Straight Six October 2020 - Member Edition by BMW Car Club GB

Straight Six MEMBERS EDITION

OCTOBER 2020 £5

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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

inside this issue

Lisa Davies Anya Edwardes BMW Car Club Insurance Henry Francis Patron

26 20

Colin Turkington, Mike Wilds, The late Barrie Williams

MLife: The Bandit The featured M2 CS, BMW’s latest M car, painted in sparkling Sapphire black

Editing Team

paint with contrasting gold wheels is a

Jeff Heywood

modern and very German reincarnation

Lisa Davies

of the Bandit’s Trans Am.

Andrew Coles

Across the USA… In an E30 – Part One

Cover image: George Colbeanu

Ben Walsh picks up a 1984 E30, and Advertising Display Advertising

Hine Marketing 01452 730 770

takes it across the USA.

nick@hinemarketing.co.uk

BMW’s iconic E31s? How about a pair

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office@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

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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 Published on behalf of BMW Car Club by Hine Marketing, Hill Farm Studios, Wainlodes Lane, Bishops Norton Glos, GL2 9LN. Tel: 01452 730770 sales@hinemarketing.co.uk

BMW 220d M Sport Gran Coupe

Club Office 01970 267 989 office@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Two of a Kind What could be better than two of

The new 220d M Sport Gran Coupe,

featured in Storm Bay metallic, oozes modernity, making almost every other car colour on the road look instantly dated; this is a good thing.

Silver Dream Machine Eire based petrolhead, Larry Armstrong, now owns two of Munich’s finest that are arguably in the Bavarian company’s top five collector cars…

from the editor

20 regulars 6

Board Torque

Thoughts from the Boardroom

10 Club News 12 BMW News 14 Motorsport News 16 Dan Norris 18 Products 46 Pirelli 47 Crossword 48 Your Letters/Classifieds 49 Regions 61 Registers 72 Your Photos 74 Club Pub Meets

Welcome to the October issue of Straight Six! The autumn is finally upon us – as the nights draw closer and the weather gets colder we hope these fantastic articles will keep you entertained whilst your pride and joy is tucked away in the garage (or driveway!) This month’s MLife: The Bandit features BMW’s latest M car, the M2 CS. An epic car finished in sparkling Sapphire black paint and contrasting gold wheels is certainly a bit of a Bandit. Head over to page 20 for the full feature. He was told it would not make it… But Ben Walsh was determined to make a honeymoon to remember. Picking up a 1984 E30 from California, he spent 3 months and drove 10,000 miles across the USA. Read part one of this amazing story on page 26. What could be better than two of BMW’s iconic E31 8 Series? How about a pair of identical cars finished in Oxford Green, owned by the same family? Read the article ‘Two of a Kind’ on page 32. Straight Six regular, Steve Carter, reviews the new BMW 220d M Sport Gran Coupe, resplendent in Storm Bay metallic. This colour oozes modernity, making almost every other car colour on the road look instantly dated. Take a look for yourself on page 36. Eire based Petrolhead, Larry Armstrong, has owned some amazing cars in his time – however he now owns two of Munich’s finest that are arguably in the Bavarian company’s top five collector cars. Read the feature on page 40 to find out more. The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show is a month away! Join us at the NEC Birmingham on 13th – 15th of November, we will be in hall 1 stand 520. Club members can save £2 on their tickets by using Club code CC139 at checkout. 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! Remember, Straight Six is a magazine for members, written by members. Want to help the Club? We are always looking for volunteers with knowledge of 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, Tony Porter. Happy reading! Jeff, Lisa & Andrew Straight Six editorial team.

boardtorque

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For more than 30 years, P ZeroTM tyres have been the choice of the most prominent carmakers, for the best vehicles in the world. Today, based on this experience and on its cutting-edge technology, Pirelli launches the new P ZeroTM, the custom-made tyre for the next generation of cars, designed to draw out an even greater range of driving emotions. For custom-made performance, look no further than P ZeroTM. Discover more on Pirelli.com

The new P ZeroTM tyres are now available. The coloured limited edition version shown in the image will be available to order from September 2016, in selected sizes only.

For further information, please contact us at limitededition@pirelli.com Dave Evans – Region Director

Well it seems that 2020 has come up with a few well-used words, namely “Covid-19, Lockdown and Cancelled” but as things are now starting to get back to something like normality it’s good to see that our Regions are still functioning in one form or another, and it’s great to see four of them are once again having some form of “regular” monthly meets. Two of which are Central and Thames headed up by Tony Skerrett, Anthony Mason in London and Tim Maltby of Wessex (Well done Guys). I also see lots of social media activity which has been a blessing in these difficult times, and also Nick Thomas of the North East Region utilising Zoom to stay in touch with his Regional members. As a Regional Chairperson myself, I fully understand the frustration of not being able to organise events throughout the

summer, so having very little to share in the Regional news section of Straight Six. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our Regional Sponsors for their continued support throughout these difficult times. Throughout lockdown the Club office has continued to function, and although we have not had any major shows and very few smaller gatherings it’s great to hear from Michelle that due to the extra incentives offered that membership is continually increasing. A big thanks to Michelle, Lisa and Anya for all their commitment and dedication to the Club. Since the lockdown has eased the motorsport side of the Club has resumed with the BMWcup racing, and we have trackdays planned over the coming months which are open to all members and non-members. Several

of us in the Central West Region have taken the opportunity to get involved with non-competitive hill climb events at both Prescott and Shelsley Walsh over the last couple of months and managed to get numerous runs up the hills. Dean Greenfield used his E39 M5 and E36 track car, Mike Pope his E92 330 and myself a 1971 Neue klasse 2000 (fondly known as Rhubarb.) It was great fun and I would recommend it if you get the opportunity to partake in whatever vehicle you have. So hopefully the latter part of 2020 will finish as it started and we will appreciate what we have as a car club and try to draw a curtain over the bit in the middle. I for one now realise what a great calendar of events we have had in previous years and as the old saying goes “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”! So looking forward to 2021!

The board of the BMW Car Club GB invites you to participate in the 2020 Annual General Meeting. Owing to the extraordinary times we find ourselves in, the Club has decided that the 2020 AGM will be held via an online conference call on Saturday October 10th, 2020, from 10am to 1pm. All members are invited to participate and contribute as they are otherwise entitled to do, and we encourage members to register their interest to participate by Thursday October 8th so that they may be sent joining instructions and receive technical assistance. Member’s questions for the Q&A must be submitted two weeks in advance to office@ bmwcarclubgb.co.uk. Email office@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk to register your attendance.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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www.classiclineinsurance.co.uk BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

thoughts from the boardroom T

Graeme Grieve, CEO BMW (UK) Ltd.

he motor industry has never been one to rest on its laurels and as each generation of new models arrives it’s plain to see how improvements have been implemented and new technologies incorporated within those cars. It’s almost taken for granted that advances in safety, performance, economy and connectivity will be made but it’s the pace of change within the automotive sector, and BMW in particular, that makes me particularly proud. In our fast-moving world you often don’t have time to think about such things but these thoughts were prompted by the sighting of an ActiveHybrid 5 while I was out and about at the weekend. No doubt you will remember that this was our first hybrid model in the UK and that it was part of the F10 generation of 5 Series. It combined the 535i’s turbocharged straight-six with a synchronous electric motor integrated into the housing of the automatic gearbox and a lithium-ion battery pack. Its focus wasn’t on all-out economy but rather on excellent performance with the ability to run on electricity alone for short periods while improving its overall efficiency. It made its debut in 2011 and as diesel was still king back then it didn’t sell in large volumes but it was a vital part of our electrification process, giving our engineers crucial experience and insight into how future models could be designed and manufactured. But what I find so interesting is the speed with which our hybrid models have developed since then – this was only nine years

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

ago and now we have 10 different plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models in our line up with several more joining the range soon. The ActiveHybrid 5 could cover about two and a half miles in its electric only mode yet now vehicles such as the X5 xDrive45e have a pure electric range of up to 54 miles. That’s a huge improvement in just nine years. One of the models in our PHEV range I’m particularly keen on sampling is the new 545e xDrive that will make its debut in 2021. Like the ActiveHybrid 5 the 545e xDrive will feature a turbocharged sixcylinder engine but the latest incarnation of our eDrive technology ensures it’s significantly more efficient yet offers scintillating acceleration. A zero to 62mph time of 4.7 seconds gives an ample indication of its performance potential yet it can cover around 34 miles on pure electric propulsion. Its official UK statistics are yet to be revealed so I’d better not let the cat out of the bag, but suffice to say it really will be a superb all-rounder. The motoring press have had outings in pre-

production prototypes and I think Autocar summed it up rather well, commenting that the 545e xDrive offered an “enticing combination of performance, dynamics and refinement, all of which set new standards for plug-in hybrids in the class.” It might have been only nine years since we launched our first hybrid car in the UK but the onward march of electrification is continuing unabated. Over half a million electrified BMWs had been sold by the end of 2019 and we expect to have sold over a million PHEVs or pure-electric BMW Group vehicles by the end of next year. By the end of 2023 we will have 25 electrified vehicles in our line-up and by 2030 we’re aiming to have sold seven million in total. The pace with which the motoring landscape is changing is quite frenetic and if you’d asked me nine years ago I don’t think I’d have predicted the huge advances we have made in such a short space of time. I look forward to seeing how things develop over the next decade or so with great anticipation.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

A STATEMENT OF STYLE. BMW Lifestyle

The iconic style of BMW extends well beyond our cars. From travel accessories to the latest fashion, find what you need at your local BMW Retailer â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or visit shop.bmw.co.uk

clubnews

The board of the BMW Car Club GB invites you to participate in the 2020 Annual General Meeting. Owing to the extraordinary times we find ourselves in, the Club has decided that the 2020 AGM will be held via an online conference call on Saturday October 10th, 2020, from 10am to 1pm. All members are invited to participate and contribute as they are otherwise entitled to do, and we encourage members to register their interest to participate by Thursday October 8th so that they may be sent joining instructions and receive technical assistance. Email office@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk to register your attendance.

BMW Classic Shop Discount

BMW Car Club (GB) would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who took advantage of the recent promotional offers to join or renew their membership. In doing so, £2.50 from each transaction was donated to ‘NHS Charities Together’ on the member’s behalf. The promotion ran from May until the end of August, and raised a fantastic total of £3,852.50 for NHS Charities Together COVID-19 Appeal. On behalf of the NHS, thank you for the support.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

New Members CENTRAL WEST Sherman Dubisson Addulla Mohamed Peter Barke James Finney Rakinder Brahia Matthew Cartwright COTSWOLD Przemyslaw Topor

DEVON Michael Cann

EAST ANGLIA Trevor Cessford Brett Bevan Simon Game Simon Watts David Weller Brad Davis Stephen Davies

EASTERN Jim Quek Andy McPhail Stephen Poulton Ian Pailing Mohammad

Murtaza Shah Drew Bates David Webb James Brannan David Jackson

IRELAND Noel Eakin

LONDON Christopher Gallagher Ali Shokot Trevor Evans Jonathon Graham Kevin English Richard McDonald Rupert Moore Danny Emere Kamran Bashir Glen Williams Russell Taylor Paul Cook

NORTH EAST Karen Donohoe Ben Traviss Rachel Cook Oliver Wood

Adam Charlton Palvinder Sidhu David Giles James Macewan

NORTH WEST Muhammed Amar Islam Terrance Parkinson Mike Kennedy Glen Bailey John Fletcher

OVERSEAS Larry Gray

SCOTLAND Chris Wilson Roy Nicoll Kai Huang Mike Anderson

SOUTH EAST Kieran Payne Steven Taylor Norton Goffe Edward Acton Graham Colliss Jack Larkin

Dino Dullabh Nicholas Hall Fred Gunstone Ben Shaw Mike Hatch Sarj Thandi John Murrey

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

October 4:

Bicester Heritage Sunday

Scramble

Club Stand tickets have now

sold out.

SOUTH WALES

10:

Annual General Meeting

Daniel Osborne Lloyd Munday Prem Kumar Andrew Evans

All members are invited and are

encouraged to register their

interest by Thursday October 8th to

WESTERN Russell Waterhouse Yiran Liu

WESSEX John Cowey David Sommerville Dom Allen Matthew Roberts Nick Baker Oliver Carwardine Richard Mabbutt Ian Clegg

office@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk.

November 13-15: Lancaster Insurance

Classic Motor Show

- Postponed

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

The Driving Tour

Over the last decade The Driving Tour has created a series of touring adventures across Europe and the UK. From the vineyards of Bordeaux to the high Alpine passes, we’ve found some

National Events Calendar 2020

27: amazing places to inspire with roads and scenery that will make you go ‘Wow!’ Our self-guided car tours are ideal for single cars, or groups of friends, who wish to travel at their own pace and schedule. The routes are fully researched and tested - we drive every mile to make sure it’s all top notch! Our guide books provide your route, recommended hotels (with secure parking), great restaurants, plus suggestions of things to do and see along your journey. All you have to do is book up, travel safe and enjoy an amazing touring holiday. We are delighted to offer a 15% discount to all BMW Car Club (GB) members. The discount code is available from the member’s only section of the BMW Car Club (GB) website and redeemable at www.thedrivingtour.co.uk.

BM’s on the Lawn

Weston-Super-Mare front lawns

Trackday Calendar 2020 6 Nov:

Oulton Park – £170

Club Pub Meet Notice

Please note that all Regional pub meets and gatherings are now cancelled in England, unless otherwise stated in Regional News. Please check with your Regional Chair before attending any events or pub meets. Members in England are also kindly reminded to remain in groups of up to 6 at events, and to avoid social interactions with people outside your group even if you know them.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

bmwnews bmwnews BMW 330e wins Best Hybrid Executive Car award

BMW’s 330e won WhatCar’s Best Hybrid Executive Car at their annual awards ceremony

At the recent annual WhatCar awards ceremony, BMW’s 330e plug-in hybrid managed to win the award for the ‘Best Hybrid Executive Car’. WhatCar’s judges pointed out that in the past, executive cars used to be predominantly powered by diesel engines and they won awards without breaking a sweat. However, the new range of hybrids are so good, they put even the very best of diesel cars to shame, and none more so than BMW’s 330e. During WhatCar’s ‘real world’ testing it managed excellent fuel consumption figures, even when the battery ran out, averaging nearly 40mpg on test. It’s important to point out that

Damaged BMW Regensburg plant reopening delayed… The huge Regensburg Plant, situated in Eastern Bavaria and home to F40 1 Series and X1/X2 production, was undergoing renovation work during the August summer break to prepare the plant for the further electrification of numerous models. During construction work, the roof on one of the production halls was severely damaged during

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

the 330e in all electric-only mode covered up to 37 miles on battery power alone, making the 330e perfect for those who have to commute into a city for work, where they can then recharge the car for the journey home. For someone who has a 20-30 mile commute to and from work, once topped up at home, it means the 330e will never need to use its petrol engine for these journeys, making it not only super economical but also fantastic for the environment. WhatCar’s road tester also praised the BMW G20 for its excellent build quality, comfortable upmarket cabin and its sporty driving characteristics, which makes the 3 Series range difficult to beat.

demolition work to remove old machinery, meaning lengthy repairs were required. The restart of production was planned for September 14th, but a delay of at least two weeks was forecast as we went to press, something BMW could have done without after plant closures due to the C19 pandemic. A two-week interruption in production corresponds to a five-digit total number of non-built vehicles; theoretically, a new BMW is built in Regensburg every 57 seconds. In 2019, a total of 255,804 vehicles were built – a figure that has already become unattainable in 2020 due to the Corona-related production

interruption in the first half of the year. Just like at other plant locations of the BMW Group, plug-in hybrids and electric cars will also be able to be built on one line alongside conventionally powered models at the Regensburg Plant. Thanks to the ability to produce all drive concepts on the same line, the BMW Group can react to market changes and demand at short notice. The X1 and X2 are already available as plug-in hybrids, the all-electric BMW iX1 has also been confirmed – and the BMW 1 Series will also be offered with an electrified drive in the near future.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Redux E30 M3 - Carbon Fibre Update: Moulds After months of hard work, shaping and more re-shaping, Redux were delighted to report that the redesigning of the original steel and plastic E30 M3 body parts was now complete. Everything apart from the door skins and roof (Redux retains the factory sunroof in their builds) is being replaced with their unique, pre-preg carbon fibre panels. The remaining stage is to make a final inspection to carry out any last minute tweaks that may be required before the moulds are created. Once the inspection is completed and the work signed off, the redesigned panels will be prepped for the moulds and hopefully the production of lightweight carbon fibre panels will soon follow.

Work on creating moulds to facilitate the production of carbon fibre body panels for the Redux E30 M3 is coming along nicely and CF body panels should start to arrive by the end of 2020

BMW’s Munich Plant readied for i4 production After six weeks of intensive conversion work, series production of vehicles has resumed at BMW’s huge production facility in Munich, allowing production of the fully electric BMW i4 to begin. The entire development and conversion of the plant came at an investment of around €200 million, while approx. €700 million had already been invested between 2015 and 2018 to install a new, resource-efficient paint shop and to extend the body shop for production of the BMW 3 Series. During the recent conversion of the Munich plant, the focus was very much on integrating the BMW i4 into existing production systems, but processes were also prepared for series production of the new M3, which will be manufactured on the same line. Established in 1922, BMW Group’s home plant is now set to deliver a wide-ranging portfolio of models that includes not only the i4 but also all versions of the 3 Series Saloon and Touring, and of course, the new M3.

Work to ready BMW’s Munich plant for i4 production has been completed in just six weeks at a cost of €200 million www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Rolls-Royce back up to speed at Goodwood plant Like a lot of automakers worldwide, when the Coronavirus pandemic initially hit, Rolls-Royce paused its day-to-day operations. Initially, the factory in Goodwood went into complete lockdown, with its operations resuming in May but only partially. As time went by they have adapted to a new way of life. By mid-September, the British marque announced that production had now resumed at full operation, with pre-lockdown levels being reached. The Goodwood plant is now working in a two-shift schedule once again and, the best news of all, the entire workforce was maintained and no jobs were lost. The current situation demands that special precautions have been put in place. According to Rolls-Royce, demand for its cars is not slowing, but on the contrary, is growing across markets worldwide, particularly those where the C-19 peak has passed.

Rolls-Royce has announced that its Goodwood factory was back up to speed in September, producing its full range of models.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

motorsportnews Second place in Virginia for M8 GTE

The Motul sponsored Spengler/De Philippi #25 M8 GTE swept to a second place finish in the GTLM Class at VIR, and then a few weeks later they charged to class victory at Atlanta, holding off a Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to clinch the win

BMW Team RLL enjoyed a mixed bag of results at the latest round of the IMSAWeathertech Sportscar Championship in late August at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). Qualifying - The #25 BMW M8 GTE qualified third in the hands of Connor De Phillippi and Bruno Spengler, with the sister #24 car of Edwards/Krohn just a place behind, starting from fourth position.

