Straight Six September 2021 by BMW Car Club GB

SEPTEM BER 2 021 £5

Club Class!

The club stand pulls in the crowds with an eclectic display of Munich’s finest at ‘The Classic’, Silverstone…

PLUS: MEGUIAR’S CLEANING GOODIES TO GIVE AWAY!

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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 Associated 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 Martyn Goodwin Board of Directors Dave Evans Jamal Blanc Nick Thomas Richard Stern Club Office Michelle Evans Lisa Davies

inside this issue

BMW Car Club Insurance Henry Francis Patron Colin Turkington, Mike Wilds, The late Barrie Williams Editing Team Jeff Heywood Lisa Davies Will Beaumont

20 The Classic, Silverstone If you missed The Classic at Silverstone this year, take a look at our stand and images for the show in this exclusive feature.

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

28 MLife: Tuned In Lichfield’s tuned M4 is the testbed for many of the company’s F80/82 improvements, and it receives a lot of attention.

Touring build.

40 Nikasil: Friend or Foe? The word Nikasil is scary for some; back in the ‘90s, many manufacturers’ engines with Nikasilcoated cylinders suffered excessive bore wear. So who or what was to blame?

Classifieds - From £9.95 per issue Club Office 01970 267 989 office@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk BMW Car Club (GB) Ltd, Unit 5h, Glan Yr Afon, Aberystwyth, SY23 3JQ Website: www.bmwcarclubgb.uk Email: office@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk Tel: 01970 267989 Office Hours: 9:00am-5:00pm - Mon-Fri Published on behalf of BMW Car Club by Cedar Group, Unit 3, The Triton Centre, Premier Way, Abbey Park Industrial Estate, Romsey, Hampshire SO51 9DJ Tel: 01794 525 020 info@cedargroup.uk.com BMW Car Club (Great Britain) Ltd Registered in England Number 1617753

34 Putting the M into an E39 Touring Part 2 of BMR Performance’s E39 M5

46 Building the ultimate E30 M3… Redux’s E30 M3 build continues, and it is now nearing the finishing line.

49 A dream combination The name Cumberford Martenique probably sounds like a cocktail to most. To Club member David Mason, it’s the perfect combination he has always dreamt of owning.

Contents

from the editor Welcome to the September issue of Straight Six. Inside this issue, we look back at the return of The Classic at Silverstone, which pulled in a lot of interest from both the public and members. You can read the event report on page 20. In this month’s MLife, we show off the Lichfield-tuned M4, which is the company’s testbed for their F80/82 improvements. It has ironed out many of the standard M4’s imperfections whilst also bringing power to 550bhp. Sounds interesting? Have a read on page 28. Last month you may have read part one of BMR Performance’s new project car, the E39 M5 Touring. If you enjoyed the first part, continue reading about this extensive build on page 34. Looking for more project builds? On page 46 we report on the Redux E30 M3 build, who are now nearing the finishing line of this long project. Nikasil is a word feared by many. In the ‘90s, engines with Nikasil-coated cylinders suffered excessive bore wear, which affected many BMWs. This disaster tarnished BMW’s reputation, until other automotive brands reported the same problems. Find out on page 40 who, or what, was the culprit of this controversy. Club member David Mason describes his dream combination on page 49, the

20 regulars

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

Board Torque

in BMW models to fill our vacant registers. To find out what roles need filling or to show your interest, email officeadmin@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk.

Thoughts from the Boardroom

10 Club News 12 BMW News

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, Paul Ovenden! Happy reading, Jeff, Lisa, & Will

14 Motorsport News 16 Dan Norris 18 Products 50 Pirelli 52 Crossword/Classifieds 55 Regions 67 Registers 81 Your Photos 82 Club Pub Meets

Straight Six editorial team

boardtorque Richard Stern – Series Director In September 2021, the standard unleaded petrol grade (or main grade) in the UK will become E10, in line with government mandate. E10 petrol contains up to 10% renewable ethanol, compared to 5% currently. This is to help reduce CO2 emission, according to the Department for Transport.

