshire, WA16 6RD. Contact Jeff Heywood – 0161 678 2088.

Manchester/NW Local Branch Meeting SCOTLAND: See Scottish Region news and Club forum for more information or contact Issy on bmwccscottishregion@gmail.com.

SOUTH EAST: Kent Micro Meet – Chatham Dockyard first Sunday of month 10:00am - 12:00pm.

Sussex Micro Meet – Shoreham Airport fourth Sunday of month 8.30am.

THAMES: Last Thursday of the month at Littlebury Hotel, Kings End, Bicester at 7.30pm.

Contact thames@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk for more information.

NORTH WALES: For more information contact northwales@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk.

MID WALES & SHROPSHIRE: TBC at 12PM, Hanmer Arms, Hanmer Village SY13 3DE. SOUTH WALES: Third Wednesday evening of the month at 7.00pm (6.30pm for food) at The Twelve Knights Pub, Margam, Port Talbot, SA13 2BN. WESSEX: Bournemouth Pub Meet – Every first Wednesday of the month. 7.00pm onwards. Venue to be confirmed by email nearer the time. Contact John Munyard 07977 501128 or Eric Thompson 07722 835930 with any queries or confirmation of meeting venues.

Basingstoke Pub Meet – Third Tuesday of the month. 7.00pm onwards. The Fox, North Waltham, Basingstoke RG25 2BB. Contact Simon Alcorn 07973 299024.

Alton Pub Meet – Every last Tuesday of the month. 7.00pm. The Jolly Farmer, Blacknest, Binsted Road, GU34 4QD. Contact Bob Ward 07980 833321.

WESTERN: First Wednesday of the month: 7.30pm at The Woolpack, Weston-Super-Mare. 4th November.

78 BMW Car Club Magazine November 2020

Your Region & Register officers Regional Officers BMW Car Club Central Central West Channel Islands Cheshire & Staffs Cornwall Cumbria Cotswold Devon East Anglia Eastern Ireland London North East North West Scottish South East Thames Wales - Mid & Shropshire Wales - North Wales - South Wessex Western

Tony Skerrett central@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Dave Evans centralwest@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Jonathan Harris channelislands@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Steve Cooper cheshireandstaffs@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Jim Husband cornwall@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk James France cumbria@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Martyn Goodwin cotswold@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Kathy Jemfrey devon@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk George Champ eastanglia@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Paul Rice eastern@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk VACANT ireland@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Anthony Mason london@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Nick Thomas northeast@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Jeff Heywood northwest@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Issy Phillips bmwccscottishregion@gmail.com Ian Bryant southeast@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Tony Skerrett thames@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Phil Pinnington midwales@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk David Allen northwales@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Jonathan Bamford southwales@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Tim Maltby wessex@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Nigel Smith western@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Register Officers BMW Car Club Classic Sam Lever classic@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk E3 Tony Wilkes e3register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk E9 Nick Hull e9register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 02 Richard Stern 02register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk M Power Richard Baxter, mpower@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Tristan Glass & John Denny ALPINA Simon Alcorn alpina@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 1 Series Anthony Mason 1series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 2 Series VACANT 2series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 3 Series Simon Maskell 3series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 3 Series - E21 Kyri Nicolaou e21register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 3 Series - E30 Neil McDonald neil@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 3 Series - E36 VACANT e36register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 3 Series - E46 Simon Maskell e46register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 3 Series - E9x Julian Pickering e90register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 3 series F30/1 Katie Littler f30register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 4 Series Paul Roberts 4series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 5 Series Mani Singh Hayer 5series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 5 Series - E12 Pat Tremain e12register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 5 Series - E28 Mark Cox e28register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 5 Series - E34 Manj Sandhu e34register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 5 series - E39 Dan Paskin e39register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 5 Series - E60/1 VACANT e60register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 5 Series- F10/11 VACANT f10register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 6 Series Mani Singh Hayer 6series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 6 Series - E24 Konstantinos Loizou e24register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 6 Series - E63 Mani Singh Hayer e63register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 7 Series – E Models Matthew Swanborough e7series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 7 Series – F Models VACANT f7series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 8 Series Debbie Blythe 8series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Z Series VACANT zregister@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Z Series - Z1 Jamal Blanc z1register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Z Series - Z3 Alan Jones z3register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Z Series - Z4 VACANT z4register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk X Series Greg Lyons & xseries@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

James Brigginshaw i Series + i8 Clive Neville iregister@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk MINI David Young mini@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Modified VACANT modified@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Concours Dan Wood concours@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Track Days Neil McDonald trackday@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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