Race - The race itself, held over 2-hours 40-minutes, was pretty undramatic. Pole position-holder Nick Tandy and Fred Makowiecki led the race comfortably in their Porsche 911 RSR, followed by the Corvette C8.R of Taylor/Garcia and the De Philippi/ Spengler #25 M8 GTE. Unfortunately the #24 M8 GTE piloted by Edwards/ Krohn suffered a mechanical problem early in the race, which was eventually

fixed by their pit crew but it sadly left them 19 laps down and they brought the car home in sixth spot. The race took a dramatic twist with just 18 minutes to go when the Tandy/Makowiecki 911 RSR suffered a bad cut to the left rear tyre, forcing Tandy into the pit to change tyres. He emerged in third position with the De Philippi/Spengler M8 GTE moving up into second. As hard as the BMW drivers tried, they couldn’t pass the Taylor/Garcia Corvette, which had fortuitously taken the lead after the Porsche’s puncture, and they held on to finish as winners of the GTLM Class in their Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. De Philippi/Spengler had to be extremely mindful of the hard charging Tandy in the 911 RSR in the final few laps, which allowed Garcia time to relax in the winning Corvette while the BMW pairing had to then defend their second place from Tandy’s rapid Porsche. At the chequered flag the M8 GTE of De Philippi/Spengler managed to fend off Tandy’s 911 RSR to secure second place on the podium for the BMW team. A disappointed Tandy was disconsolate on finishing third – that’s racing!

BMW’s M8 GTE victorious in Atlanta! BMW Team RLL swept to GTLM Class victory in the 254-lap, 6 Hour TireRack.com Grand Prix at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in early September, as the BMW M8 GTEs secured a one-three finish for BMW Motorsport. Qualifying – A tough session for the BMW M8 GTEs saw the #25 car of De Philippi/Spengler qualify fifth in class and the #24 car of Edwards/Krohn sixth. Nick Tandy snatched pole in his Porsche 911 RSR, but this time qualifying for the entire six-car class was separated by a miniscule 0.192 seconds, about half the time it takes a human to blink, promising a close race the following day. Race – Tandy had a good start in the 911 RSR, followed by the two Corvettes and the second 911 RSR, but the BMWs kept Tandy in their sights as the race settled down. As the cars made their pit stops the lead changed hands several times over the next five hours, but with 55mins to go the #25 M8 GTE made its move. Spengler pitted early, and after a quick splash and dash and with a new set of tyres safely onboard, De Philippi stormed out of the pits in pursuit of the Porsches and Corvettes. The early stop took the rival teams by surprise as they pitted one lap later, and as they pitted, De Philippi, his tyres now nicely warm, performed a masterclass in overtaking as he swept past the leaders on their outlap. The opposition Porsches and Corvettes, still bringing their tyres up to full operating temperature, couldn’t do anything to stop the BMW as it picked them off one by one to take the lead. De Philippi then opened up a comfortable four second gap on the second placed Corvette C8.R and was

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

cruising to victory until panic ensued – a collision between a Cadillac, Acura and a Ferrari brought out a full-course caution with 12 minutes left on the clock, which bunched everyone back up. When the track was finally cleared and the green flag waved, there was just a two-lap shootout remaining. Thankfully, De Phillippi kept his cool and wasted no time in putting several slower GT Daytona cars between himself and the Milner/Gavin Corvette as a buffer and pulled away to win by 4.383 seconds. Krohn/Edwards gave BMW Team RLL a pair of podium finishes by bringing their #24 BMW M8 GTE home in third place. This win puts De Phillippi and Spengler third in the GTLM Drivers Championship and BMW second in the Manufacturers Championship, just eight points behind Chevrolet.

Bruno Spengler and Connor De Philippi celebrate on the podium after victory in the 6 Hour TireRack.com Grand Prix at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Roving reporters Jeff Heywood & Neil McDonald

Brands Hatch Full Grid Opener

The long awaiting first BMWCCR race of 2020 at Brands Hatch did not disappoint with regards to action, and despite the wet qualifying and first race it did not dampen the enthusiasm and enjoyment. It was pleasing to welcome several new drivers including three novices, so given the conditions it was potentially a difficult baptism but they all came through with solid results and big smiles. Qualifying witnessed some interesting performances with an impressive Paul Cook taking pole in his Class M2 E46, alongside newcomer Lee Piercey in his Class M1 E36 M3. There were several new and familiar faces behind them and all the classes were closely matched. It would be a testing race for the drivers throughout the grid. Given we had a full grid combined with the short Brands Hatch circuit, it was very pleasing to see our three novices, Tom Singleton, Dan Harborow and James Dalzell put in confident laps. We hoped it would dry for the first race but the drizzle remained making tyre choice difficult, but the car control was impressive through the grid over a longer 20min race this year. Given the size of the grid finding

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space to safely pass was going to be difficult in particular when lapping slower cars, from a spectator’s point of view it was exciting but also nerve wracking to watch, but they drove well given the different levels of performance and experience. The drive of the race came from the reigning M2 champion Graham Crowhurst who came from 5th on the grid, coping well with the wet track to challenge Lee Piercey who led early on and his class challenger Paul Cook, with Garrie Whittaker in the mix. The driving at the front was close and fair with Graham stretching out a gap. With one lap to go he had a big slide, losing a lot of time but was able to celebrate his first overall win in the championship just ahead of the M2 car of Paul Cook, next was Whittaker taking the M1 win. Class 6 was won by Jim Benson, followed by Kevin Denwood and Cavan Grainger in 10th, 11th and 13th overall. The BMWcup class ended with the top three as Watson, Laramy, and Thomas. The top novice finisher was Dan Harborow in 18th place, out of 33 starters. The damp conditions improved for race 2 assisting some of the more powerful cars

and making driving easier for everyone. The lead changed throughout the race with Whittaker, Cook and Crowhurst again emerging as early challengers. The greater power of the M1 cars allowed Garrie Whittaker to take his maiden BMWCCR win with Paul Cook only 3.5 seconds behind. In M1 Michael Eustace capped a solid first meeting with the Club, with a charging Brad Sheehan in third. In M2 Steven Schweikhardt claimed second after and third was Adrian Williams. The BMWcup class was a repeat of race one but Paul Laramy claimed the fastest lap to maintain the small gap to Clive Watson. This meeting was in memory of longtime supporter Russ Cockburn who passed away in May. He was a legend to many drivers over his life and left an indelible mark on many of the organisers and drivers, so we will be remembering him through the year. I am confident he would have had some wise words on the day’s events. As we look forward to Oulton Park, the championship leader is Jim Benson, with Garrie Whittaker in second, closely followed by Paul Cook, Michael Eustace and Steve Schweikhardt. With another large grid expected we hope for drier weather at Oulton. Then this great group of drivers will head for Castle Combe where we always receive a warm welcome, followed by our annual visits to Snetterton and Donington when we’ll know who the new champion for 2020 will be.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

dannorris My road trip to the past, with added vowels… Everyone’s car life starts somewhere. If I think back, I can remember where I think mine started – although my mum says I could identify visitors from the noise their cars made when they arrived before I could even walk. But in my mind my first real car adventures began in Wales. My grandfather owned a remote cottage – and by remote, I mean remote even by Welsh standards – somewhere inland from Colwyn Bay. He had goats and chickens and stone outbuildings and all the trappings of la dolce vita 1970s style, and for a six-yearold boy, it was heaven. From the main road – although that might give slightly the wrong impression as it was in reality a long cart track leading down into the valley - as we approached for each visit, my heart would beat a little faster, I’d start to fidget, until my parents could bear no more and let me out of the car. Off I’d run, leaping over the stiles and five bar gates (there were several that needed opening as you descended the track) until as I rounded the final curve, I could see what I’d been dreaming about on the arduous, dull, 10hour journey in our Renault 6. Boy, was it worth it. There, in the front yard, resplendent on four neat piles of bricks and looking just as beautiful as I remembered from last time, sat the object of my desires – a 1958 Ford Anglia. I’d already been planning my road trips, making lists of supplies, trying to persuade my long-suffering parents to let me out of the household chores, and now the moment had arrived. The only difficulty would be the usual running the gauntlet from the main house, out to the car. Somewhere out there, doubtless hiding behind the old privy, ready to pounce, would be my nemesis - a grumpy, gnarly, stinky and always hungry billy goat called Bill. We’d had run-ins before, and he’d always won – one time knocking me to the ground and making me cry – but I wasn’t going to let anything stand between me and my long-awaited road trip adventure. Gathering up my Shippam’s crab paste sandwiches, Penguin bar and thermos of orange squash (perfect road trip fare) I reluctantly planted the obligatory kiss on the squishy puckered-up face of my grandmother, and like the guys at the start of the old-style Le Mans race, I was gone (although those poor chaps didn’t have Shippam’s). I travelled many, many miles in that old Ford Anglia, journeys deep into my

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

imaginary vision of what the world would look like when I grew up and was finally allowed to do what I really wanted to do in life – drive cars. I still remember that distinctive semi-sweet smell of the plastic trims, the jewel-like ruby red of the central horn button in the middle of that wonderful ivory white steering wheel. The grown-ups must have thought me very odd, ‘he’s still out there you know, that’s four hours now. What is he doing in there? It’s not right, you know…’. I think the general assumption was that I’d grow out of it, so it was alright. Of course, as it turns out, I didn’t grow out of it, and it wasn’t alright. I’d caught a bug that would last a lifetime. Luckily, at Munich Legends I’ve met many fellow sufferers – I hear regular stories of how one journey in a friend’s uncle’s neighbour’s M635CSi to football practice sparked a lifelong desire to own an E24, or of the mental snapshot taken in 1978 from the back of the family Maxi, being overtaken by a 2002 Turbo, leading to a collection of 25 cars (and a grumpy wife, he says). So, I ended up owning a BMW garage, hanging out with other car nuts as a day job and marrying a lady who owns a business specialising in supercar road trips, thus spending a good portion of every year exploring mountain passes and unknown European backroads on Colcorsa reccies, or shrieking round the Ashdown Forest in various M cars. So, not much has changed since I was six years old. One day I decided to go on a road trip I’d been going on about four years – a very special trip to the past (or Wales, as it’s known locally). Sara managed to procure a Merc SL63 Roadster press car from the kind folk over at Mercedes-Benz GB, the perfect grand touring power waft – except it was from the wrong town. Undaunted we set off on my merry trip down memory lane, stopping for lunch in a perfect Cotswolds pub (except they didn’t do crab paste sandwiches) and enjoying hours of clogged A roads winding painfully through the Black Country. As any visitor will soon realise, Wales is the land that vowels forgot. However, travelling with a Finnish girl – even one whose mother tongue is Swedish – I soon found out why Wales is possibly the perfect destination for a Finn. In fact, I’m thinking of starting a twin town organisation for the two countries. Because Finland is a land that has way, way too many vowels. Take the Finnish word hääyöaie, meaning

wedding night intention - a phrase in daily use, with a serious surplus of vowels. Now let’s look at the Welsh word for producer – cynhyrchydd. It seems obvious to me that when languages were being invented, somebody got the allocations wrong. Nonetheless, we struggled on - vowel-less, but happy. We drove deep into the countryside - modern satnav took away the mystery of discovery - so barring some sheep encounters and some heavy rain we drove straight there, arriving in front of my grandad’s gate just before lunch, as the clouds parted and the sun came out, soaking the landscape in a calm, misty light. I wandered down the track, which was as long and rutted as I remembered, through the five bar gates, round the curve and across the final cattle grid, the house calling to me from somewhere in the past. And there it was – in a way, where it all began. Gone was the old Anglia – some townies had bought the place and were busy making a gym in one of the outbuildings – but the spirit of the place was still intact. I breathed a sigh of relief. Somehow, I felt reassured that not everything in the world changes beyond recognition, that some memories are safe. I have a picture of me and (now) my wife, standing in front of the sign looking silly. Another memory safe. And maybe that’s what it’s all about, this crazy love we have for cars. We’re trying to keep the memories safe, in a world where everything seems subject to change. These cars are just lumps of old metal to some – like an old Ford Anglia parked on bricks in the yard - but for us they’re somehow an anchor to our past. And it may seem silly to some, but that sounds just fine to me. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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products GAZ Camber Adjuster Plates for BMW E21 3 Series The camber angle of the front struts on the classic BMW E21 3 Series is fixed as standard. For racing purposes a more negative camber would be desirable, so to enable this leading suspension specialist GAZ has developed an adjustable camber plate to allow the angle to be altered. The plates are made from anodised aluminium billet and come with a top bearing incorporated into the centre. The adjustable camber plates are

recommended for competition only as they would be too harsh / noisy for general road use. In order to obtain the maximum adjustment GAZ can supply a specially shortened coilover unit for use with these plates. GAZ BMW E21 front camber adjusters with two piece sliding mounts retail at £165.38 plus VAT per pair. For further details visit the GAZ website: www.gazshocks.com

M-Style GTS Metal Bonnet for F8x M3/M4

M-Style is now offering the GTS Metal Bonnet for BMW F80 M3 and F82 / F83 M4 to both enhance the looks and reduce the weight of these cars. The GTS bonnet is made from lightweight aluminium and includes a power bulge and functioning air scoop. The GTS bonnet is listed at £1,095.00, but as an introductory offer it is currently on sale at just £995.00 including VAT. M-Style offers a painting and fitting service for the bonnet

for an additional £550.00 inc. VAT. For further details e-mail info@mstyle.co.uk or call 0208 598 9115

Sticker Trickery John Paulding shows how to renovate the engine bay stickers and VIN plate on a classic 2002 Having repainted the engine bay on my 2002 during lockdown the next step was to finish it off with some new engine bay stickers and VIN plate. These are all available from the aftermarket, but since I had done all the work myself I wanted to tackle this item too and it turned out to be quite simple. Taking the stickers first I scanned the old stickers and downloaded images of the ones that were missing from the internet. Then I imported the scans into a desktop publishing program and checked the images for size against the actual stickers. I used Quark 2020, a professional publishing program that I use for my business, but others are available and if you only intend to use the program to make these stickers there are some that you can download for free for

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

a month’s trial. That will give you time to learn how to use it and print the stickers. I then used the desktop publishing program to work over the scanned sticker on a new layer and make up new artwork, typing new words over the original and adjusting the size and

spacing to get it as close to the scanned example as possible. New white lines were added over the old and finally the scanned layer was deleted and a plain black background dropped in. The black and white stickers use a Helvetica Bold font which most computers will have already. The blue ATE sticker uses what I would say is DIN Condensed Bold and DIN 1451 Engschrift. If you don’t have the right fonts on your computer you can download them, either for a small fee or free. Technically there is copyright on fonts so you should be paying a fee to download them, but I found a website that offered downloads for a donation or for free if you gave them a nice mention on your social media page. Sounds like a deal to me, so we’ll give them a plug here too. Check out https://fontshub.pro. While I was making up the artworks I took the opportunity to modify a couple to match the modifications I made to my car. I changed the tyre sizes on the www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Products tyre pressure sticker from 165x13 to 185x13 and omitted the Automatic Choke and Electric Fuel Pump from the fuse sticker because I don’t have an automatic choke and my fuel pumps have Independent fuses.

paper allowed the strong red to show through on the white lines and lettering giving it a pink tinge. This was remedied by applying the decal to a blank sheet of white decal paper and then, when dry, cutting round and applying the two together. The white was now dense enough to prevent the red from showing through. This also made the decals thicker and more like the vinyl stickers used originally.

My ‘custom’ fuse sticker with the Automatic Choke and Fuel Pumps line removed from Fuse 11.

To print them out I used white decal paper in my laser printer, although you could use an inkjet printer. A pack of five sheets of A4 white laser decal paper cost just £7.99 from Mr Decal Paper. (www. mrdecalpaper.com) I gave the decals a few coats of matt fixative, just to make sure the print didn’t run when the decals were soaked in water. This step will be essential if you use an inkjet printer and advisable if you use a laser.

Decals cut out and ready to apply

Any bubbles caught under the decals were smoothed out with a soft cloth before the decal dried. The decals were left until the next day to dry completely and then the stickers were masked off and a coat of matt clear varnish was sprayed over to protect the print from everything it is likely to encounter under a bonnet. (According to ‘02 guru, Richard Stern, the correct finish is matt and not a gloss finish seen on some of the aftermarket stickers. Now you know!) Revitalizing the VIN

The renovated VIN plate

What goes where? The positions for all the stickers can be found on-line, but they did seem to vary somewhat according to year of manufacture and the intended market. There was even some variation within those parameters depending on where the worker was standing to put the original stickers on, so some variation is permissible. Since my car already has quite a few modifications I went for an ‘interesting’ engine bay rather than a strictly accurate one so it has the orange “Achtung use original BMW parts” sticker, which didn’t actually appear until the year after my car was made and a blue ATE sticker on the servos although in reality they were only used on the Turbos. They add a splash of colour and confuse the ‘experts’! If you want to brighten up your engine bay but are unsure about the artwork part you can download my artwork from www. johnpaulding.com/Stickers.jpg and the VIN plate artwork from www.johnpaulding.com/ VIN.jpg Because of the changes I’ve made and the ‘best guess’ on the fonts these aren’t perfectly accurate reproductions of the originals to satisfy the purist, but they are better than the torn and faded stickers they replaced and hopefully they’ll brighten up your engine bay too.

White decal sheets were used for the stickers and clear was used for the VIN plate. They usually come in packs of five.

The original VIN plate

White decal sheets were used for the stickers and clear was used for the VIN plate. They usually come in packs of five.

The decals were cut out, soaked in warm water and applied to the car. The first attempt didn’t go too well as the car is Verona red and the white decal www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Renovating the VIN plate was a similar process, but this time clear decal paper was used. First the print on the original VIN plate was removed by sanding with a fine wet and dry and then the plate was polished to a bright finish leaving only the embossed VIN number showing. The artwork was made up making sure the print and spaces matched the original as perfectly as possible. Then the decal was printed, sprayed with fixative and the panel for the VIN number was cut out. The decal was applied to the original plate leaving the stamped number showing through the cut out. Finally the plate was given a coat of clear varnish and riveted back into its proper position on the offside wing.

The E sticker went on the inner wing on the offside

..and the fuse sticker went on the nearside.

On my car the tyre sticker was under the bonnet on the right, but the original position did seem to depend on where the worker was standing at the time!