E10 petrol is compatible with almost all (95%) petrol-powered vehicles on the road today, including all cars built since 2011. If your vehicle or equipment is not compatible with E10 fuel, you will still be able to use E5 by purchasing Shell V-Power grade petrol from most Shell service stations. At Shell forecourts, they will clearly label petrol as either E10 or E5. The change in fuel only applies to petrol; diesel fuel will not be changing. At the end of July I went to my local supermarket petrol station and the pumps were already labelled E10, Super was still E5, so I used that. When I asked the cashier she explained “they just changed the labels ready for the change

in September”, seriously. The government’s website to check if E10 is suitable for your car is www.gov. uk/check-vehicle-e10-petrol but it states all BMWs will run on the new fuel, which as we know is rubbish. Cars built before early 2002 were not designed to run on weaker petrol. Also, will it be cheaper if it uses less oil (of which petrol is made from)? I seriously doubt it. It’s also widely known your car will be less economical on E10 fuel, so you’ll be buying more of it and paying more tax as a result. So how can that be more efficient than a better quality fuel? The government initially claimed that the introduction of E10 would not impact petrol prices, but a more recent assessment found the fuel will cost approximately 0.2p per litre more than current E5 petrol. That translates to a £1 increase if fully refilling a 50-litre fuel tank. If your car is not E10 compatible and you accidentally fill it with the higherethanol fuel, don’t panic: using one tank of the new petrol shouldn’t cause your car too much damage. It is only thought to begin corroding some metal and plastic components after repeated use. But return to using the correct fuel at the next fill-up, as outlined below.

recommends that if you accidentally fill your older car with E10 fuel, begin to mix it with E5 after you’ve used between a third and half of the tank, to lessen the impact of the E10 on your engine. Stop press Speaking to some people in the industry it now appears that E5 (generally Super grade etc.) will still be available for five years. So if you’re concerned, go to your premium petrol suppliers and use the Super or Premium fuel; apparently they can’t add more ethanol and get the higher octane. As to prices for each E5 or E10, I suspect we (the motorist) will of course be ripped off. At the time of writing this feature, prices in the UK are now at the highest ever. I saw diesel for £1.50 per litre in August and petrol was £1.45. For more information check out; www.fairfueluk.com

Can you mix E10 and unleaded? Yes, as long as your vehicle is compatible with E10 fuel, there’s no reason that you can’t mix E10 and E5 fuel. In fact, the RAC

The Classic, Silverstone As you’ll see on pages 20 – 26 in this month’s issue, the Club attended The Classic at Silverstone circuit. It was a successful, yet sometimes wet, three days, and as you’ll see from Jamal’s report, we had some very envious cars on display; I’ll never forget my drive in the Z8! As the ’02 Register Chair, I had the honour of coordinating yet another anniversary parade lap for the model, this time the 50th anniversary of the 2002 Tii on Saturday’s show. I think we had around 12 ‘02s on the stand on Saturday, and they all had their chance to whizz (slowly) around the track. Next year marks 70 years of the BMW Car Club GB, so don’t miss this popular show and anniversary.

6 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

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thoughts from the boardroom I

Chris Brownridge. CEO BMW (UK) Ltd.

n normal circumstances at this time of year, much of the automotive world would be gearing up for the Frankfurt Motor Show. It was a biennial event that alternated with the Paris show to highlight all the latest developments and innovations in the motoring sphere. Frankfurt was a huge event, and it wasn’t unusual for those attending the show to cover 10 miles walking between the halls. Despite having launched a plethora of iconic models at Frankfurt, along with numerous innovative concepts, it’s clear to see that since the start of the pandemic there’s less of an appetite for this traditional style of motor show. Thus, this year’s event has relocated to our hometown of Munich as the IAA Mobility 2021 show and will present the latest new models and pioneering technological innovations, giving visitors an overview of premium mobility in its present-day and future forms. Taking place at various locations around the city, the BMW Group will be the largest exhibitor at the IAA and will offer visitors active driving experiences along with insights into development work and discussions on the challenges of the future of mobility. Our sustainability goals will be one of the core elements

