Board Torque

boardtorque

Nick Thomas – Technical Director

In October we held our first face-toface Board meeting since lockdown. It was my first time attending in real life, so it was interesting finding out how tall the rest of the Board really are. We had some really productive discussions, and carefully evaluated the costs and benefits of a number of exciting initiatives to improve the services the Club offers to the members.

The successful run of BMWednesday virtual events in early 2021 gave us invaluable insights into the benefits and downsides of the virtual world. Based on survey data from participants at the BMW & Art, BMW Museum and British Touring Cars events, over 95% of you would attend another virtual event, and over 85% of you thought the Club should keep organising them. As a result the Board decided to run another series this winter to brighten the cold dark weeks. It’s shaping up that we will have another three unique events in January, February and March, however as I write this it is too early to give details. Watch out for the announcements of each BMWednesday event soon.

Since joining the Board, I have been looking at how we can improve technical support within the Club. It’s an activity that often gets interrupted by jobs, such as planning virtual events and fixing cars that breakdown at awkward moments. A big piece of this will be the Technical Section Knowledgebase. This will be a way to collect, retain and share the technical knowledge that club members hold about repair, maintenance, modification and restoration of our cars. It will be a resource members can use to get good advice that cuts through the noise on Facebook and YouTube, taking advantage of the more modern backroom workings that the new Club website is based on. At the October Board meeting we approved the spending for the website development work needed to host this. The Knowledgebase should be starting a phased roll-out over the first half of 2022, with much more visibility and content on tech support.

The Board also started looking at some of the documents behind how the Club runs, such as the Articles of Association. It is clear that there are a number of them, often out of date and sometimes inconsistent with each other. We are working to update them and pull them together into a single Club Handbook. 2021 was unusual. Lockdowns prevented some parts of club life from getting going at the start of the year. Once the restrictions were lifted, though, the events soon sprang back. It was good to look at just how much goes on, with the new events section of the Club website showing how many events we run all around the country. Thanks to everyone who gives up time to organise these, and to everyone who supports them by joining in and having fun at them. I ended up missing the London Classic Car Show at Syon Park in June due to self-isolating, however I did get to enjoy the club stand at The Classic in Silverstone and the Classic Motor Show at the NEC. I was able to go out on the track at Silverstone for the first time, admittedly only a parade lap but it was still a thrill to be driven around such an iconic place in an ’02. Back in September I was at the Club’s Anglesey trackday, my favourite UK track, where again I got to do a parade lap. It was interesting to experience the track that I have lapped so many times in the track car with a helmet on, but never before with four of us in my E30 convertible with the roof down and wind in our hair. Lisa from the office came along to give members a chance to meet the office staff, buy club merchandise and sign up a few new members. It’s not all serious though, and Lisa enjoyed trying out a few of the track cars. The photo is of when Lisa joined me out on track, and has become one of my favourite photos as it captures three club members enjoying club life. I think Lisa is laughing at my poor lines and I’m happy that the car was running right after major breakdowns at last year’s Anglesey trackday. The third member is Steve Bostock who spent the day photographing the mood of the trackday, his photos are in the gallery section of the website. Thank you Steve for this image. The day after the trackday I took the opportunity of being in the area (well about three hours driving after taking in some of the Snowdonia scenery and getting lost) to visit the Club office. I learnt a lot about the background workings of the Club, plus had the pleasure of Michelle and Lisa’s company. If you are in the area do drop in and say hello.

E10 petrol: A lot has been written about ethanol in petrol, and even more stories have been spread on social media. I recommend Will Beaumont’s article in the October 2021 Straight Six, or the FBHVC website. I’m feeling quite relaxed about it. I tend to put V-Power petrol in my classics, just because they don’t get driven that much so I don’t mind paying the bit extra. Fuel hoses can be impacted by ethanol. However fuel hoses degrade with age anyway, as I found out on my 1988 325i two years ago. Although the car had never seen any E10 at this time, and I had asked my workshop to replace all fuel hoses as a precaution, one was missed and split about half a mile away from my house. By the time I got home the car was leaving a smelly trail down the road and had dumped a quarter of a tank of petrol. Luckily the leak was on the cold side of the engine or the car could have easily gone up in flames. Treat your fuel hoses like tyres and cambelts, replace them regularly before they fail. Otherwise the only change I have made is that I have started to add a fuel stabilizer to the tank whilst my two oldest BMWs are in winter storage.

As I write this the news is all about Omicron. By the time you read this we will know what the impact will be. Whichever way, the Club is strong enough to keep going and we will keep on enjoying our BMWs. The vaccine programs should allow the plans for the BMW Sommerfest to move ahead. Also in 2022 we are celebrating both the BMW Car Club GB’s 70th anniversary, and 50 years of M. Watch out for the 70th Anniversary limited edition merchandise for 2022, as well as some special 70th anniversary stickers. I wish us all a happier New Year.