The orange Achtung sticker didn’t appear until the year after my car was built - but it looks good! BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

Power Feature – BMW M2 CS

LIFE

THE BANDIT

Editorial by Steve Carter Photographs by Dean Grossmith Road Test: BMW M2 CS £73,385 (£81,115 as tested)

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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V and film have given us endless iconic motor cars over the years, and perhaps never more so than back in the 1970s and 80s. As a car obsessed young lad growing up in those days, my world was full of the wonderful and exotic cars that flickered across my four channel television; James Bond’s white Lotus Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me, the Dukes of Hazzard’s bright red forever jumping Dodge Charger, the Fall Guy’s brown and gold GMC non-stop skidding truck, right through to Knight Riders talking solid black Pontiac Trans Am called K.I.T.T. But there was another Trans Am that I thought was particularly awesome back in those days, and that was the one Burt Reynolds drove in the 1977 film, Smokey and the Bandit. With its black paint, contrasting gold cross spoke alloy wheels, sunken headlights (so that was where McLaren’s inspiration on the P1 came from, I knew it!), and gold eagle adorned across the bonnet, I thought it was height of American muscle car coolness; my toy Matchbox version of it was a favourite at the time and had the scars to prove it. Of course, little did I know the 1977 Trans Am “muscle car” only squeezed a paltry 200bhp from its vast 6.6-litre V8 engine due to brutal US Government fuel economy and emission regulations. Nevertheless, that colour combination was in my young mind the height of cool. Forty odd years later and I’m suddenly transported back to those heady days. Parked up in front of me is BMW’s latest M car, the M2 CS. Painted in sparkling Sapphire black paint and shod as it is with stunning and contrasting gold wheels, it looks epic. Shy and retiring this M2 CS’s colour scheme is certainly not! But frankly, neither is the rest of it. Lightweight carbon fibre is lavished over the (very low – more of that later) chin spoiler, roof top, M wing mirror caps and rear Gurney spoiler, all adding to the already muscular and slightly cartoonish shape that is the M2. But all this carbon fibre doesn’t mean the M2 CS weighs less than the Competition model. “They weigh about the same, all things considered, unless you equip the M2 CS with the carbon ceramic brakes which saves about 25 kilograms (55 lbs),” BMW M CEO Markus Flasch told bmwblog. “The reason for being the same weight as the M2 Competition, is the additional things we put in.” i.e. Adaptive M Suspension. If that wasn’t enough, there is a large vent in the bonnet to help cooling and huge carbon ceramic brakes (£6,250) fill those wonderful forged 763M gold alloys (£500), shod with Michelin Pilot www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

Power Feature – BMW M2 CS Feature

Cup 2 tyres. And the vast front calipers, a different shade of gold again to the alloys, but somehow this all works together to provide an extremely aggressive, and it has to be said, very purposeful, looking motor car. Not sure I’d have been brave enough to tick the “gold wheels” option if I was spec’ing the car, but having seen them in real life it’s a definite thumbs up from me. This M2 CS represents the last hurrah for the F22 M2. Originally released back in 2015, the M2 has continued to evolve over time and perhaps more so than in other M car models of its generation. The Competition version, a now familiar M car iteration, was released only two years ago and that version saw a significantly reworked car, the biggest change being the inclusion of the BMW M-built S55 engine fitted from the F80 M3/F82 M4, albeit in a detuned stated, replacing the ageing N55 motor. And it’s this S55 3-litre straight-six twin-turbocharged engine that is one of the major highlights of this CS version. The Competition version before it was tuned to produce 404bhp, whilst in this CS that has been increased by a further 10% to 444bhp and a peak torque of 550Nm – that’s 30Nm more than the 5.0-litre V10 in the E60 M5 for those of you who like me crave an irrelevant,

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

I mean relevant, data point. And from another and perhaps more relevant perspective, that’s 85bhp more than the not unsubstantial 375bhp in the original 2015 M2. What this translates to in the real world is a face mangling 0 to 62mph time of 4.0 seconds (DCT, 4.2 seconds in Manual) and a top speed restricted to a pretty interesting 174mph (Car Magazine reported 186mph with revs to go) – a near 200mph 2 series, who would have predicted that? Of course, having all this power and torque is one thing, but keeping the CS attached to the road surface and being able to reign that speed in quickly is equally, if not more important. Fortunately then, those clever folks at BMW’s M division have fitted as standard some pretty trick Adaptive M suspension designed with motor racing know-how; after all this is a car that is intended to be able to perform everyday driving and then rock up and tear round your local motor racing track at the weekend. As such, the damper settings can be adjusted between Comfort, Sport and Sport+, the latter delivering the firmest chassis setup that minimises body movement and maximises dynamic performance. As far as stopping goes, M Sport brakes are fitted as standard and benefit from the motor racing experience

of BMW M GmbH. Compared with the M compound brakes featured on the BMW M2 Competition, the brake discs are larger (front: diameter 400mm, rear: diameter 380mm) and the brake callipers – painted in a bold red colour – have also been upgraded (front: six-piston fixed callipers, rear: four-piston fixed callipers). The BMW M2 CS however, is also available with the option of M carbon ceramic brakes, as fitted to our test car, with six-piston callipers at the front and four-piston units at the rear, with the callipers painted in gold.Electric Power Steering with M-specific characteristics controls power assistance electronically according to the car’s speed and the Drivelogic settings

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selected. It allows the driver to adapt the level of power assistance to suit their personal preferences and is also adjusted in line with the three suspension modes and the three throttle mapping modes. So, there are set-up options, but compared to some of the more grownup M cars they are fairly straight forward: Three settings for Steering, Throttle Mapping and Damper setting. Of course, on top of this, the Dynamic Stability Control can be switched to M Dynamic mode, which allows for added rear end playfulness, or if you have the driving skills and belief of Lewis Hamilton, you can turn everything off. To make sure you keep the car on the black stuff and yet still be competitive

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around the weekend race track, BMW have fitted the front wheels with 245/35 ZR 19 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres and 265/35 ZR 19 tyres at the rear. BMW will allow customers intending to use their M2 CS mainly for everyday driving to select the no-cost option of Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres, which of course generate more grip on wet roads than the Cup 2 tyres. Most surprising is an option that is not offered, and that is the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. Without doubt, and I know I speak for several friends too, these are by far the best for fast road driving on the UK’s roads, having really impressive handling in both wet and lower temperature conditions than either the Super Sport or Cup 2’s, as well as excelling in the dry. Interior wise, it’s generally a standard M2 affair, only without a central armrest (weight saving?), an abundance of Alcantara and carbon fibre and a seemingly thicker than normal Alcantara wrapped steering wheel with a perforated top dead centre marking.

Driving What I’ve always loved about the M2 throughout its iterations, is how approachable the car is from a driver confidence perspective. Familiarity of course breeds confidence and the compact size really helps that when you push on. But before I get a chance to let it loose on the open roads, we pop up to the roof of BMW UK’s Farnborough car park to allow Dean to grab a few images as the late August sun starts to gently fall towards the horizon. Twenty minutes later and at last we’re all done and I can head out onto the public highway, but not until I have first negotiated 10 floors of car park. I’d like to think I’m able to keep my cool when driving cars of this rarity and value, but I have to admit to questioning whether I required a new pair of underpants after a God-awful scraping noise came from that beautiful carbon fibre chin spoiler on the first down ramp. Luckily no damage done, but my god that front end is super low to the ground,

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

Power Feature – BMW M2 CS just see the pictures if you don’t believe me. Needless to say, every other down ramp was approached crab style and for the following week I avoided all speed bumps and kerbs, no easy task let me tell you. And then finally we’re out on the roads. It’s 7:30pm and is still daylight, the temperature is 22°C, the roads are bone dry and the engine oil is nicely warmed. Dean has plotted an awesome route for us as we head home down to the South Coast and finally Brighton. As we leave the city limits of Farnborough, we head south along the A285 before joining the A272 towards Petworth and heading east before reaching the A281. If you know these roads, then you will know what a wonderful playground they can be for the keen driver, a perfect place to explore what this M2 CS is capable of. Within a very short time I’m deliberately provoking the throttle hard to see where the initial traction limits off, it’s quickly apparent the grip levels with these Cup 2s is a step above what I’m used to, but also confidence inspiring when the limit of adhesion is reached, letting go in a very predictable manner. On these twisty but flowing roads the M2 CS is superlative, carrying huge speeds through the corners. I quickly switch the car’s traction control system to M Dynamic Mode, this allows the rear axle to dance through and out of the corners. I leave the dampers in comfort initially, and although the body roll is extremely well-checked, the car feels more natural in its middle Sport setting. With Dean in the passenger seat screaming encouragement, the fun levels are amazingly high as we nail some of these familiar corners on the button, this car is hugely rewarding to drive. And that engine. The S55 is by far my favourite petrol turbo M engine of the modern era, it’s just so characterful both in the way it pulls, and in the way it sounds. Even how loud it is; it’s an absolute aural joy and yet never becomes too boisterous or shouty. The engine itself doesn’t pull hard until just before 3,000rpm when the whole 550Nm of Torque comes in fully, and from there all the way to the redline somewhere north of 7,500rpm it pulls strongly. In many respects it is normally aspirated in character and in the way the engine gains speed as it races towards the redline, and hunting that redline is totally addictive. However, to do so is also unnecessary as the mid-range torque is just so ferocious, more like a S54 engine on those go-faster 90s drugs. It’s brilliant and is made even more so by the sweet shifting six-speed manual gearbox fitted to our car; it’s such a joy to change gear.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

Better still, this gearbox has rev matching enabled and it’s the best application of it I’ve tried in a BMW or MINI to date. It takes very little time to get used to and means that when you’re grabbing that next gear, or shifting down during your braking, the engine is exactly where you want it, every time, and then you’re straight back on the power with no interruptions. What Dean and I both found though is that from a throttle mapping perspective, putting in its calmest mode, known as Efficiency, offers a lot more controllability around these fast British and bumpy A roads. Leave it in ‘Sport’ and an enthusiastic push of throttle on corner exit leads to the Torque briefly overwhelm the rear Cup 2s which spoils the experience as the power is briefly cut to compensate. The carbon ceramic brakes themselves are also earning their keep on these fast roads. It’s not the stopping power which really impresses, although I swear, they could make our planet slow its rotation a little if asked. No, it’s their precise modulation that really stands out. I can only imagine that these would really come into their own on the race track, but I’d happily option them even if I was fast road driving only, they really are a seriously good piece of kit. Over the next several days the M2 CS switches between fast road car, daily driver, teenagers’ taxi and motorway cruiser. The warm August days that we experienced at the start of our time together give way almost overnight to

colder temperatures and torrential rain. But that is the luxury of having the car for this amount of time, it allows a more rounded impression to be gained, as much to enjoy its virtues as to discover its flaws, of which it has a few; and there’s nothing wrong with that. The electric steering rack and oversized wheel deserve some criticism in my eyes. The rim is a great size but it is thicker than it needs to be, and I think it loses some steering delicacy because of it. The feedback on the steering is good enough to inspire huge confidence when pushing on, but feels quite numb in normal driving even in Comfort mode, even to the extent that when the car tracks along tarmac undulations or poor broken road surfaces there is a tugging against the wheel which feels quite artificial. This was highlighted to me never more than when I jumped back in my own E90 M3 after dropping off the CS. I seriously thought the steering in my M3 was broken and I actually stopped the car in the BMW car park to get out and give everything a shake and a wiggle. Only then did I realise there was just a huge amount of information coming into my hands that I’d not experienced over the past week in the M2 CS. On a positive note, the dead ahead feel is vastly better than earlier BMW electric steering racks; Mrs Carter’s M140i is particularly guilty of this deadness. Suspension wise I think the damping and the three set-ups are superb and brilliantly well judged, specifically in

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Feature Comfort and Sport for road driving. And whilst the initial damping is a serious step up from the original M2, there is a stiffness that some may find a little too much for everyday use. Personally, I found the car very comfortable even over the two long four-hour motorway journeys that I made in the final days with it. And those Cup 2 tyres. Whilst they are absolutely sublime and offer monstrous grip in the dry, they are near heart-attack inducing when the roads are wet or damp. This was illustrated while gently accelerating over a narrow water run off on an otherwise dry road in Ashdown Forest, the car rotating in a flash, only the full DSC saving what I would expect would have been a clenched-tooth inducing low speed 360-degree spin. I can only imagine that more than one M2 CS will find its muscular rear end inserted bluntly into a Hawthorn bush / dry stone wall / roadside barrier (select as applicable) during the winter months. As I mentioned earlier, I’d be asking BMW to swap those Cup 2s for a new set of Pilot Sport 4S before delivery. And then finally there is the price. At £81,115 as tested, this little 2 Series is serious money. A quick search online reveals a whole range of high-end performance machinery for around that price. A new Porsche Cayman GT4 is under £75,000, a brand-new Lotus Evora under £80,000 and a 2014 Porsche 911 GT3 with 15,000 miles is yours for under £90,000 - really, and from Porsche themselves. Alternatively, I’ve

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had numerous healthy discussions with everyone from our Straight Six editor Jeff, to my TurnAndClipIt driving buddies, about how easy it is to make an M140/ M240 or M2 Comp go faster and drive round corners better for far less money than a new M2 CS. Everyone has a view on this it seems. Verdict So, this M2 CS has its faults and it is expensive, but frankly I find it all the more endearing because of it. And whilst the colour scheme of our loan car was a modern and very German reincarnation of the Bandit’s Trans Am (Golden Eagle bonnet decal the exception), and it’s certainly a bit of Bandit when it comes to

relieving you of pound notes from your wallet, it still is a very special car in my opinion. I also hear from my contacts in the BMW dealer network that a bunch of orders were cancelled during these recent lockdown months, and that if you want to spec a factory car, you can. So, combine that with the fact that those Cup 2s will lighten the production numbers versus on the road survivors in a few years’ time, and I think there is a chance for this M2 CS to be quite a rare and special car. This little Bandit of an M Car is ‘the’ M Car of its generation, and quite possibly the long awaited spiritual successor to the 1M. It’s that good a drive.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

Feature When I initially told people I planned on flying from London to California, picking up a 1984 E30 and using it to explore America over three months and 10,000 miles, everyone doubted me. They said the car wouldn’t make it, and that I should just get a rental or buy something newer. But that’s not me, that’s not what this trip is about. This trip had been something I dreamt of for years and years and I figured if my fiancé and I didn’t do this soon, then we never would. In fact, this trip was actually our honeymoon…

he car in question was purchased from a member on the BMW Car Club forum, a 1984 325e coupe in manual. Alpine White, black leather interior, odometer stopped working but guesstimated at 280,000-miles on the clock. A lot of people would have, and did think, that this car would never complete this trip,

ACROSS THE USA... IN AN E30 PART ONE Words and photographs: Ben Walsh

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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This was the only photo I could see of the car from the California advert.

Every road trip plan must come with an overview of the route.

even the original owner was sceptical. But I figured why not! Let’s just give it a try and see how it goes. I ended up getting the car for the bargain price of $1,000, around £700. I had my friend Steve, who lives local to the car in Northern California, go collect it for me and have it ready for my arrival. He collected it for me on July 1st, 2018, and I had planned to land on September 5th, so we had a few months to figure out if anything needed to be done to the car. The car had a tonne of maintenance recently done to it which was good! New tyres, timing belt and water pump, a complete new cooling system and so on. The other side of the car had a Bronzit-coloured door and front wing. These had to be replaced, so I managed to find a white door and a pair of white wings which we could fit onto the car. I had them collected, and the door was fitted prior to my arrival. The fenders were located down closer to LA, so we fitted these at around week three of my trip. My friend Chris, who collected the fenders for me, was able to give them a clean up to see what we were working with. Unfortunately the passenger side fender (which was the main one we needed) was quite badly damaged by years of being in the sun. Regardless, it wasn’t Bronzit so I wasn’t too bothered.

We flew from London to Oakland airport, and Steve picked us up and took us back to his place near Sacramento. First impressions of the car My first impression? It looked much cleaner in the photos! But I had an idea of what I was getting into, although my fiancé was not so happy with the purchase. Thankfully she got on board with the car and fell in love with it soon enough! Our first full day in California was over 30-degrees, and this English idiot decided to wear all black... We spent the day in the small town of Vacaville sorting out the paperwork to insure and register the car. I went to AAA rather than the DMV, and it was actually much easier to insure it than anticipated; I managed to get insurance, break down cover and register the car within about 40 minutes! They didn’t ask too many questions. I got used to driving a manual car on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car much quicker than expected. We spent the day with my friend Steve, and afterwards headed to our hotel for the night. The next day we were heading to San Francisco! San Fran: Wow, stressful! Our first day consisted of driving the car and getting used to everything. Old car, manual, everything was on the opposite side to how I’ve been driving for the past

The car was parked up on my friend’s farm with his Dinan E36 M3 sedan, and this is where the car sat until my arrival in September. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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Still trying to get used to the size of some of the vehicles in America.

10 years. All the images I have seen of the SF hills and streets do not do justice to just how crazy steep they are! But we did manage to go down Lombard Street a couple of times before it became overrun with tourists. We then struggled to find somewhere to park. I refused to pay the extreme amounts that people wanted for parking in SF so we found some street parking, got some food, and explored the pier and other parts of San Fran. It had been a stressful day so we headed for the coast. At this point we went a little bit backwards and drove from the top of the Pacific Coast Highway across to Sonora, where we would then make our trip to Yosemite and Mammoth lakes. It was at this point I really felt that I had made it, I felt like this trip was really happening. The trip I had dreamt of doing for years. We were finally out in America, exploring and hitting the open road. Only a few cars passed us and we pulled over to take it all in. It was crazy, it almost felt as if I were having an out of body experience whilst parked up on the side of this amazing road looking out over the forest. We hopped back in the car and

We went to Sequoia (I think) and drove through a tree.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

Sonora and the Sonora Pass was absolutely beautiful.

drove the bends and cruised until the car got hot. We pulled over again and whilst letting the car cool down, we went for a walk in the surrounding area. We didn’t let the overheating car bother us, I would look at it when we returned to civilisation. It ended up just being a little low on oil and I also topped up the water (later on we discovered the thermostat was put in backwards). We then hit up Yosemite; what a beautiful part of the world! After spending a couple of days in Yosemite, we did the long, long drive to Santa Cruz where we would start the descent down towards Los Angeles, along the Pacific Coast Highway. From there we drove along Big Sur, explored the national park and enjoyed the coast. Before LA we reached Lancaster and spent a long weekend staying at my friend, Chris’, house, who is on the BMW Car Club forum. Chris really saved my trip with this car. I can truly say the car would not have made it much further without his help and assistance and I cannot thank him enough for this. We got the car into his garage, and there were quite a few things that we knew we had

to tackle and quite a few other things that surprised us. The lights weren’t properly working the main beams wouldn’t work on their own, they would only work if I put full beams on which meant all four of the lights would then be on (and I didn’t want to be that guy!), so for the first few weeks I was driving will my full beams on but I had the inner two lights unplugged which meant only the outer two lights would be on. A small wiring fire later and once we fixed the issue we had found success, albeit only for a short time and then I had to revert back to my previous driving of having the inner lights unplugged and driving with full beam on. We also had other work to do which involved fitting the new front wings, and the passenger side inner door handle was broken, meaning that I had to get Nicholl out of the car each time by walking to her door and opening it for her. Although this made me look like a gent it was getting annoying so we welded up what needed to be done and that was fixed. New wings on, and we removed the iS front airdam as I had smashed it to pieces a few hours prior to getting to Chris’s house. We also painted the lower kick panels, and put on new brakes. Whilst under the car we noticed the shift linkage was loose, so we tightened this up. There was a rattling from the rear, which ended up being the destroyed rear anti-roll bar mounts. It turns out there is a larger rear anti-roll bar on the back but we couldn’t work out what it was, this was dark blue but it may have been painted. There is no bar fitted up front... We started the car to leave Chris’ to head down to LA where we would be staying for a week. The car wouldn’t fire, and then we heard a bang… www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Yep, that’s the fuel line. Someone had fitted the wrong fuel line into the car so we replaced it all. I literally have no idea how the car got so far and also how lucky we were that it decided to go in Chris’ garage and not in the middle of nowhere. Finally we were out of the garage and off; we left much later than expected but thankfully the car was in tip top shape. Our time in LA wasn’t car related. I parked the E30 at my friend’s house for the week and we went everywhere in one of his cars to do the touristy things. Hollywood and Venice beach weren’t what I was expecting, we ate too much good food and went to the beach. Lots of smiles were had and tons of memories made with great people; exactly what a trip like this is made for. My shift knob had completely torn apart by this time. Mooneyes was just down the road from my friends place and it was somewhere I really wanted to go. I know it isn’t to everyone’s style but I needed a new shift knob and I tried to find a more subtle one to go in the car which became a memory of our time in LA. Personally, I love it. It fits super comfy in the palm of your hands, but burns you when the car is left in the sun and is cold when you’re somewhere where it’s been www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Cruised along on Route 66 for a bit and got some photos in an old gas station.

snowing or has dropped below freezing, like in Colorado. The road to Vegas; No a/c, we both drove there pretty much in our underwear, it was over 38-degrees and it was extremely hot to say the least. We still had a fun drive though. We spent three full days in Vegas. Had a good time, did stuff that won’t be documented, and then we left and headed towards Flagstaff where we would spend the night and then on to Utah. Utah: we stayed in Zion National Park and what a beautiful place to go and visit it is. Some places were super busy but we found some secluded spots. We went and explored, and got some photos of the car

With the car still surviving and us having no real issues with it, we piled on more and more miles. The onboard computer read an average MPG of 29, too! After Utah we headed to Colorado, which is honestly such a beautiful state… until a huge storm hit us, that is. A Cali car on summer tyres, along with the a/c out we found out that the heater doesn’t work either. We luckily found a place to stop and warm up with some food. After our time in Colorado we visited Vail and also Denver, we spent about a week in Denver but before decided to leave there was something I HAD to do! Pikes Peak – Yep, let’s get this little 325e up Pikes Peak! It was insane, we took it easy as the BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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One of my favourite photos of the car to date.

snow was still with us, we had such a good time and it was an experience to remember. The road was shut just short of the summit, but nonetheless I’m so glad that I was able to do it! After Pikes Peak we drove towards the “Million Dollar Highway”. Has anyone ever gone on this road? Because you really need to! Again, miles and miles of incredible views. We kept stopping to walk and explore. After we left Colorado we headed to New Mexico. 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 at some point but the valve hadn’t also been swapped, so we fitted that and did some other bits and pieces to the car. To be continued in November Straight Six…

We were definitely far away from the hot California weather and beautiful beaches, but we are now in a different kind of beauty!