8 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

of the event and we’re very proud of our commitment to reduce our CO2 emissions by more than 200 million tonnes by 2030. Over the next ten years or so we expect to bring around ten million fully electric vehicles onto the roads and at the vanguard of this will be the new i4 and iX. Naturally enough, these innovative machines will be the stars of the IAA in Munich and an interesting historical footnote is that 30 years ago, in 1991, we presented a fully electric concept in Frankfurt, the E1. Even back then we were committed to exploring alternative powertrains and the E1 was an electric city car with seating for four and a 125mile range. Extensive use of aluminium and plastics in its construction kept its weight down and endowed it with entertaining performance, too. That’s at the heart of our philosophy, sustainability and electromobility shouldn’t impact driving pleasure; the drivetrains of the BMW i4 and the iX might be new, but their driving dynamics are exactly what you would expect from a BMW. Anyone who has sampled an i3 should know that a battery electric vehicle can certainly provide an entertaining driving experience.

I’m a true petrolhead – I guess that’s a term that will have to change over the coming years – and I can’t help but be drawn to mouth-watering machinery such as the recently introduced M3 and M4 Competition or the M5 CS. However, I have recently been fortunate enough to sample pre-production versions of both the i4 and the iX and I may have to alter the object of my desires. They are both hugely rewarding to drive with a traditional BMW feel to the way they perform, and I was genuinely excited by my time behind the wheel. If you had any doubts whether the i4 and iX would feel and drive like ‘proper’ BMWs, I can assure you that typical BMW core attributes clearly run through their DNA. We have strong orders for both the i4 and the iX and I can’t wait to see them out on the road when deliveries start later this year. With our first M car with an electric drivetrain – the 544hp i4 M50 – I’ll be able to have my cake and eat it, a high-performance BMW with zero tailpipe emissions. Change is in the air – not just for motor shows – but for new and exciting mobility solutions, too. If my drives in the i4 and iX are anything to go by we have lots to look forward to.

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BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

clubnews

Welcome to our first ever toast2coast event. A word spin on the popular coast to coast runs that have been around for years. This one is a bit more relaxed. It’s a natural combination of

our two more popular events, the Breakfast Meet (toast) and the seaside run (coast). We will be gathering at 9am to 11am at the wonderful NY500 Car Cafe near Pickering where we will be awarding a selection of prizes, including oldest BMW and the BMW with the highest mileage. There will also be an award for the BMW of the Day, chosen by the management of the venue. We will then be departing for Whitby on the short but spectacular drive over the Moors aiming for the Headland car park adjacent to Whitby Abbey. Here we will be presenting another award, this time the Tourist Trophy to the BMW owner that has covered the most miles from home to reach Whitby. We will assist the tourists and the newbies to our part of the world with a selection of different routes and points of interest, but all with the same destination. We will also have a list and map of the many recommended fish and chip shops that Whitby is famous for. You’ll be able to round off your day the Yorkshire way, with a right good fish supper.

Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with Discovery, which brings together a great array of classic car and motorcycle clubs along with their iconic classic and vintage cars and motorbikes, is an event not to be missed. No matter what you’re looking for this is the ultimate season finale for any classic car/bike owner, collector, enthusiast, club member, or simply anyone with a passion for classic vehicles! The show returns at the end of this year, from 12 – 14 November at NEC, Birmingham. Book tickets now using our Club code CCL174 through www.necclassicmotorshow.com.

Join us at Anglesey Trackday 12th September! On 12th September, we are inviting all members to join us for an informal meet up at our Anglesey Trackday. There is no need to book, it’s free to spectate. For more information, please email officeadmin@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

10 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

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New Members

What’s on...