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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Feature

hat could be better than two of BMW’s iconic E31 8 Series models? How about a pair of identical cars, owned by the same family? George Colbeanu couldn’t quite believe it either when he first met Tahmid Haque and father Kiron, owners of the 840Ci Sport and 850CSi you see in these incredible photos,

both finished in Oxford Green with similar interior specs. “Words do not do these two justice. Seeing them drive together through the country roads of Kent at sunset was a unique experience… driving both of these cars on the road together and side by side is quite the sight. To say it turns heads is an understatement.”

TWO OF A KIND

They are a rare sight these days, but Tahmid and his father have owned an astounding six examples during the past two years. Most have been traded on in the search for perfection but the two enthusiasts have settled on the pair of Oxford Green examples – the V8 840Ci and the V12 850CSi – to keep for their burgeoning collection of BMW M cars. The 850CSi is the granddaddy of all 8 Series models. Powered by the legendary S70 5.6-litre V12, a heavily developed version of which powered the McLaren F1, that makes 372bhp at 5,300rpm and with 402lb of torque available at 4,000rpm, it is nothing but a pleasure to listen to as it accelerates past you, its driver in utter luxury. This particular 850CSi was the last of 21 cars to be finished in Oxford Green Metallic, the final of 47 to be fitted with partial Nappa Silver-Grey Leather (N4SL),

Words by Tahmid Haque and George Colbeanu. Photographs by George Colbeanu.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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and is number 149 of 160 righthand drive cars. It is highly optioned with all-wheel steering, electric rear blind, switchable driving modes, cruise control, electrically adjustable steering column, auto mirror tilt, and staggered-size Style 21 ‘Throwing Star’ wheels. The 840Ci is a 1998 build, and it is all-but identical to the untrained eye, but is fitted with the updated M62B44 4.4-litre V8, with 282bhp, 310lb of torque and a five-speed automatic instead of the 850’s manual. Wearing the same shade of Oxford Green Metallic and with similar Light Silver Nappa leather, the two cars make for a rather special combination when out driving together. Tahmid says that the personality of both cars suits him and his father, and thankfully, there is rarely an argument for the keys when the pair take them out.

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“It took a drive or two for me to get used to the sheer size and grunt of the V12 after the V8. Instantly, you feel how much power the car is packing, especially with the manual gearbox, it’s a big step up from the 840Ci. Hitting the motorway home after we bought it, I realised that the 850CSi was a powerhouse and it just pulled like a train. The 840Ci is more like the grand tourer the E31 was always thought to be. It’s gentler, a cruiser you would take on holiday with all the luggage. Very smooth and subtle with the automatic gearbox and a wound-down exhaust note.” “I prefer the 850CSi without a doubt. I like to drive spiritedly, it has more than enough power and the manual gearbox really engages you and makes you focus on the driving. I also love the sound of the V12, with the custom stainless exhaust it’s addictive and you cannot drive the car any other way but hard. My dad prefers the 840, he is the more laid-back driver who likes a smooth ride.” To the untrained eye these cars are the same, but their different mechanical specifications give them vastly separate characters which suit Tahmid and Kiron’s driving styles. The Ultimate Driving Machines, plural? Thanks to George’s wonderful photography, we can all share in enjoying this special pair.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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Feature

BMW 220D M SPORT GRAN COUPE Editorial and photographs by Steve Carter

fter weeks upon weeks of glorious summer sunshine, the heavens have finally had enough. The rain is pouring and thunder is ripping across the land. It’s smack bang in the middle of August as I write this and the weather is so intense, the sky is dark grey and our house has all its lights on. The time is only 1pm. Apt weather as it ironically turns out, as I’ve

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

not long arrived home and stepped out of BMW’s latest 2 Series, a 220d M Sport Gran Coupe in Storm Bay metallic. I have to start by talking about that colour. To my eyes it’s one of the great contemporary colours that BMW is currently producing. Much like the Dravit grey and the Barcelona Blue seen on the new 8 Series, this colour manages to blend subtlety with boldness; not a

Road Test: BMW 220d M Sport Gran Coupe OTR £33,340 (£37,825 as tested)

single person who has seen the car has failed to avoid mentioning positively. In addition, it oozes modernity, making almost every other car colour on my road look instantly dated. And this is a good thing, as when blended with all of the black and dark silver M Sport styling cosmetic parts that this car abounds in, it does detract from the slightly awkward styling. Particularly www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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guilty of this is the front end and those oversized kidney grills. Conversely, the swooping roof line and flush B pillar caps do work well, with the rear end styling echoing BMW’s latest design language; high placed blade-like light clusters, and a tiered boot. Yes, this car doesn’t have a hatchback at all but a proper old school boot. Why? Well that’s driven by the market economics of BMW’s biggest growth markets, such as China where a booted car is preferred over the European preference of a hatchback. The car also has a separated pair of exhaust pipes similar in size to those aftermarket jobs fitted to every 90’s Subaru Impreza, I kid you not. They’re bigger than a Heinz Baked Bean can! Whilst we are on the subject of design, the interior in the F44 model is a very pleasant and impressive place to spend time. Not only has the quality moved on significantly from the previous 2 Series versions, but the styling itself makes it feel like you are in a top of the range BMW, with the dashboard instrument binnacle and centre console following that gloss black / silver switchgear design language. If I am to be critical, there are a few too many buttons for my liking. There is also too much information displayed on the instrument screens and the illuminated Boston trim, which whilst providing awesome cabin lighting ambience does have a cheap www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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plastic feel and sound when tapped versus the rest of the interior. But that aside, the interior is definitely big enough for the family, and the boot is a decent enough size too, it even has a secondary and spacious under floor storage space which is handy to stop things flying around. As with most of the BMW UK press fleet, this Gran Coupe is not shy of having a few of the option boxes ticked. Both the M Sport Plus Package (£2,200) and Technology pack (£1,500) are fitted to this car which after Registration, Delivery and number plates bumps the on the road price from £33,400 to a fairly hefty £37,825. The former option adds nice M design touches such as M seat belts, spoiler and high gloss shadow line trim, whilst the Technology pack includes the awesome Adaptive LED headlights, the Head Up Display and wireless charging for your smartphone. Combine that with Apple CarPlay and this, as my teenage kids tell me, makes the Gran Coupe cabin “an epic place” to be. Out on the road and the first thing I notice is how comfortable the ride is. Riding on 18-inch alloys with low profile run flat tyres, my previous experience of this setup on other BMWs was that the ride could be a bit fidgety, but not so here. The car rides along the road in a very relaxed and grown up way, those road lumps and bumps easily dismissed, whilst at the same time the car feels taut with body roll checked around corners. Making swift progress is easy in the Gran Coupe. The 2.0 litre four-cylinder turbo diesel engine pushes out some impressive numbers, 187bhp and a substantial 295lbft / 400Nm of torque. Even from below 2,000rpm this engine pulls strongly, but perhaps what is most impressive is just how quiet it is. Only if you push it hard does it get anywhere close to being raucous. Most of the time it just purrs away, working in complete harmony with the 8-speed automatic

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

gearbox, itself an absolute peach. You can of course move the gearbox to manual mode and use the paddles, and encourage a little more throttle urgency by pushing the (Individually configurable) Sport button; but in a car like this, those both seem more like pub bragging points than of any real practical use. My advice, leave the car in auto and let it do its thing and you’ll likely get 60 miles per gallon plus out of it. With the engine being so quiet, this generally makes the cabin a pleasant and comfortable place to be. Occasionally a combination of a road surface change and the Bridgestone tyres does create a bit of cabin booming, but nothing that is too annoying. And anyway, with the Harman Kardon speaker option fitted in this car, my music is streaming freely and rather loudly most of the time as I indulge in Apple CarPlay, something I now realise we should have optioned in our M140. So, with tunes on I start to push on a little harder, enjoying the engine’s ample torque and those M Sport additions. Good fun, but go faster into a corner and you’re soon reminded that hooning around is not what this car is about. Unlike the ultimate rear-wheel drive driving machines of old, this particular F44 version is a modern front wheel drive model, sharing much of its underpinnings with BMW’s MINI. This means that the front wheels do eventually push wide in a corner, forcing the Bridgestones to audibly complain, begging me to lift my right foot just a little. But to dismiss this car because of where its driven wheels are located would be a mistake. This is a highly capable, comfortable and stylish car, as happy cruising around town as it is on your daily commute. In summary, it’s comfortable, spacious, has loads of useful tech, goes well, is economical and looks both modern and sporty. Of course, the obvious question to ask then, is whether

you’d be better off buying a Gran Coupe over a 3 Series? Not an easy one to answer but I know which way I would go. However, the Gran Coupe has pleasantly surprised me. I didn’t think I was going to like it, but I do. And as the Stormy dark sky outside is now being broken up by the sunshine once more, the Gran Coupe is sparkling wet with rain, that Storm Bay Metallic popping in the light. Just in time to head out for one more drive, me thinks, before I have to hand her back.

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Larry Armstrongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2002 turbo

SILVER DREAM

MACHINE

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Feature

Eire based Petrolhead Larry Armstrong has owned some amazing cars in his time - classics, sports cars, homologation specials and super saloons, as well as some stunning BMWs before finding the car featured here. He now owns two of Munich’s finest that are arguably in the Bavarian company’s top five collector cars – read on to find out more.. Words – Larry Armstrong/ Jeff Heywood Photographs - Craig Pusey/ Larry Armstrong/BMW Classic

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arry first became interested in this 2002 Turbo in December 1999 when thumbing through a copy of Autosport Magazine he saw an ad placed there by a London dealer. Now before we carry on, let’s make one thing clear, Larry is a ‘serial’ classic car collector, who has already owned a 1964 Mini Cooper S, an ‘88 Sierra Cosworth, a monstrous ‘98 Mercedes E55 AMG, a Porsche 911 SC and a 1983 Renault Turbo 2 amongst others. After enquiring about the Turbo Larry ascertained that the car was in fact in Cremona, Italy, and wouldn’t be arriving in the UK until January 2000. In the New Year Larry travelled to Jaymic in Cromer, Norfolk to rendezvous with the Turbo the car had been sent to the UK’s ‘02 specialists for a new set of tyres and a general check over. Larry liked what he saw and quickly agreed terms with the dealer, then collected it and drove it to Gloucester to be stored at a friend’s property until he could come and collect it. While Larry was travelling to Jaymic, he saw another ad for a Renault 5 Turbo 2, which was also in Norfolk, at Swaffham, which is only about 12 miles from Cromer. In any case Larry also viewed the Renault and bought it too! Larry got the 2002 Turbo home around February 2000 and set about stripping it for a repaint. There was virtually no rust, and to his knowledge not only does it retain all its original body panels, but it’s also never been welded. Larry replaced all the various body trims and rubber seals and fitted

The 2002 Turbo’s interior is nicely finished in black leather and isn’t as austere or tacky as many 70s car interiors were, being built out of quality materials

The 2002 Turbo’s engine bay looks far busier than that of its tii cousin, thanks to the plumbing for that KKK turbocharger.

This side on shot shows the balanced styling of the 2002 as well as the turbo’s styling features like the wide wheel arches, the neat boot spoiler and the aggressive front airdam.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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Larry is pictured here with the Norman Pratt Trophy, which was awarded for his 2002 Turbo, voted to be the Best Overall Car at the Co. Meath Show in 2018

15-inch Minilite alloy wheels and correct aspect ratio tyres to keep the rolling diameter to factory spec. He also fitted a stainless-steel exhaust at the same time. Eventually the car was ready for paint and it was repainted at Dennings Cars of South Dublin, who gave the car its fantastic BMW 057 Polaris Silver finish. Interestingly, the Turbo originally belonged to an Italian gentleman called Alceste Bodini, who was a well-known Techno Formula 2 driver in Europe. So the car has lived the largest part of its life in Italy, far away from the damp conditions of Northern Europe and the dreaded salt spreading on slushy/snow covered roads.

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While in Larry’s ownership, he has only replaced the steering box, track rods and an ignition switch, which isn’t too bad in 20 years of ownership! In the time Larry has owned the Turbo he has won the following prizes;

Best 70s car at the Irish Jaguar Club Terenure Show 2003 Best 70s car at BMW Club Ireland Show 2003 Best retro car at the BMW NI Show Carrickfergus 2014 Best Classic at the retro car, BMW NI Show Carrickfergus 2016 Best Classic car, BMW NI Show Best overall Car Norman Pratt Trophy, Co. Meath 2018 (see photo) At the start of this article we did say that Larry is a serial car collector. Presently tucked away in the Armstrong garages are the following: 1974 BMW 2002 Turbo 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL (restoration nearly complete) 1998 Peugeot 106 GTi 1991 Peugeot 309 GTi 1973 Simca Rallye 2 Historic rally car (being restored, almost finished) 2007 BMW Z4 2.5i Larry purchased the Phoenix Yellow Z4 on a whim because he liked the colour! He intends to keep it as a future classic, although previous dodgy colour matches meant that he’s arranged with the paint shop he uses to give the Zed a total repaint – well, it has to be immaculate to sit in his collection, after all.

Larry’s Phoenix Yellow 2.5i Z4. Larry purchased the car because he likes the colour! He intends to keep the car as a future classic Photos reproduced with kind permission of Craig Pusey and are the copyright of Craig Pusey Photography Instagram – Craig Pusey Photography

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

Feature

02 TURBO HISTORY The first BMW Turbo was the Paul Bracq concept supercar. Originally shown in 1972, this spectacularly sleek concept car with its gull-wing doors had an M10 turbocharged engine at its heart. The scarlet show car never made it into production but what BMW could do with the 2-litre M10 engine did impress the motoring world. BMW was still in recovery mode as the company moved from the 1960s into the 70s, and thanks to the Neue Klasse range of cars they were finally in a much better financial situation. Even so, the cautious and conservative Bavarians weren’t in a position to launch a ‘flash’ supercar like the original gull-winged Turbo at the start of the decade, so Munich’s finest turned

their attention to developing a more powerful 02 to sit at the head of the 2002 range as the ultimate sports saloon. BMW’s engineers still felt that the 2002 chassis could take more power, so around the already tried and tested tii model they chose to fit a KKK (Kuhnle, Kopp and Kausch) turbocharger with 0.55 overpressure to the M10 engine, which was sufficient to add another 40bhp to the already quick 130bhp tii; the turbo’d two-litre also produced a healthy 240Nm of torque. The compression ratio was modified from 9.5:1 to 6.9:1 in order to prevent engine knocking and Kugelfischer mechanical fuel injection was utilised, which boasted an integrated boost enrichment feature. An oil cooler was also added as a precaution. Bigger brakes were fitted to cope with the extra power, a limited slip differential was added for better traction and high-speed 185/70 x13-inch tyres were fitted to alloy wheels under new, wider arches. The interior also benefited from an upgrade to make it feel more sporty. The standard seats were replaced with comfortable sports seats, a leather threespoke steering wheel faced the driver and a turbo boost gauge was added to the right of the dashboard cluster. This was all topped off with a unique red-facia that surrounded the instruments to emphasise the sporting intentions of the car. BMW engineers claimed the 2002 Turbo could accelerate from 0-60mph in a mere 6.8 seconds before topping out at 130mph on West Germany’s derestricted

The Paul Bracq designed BMW Turbo concept ‘supercar’, was the first turbocharged BMW. It debuted at the Paris Motor Show in 1972

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

Autobahns. The 2002 Turbo caused quite a storm when launched in the mid-70s. BMW had successfully produced Europe’s first turbocharged production road car, one that could only be out-performed by a 210bhp Porsche Carrera RS in its day. Externally, the styling was very boy racer, with Motorsport stripes added down each flank, along with a boot spoiler to add downforce at the rear, and of course, those flared guards. At the front BMW’s engineers removed the front bumper and an aggressive front spoiler was added. Press models had “2002” and “turbo” added to the front spoiler in reverse script, so any car in front of the turbo would know exactly what had suddenly appeared behind them in the rear view mirror. The press had a field day with what was viewed as BMW’s irresponsibleness with the turbo lettering, so it was decided to drop the reverse lettering on all production models. Many lucky owners today have added aftermarket reverse scripting, to ensure that the many modern cars on contemporary roads know exactly what is approaching from behind! In the 1970s, increasing road traffic accidents and reforms of road traffic laws saw speed limits introduced on most major roads in Germany, and right as Turbo production started the OPEC countries of the Middle East announced an oil embargo. Known as the 70s Oil Crisis, this led to a ban on Sunday driving and massive energy saving measures were suddenly introduced as oil prices quadrupled. Unfortunately, BMW’s 2002 Turbo was frowned upon in this new era, which ultimately led to its demise in 1975 after BMW had built just 1672 turbo models, all left hand drive, as the steering column for right-hand drive cars couldn’t be fitted because of problems getting the column to clear the exhaust manifold. The Turbo was often described by motoring journalists as having a Jekyll and Hyde character, and driving characteristics that felt like “a punch in the kidneys” when the turbocharger suddenly kicked-in at just above 4000rpm. Although the 2002 turbo became infamous for its turbo lag it still managed to catch out the unwary, with many drivers surprised by the Turbo’s vicious power delivery, especially in the wet. Many ended up through a hedgerow, or worse still, embedded in a tree or lamp post, making turbo numbers today even more scarce. One thing can be sure, the BMW 2002 Turbo is the ultimate 2002 and the lucky few to own one today are members of a very exclusive club.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

best ches even

Feature

e will

reparing your car for winter driving is not to be underestimated. The colder months are fast approaching, so it is essential that you consider your winter driving needs. Winter tyres actually operate best at temperatures below seven degrees Celsius and far outperform conventional summer road tyres in this temperature window. Winter tyres offer much more peace of mind on snowy and icy roads, particularly when cornering and braking where grip is extremely important for safety. Whether you are driving in the UK, or thinking of heading across to Europe, winter tyres are the way to go. Pirelli’s extensive portfolio of products ensure you will be equipped with the right tyres for the season to give you peace of mind. It is important to get your vehicle winter ready by the time the clocks go back, so don’t delay. Our Pirelli Performance Centre network brings together cutting-edge expertise in recommending, fitting and balancing highperformance tyres with first-class customer care and attention. Visit www.pirelli.co.uk/ ppc to find a centre in your area. THE PRODUCTS The range of homologated winter tyre products for cars and SUVs on offer to BMW customers is extensive, with each sharing the common characteristic of producing the best all-round grip, safety and performance. Part of the world-renowned Pirelli portfolio, the WINTER SOTTOZERO™ 3 has been designed with the core values of high performance and co-development with the vehicle manufacturers being at the heart of the product. The WINTER SOTTOZERO™ 3 follows Pirelli’s Perfect Fit philosophy, whereby tyres are tailor made for specific brands and/or models. With dedicated fitments for a number of BMW models

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

‘TIS THE SEASON FOR THE RIGHT TYRES such as the 1 Series all the way through to the 8 Series, as well as on selected BMW X models. The WINTER SOTTOZERO™ 3 features wider grooves and 3D sipe technology for dispersing snow, stiffer substrates and hybrid materials that deliver enhanced vehicle stability, as well as maximum grip thanks to a differentiated compound. Grip on traction and cornering is highly important on many of BMW’s models due to the mid-engine placement. With the majority of the vehicle’s weight in the front of the car, tyres with larger contact patches and dedicated sipes are needed for ultimate grip in slippery conditions. Indeed, the Perfect Fit philosophy is one of the elements, which serves to boost assurance and performance during the winter season. Designed and manufactured following an extensive R&D process, lasting up to three years from concept to distribution, the tyres are built for particular models to adapt to specific performance requirements. The SCORPION™ WINTER is best suited for bigger BMW SUVs from X3 to X7, as well as on M performance models. The SCORPION™ WINTER offers absolute control for driver on snow as well as maximum safety and stability on both wet and dry roads during the winter season. With directional and symmetric tread pattern design and modular block geometry and sipe layout, the SCORPION™ WINTER is rated as best in class on snow in braking, handling and traction, making it an ideal solution for BMW users. The third Pirelli product with designated fitments for BMW cars is the CINTURATO™ WINTER, which is available for 1 Series and 2 Series Gran Coupe drivers. The CINTURATO™ WINTER is an OEM tyre, specifically tailored in collaboration with the

manufacturer to offer the best overall performance on snow. The Multiactive 4D sipes on the product delivers improved dry and wet braking safety thanks to its block stiffness and greater flexibility in traction.

Bigger and better fuel card offer for BMW Car Club members

In time for increased driving again, the Pirelli fuel card offer is just the ticket for BMW Car Club members. From August 1st, the rewards of this offer are set to be even more generous because when you buy four new tyres, in sizes of 20 inches or bigger, you’ll now receive a fuel gift card to the value of £120. How does it all work? Well that is simple. Pirelli continues to offer a fuel gift card on purchases through official BMW dealers or Pirelli Performance Centres of up to eight Pirelli tyres within a calendar year. This offer can be used for your friends and family too, not just for tyres on your BMW. Providing the terms and conditions are adhered to, you can take advantage on Pirelli tyre purchases for any family cars. See below for full details of the rewards that you’ll receive when you purchase tyres in a variety of sizes: Pirelli offer Rim

Number of tyres 2

16” & below

£10

£30

17”

£30

£70

18” & 19”

£50

£100

20” & above

£60

£120

In order to take advantage of this unique offer for BMW Car Club members, please visit and find out how you can reap the rewards by fitting Pirelli tyres: http://www.pirelli.co.uk/bmwcarclub www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

crossword

Sponsored by

Winner of last month’s crossword Brian Moore All entrants for October’s issue crossword must be received into the office by 11th October. 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 September 2020 Crossword Across: 1. Tim, 5. FT (Financial Times), 8. Adventurer, 12. Realism, 13. Lada, 15. Fluor, 16. MF (Massey Ferguson), 17. EY (Ernst & Young), 18. Eater, 21. Shot, 23. Noodles, 25. Bonneville, 28. AA (Automobile Association), 29. Ten Down: 1. TA, 2. Idea, 3. MV, 4. One, 5. Full, 6. Triumph, 7. Armrest, 9. ERA (English Racing Automobiles), 10. Taffy, 11. ESO, 13. Lazenby, 14. Daytona, 16. Merle, 19. AOO, 20. Edna, 21. SSI (Small Scale Integration), 22. Ogle, 24. Evo, 26. LT, 27. EN

Across 1. & 16. UK car manufacturer founded in London in 1913 (5) 6. Sir Stirling Crauford...: Sadly died in April 2020 (4) 10. Could be term e.g. for the statue of Bobby Moore at Wembley? (7,3) 12. Warwickshire headquarters location of 1. Across and also home until 2019 of the BMW Car Club National Festival (6) 13. At the opposite end of ‘Hi’ on some cars’ heater controls (2) 14. Common abbreviation for pre-owned (1,1) 15. & 16. Founder (with Robert Bamford) of 1. Across (6) 16. See 1. & 15. Across (6) 17. Chemical symbol for metal increasingly being used for car bodies and components (1,1) 18. Indefinite article used before a vowel sound e.g. a 1. Across (2) 21. BMW’s plug-in hybrid sports car with production ending in June 2020 and the final 18 cars being finished in one-off colours (1,5) 25. Current Rolls-Royce turbofan engine and its fixed aerofoil components (5,5) 28. Let it stand - an instruction to ignore a marked alternation on a printed proof (4) 29. Tobias…: CEO of 1. Across from August 2020 (5)

4. Something a bookmaker will give you! (4) 5. Chinese car manufacturer founded in 2014 specialising in autonomous electric vehicles. Also involved in the FIA Formula E championship (3) 6. Symbol for 1/1000th of a metre (1,1) 7. An implement used for water-borne propulsion (3) 8. Abbreviation for Senior, Señor or Sister (2) 9. Laurence Sheldon…: Canadian billionaire businessman, Executive Chairman of 1. Across and also owner of the Racing Point F1 team (6) 11. Unfasten, especially an item from a noticeboard or in dress-making (5) 13. Interior covering BMW made standard on UK F10 5 Series models, though since August 2020 5 Series cars sold in the US will feature a ‘vegan’ alternative (7) 14. Informal US term for intelligence, or a group of microcars produced by the company originally founded by Swatch watch entrepreneur Nicolas Hayek (6) 15. E.g. speed, legal or on the… (5) 19. Italian greeting meaning either ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’! (4) 20. Jack…: Deadpan British comedian who in 2005 was one of Top Gear’s “Star in a ReasonablyPriced Car”. Also a river that flows through Chester (3) 22. Could be Engineering Verification Model or Earned Value Management? (1,1,1) 23. Could be Good Night and Everything? (1,1,1) Down 24. Could be Toxic Shock Syndrome? (1,1,1) 1. Could be Auto Shift Gearbox (as opposed to 26. BMW ‘full on touring’ (mostly) flat twin ‘Stick Shift’)? (1,1,1) motorcycle designation (1,1) 2. South Wales manufacturing site of 1. Across, 27. Nanotesla - not Mr Musk’s latest vehicle, but officially opened in December 2019 for producing a the symbol for the SI unit of magnetic flux density new SUV model (2,5) x10-9 (1,1) 3. Rolls-Royce aero engine (1940’s turbojet and 1980’s turbofan) named after the longest river in Scotland (3)

D E N O P T POS www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

yourletters ETHANOL E10 FUEL

Following Richard Stern’s article last month about ethanol fuel and the problems it causes, the following from Esso is likely to be helpful for many members. It is also worth making members aware that ethanol produces 30% less energy than petrol. Therefore, more of it is needed to produce the same performance and efficiency as petrol, hardly environmentally friendly. “Thank you for contacting Esso Customer Care and for your interest in our ethanol free Esso Synergy Supreme+ petrol. The majority of Synergy unleaded 95 Octane petrol sold in the UK contains 5% ethanol as required under the Government’s Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO). There is currently no requirement for renewable fuel (such as ethanol) to be present in Synergy supreme + unleaded (97 grade petrol).

Esso Synergy Supreme+ is ethanol free (except in Devon, Cornwall, the Teesside area and Scotland) and we have no current intention to add ethanol to Synergy Supreme+ in other areas of the UK. We would therefore advise anyone who has concerns about the presence of ethanol in petrol to use Synergy Supreme+ – providing they do not fill up in Devon or Cornwall, the Teesside area or Scotland.” Also there are two British made products called Valve Master and Valve Master Plus which contain additives that protect classic engines from the damage caused by E5 and E10 fuels. https:// classicvalvemaster.co.uk/ All the best, Anthony Shilson

CLASSIFIEDS FOR SALE: BMW 330Ci E46 2001 Automatic Blue with black leather interior. 2 Owners, 150,632 miles. MOT until Aug 2021. Full service history with stamped up book. Very good condition and lots of preventive maintenance carried out. Drives like a new car. 4 nearly new tyres. No accidents and it has been my daily driver for 6 years Private Sale £1,950 ono Tel Jan on 07947 052812.

in association with AnyM.co.uk

For Sale: 2007 BMW M6 5.0 V10 SMG

A future classic. This beautiful BMW M6 comes in the best colour combination of Silverstone 2 metallic with Silverstone merino leather seats. Car is in fantastic condition and has only done 52K miles from new. This car comes with 510bhp and is getting very rare. The alloys have all been refinished to a fantastic standard. Just passsed MOT. Comes with 2 keys, original leather book holder, F1 pedigree engineering, heads up display, M Power button, full carbon interior, heated seats, cruise control, parking aid front and rear. The list goes on. This is a must see car. Always garaged. Hood has recently been re-weatherproofed. Genuine reason for sale. £18,250 Contact member Rob Lewis on 07827 943076. Based in Burton-on-Trent.

Classified adverts Straight Six: £9.95 AnyM.co.uk: £4.95

BMWPress

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

Contact officeadmin@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk for more information www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

regionalnews Central Tony Skerrett Central Region sponsored by

07879 404648 central@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Barons Bedford

We still plan to have a seaside trip to the East Coast and also the Peak District Tour. The long range weather forecast for October is pretty good (The Daily Star – that top daily tabloid!) with a tropical heat wave predicted. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, Central activities have been severely curtailed with Northamptonshire and surrounding suffering Covid spikes. Nevertheless, we have had two Drive Meets at the Belge Café, Beachampton and have experienced no issues partly due I guess to fairly strict guidelines. Thank you all for attending and displaying good discipline when doing so. Central Regional AGM planned for the 12th October has been moved to the 9th November 2020, but is subject to Government Covoid-19 restrictions.

01234 362 400

www.baronsgroup.co.uk/bmw BARONSCC20133 = 15% discount code

The Famed Seaside Trip! – Sunday October 25th. Weather forecast is dry sunny 12/13°c. (Note all forecasts based on Ultra Long Range Weather from Met Office). Brancaster Staithe also the site of a Roman 3rd Century Fort and Fantastic Crab Salads! My Car Restoration – Niek Nijsen With the weather of late it seems the summer is coming to an end, as does the taking apart of Brünhilda. Not much left to do before she’s just an empty shell. BRÜNHILDA & PROJECTC.A.R.™

Future Events Bicester Heritage Sunday Scramble - 4th October – Sold Out! All passes are now sold out and we look forward to seeing you in October. You can still attend by purchasing passes to park in General Car Park, call 01869 327928.

I noticed that I completely forgot about the rear subframe last time. After the engine was removed and the front bits taken off, I focussed attention on the rear of the car again. The rear subframe is held in place by a few bolts and a larger one that also mounts the rear diff. This allows for easy removal by dropping it like I did with the engine up front. Although pretty straight forward on paper, it turned out to be a bit more complicated in real life.

Hoped for Events in October! Peak District Tour — Saturday October 10th. Weather forecast is dry sunny 10/13°c.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

The problem was that my lift arms are partially covering the bolt that holds the subframe in place. What made things worse is the fact that the car was now in a stage that moving her is no longer an option. Eventually I came up with an idea to put the jack underneath the diff, allowing the car to be suspended in the air far enough to reposition the rear arms. I did end up using a piece of wood to support the body a bit better on a less fragile part, but other than that it was pretty easy. With all the support bolts removed, I almost forgot to undo the top mount of the shock absorbers. The nuts were quickly undone at the top of and the subframe was now ready to be separated from the body. I subsequently repositioned the arm back to support the car at the jack point. Lastly, I removed the bonnet and boot from BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

regionalnews the car during this month. Ended up not filming this as it’s pretty simple by removing a few bolts that secure them to the hinges. If you have any questions regarding this, let me know and I’ll be happy to help. You’ll probably notice a few more episodes in the Project

C.A.R.™ series this month, three to be exact. These cover the side windows (08), doors & locks (09) and yesterday I launched episode 10, which covers the brakes, wheel hubs and drivetrain. Plenty of quality footage for you to enjoy! Go to https://www. nieknijsen.com/brunhilda-blog

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

Apologies for the lack of monthly Regional newsletters over the last few months. Obviously there haven’t been many events to report on until the last few weeks and now a degree of normality is returning to the outdoor show and event scene. We have been unable to resume our monthly Tuesday pub meet due to the venue not allowing any large gatherings inside or outside. Therefore we have been looking at a change of venue, but have been finding that other local venues have got the same policy. However we have found a privately owned pub that we have used before where the manager is happy for us to meet as long as we comply with the government guidelines. There is plenty of outside covered seating near the car park and also the possibility for the use of an upstairs private function room with a projector, screen and surround sound for us to use as the restrictions ease over the coming months, all free of charge. We understand that the location of this venue may not suit all but until we can find an alternative we feel this will give us a chance to resume our meetings. Hopefully we can get back to the second Tuesday in the month but for now it will have to be the second Thursday due to reduced pub trading hours. There is currently a limited menu if food is required. We hope many will be able to join us for a 7.30pm gathering. The Three Horseshoes, Alveley, Bridgnorth, WV15 6NB Currently cancelled due to new Government Guidelines. Recent Events Several of us over the past month have managed to attend a couple of hill climb events at both Prescott and Shelsley Walsh and also managed to do quite a few runs up the hills which was great fun. We would recommend everyone to have a go as it’s something a little different and not expensive either. Also a few have been attending a couple of outdoor gatherings which seem

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

to be on the increase now, although we could do with a few more photos and brief reports on them. So if you have been to anything recently please tell us about it along with any photos you may have for inclusion in Straight Six. Places to go, people to see – By Mike Pope With the Coronavirus pandemic came many situations of hardship, self-sacrifice and of course tragedy; not being able to attend a car event is pretty low down on the list of priorities. Nevertheless, those of us who do enjoy working on our cars have at least had a hobby to spend time on and find some degree of pleasure and relaxation during this period. Driving our BMWs is what we really want to do of course and it’s great to see some venues and events starting to open again with various precautions in place. Those of us based in the Midlands are often spoiled for choice being within a reasonable distance of so many and one of the regular haunts we can go to is the Caffeine and Machine venue just outside Stratford upon Avon. As the locals will know, this is basically a café albeit one that has a definite car and bike focus with good coffee and interesting food. On Saturdays and Sundays it is a mecca for petrol heads with a fascinating array of vehicles turning up and interesting people to chat to. It’s also open during weekdays and even then it’s often surprising what machinery you might find yourself parked next to. C&M re-opened in early July with restricted numbers allowed. I went along on a Friday towards the end of the month, enjoyed coffee, lunch and a chat with owners of some interesting and varied cars. It’s well worth a visit and if you are planning to go, I suggest you visit their website first as their access arrangements are evolving. www.caffeineandmachine.com

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

regionalnews Sunday 4th October – Bicester Heritage Sunday Scramble (see Straight Six for details) Friday 13th – Sunday 15th November – Lancaster Insurance Classic motor show at NEC Birmingham (to be confirmed) Cheers,, Dave, Dean, Theresa & Jan

Forthcoming events Please check with me first before attending. Saturday 3rd October – Caffeine & Machine, Ettington, Stratford upon Avon, CV37 7NS. Morning gathering to celebrate Peter Ayres coming of age! Book online 9am slot.

Cheshire & Staffs Steve Cooper Cheshire & Staffs Region sponsored by

cheshireandstaffs@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk



Blue Bell Fourth Avenue, Weston Road, Crewe

Cheshire. CW1 6XH. Tel:01270 212525 

DISCOUNT OF UP TO 10% IS GIVEN TO MEMBERS WITH VALID MEMBERSHIP CARD *Conditions apply

Cornwall Jim Husband

Knights Bede Road, Radial Park, Stoke on Trent Staffordshire. ST4 4GU Tel:01782 572100

cornwall@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Hello to all members of the Cornwall Region. I hope this newsletter finds you all safe and well. Once again not much to report I’m afraid on the car front. As far as I am aware just about all the car shows have been cancelled this year. Welcome to Robert, a new member 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 we have planned. 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.

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. Previous / Forthcoming Events Currently cancelled due to new Government Guidelines. I would like to arrange a Cornwall Region coffee meet and drive out on Saturday 17th October, meet at Mid Cornwall Services at Roche (A30) for 8:30am for a coffee and chat and drive out afterwards. If you just wish to meet for a coffee and forego the drive then that is fine, it will be good to have a catch up and chat. The photo is from the drive out in September last year.

Events / Monthly Pub Meets I would like to start the Cornwall Region monthly pub meets again commencing on Monday November 9th and thereafter on the second Monday of the month. Social distancing obviously applies. Pub Meets Currently cancelled due to new Government Guidelines. Monday 9th November at 7:30pm at the Plume of Feathers, Mitchell TR8 5AX. Monday 14th December at 7:30pm at the Plume of

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.

Cotswold Martyn Goodwin Cheltenham BMW Cheltenham MINI Cotswold Motor Group Cheltenham Motorrad www.cotswoldgroup.com Cheltenham Parts Corinthian Way, Cheltenham, GL51 6UP Cheltenham Service Hereford Roman Road, Hereford, HR1 1LN

Cotswold Region sponsored by

cotswold@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 01242 335 335 01242 335 345 01242 335 355 01242 335 365 01242 335 375 01432 375 555

Cumbria James France Hello to all Cumbria Region members. We had a meet at Cocklakes Farm Shop which surprised me with the numbers that turned up - it was good to see some faces new and old, even though some of the usual suspects were missing! I will look to arrange this again and possibly stick to it as the monthly meet in fairer months, it may also boost attendance numbers being at the weekend rather than a weeknight. I looked at attending the NEC Classic Motor Show which seems to be happening in some form this year, but will not be going ahead now due to the silly accommodation prices. There are a few new members in our region so if you are one www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Cotswold Motor Group offer members: Generous discounts off the new BMW and MINI range

Discounts on approved used vehicles in stock 15% plus discount on parts and accessories, 10% discount on all service work and labour ( 15% on vehicles 4 years old plus ) Available to members presenting current valid membership card

cumbria@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

of them, please feel free to pop along to any of our meets and watch your mail inbox as at the moment nothing is nailed on with regards to dates. Be careful, stay safe and be kind. (It’s free!) Phone 07799 620 381 or e-mail jimfrance1@hotmail.co.uk Regards Jim.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

regionalnews

Devon Kathy Jemfrey

01626 330436 devon@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Devon Region sponsored by

INDEPENDENT BMW & MINI SPECIALISTS

East Anglia George Champ East Anglia Region sponsored by Barons Cambridge

& Stansted

07514 216660 eastanglia@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

www.barronsbmw.co.uk Cambridge Stansted

: 01954 784 500 : 01279 755 906

It is always an exciting time when you either change or buy your first BMW and at the same time join the BMW Car Club, which I know some of you have recently done. So again, a very warm welcome to the Club and I am sure as we ease out of restrictions you will enjoy making new friends when you are able to join us at some of our events. We have all had to be very patient this year but we can more than make up for it in 2021. We have managed to squeeze in a couple of events such as the Essex Pub Meet, Lodge Coaches and Glemham Hall, more about the latter later on as I am writing this month’s news early as hopefully I am able to get away for a short break. Please make sure you sign up to our various Branch Facebook pages as this is a way of keeping in touch and in some cases contributing a small snippet about you or your BMW. Some new members have already done this, it is always pleasing to hear about members and their cars so either pop a few words and pictures on Facebook or send a small piece to me which I can include in my Regional news. Time and time again we all refer to hindsight as being a wonderful thing and regret selling some of the cars we owned. Instead of being downhearted I think we should look back with fond memories, so send me a photo and brief note about a particular car which you remember especially well, much like Carl did in last month’s issue.