CENTRAL

IRELAND

SCOTLAND

Ian Gayton Doug Pollock Daniel Bull Graham Dear Garret Fay

Krystian Gajda

Alastair Tyre

LONDON

SOUTH EAST

Rob Hart Spencer Wolf

Damian O’Connell Simon Utteridge Andrew Hitchman Jerry Cichon Joseph Olivelle Daniel Smith Peter Martin Adam Dunn Peter Rhodes Michael Schulz Ian Berry Kristian Salsbury Tim Dadd Ray Richards Steve Alligan Steve Bultitude Robert Dabrowski

DEVON

NORTH EAST

CENTRAL WEST Dominic Cushnan Justin Fellows Keith Avery

CHESHIRE & STAFFS Dave Alcock Carl Gogerty Sean Goodwin Will Harrop Fraser Watson

COTSWOLD

Steve Carpenter

EAST ANGLIA Alex Milne Kevin Farrell Franklin Sciabica Dominic Knights Ross Larkins Ian Lummis Dave Oxley Mike Chalk Graham Presland Gary Johnson Fred Heddell Martin Day Martin Windmill Rowland Wells Neil Hammond Matthew Garfield

EASTERN Stuart Tunstall John Cameron Neil Blockley Garth Stainforth Alan Senior Lance Jessop Michael Akeroyd John Heatrick James Ross Michal Markiewicz Zeshan Ditta Chris Dove Josh Sanz Richard Sanz David Richards

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Brian Wilson Kevin Moran Paul Riley Peter Thorpe Matthew Stephens Luke Copeland Simon Phillips

NORTH WEST David Slater Carl McGuire John Kirkham Thomas Howson Nicholas Miller Frank Walsh

OVERSEAS Charles Lavers

Iain Paterson Paul OMara Keith Jones David Barrington Tony Jennings Jon Harper Smith James Carter

THAMES Augustus Christopher

WALES - NORTH David Flint David Twigdon-Williams

WALES - MID & SHROPSHIRE Ross Hickman Steffan Thompson

WALES - SOUTH Richard Simpkins Jake Edwards Nigel Griffin

WESSEX Mark Tupper Douglas Neville-Jones Ali Bovis Jim Crotty Juliet Palmer-Cowell Joel Russell

WESTERN Lee Jones Brian Davies Sam Barbieri James Doble

September 4 -5: BMW Car Club Racing Round 6 of BMWCCR at Oulton Park circuit 5: Sharknose Collection Meet Ace Café, London. Prebooking required, contact e24register@bmwcarclubgb. co.uk 11: E31s at ‘Rotary Cars in the Park’ Beacon Park, Lichfield. Contact 8series@ bmwcarclubgb.co.uk 19: Simply BMW National Motor Museum, Beaulieu. www.beaulieu. co.uk/events/simply-bmw

October 2: Toast2Coast Eastern Region event, everyone welcome. Contact trackdayregister@hotmail.com for more information. 10: Bicester Heritage October Scramble Book through www.bicesterheritage.co.uk 16-17: BMW Car Club Racing Round 7 of BMWCCR at Snetterton circuit

November 12-14:

NEC Classic Motor Show Club code: CCL174

Trackday Calendar 2021 September 12:

Anglesey

£179

November 12: Oulton Park £175 SOLD OUT! Email lisa@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk to be added to the reserve list.

BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021 11

bmwnews BMWs iX3 receives a facelift BMW’s iX3 has undergone a facelift, mostly consisting of an exterior design refresh with hints of the iX and i4 in its styling. The new look also comes with the M Sport Package as standard in the UK. The BMW kidney grille is now larger than before and has a single-piece frame that comes in pearl-effect chrome with, in familiar BMW i-style, a blue accent along the inner edges. The inner surfaces of the kidney grille elements have a mesh-like structure and feature a BMW i badge. The headlight contours are now ten millimetres slimmer, helping to give the new BMW iX3 a sharper look. The lower air intakes have been enlarged and they contain a ten-stage active air flap that cools the drive system components and brakes. The air curtains positioned at the outer edges of the front end are now L-shaped and have blue accents. The iX3 deploys BMW Group’s fifthgeneration eDrive technology including an innovative charging unit that sends