Barons offers members • Generous discounts off the new BMW and MINI range • A minimum discount of £500 on approved used cars in stock • 15% discount on parts and accessories 10% off servicing, excludes Value Line Servicing which applies to cars over 4 yrs old.

To start us off I will begin with my E46 AC Schnitzer S3 which started life as a 328, costing in the region of £30,000. The original owner then had every conceivable extra added including having the car shipped back to AC Schnitzer in Aachen, which incidentally is the most westerly city in Germany, to have their engine installed, the total cost doubled the sum to over £60,000. So here is my favourite photo of my Sea Green S3 appropriately parked next to the Green Sea at Dovercourt Harwich. Also a photo below of the Essex Pub Meet where Social Distancing was well observed, and Lodge Coaches which included a moving fly past by a Hurricane fighter. Stay Safe and Happy.

Please visit www.bmwcarclubgb.uk/regions/east_anglia.html for the important Regional contacts.

Eastern Paul Rice Car of the Month James Cook and his E34 525i A recent new Club member, and as with lots of us one BMW just isn’t enough. Joining James and his heavily modified E91 330d is a 1993 E34 525i. Looking stunning in its Calypso red paintwork, previously owned by a fellow Club member, and having only covered 52,000 miles, the condition is as expected, superb. Not for the purists but James is currently modifying the E34 and if his E91 is anything to go by the modifications will be more than cosmetic. James is a regular visitor to our club meet at the Reindeer

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

eastern@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Sturton le Steeple so look out for his E34 or E91. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

regionalnews Shows and Events Capesthorne Hall With events a bit thin on the ground it was a pleasure to attend the car and motorcycle show at Capesthorne Hall in Cheshire.

With the postponement of the Thoresby event, several Eastern members ventured across the Borders to Macclesfield to the very imposing house and grounds of Capesthorne Hall. Meeting up at Chesterfield were six cars; two Z3s, three Z4s, plus an M6 for good measure. Together we all set off across Derbyshire taking in some classic roads through Baslow and Buxton with the well-known Cat and Fiddle taking us towards our next destination, still a great road even with the average speed cameras. Next stop Macclesfield to meet up with Justin’s E90 330d and Paul with his E46 M3 Cabriolet. With a short journey to the Hall the most memorable thing was how loud the new sports exhaust on Justin’s 330 was (that can’t be legal), it certainly wouldn’t pass noise emissions for one of our track days. Setting up our cars in the allocated space we were joined by Mark Parish and his red Z3, great to see some alternative colours from the norm, with Kieran’s Dakar Yellow and Mark’s red Zed certainly adding some colour to our display. Usual parade ring activities including category winners and best of show added entertainment throughout the day. Many thanks to the organisers for putting on a great show in a safe and comfortable manner. As the end of the show season quickly approaches hopefully next year will see a more settled and full calendar.

Monthly meets With social distancing a requirement, the monthly pub meets are still unable to take place, on the plus side the Reindeer and Motorist have started back up again, with the Motorist entry by pre-booked tickets only and the Reindeer having extended use of the play field to allow more room around the cars. Looks like we may also be having a new mid-week venue, well not so new, the Squires Café at Sherburn In Elmet. Our very own Ace Café will be having specialist car meets with the first being specifically for German cars so we will be giving this a try. Motorist monthly meets Currently cancelled due to new Government Guidelines. The meets are back on. It was good to have the opportunity to visit a few Sundays ago for the German car event, also to check out all the safety precautions put in place to combat the spread of the dreaded “C”. I can confirm the guys and girls are doing a grand job at initiating all the safety rules to enable this popular fixture to take place. It’s by pre-booked ticket only, and they even have an app for ordering your bacon butty. As said previously these are strange times, hats off to them for giving us the opportunity to restart our monthly visits at this popular venue. The German car event was very well attended from old Beetles to new Porsches but far outnumbered by cars from the BMW stable. Good to see lots of familiar faces and have the opportunity to chat to fellow Car Club members, a rare occurrence this year, adhering to socially distancing of course.

Yorkshire Pudding Run Many thanks to the guys from the North East for letting me gate crash their tour of the Yorkshire Dales, we had a terrific day and after going over the Buttertubs pass, I now have my new favourite road.

London Anthony Mason London Region sponsored by

london@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

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 We are back and better than ever, the pub meet in August was an absolutely stunning one, we had about 30 cars and around 40 people, this was one of our best meets and the weather held out for us too.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Have a look and give us a Like on the ‘BMW Car Club GB London Region’ Facebook page to keep up to date with all the meets and activities we are planning. There’s some drone footage of the Crooked Chimney meet which shows the variety

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

regionalnews

and quality of cars attending. Car of the Month would probably have to go to the silver E9 on Air Ride suspension, it was classy and looked so good sitting there. This month I’ve been scouting a venue for a ‘coffee and cars’ of sort, name to be decided closer to the time. Looking at a morning meet we are trying to work out the logistics of opening up three or four ramps to get the cars off the ground to have a good look around underneath your pride and joy. If anyone around north London has a mobile coffee van or anyone

has the facility to cook 40 sausage/bacon and egg rolls, now would be an amazing time to get in touch with me at london@ bmwcarclubgb.co.uk. The London Region has been supporting the E24 Model Rep and we had an outing to Hayes for a Sharknose meet, which was another great way of meeting members and soon-to-bemembers in a relaxed atmosphere. I’ve been brought into plenty of buying and selling conversations ranging from a £3,000 E90 to a £30,000 M3 which I do love, my girlfriend not so much so taking on the role of a Region is a hugely varied and interesting one. As ever I hope to see you down at the Crooked Chimney or even the ACE cafe (check the website for opening times). Always happy to talk parts/cars/events with you, you’ll probably find me looking round the car park or enjoying a burger!

Mid Wales & Shropshire Phil Pinnington Welcome to October’s edition of the Mid Wales & Shropshire region update. I’ll let Tim do all the talking: Oulton Park Gold Cup – 31st August Our first official car show stand of 2020 and it was almost September, but that is the situation we are in. We were grateful for the opportunity to attend the Gold Cup weekend once again. We had a fab stand and had 14 BMWs on show. Despite the restricted public access our stand brought in a lot of people who loved to see the cars with social distancing of course. The quality of the display was awesome, most of us have had a long time to prep our cars as well as carry out a lot of work on

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

midwales@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

them, from bodywork to starter motors (Huw) over the lockdown period, although our BMW reconstruction master, Neil, couldn’t be with us. The weather was great and we had a prime position pitch after arriving there nice and early. The display was all made up of pre-2000 cars which is a strict provision of the historic gold cup and this was adhered to by us. We really enjoyed the racing but that came secondary to the joy of us all meeting up again and catching up with each other. We have really established a close knit bond and welcome anyone who is like-minded. It was great to draft in a new member Chris Gibson with his lovely 1997 Estoril blue E36 M3 Evo coupe. By the end of the day he had the bonnet

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regionalnews up and he now has the same bug we have. We will see him at Capesthorne, the next show! Great to see you all again – Phil, Steve, Adrian, Huw, James,

North East

Nick Thomas

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. We now also have a YouTube channel ‘BMW Car Club GB North East Region’ where we are building up a library of videos of what we get up to. Recent Events The August Monthly Meet was a return to a real meet at the Black Horse Beamish, who have put very thorough Social Distancing measures in place. It was well attended with over 20 people, and the good weather brought an eclectic mix of cars to the meeting. Also in August we headed out in the southern part of the Region on the Yorkshire Pudding Run. The day was organised by Greg Webster and Mike Milbourne, and saw us head from Bowes Museum, over Tan Hill, through Swaledale, over the Buttertubs Pass, along Wesneydale and ended at Bedale for a very good pub lunch. Visit our ‘BMW Car Club GB North East Region’ channel on YouTube to watch a video of the event.

Nick, Graeme and Hilary, Martin, Dave, Graham and Yvonne, Darren, Dean and Graham L, and any others I have missed. Take care, Tim. northeast@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Forthcoming events Please check with organiser before attending So far this year my predictions of future events have been pretty well always wrong. As I write this events that might occur over the next few months are possibly: • Sunday 11 October – Monthly Meet • Sunday 25 October – Hartside Run Cancelled • Late October – Regional trip to Alice Springs. We will fly from Newcastle to Sydney with British Airways, where we will pick up a fleet of 8 Series Convertibles loaned to us by BMW Australia for our drive to Alice Springs before heading to Perth and our return flight with Qantas. • Friday 06 November – Oulton Park Trackday • Sunday 08 November – Monthly Meet • Wednesday 18 November – Virtual Regional AGM Print deadlines for the Straight Six combined with the dynamic nature of this year mean that the North East Region Facebook group is the best place for the latest information. I will be very pleased to see you at one or more of our events. Car of the Month The August “Car of the Month” was awarded to Katie Fellows’ 635CSi, chosen by Mike Milbourne. All Regional BMWs are eligible to win COTM and a goodie bag supplied by The Polishing Company. Join us at our next monthly meet to be in with a chance of winning.

North Wales David Allen

07788 718590 northwales@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

By the time you receive this edition most of the car shows will have come to a close and with only a few having taken place, we can hopefully look forward to a big 2021. With the absence of car shows, I thought it would be a good idea to feature two local businesses which have been recommended by one of our members, Simon Buckley, the owner of the Z4 in the background and Car of the Month. TOTAL PERFECTION run by Liam Moorhead, is based in Llandudno and they concentrate on improving bodywork; car ceramics, paint protection and correction, as well as alloy wheel refurbishment. They share their premises with THE CAR SPA managed by Dan Malone, who concentrates on valeting and www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

regionalnews Forthcoming events We will have to remember to retain our tickets for the shows which were cancelled in 2020 as most of the organisers have agreed to honour the tickets for next year. Don’t forget there is the Classic Motor Show at the NEC in November, and there are other shows early next year. Car of the Month This is Simon’s Z4 with his story: “Towards the end of 2016, having been retired for three years, I felt it was time to recapture my youth. In my 20s I had, in quick succession, an MG TD, a Triumph Spitfire and a Jensen Healey. They were all pretty dire. I could go on about their faults, so with retirement, what was needed was a quick, reliable, beautiful convertible, with a six cylinder engine and rear wheel drive, so not much choice, as by then I was into German cars and BMWs in particular. I think that the early Z4s are absolutely beautiful, so it had to be one of those. Fortunately, the only hiccup was next door’s cat sunbathing on the bonnet and scratching it. Luckily the neighbours have moved, so the cat survived!”

interior detailing, cleaning and protection, restoring leather, and treating glass to make it more rain repellent. A perfect environment for vehicle improvement, as the pictures show. Not only do they look after BMWs, their website www.tpautodetailing.co.uk shows they deal with a variety of cars from classic Minis to McLarens. Both these guys say their work is very labour intensive but the results and feedback speak for themselves. For more information their contact number is 07469 204333.

North West

Jeff Heywood

If any members would like their car featured, send me an email.

BMW Car Club GB North West image Twitter: @BMWNW

News Welcome to October’s North West news. We’ve organised a socially distanced Cars & Coffee event at the Kilton Inn, Cheshire, for Sunday 11th October (see events below) followed by lunch, here’s hoping we see lots of faces both old and new at this meeting. We’ve had to change venues because the Swan isn’t opening again so we’ve chosen the Kilton as our new base. It is situated in Hoo Green, Cheshire, and is less than a mile from the Swan, so it’s easy to find and handy for the M6, M56 and A556. We’ve also organised our Christmas Lunch at the Kilton, more info below. If any members can recommend a tradesperson local to them who carries out first class work and is honest, reliable and provides a good service at a reasonable rate then please email me with their details. I’m also on the lookout for lockdown Cars of the Month, so if any of you would like your car featured in the Club magazine

07801 506632 northwest@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

drop me an email with some short details of your car and we can take it from there. 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 – E39 M5 This month’s Lockdown CotM is Paul Hearn’s E39 M5, finished in Carbon Black with a two-tone Silverstone and Black extended Nappa Point leather. First registered March 1st 2002, Paul has owned the car from new, when he took delivery from Bowker

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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regionalnews Accrington. The car is nicely specced with an electric glass sunroof, climate control windscreen and sun protection glass. The car has covered 135k miles, which may sound quite high but equates to less than 8k miles per annum. Paul’s M5 has a full and comprehensive service history, all carried out at BMW main dealers, and he has covered thousands of memorable miles travelling to Club events here in the North West and throughout the UK, and also on the Continent, enjoying many a holiday trip to the beautiful Black Forest region in South West Germany. The car is so well built and refined it demolishes mileages of 500-600 with ease, driving qualities that Paul really appreciates. Paul obviously loves his M5 and for the most part it has been very reliable, but it has suffered from a braking issue – an over soft brake pedal - from virtually new, which BMW can’t get to the bottom of. In this time he has had a new master cylinder fitted, new discs, pads, new front callipers, brake pipes and more, but the problem still persists. It is so bad at times that the pedal nearly sinks to the floor. Paul mentioned that BMW UK recalled E39 6-cylinder models to have the brake servo, vacuum pump and hoses replaced, but the V8 models, including the M5 and Z8, weren’t recalled, even though they use the same hardware.

Paul Hearn’s wonderful Carbon Black E39 M5 is the October ‘NW Lockdown Car of the Month’

Forthcoming Events 11th October – BMW Cars & Coffee + Lunch at the Kilton Inn Join us at the Kilton Inn, Hoo Green, Cheshire WA16 0PZ on Sunday 11th October for a socially distanced BMW Cars & Coffee event, starting at 10.30am and running until 12noon. Piping hot coffee will be available from the Kilton and there

South East South East Region sponsored by

Ian Bryant

Chandlers Brighton 01273 423 312

South Wales Jonathan Bamford

will be a couple of prizes, one for the best turned out BMW at the event and a second prize for the person who’s travelled the farthest to attend. The Cars & Coffee event will be open to members and non-members alike. Let’s see those super clean BMWs in attendance. Lunch – we’ve also booked the conservatory at the Kilton for lunch for Club members only, starting at 12noon. The conservatory is limited to just 20 places because of C-19, and these are available on a first come first served basis. We’ll be holding a quiz with prizes donated by Darren Wood and there will be a “Kilton Car of the Day” with a prize from the Car Detailing Centre. The Kilton is operating a Safe Pub schedule, with hand sanitizers present and all the tables have been spaced out for social distancing. Their large conservatory has been deliberately limited to just 20 people for our visit. With places limited for the lunch you need to reserve your spot ASAP by booking with Jeff. To find out more about the Kilton and its Safe Pub scheme and Christmas lunch menus visit - www. chefandbrewer.com/pubs/cheshire/kilton-inn.

13th December – NW Christmas Lunch We revisit the Kilton Inn on Sunday 13th December for our NW Christmas Lunch, where we will be giving away the NW Christmas Hamper, kindly supplied by Darren Wood BMW Specialist. We have reserved the conservatory for our group and 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 the 1st November. More details next month. southeast@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Hailsham 01323 844 032 Worthing 01903 784 147

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southwales@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Welcome to our South Wales Region October news. If this is your first Straight Six issue, then welcome to the group. I use the Club’s MailChimp system to send out messages, please ensure your email is updated with the office to ensure you receive them. Last month was quite a busy one for events. The weather was on our side for most of it and some members took the opportunity to enjoy it. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

regionalnews Early in the month, myself and Peter took a trip around some great roads one Sunday morning. The weather was damp, but it didn’t put us off. Some pictures below showing ‘Devil’s Elbow’ and Crai Reservoir. September was also our second visit to Castle Combe for the FORGE Action Day. The sun was shining and it was great to meet some new faces. We welcomed Jozsef from the Western Region in his fantastic E30 S54 conversion and it was a first time visit for Andrew in his X5M. I also took the opportunity to take my 430Xd around the track. It was an experience to remember. Some pics of the day for your enjoyment.

At the time of writing, our Wales trip is less than two weeks away. Pictures and details of this show will be in next month’s issue. If you missed out on any of the above and would like to get involved, then please keep an eye out for emails from the Club where I tend to post everything. The WhatsApp groups are a good source of communication for last minute events/runs planned at short notice. Monthly meets are at the Twelve Knights Pub in Margam, SA13 2DB. Held on the third Wednesday of every month. 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. Member’s Cars This month I would like to share a beautiful example of a future classic. This 2004 E46 330Ci belongs to Josh, who sourced the car as a second family car to enjoy a summer’s day on a sensible budget. It took him 6-months to find the right example and is a sought after 6-speed manual. Detailed on a regular basis and with very little remaining to bring it up to as-new condition, this car ticks all the boxes.

Thames Tony Skerrett

07879 404648 thames@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Chairman’s Chat The long range weather forecast for October is pretty good so we plan to do a tour of the Peak District on October 10th, which is a Saturday. In spite of the pandemic we have had two recent and very sociable Regional Meetings at the Littlebury Hotel Bicester. We have experienced no issues, partly due to fairly strict Government Covid-19 guidelines applied by the Hotel. Thank you all for attending and displaying good discipline when doing so. Future Events Bicester Heritage Sunday Scramble – October 4th, which unfortunately (apparently) is sold out. However members can still attend by purchasing a pass to park in the General Car Park, please call 01869 327928

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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regionalnews Hoped for Event in October! Peak District Tour — Saturday October 10th. Weather forecast is dry sunny 10/13°c. Will give Rousham Hall a ring to see if it is possible to visit in October, it’s a popular venue at Harvest Time, will inform all on developments. My Car Restoration by Niek Nijsen STRIPPED BARE

We ended last month with a bit of a cliff-hanger as I was waiting for the new tools to arrive. I’m happy to report they have been delivered and they’re the right size. The new 36mm socket allowed me to rotate the crankshaft from the front of the aengine, worthywhich successor toI the wasfour ratcheted up meant nowM1. hadSpeculation access to the bolts that another by twotransmission further prototypes, thetoBMW Nazca block. C2 keep thenotch automatic attached the engine (Tokyo 1992) andworkspace its open-top sibling, the C2recommended Spider (1993). But It’s a very small and it’s actually the BMW Nazca it into and series production. to remove these M12 boltsnever whilemade the engine gearbox are still Which to was shame, of course, but easier not theaccess one-way attached thea car, where you’ll have to them. ticket to obscurity it might haveisn’t been. Hindsight is a beautiful thing, it? Because EventuallyBMW I gotGroup the bolts Classic has gathered together treasure removed and the gearbox wasa now free trove to bebrimming separatedwith from FORGOTTEN HEROES – and we in telling the fascinating the engine. I thought I drained all delight the fluid, but it turned out the stories these unforgettable milestones in sits BMW history. torque behind converter (a big drum-shaped part that between the Jeff Leek in SS6 Issue. theCorrection gearbox andtoengine) was still article completely full.June So, when I Jeff Leek hastorequested it toapart, be known that was the Gearbox finally came pull the two the floor covered in in the oil…

Tim Maltby Maltby Wessex Tim

Barons Barons Farnborough Farnborough 01252 883 518 565 185 I am still looking forward to writing about events that have occurred in our Region but alas another month has passed and no local events have taken place. Hey ho, at least there have been some opportunities to travel further afield if one has been fortunate to obtain entry tickets. Covid-19 has definitely sharpened one’s mind to look ahead and commit to events as most are capped by numbers and require pre-booking. Recent Events New Forest Treasure Hunt Thank forrendezvous, our local hostelries rising to Hotel, the occasion We metgoodness at our usual the St Leonard’s for coffee us a designated room aand chatallowing and a chance to check out theshould cars. the evening turn Anotherstart excuse to at tuck into some good Awet. staggered began 2.00pm and the 36.8pub milegrub drivethough! through Things become bit trickier with thebegan. dark nights asbe some the mostmay stunning Newa Forest countryside It must said venues unable have us indoors, butthan we will bemiles. sending that one are or two of ustodid considerably more 36.8 outWith our usual MailChimp newsletters confirming 45 questions to solve, our navigators werevenues. kept busy. During the drive we saw New Forest ponies and their foals, longhorn cattle and everyone’s favourite, donkeys, all roaming freely from village to village. Various stop off points around the route enabled us to learn facts relating to the New Forest whilst solving the questions. We all arrived at the Bell Inn in Brook and sat down to a hearty meal.

Western Nigel Smith Welcome new members. Thank you to all that came along to BM’s on the Lawn, hopefully you all enjoyed yourselves; look out for the full article in next month’s magazine. Apologies to anyone who didn’t get the message that last www.bmwcarclubgb.uk month’s pub meet was held at an alternative venue due to change of ownership at our regular meet. However we will be

Great, another 30 minutes and half a blue-roll well spent on cleaning up the mess. Anyway, now that the gearbox was out of the way, I could shift my attention to getting the engine mounted to the stand. Easier said than done. For some reason the crane and stand didn’t like each other much and I had to position the engine in all kinds of weird positions in order to get it mounted properly. The problem originated in the difference in width between the legs of the engine stand and those of the crane, the first being about 2cm wider. I think I spent about two hours or so doing this and I’m sure it’ll all be available for your entertainment in a future episode. Having said that, the engine did eventually align with the stand properly and got it mounted. The oil was drained, and the engine stored aside for the time being. As I’m not sure an engine stand is designed for (long-term) storage of the engine, I’ve also supported the block by positioning a wooden beam underneath the engine mount. So far it seems to be holding well. With the engine out of the way, attention shifted to the front of the car. Not a lot left to do here, as most items were already missing, aside from a single headlight and some left-over wiring. Both were quickly removed which was quickly followed by the Aston Martin below) is astrip Tremac the following removal of the(pictured remaining chrome andand the BMW badge. pictures his car are concluded the correctthe ones. I am deeply And thatof pretty much stripping of the sorry entirefor car. getting in such tangle. Won’t happen All I’ve got to doa now is remove the frontagain. and rear windscreens, something I’ll be doing at the end of the month. The final bit of big news is that the car is booked in for the chemical bath, in which all paint and rust will be stripped from the body. Hopefully there’s some left of her by the time she comes back. The plan is to provide you with more details on that in the next update. Visit the “Project C.A.R.™” page for easy viewing. See this link: www.nieknijsen.com/brunhilda-media

regionalnews

07885 252448 wessex@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Barons Hindhead 01428 853 605 357 000 Whether it was due to the last gasp of summer or the wanting to get out more, our Bournemouth meet saw 18 cars and 22 of us gather at the Sir Walter Tyrell, for another convivial meeting. The award for the longest return trip must surely go to Chris and Sharon in their lovely white Z4 who travelled up from Weymouth, mind you Paul in his 740i did come down from Kent!

Sharon and Mike were the winners and also the quickest, so congratulations to them. The sun shone all day, there wasn’t a traffic jam in sight, just a perfect day out. Our thanks to Belinda and Julian for organising the whole event and setting all the questions. In conclusion a brilliant day out and one that will be repeated in the future. Eric Thompson Diary Dates 2019 National Festival Gaydon 11th August. If you are parking up with Wessex then please drop Tim Maltby a line: Wessex@ bmwcarclubgb.co.uk- book your tickets bmwcarclubgb.uk Sunday 15th September is now confirmed for our visit to a working flour mill at Sturminster Newton and to indulge in a cheese festival. More details to follow. western@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

cars so far. Please contact me to register your interest. Please visit our FB page for a full list of event dates and any updates on changes, also printed here. If you would like your car featured in our Car of Month then please forward some pictures BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020 59 to me. Happy motoring everyone.

regionalnews Whilst we are on about awards are there any guesses as to the immaculate Beemer in the car park with over 250k miles on the clock? The drinks will be on me at the next meet to the person with the right answer! Thanks again to Eric Thompson for the photos, and persuading the pub to provide designated parking with our own club room inside. If this is a new Covid bubble then count me in!

Forthcoming events Sunday 18th July 2021 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

Western Nigel Smith Welcome new members and welcome back to Western Regional news. To be honest, I have had nothing to publish for a while and I’m sure that you would not have wanted to read a load of waffle trying to fill a space. COVID-19 is the big story of the year and has brought everything to a standstill, I hope you have all kept safe and well during this period. It would be nice to hear a bit of good news for a change, so why don’t you post on our Facebook page - perhaps some things you have done during lockdown on your cars, as I’m sure many have taken the time to give a bit of love as I certainly have. Some good news is that we are hopefully re-starting our pub meets for the October meeting and we have our dates for Southern Concours and BMs on the Lawn 2021, something to look forward to, providing we don’t end up in another lock down again.

western@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Please visit our Facebook page for a full list of event dates and any updates on changes, also printed here. If you would like your car featured in our Car of the Month then please forward some pictures to me. Happy motoring everyone. Events Currently cancelled due to new Government Guidelines. 7th Oct – Pub Meet, The WoolPack, Weston-Super-Mare 4th Nov – Pub Meet, The WoolPack, Weston-Super-Mare 2nd May 2021 – Southern Concours & General BMW Gathering at Sherborne Castle, Sherborne Dorset 27th June 2021 – BM’s on the Lawn, Weston-Super-Mare sea front lawns

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registernews 02 Richard Stern

07770 443373 02register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

At the end of August I did manage to join the East Anglia Region at a local meet, social distancing is easy to implement at outside shows and even for those unsure you can of course wear a mask. It was nice to get out, stretch the 02’s legs and it reminded me of how fun these cars are when properly sorted. The highlight of the show had to be this rare 1929 Aston Martin International, believed to be lost and found in boxes and recently restored in time for the show. Hopefully you’ll see more on this beautiful car soon in the national classic magazines. By the time you’ve read this we’ll have also been to “A Classic Affair” and the new Bicester Drive-in show; report next month.

02 Goodies – well it isn’t long until Christmas is it? • Jaymic now stock the repro Italian 02 indicators, give them a call or surf on to www.jaymic.com/indicator-lamp-front-uk-typebmw-lh.html

• The high-grade “02“ face mask • New 2002 Tii US-style license plate • Write white on black! The somewhat different notebook for BMW 02 fans Another very special jewel is our new, very special notebook: This lets you keep track of your important appointments and reminders not as usual in black or blue type on a white

1 Series

Anthony Mason

Mostly this month I’ve been chatting with a friend about selling her ex-husbands 2007 130i LE. I was introduced by the Club office as someone that might be able to advise and help sell the car... we ran an advert last year but the car didn’t sell, I blame myself that I wasn’t free to clean and take proper photos. It’s actually a trilogy all in all, three different cars than needed to go to raise funds to maintain and renovate her home. I travelled to see the cars two weeks ago. She also had an E39 540i estate, 1 of 6 manual cars in the UK, sadly that had been sat unused for a while. It was bought by a Club member and friend of mine, he www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

background, but in white type on a black background! This will provide lots of food for discussion as you actually use a white pen to write on black paper! Each of the 180 black pages as well as the black cover of this book is adorned by a dark gray, watermark-style graphic showing a BMW 2002 Tii. The “02 - Write on Black” notebook comes with a white gel pen to enable you to write on the black paper! • A high-grade black “02 on two wheels” dual layer face mask! Featuring the popular cartoon created by our friend BOD, the famous French artist, whose cartoons are published by renowned media outlets around the globe. His funny illustration perfectly expresses the wild young life on the steering wheel of a BMW 02. Available individually or at particularly favourable set prices with three, five or ten masks! You will find this mask in their online store at www.69pitstop. com/02shope.htm • “2002 Tii” sign which corresponds to an American license plate for classic cars in colour, style and size. 1series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

is doing a full OE restoration whilst currently enjoying the old girl along the way. In the first two weeks of ownership he racked up nearly 600 miles and even brought it to the Crooked Chimney for a bit of show and tell. I spent three or four hours cleaning and falling for the 130i LE, the low rumble of the naturally aspirated N52 engine one I’m so familiar with, moving the car around on the driveway reminded me of what a great machine it is, the gearbox is reassuringly notchy in a very good way, and the clutch and steering substantial and heavy. I remember the adjustment BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

registernews Other 1 Series news has been cleaning the 1M and heading out on a little ride with Nina and Bruce, the little car with a big heart. If you are not familiar the build has been documented on Instagram ‘ninarosebarber’. It’s fantastic to have the cars out together showing their differences; my turbocharged inline six, ready to sprint at a moment’s notice and though quite lively versus the naturally aspirated V8. The cold start on Bruce is enough to wake the dead, the lumbering V8 gaining pace all the way to 8000 RPM, what a lovely automotive filled month I’ve had.

period of transitioning from my E46 which was an orient blue 330d SE auto, where it sailed and you captained it to the destination, as opposed to my 130i where if you were not paying attention it would wobble its rear ended until it had your FULL attention. The 130i came up beautifully (just in time for the rain), the previous owner always had rubber mats protecting the carpet and the car is in magnificent condition throughout with a couple of minor age related blemishes that can be forgiven in such a lovely car. I’m going to run an advert on the 130i page on Facebook but if you are interested contact me on 1series@ bmwcarclubgb.co.uk and we can have a chat.

Have you remembered I said it was a trilogy, well the third car is a kit car based on a Westfield, all will be revealed once the 130i has been sold.

3 Series Simon Maskell Ron’s M3 GT I was at a recent North East meeting, when I saw member Ron Savege had brought his E36 M3 GT and was interested to see how the car was, as the last time I saw it was on a track day and it was smoking a bit too much. This was no longer happening due to a comprehensive engine rebuild by a specialist in the field and it was then we talked about how much it had cost. Ron is not a man afraid of using his cars (check out the mileage included in the list of costs below) and this one is no exception, but he has maintained it to a very high standard. The M3 GT was produced by BMW’s M Sport Division to homologate parts for racing in the 1995/96 FIA GT Series in Europe, the IMSA GT Series in the US and the International Langstreckenrennen (Long distance or Endurance Racing). Based on the 3.0-litre M3, the GT had an uprated management system along with re-profiled cams, increased compression ratio and a revised oil system. This gave a quoted power output of 295bhp. The bodywork was modified with an adjustable front splitter, a large rear wing to increase aerodynamic downforce and on some vehicles, lightweight panels. The suspension was fitted

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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with shorter and stiffer springs to cope with the extra load and a strut brace to stiffen the front end. The car was only available in British Racing Green with a special interior in green and grey. In total 406 cars were produced, 356 in left hand drive and www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

registernews 50 in right hand drive, this car being number 45 of 50. The top speed of the standard car is electronically limited to 155mph, without the limiter this would be closer to 175mph. This M3 benefits from brake and suspension modifications that make it handle well for such a heavy car and Ron has shared with us the costs of running such a lovely machine. 2005 AP 4 pot brakes fitted, car September to serviced and maintained by 2009 March Kevin Bird Garages Ltd. 2006 July to 2007 March

Suspension Rebuild for the ‘Ring to full Tom Schirmer Specification, KW 2 dampers and springs, rose jointed, polybushed, all new fixings, hoses, mountings, oils, fluids and brake callipers. Works by Jaco Velder, Stefan Manheller, Gewerbepark am Nurburgring.

£2,000.

£9,838.80.

2008 September

Valuation by Birds Garage, £22,000.00, mileage 167,388.

2009 February

Full Milltek Exhaust & Stage 2 remap by Thorney Motorsport.

2010 August to Present

Regular servicing, maintenance and under body protection by Ben Trossell, TMSport, Knaresborough; body refurbishment by Chris Gregory Knaresborough. Annual polish & engine bay valet by Swissvax, Knaresborough.

£2,500.00 p.a.

Removal and testing of dampers, springs and ARB rates, analysis, set up for road and occasional trackday use. By Simon Roberts, Cornering Force Ltd, Harrogate.

£656.40

Supply and fit Eibach springs, make and fit drop links and end plates for damper/roll bar set up. By Simon Roberts, Cornering Force, Harrogate.

£480.00

2014 June

2014 August

3 Series E46 Simon Maskell This month I have been concentrating on the remaining cars I own, having successfully sold my white 330i SE, with only 13,500 miles. The car was sold to a nice man in London called Paul, who I agreed to deliver the car for him and it gave me the opportunity to have one last long trip in the car (5.5 hours to be precise). It reminded me that the 330 is a consummate motorway cruiser. At 70-ish MPH, it isn’t even trying and returns mid to high 30s to the gallon. It’s quiet at speed, comfortable to travel in and has more than enough tech on board to make the hours fly by. It also was a great excuse to have a family day out in London, as living in Durham it isn’t round the corner! Also it did what I dread when I sell a car; it developed a fault. To be precise the headlamp washer unit started to leak and may I say what a pain in the bum it was getting off the trim to remove the light. I had made a call to Nick Jupp, he of E46 breaking fame and ordered a replacement. So, after much swearing and cursing I had removed the light and indicator, only to find the unit was www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

2014 December

Vanos Unit replaced, new bespoke SC Typhoon ECU installed & set up on rolling road by TM Sport. New brake pipes, New pads (Carbon Lorraine), Racing Blue Brake Fluid, New window trim seals all by Ben Trossell, TM Sport.

£4,445.10

2015 May

Mileage 193,393. Supply Reduced Final Drive 3.73:1 and Quaife LSD, Birds.

£917.32

2015 September

£1,522.38 Mileage 193,393. Fit Reduced Final Drive 3.73:1 and Quaife LSD by Ben Trossell, MDR Motors.

2016 March

£1,320.76 Repair, Restore and Underseal sills & floor sections to rear of front wheels, Classic Car Lab, Harrogate.

2016 August

Restore Inner Front Wing Areas and Suspension, Underseal & Set Up by Craig Coleman, Track Torque, York.

2018 April

Supply and fit parts to suit 3.2 £2,857.37 Evo and GT International. Oil pump, sump, arp rod bolts, competition main bearing bolts, main bearings, big end bearings. JC Racing, Thirsk.

2018 July

Replace all hoses etc. JC Racing, Thirsk

£1,353.12

£1,184.04

2019 October Engine, strip and inspect, Rebuild. JC Racing, Thirsk.

£9,215.34

2019 December

£1,440.07

Remove and fit engine, Vanos repair, deliver to Rolling Road (ChipWizard). JC Racing, Thirsk.

Having seen this car at first hand, it is in remarkable condition for its age and is wearing the miles well. Hopefully it will be put to good use at the final BMW Car Club track day at Oulton Park, in November. That’s it for this month, hope you have found this interesting and if anyone else out there has an interesting car tale to share, drop me a line at the register email address. e46register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

fine, it was in fact a broken clip holding the pipe to the unit. Bah! I needn’t have removed the light at all; I think the car was telling me it wasn’t happy going to a new home.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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As a dyed in the wool 46 man, some may say why did I sell the car, given its super low miles and general provenance? Well the answer is simple; it is the kind of car that you can only use now and then, so you need plenty of storage space to tuck it away in a quiet corner. I live in a normal house, plus use my fatherin-law’s garage and driveway to store my cars and the white one was occupying valuable real estate. It meant my convertible sat outside and the red 328i SE in the garage (because it’s lovely!). With the white one’s departure the convertible is now parked inside and is connected to a CTEK charger, so no more

3 Series E9x

Julian Pickering

Things are starting to head back in the direction of normality for the Club. I have been to local club night meetings for two months now and at the time of writing I am looking forward to attending the Bicester Heritage Classic Drive In Weekend on Friday 18th September and exhibiting a car on the BMW Car Club stand. I have to admit that I will be showing my E46 M3 rather than the E93. I hope to meet more E9x owners there, they are unfortunately few and far between in the Wessex Bournemouth area. I was very pleased to receive articles from Richard Acton and Michael Pope this month about their E9x experiences. It makes these reports so much more interesting to hear about members’ cars, so please keep them coming. Michael has sent an interesting account of his exhaust upgrade to his E92 335i but I will keep you in suspense on this until the November edition. Richard writes: The big boss had a black E90 320d M Sport, a company car that he always parked in the yard. As an 18-year old still saving for his first car, I often found myself staring at it, dreaming that one day I would be able to finish work and drive home in such a prestigious and expensive car. I eventually had the opportunity to drive it. I was so excited, yet immensely nervous, I’d never driven anything this big or expensive before. To drive, it didn’t disappoint, the ride wasn’t like anything I had experienced before, so planted and precise and with so much power it was almost scary! I knew one day I had to own one.

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

flat batteries as had been happening with it being outside and unused. On reflection it will be hard to find another one, maybe impossible, but I enjoyed owning one of the lowest mileage E46s out there. Better to have loved and lost and all that, but it means I have 2.5 cars to worry about now (half of the track E46 is mine), allowing me to concentrate on the remaining cars. Have any of you sold an E46, only to pine for it after departure? If so, let me know your story, with some supporting pictures and tell us all about it. That’s it for this month, until the next one… e90register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

From then on, walking home from work, I often found myself picking BMWs out of the traffic, I started becoming obsessed. The brand was really growing on me. What really cemented it was one dark and cold autumn evening as I was walking home through Chatham, the traffic next to me was its usual stop-start, the cold of the exhausts hazing up the red glow of the rear lights. Suddenly some alloys next to me caught my eye, the familiar shape and rear lights of an E90 crawled past. In the dark under the glow I could tell there was something different, the twin exhausts, the alloys, the spoiler, the letters spelling out the word ‘ALPINA’. Trying to catch up, I managed to glimpse the full ‘ALPINA D3’ as it eased off into the night. There was something so subtly understated about this one, I was in awe. It didn’t shout but you could tell this was a bit more than just your usual company car. If I’d have blinked, I would have missed it. Fast forward to today and that memory is still as fresh as if it were yesterday, except I find myself not having to walk home, but close the door on my own D3 Bi-Turbo. I’ve been very privileged to have owned three E90s, 56 and 11-plate M Sports and my current 60 plate D3. Between these I’ve found myself owning other brands, but always I go back to the E90. For me it’s the perfect car.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

registernews The attached photos show Richard’s excellent black D3 BiTurbo. Black cars do look stunning when polished up like this,

4 Series

Paul Roberts

but I know from my own experience that they are hard work to keep looking this good. Until next month, drive safely. 4series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

I am writing this on a rather miserable August Bank Holiday Monday - there is heavy cloud here in mid Norfolk and no sign of the sun today. Anyway, on to other matters. I decided to change the grill on my car so I trawled t’internet and found what I wanted. I did look at YouTube to get some instructions as to how to fit them and success! Pictures as below. I also decided to look at another ‘gadget’ for the car and spent £49.99 on getting Alexa Auto. It took a little while to get this installed where I wanted it and as you can see from the picture it has hardly any trailing wire showing. It connects to my phone via Bluetooth and also powers up from the USB point underneath the central armrest. Is it worth it? Yes I think so, as it allows you to select any music by speaking and also anything else you would ask Alexa in the home. I will soon get a couple of the appropriate sockets so I can ask Alexa to turn on lights before I get home. I haven’t yet asked route directions or phone calling but will try these commands out soon. From the comments posed by other users I don’t think the guidance works very well so will probably stick to the BMW’s factory navigation. I did have the car serviced last week by Coopers, the local BMW main dealer and that was all fine apart from another new rear tyre that was required, as apparently there was a deep cut on the inside. So including a replacement nearside fog light (had to have a whole new unit, not just a glass and bulb) which accounted for another £400.00 spent. Still, won’t need another (major) service for around 15-20,000 miles. I think that will come before we embark on our European drive and river cruise holiday next August. Again, sadly nothing else to report re meets as all our local ones have been cancelled. So on that ‘bombshell’ I’ll sign off until the next time! Stay safe and if there are any other 4 Series owners who want to display their cars please get in touch.

5 Series E34 Manj Sandhu Have you all noticed recently that prices of E34s are steadily creeping up? After last month’s feature seeing young Sam and his recently purchased 535i, I thought I would share my thoughts on a short buying guide for the E34. This is not a definitive list, it is just a summary of what I have picked up from running and owning an E34 for well over 22 years now. Please do not see this as a one stop shop for everything E34, far from it. Let me know if you agree or disagree, and email me with anything else you feel the readers need to know. With the word limit restricting how much I can write I will keep it short, I may expand on some areas in a future issue: Overall First impression – what is the overall appearance? If it looks a little tatty and unloved then see that as a bad sign. Observe the owner and their attitude towards the car – do they have a liking for it? A passion for it? Have they maintained the appearance of the car and do they take pride in how it looks? Key point 1 – Is there any evidence of work done? It is important to see and review invoices and receipts. Crosscheck service book stamps to the invoices – important. Key point 2 - Go on a drive and listen out for suspension knocks and look out for the 50mph wobble – it can be expensive. Exterior Having said that, the cosmetics of the car are not the be all and www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

e34register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

end all. Nevertheless, it does give you an indication as to how the owner treats and respects the car. It would be useful to know if the current owner has only recently acquired the car or if indeed it has been in long-term ownership. Faded paint coat – the lacquer will peel on most colours except white, with the age of the cars it is not a deal breaker in my opinion. Look out for shoddy repairs to paint or panels. It might be a better indication of how much the owner cared for the car despite what they say. Rust Check the usual rust spots. These are typically: the bottom corners of the doors, in and around the fuel filler cap, bottom edge of the boot lid, around all four of the wheel arches and last but in no means least - the jacking points on the sills. Engine Key point 3 - Make sure the engine is started from cold (check the bonnet is cold) – the smaller M20/M50 engines once they settle should run smooth. Check the paperwork for regular oil changes. BMW maintenance guides would suggest in the range of 10,000- 15,000 miles depending on driving style. Nevertheless, I would suggest either once a year or every 7,000 miles is about right for the age of the engines. I cannot stress enough the importance of this when it comes to E34s. BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

registernews Continuing in the engine bay - look out for leaks. It is not the end of the world to find a small leak, but you will not know how serious it is until you get into finding the cause and it could be expensive. Something to bear in mind! Interior They are usually solid and hardwearing and built to last. Driver’s seat wear is normal, especially on the bolster. Unlike some E28s or E30s, the dash should be in good condition and should not be cracked. Check that all the internal elements work. Pay attention to the heating, windows and the sunroof, if it has one. Window regulators can fail.

been in the family since nearly new which is fantastic. Family owned cars are a treasure. He states the car has not been used regularly; mainly for comfortable long journeys and car shows. It is pictured here being used for a friend’s wedding (not Russ in the picture). Russ adds that the E34 definitely seemed the quicker car than his mates E60 525i. Keep up the good work Russ!

Car of the Month - Russell Bolton has owned this super clean 520iSE in Arctic Silver since 2010 when he inherited it, but it has

6 Series

Mani Singh Hayer

6series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

it’s only driven during the weekends in the summer. I’ve always heard mixed things about the use of car covers and that it can cause issues with the paint and some bubbling. Anyway, after some thorough research, I made contact with Mark at Car Cover Shop and explained my concerns. He mentioned that his P4 breathable car covers do not cause issues so long as the car is clean when the car cover is fitted. So, I ordered one for the E46 and I have to say, after having used it for a few weeks, it is brilliant. We have had some torrential rain recently and after checking on the car once the cover was dry, the paint was still glossy from the wax I applied and no water marks had come through at all! So, as I was so pleased with it, I ordered one for my E64 which again is doing a fantastic job. Please do remember to send me any restoration projects you may be doing on your 6 Series or if you have purchased one recently and would like to share with the Club. In my last update a couple of months ago, I mentioned that I was following Timm’s brilliant videos on YouTube (Timm’s BMW Repairs and Information) for maintenance tips on my E64. So far, I have cleaned and then treated all of the seals on the car to some Gummi Pflege liberally including the seals inside the convertible hood and boot area which should not only prolong the life of them but help the windows open during the colder months. I then turned my attention to clearing out the various drain holes including the ones under the air filters in the engine bay (which were not too bad with just a few small leaves stuck there). Whilst I had the filters open, I thought I might as well change the micro filters so in went a new set. Finally, and as the car is being used less, I connected it up to a CTEK trickle charger which is doing a fantastic job and keeping the battery in top condition. Having had most of my E46 Individual resprayed earlier this year, I was talking to the owner of the body shop and he recommended getting a top-quality car cover for it, seeing as

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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8 Series

Debbie Blythe

Hi everyone, I hope you are all keeping well. Last month I was in contact with Sarwar Hussain, a new E31 owner in the South East who was willing to organise a meeting in Maidstone, Kent. He was in contact with many owners who had not attended our regular meetings and so on Sunday 23rd August we had a great meeting where 21 cars turned up. What was really great about the get together was the wide age range of the owners. Sorry to say this but our usual group consists of many older adults (myself included) and it was very encouraging to see that the E31 is now appealing to a much younger group, which hopefully will keep the model in the public’s eye and increase the popularity amongst younger BMW enthusiasts. I will write a full report on the event in a future edition of the magazine.

8series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

In that time it has been on holiday trips numerous times, has been my daily commuter (no, I don’t want to work out the petrol cost!) It has lugged Christmas trees and taken things to the tip. It has had its issues and always requires a lot of wooden blocks to get it on a low loader when broken down, it’s driven through floods and it does NOT do snow! But it has never left me in the proverbial. In September 2017 I was awoken at 3.30am by the sound of it being driven off my driveway - it was being stolen in front of my eyes! Insurance paid out and then weeks later the Police called me to say they had recovered the car, damaged, and it was being moved to a scrap yard just two miles away from home - it was meant to be! I went through the procedure of buying it back. I bought new or second-hand body parts and got it rebuilt and re-painted - same colour of course. I had to - I love that car. So does my Son... it is more than a mate, it’s part of the family. I’ve driven or owned all types of cars including Porsches and Astons - nothing strikes up more comments wherever you go. I will never sell it. I’m looking to make some improvements to suspension, exhaust etc. My Son wants me to chop the roof off - he can when he buries me in it! Thank you Pig - after 14 years and over 200,000 miles together, I still feel good driving you and always look back for a second glance!

As with previous months I had received an email from a Club member about their E31 ownership, so here is their story. Philip’s story My relationship with The Pig (1999 840Ci Sport in Estoril blue) began in 2005 when my Father bought it, at 25,000 miles. Sadly, he hadn’t checked his garage dimensions and then realised the car wasn’t suitable. Meanwhile I was looking for a “feel good” car having been going through a painful separation from my wife. I looked at various sports cars, but having driven Dad’s 8 Series very briefly, I had become intrigued with it and my thoughts kept coming back to it. I made him a (very good) offer and bought it in 2006 it had 28,000 miles on it. It has now covered 236,000 miles and barring the odd mechanic or AA relay driver I have been in the driver’s seat for all of those 208,000! www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Future events – 2020 • Sunday 4th October 2020 – Simply BMW at Beaulieu Motor Museum, Hampshire. Tickets available from their website. • Sunday 18th October 2020 – Cancelled due to new Government Guidelines BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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Z3 Register

Alan Jones

Welcome to the October edition of Straight Six. Back in July I published the Z3 belonging to Richard Rixham as he hadn’t long purchased the car. He said he was going to do some restoration on the car, so I suggested that he write an update in a few months’ time. This is the piece that Richard has sent me: “It’s now been 10 months since I decided to purchase a Z3 Roadster and picked up what was someone’s project car that they had fallen out of love with. In true boy racer style it had been lowered, had a decat exhaust fitted and a go-faster air filter (which in my opinion would not work as well as the standard air filter arrangement). Little had been done with the mechanicals or the body work, which was in dire need of some love and attention. I decided that this was a Roadster that needed saving and over the last few months I have been slowly working on things bit by bit. The first job was to get it mechanically sound so a week in the garage of my local mechanic saw the original springs and exhaust being put back on the car, the air filter put back to standard set up and a full service, new thermometer and rocker gasket replacement. New rubber was purchased for above the doors which were missing, meaning the inside of the car was swimming in old smelly water, the underneath of the carpets took three days to dry out in very hot weather. The hood would not close above the windscreen without being wrestled to within an inch of its life, to get it to fit only a small adjustment was required and the hood fitted to the frame with a couple of screws, and it is now nicely closing with no effort. New sills were purchased from Sytner BMW Sheffield, sprayed up by a local body shop and fitted on my father’s drive. The passenger side rear wing was replaced as what looked like a small piece of rust turned out to be a big hole. The biggest head scratching moment was left for the central locking and doors, which refused to work as they should. In the end there were three small things that needed putting right to get it all working again; a new key that wasn’t worn down (again from Sytner), replacing a small plastic o-ring on the driver’s door catch, and the wellknown broken wire in the boot wiring loom. To congratulate myself on sorting the central locking I tracked down an original

Z4 Register

z3register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

alarm fob from eBay and found some instructions on zroadster. org on how to sync up the fob. I now have remote central locking and a working original BMW alarm. The worst of the bodywork was dealt with on a warm sunny day with some sand paper, filler and some cans of spray paint and even if I say so myself, it doesn’t look too bad. An interior light that refused to come on when the doors were opened was tracked down to the switch next to the light, I pulled off the wire and put it back on again and it burst into life. I like the easy fixes. The car is now in a great condition for driving. I got to know the parts department at Sytner and Halfords quite well over this period (don’t forget to use your car club discounts). One take-away from this has been to not think that dealers are always expensive for parts. I found a lot of things that I wanted could be supplied by Sytner cheaper than on the internet, so always give them a try. Due to lockdown we have not been able to do a planned North Coast 500 trip in the Zed. I’d like to send a big thank you to the people from the Eastern Region that have helped with parts, advice, and an ear for being a sounding board as I’ve worked on the car. Regards, Richard“

Paul Dodds

z4register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Hello and welcome to the October edition of Straight Six. The Z4 section will be relatively brief, as this month I would like to pass on the Z4 Register Captain torch to another Z enthusiast. I will however remain a Club member, although, unfortunately I haven’t been able to put as much time into the role of late as I originally wanted to and as a result would like to see someone new get involved. I wish whoever takes this role the best of luck and hope you will enjoy it as much as I have. Thank you to everyone involved with the running of the Club and as always, that is all for this month but remember you can get in touch with the Club via the forum, or email z4register@ bmwcarclubgb.co.uk for all things Z4 related.

X Series Greg Lyons & James Brigginshaw Hi everyone and welcome to the October edition of Straight Six, Greg and I (James) have become the new X Register Captains, and we have been asked to introduce ourselves and our relationship with the X Series cars. Where does one start with that? Recently, actually... “Are any of the X models an enthusiast’s car?” a buddy at work asked me when I told him of the role I was taking on here. A question I was not expecting but it is a good one. As a register we have nowhere near the following of M Power or 3 Series. As machines the Xs are neither pedigree racers or dedicated load and off-road specialists. Some perceive

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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them to be a ‘Chelsea tractor’ and ‘school run hero’ in the same way that an Audi TT goes hand in hand with the old comb and scissors. But how many of the nay-sayers have actually used one, been in one or owned one? Not many I’d bet. As a consequence of their uncanny ability to do everything very well one sees them everywhere and it perhaps therefore feels like they are humdrum or boring as ‘Miss High-flyer but Stern’ has one and ‘Mr Health and Safety Exec’ swears by them. But look at how many out and out petrolheads have them too… boatloads! They’re onto something you know… I class myself as one of those petrolheads. BMW-wise I have www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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had the lot, from a 130i, 135i, anE46 M3 and my current F80 M3. I’ve loved driving M6s and the M850i and the wizardry of the i8. At work I have wheeled everything from the new M135i to E70, F15, the G05 X5, and the F and G platform 5 Series. And yet the X5 we currently own alongside the F80 is the one I rave about the most. The F80 is so obviously brilliant that virtually everyone gets it, but it is about the X5 that I say “Just drive one, you’ll be mightily impressed”. Safe to say that the wife sighs when we go to a party as it means I will either be ostracized by the crowd as I am ‘that car guy’ or I end up in the small huddle of like-minded folk who I suspect are just like you and I; Petrol (diesel and a little touch of electricity these days) running through the veins? Why is all that important? Well I’d say I’m a bona-fide car guy. I get what it is to love a car and what it is that makes a great car. Greg: Well after James’s introduction I’m kind of feeling he will be a tough act to follow. Here goes! Likewise I’m also a petrol head and can be found many a time chatting to someone in the supermarket car park about their pride and joy. My love of BMWs commenced in 2012 and has continued rather expensively since. I started off with a factory fresh E82 before

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moving onto a seriously rapid F20 M135i. This was followed by a smattering of F20s and F21s with an E89 Z4 thrown into the mix. Eventually in 2018 I came across the solid all-rounder that was the G01 X3 and my affinity with the X Series had begun. (I’ll be reviewing our family G01 20d in a later edition). Over the last two years I’ve noticed more and more X Series vehicles appearing on UK roads and long may it continue. I’m now also driving a G20 330e as my daily work car and have recently purchased an E36/7 Z3 3.0i with my dad as a weekend car. One thing I can say is they all handle like the Ultimate Driving Machine. We both want to support those of you on our wavelength and intend on converting those who aren’t there (yet!). Be it an economical X1 or a crazy X6M we’ll be looking to show you them, report on them and extol the virtues of them. We’ll be here to share the cars of our fellow X owners who wish to get their pride and joy in these pages and share the stories. The future is bright and it also happens to be X-shaped.

Clive Neville

iregister@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

We now have three members of the Club who have identified themselves as i8 owners. Thank you. Not quite a quorate but we will get there! Of course, this unusual summer has not helped matters. There have been plenty of occasions where I would have liked to have used the car but was prevented from doing so as the events had been cancelled. But I did go out yesterday for a drive into mid-Wales, stopping off at a cafe mid-way through. It was a bit strange being told to have our refreshments in the car park and be told that the nearest loo was one and a half miles away but at least the food appeared the same (cardboard plates aside). The drive back was not so enjoyable though, as a vehicle swerved towards me, meaning that I had to take evasive action and we kissed a kerb with a light glancing blow at 60 mph. While the suspension is fine, the rim - which is now gouged - is probably beyond repair. I need to take some Dutch courage before I ring BMW to ask about a replacement. Driving the car made me realise why I like the i8 - it goes quite well when you want it to, it’s light on its feet, and it can potter

around silently too, while all the time achieving nearly 50 mpg in everyday driving. It also has plenty of surprise and delight features and some that are plain irritating. I do like the fact that it talks to itself, whirring away, automatic grill air vents opening and closing as the car sees fit, and the way that the dashboard alters respective of the driving mode employed. Most of the other techno-wizardry is no longer cutting edge, but to someone who routinely prefers cars from the other century, it’s rather mind-blowing. On the downside, I am frustrated that I am not allowed to open the bonnet (as that is a service hatch only) and that the engine itself is buried beneath carpet, insulation and other panels in the boot. And, while I have never been one to hang my arm out of the window in the summer (but many seem to do), it does seem strange that they couldn’t get the design to accommodate a side window that went all the way down into the door. It sits proud by quite a few inches. Covid-19 permitting, a number of us including at least one other i8 Register member, will be going on a tour of Dartmoor at the beginning of October. Let’s hope that the weather holds and we don’t get Storm Abigail or Boris or Chloe…

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BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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Individual Experience Dhaval Bakhai

Owner: Carl Burrows An M car doesn’t need much of an introduction to us BMW enthusiasts, but an individual M car just adds that extra spice. This F80 M3 is the fifth generation of the M3, but first, a quick history lesson. With the original E30 dating back to 1986, for some it remains the ultimate M3 halo model even though it was never available in right-hand drive in the UK. The first righthand drive model was actually the E36 M3 that was produced from 1992 – 1999, also the first with a straight six engine. The E36 was available in coupe, convertible and saloon body styles with a couple of special editions produced throughout its production life, only to be superseded by the well-recognized E46 produced from 2000 – 2006 with the incredible CSL model being the pinnacle for the era. In 2007 BMW changed tact and followed their German counterparts to develop a V8 with the E9x range being the only M3 in history to use a V8, and being the last naturally aspirated M car. This brings us to the F8x range produced between 2014 to 2018, when production ceased prematurely due to tighter emission standards and dwindling sales volumes. However, the F82/83 range continued on until 2020 and for this model BMW went back to a straight six and for the first time, the M3 benefitted from a turbocharged engine. For Carl, his love affair with BMW began with the E36, and his previous BMW was the Imola Individual Edition model produced in 1998/99 in coupe form, similar to the one featured a few months ago. He thoroughly enjoyed the E36 and still misses it today, however after a period of 10 years without a BMW, he

BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

wanted to get back behind the wheel of an M3. After such a gap in ownership, he bypassed a few generations and found himself looking at the F8x range for its modern technology, power, usability and generally moving to a modern car. Initially after having evaluated the finances and narrowing the search down to two used cars and trying not to look at the new stock in the dealership, Carl finally gave into temptation and had a look at this car which was destined to be used by one of the management team if not sold. On the day of reckoning, both he and his son went to the dealership and looked over this unusual Enzian Blue F80 in more detail as it kept calling and it was meant to be. The figures worked out, the specification on the car was good, the colour special and most importantly, even Carl’s son felt this was the right car and gave him the approval, clearly he has been well trained already to be loyal to BMW. The colour is obviously special with not many Individual Enzian Blue examples produced. It is complimented with the Silverstone interior and extras such as Head Up Display and a Harman Kardon sound system, amongst other toys. As the car is now two years old, it has been a good time for reflection and how the ownership experience has been so far and all seems well after 12,000 miles. The car still keeps Carl entertained and having access to other cars in the family, such as an Audi SQ7, Carl is no stranger to performance vehicles. Therefore, Carl is more than happy with the M3 in terms of usability, fun, power, torque and all that is required from the car is delivered in abundance. In fact, the car is so capable, practical and usable, there is no desire to change the car in the near future. Carl would like to pass the car on to his son considering he helped to choose it in the first instance, what better present than an individual M3 that you would have built amazing memories in whilst growing up. To use a cliché here as it feels very apt, ‘the car really is part of the family’.

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BMW Car Club Magazine October 2020

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Straight Six October 2020 - Member Edition

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