12 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

power to both a 400V battery and a 12V on-board power supply. It’s compatible with both single-phase and three-phase alternating current charging at up to 11kW. Plugging the vehicle into a direct current rapid-charging station allows it to take on 150kW, meaning the high-voltage battery can be charged from 0 to 80% of its full capacity in 34 minutes. Customers of both the iX3 M Sport and iX3 M Sport Pro have the choice of four exterior colours: Carbon Black, Mineral White, Phytonic Blue and Sophisto Grey. Black High Gloss exterior trim is also standard, as are 19” black aerodynamic wheels, an automatic tailgate, adaptive suspension, a heated steering wheel and a panoramic sunroof. Vernasca leather in a choice of four colours, BMW’s Sensatec dashboard, sun protection glazing, ambient lighting and electric seats are offered as standard. Additional standard features include the M Sport Package, wireless phone charging,

heated front seats and the brand’s very latest driver assistance technology, including Driving Assistant Professional, Parking Assistant and BMW Live Cockpit Professional. For customers choosing the BMW iX3 M Sport Pro model, additional standard features include BMW Head-up Display, Harman Kardon surround sound, gesture control, Parking Assistant Plus, darkened headlights, automatic high beam assistant, comfort access and lumbar support. Two models are available, an iX3 M Sport with 286hp and 400Nm of torque that can sprint to 60mph from rest in 6.5 seconds, while the top speed is 112mph. The range is 281 to 286 miles and it costs £59,730 OTR. The iX3 M Sport Pro has the same power output, performance and range of its brother, but costs £62,730 OTR thanks to the extra kit this model is equipped with.

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AC Schnitzer launches new wheel design Well known Aachen-based tuner AC Schnitzer has launched a brand new wheel, the AC4 Flowform wheel. Flow forming is one of the most advanced manufacturing technologies to enter the wheel industry. The flow forming process stretches and compresses the aluminium, which increases tensile strength. In this respect the process shares similar properties to those found in the forging process. The final product is lighter, stronger and has much greater shock resistance as well as an increased load capacity over regular cast wheels. The AC4 wheel is available at launch in 8.5” x 20” and 9.5” x 20” sizes and available in two colours: diamond-cut silver and black bi-colour, or high-gloss black. The wheels are available for most BMW models and larger sizes will be available shortly. Contact AC Schnitzer in the UK for more info – ac-schnitzer.co.uk

Alpina XD3 and XD4 refresh The midlife facelift carried out by BMW on the X3 and X4 models has affected the iX3 as reported on these pages, and it also affects both the Alpina XD3 and XD4 models. Both of the Alpinas receive the X3’s midlife styling updates highlighted in the iX3 report. Alpina has taken advantage of this refresh to improve the dynamics of both models, something we applaud. The 3-litre quad-turbo straight-six engine that powers both models now delivers an impressive 394hp, while torque jumps to 800Nm, an increase of 30Nm on its predecessor. This enables both models to sprint to 60mph from rest in 4.3 seconds, impressive indeed. The XD3’s top speed has increased to 166mph, while the slightly more slippery XD4 hits 167mph. Not bad for a diesel 4x4 that also returns an average 40mpg on the combined cycle. Alpina has also revised the variable sports steering to provide even sharper and more responsive handling, while BMW’s Parking Assistant and electrically folding exterior mirrors with anti-dazzle are now included as standard. Both vehicles can be ordered now, with deliveries starting in November 2021. No prices were available as we went to press for UK RHD models.

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Visitors can experience the iX5 Hydrogen at IAA Mobility 2021 The BMW Group is pushing forward with development of hydrogen fuel cell technology as an additional option for sustainable individual mobility. Two years after unveiling the BMW i Hydrogen NEXT concept car, the company will present the BMW iX5 Hydrogen at the IAA Mobility 2021. Currently still in series development, the iX5 with hydrogen fuel cell drivetrain will be one of several vehicles visitors can experience as they are driven along the Blue Lane connecting the main exhibition grounds with other exhibition venues in the city centre. The BMW i brand could, in the future, also offer vehicles with hydrogen fuel cell drivetrains, in addition to battery-electric models such as the BMW i3, BMW iX3, BMW iX and BMW i4. Provided the hydrogen is produced using renewable energy and the necessary infrastructure is available, it can meet the needs of customers who do not have their own access to electric charging infrastructure, frequently drive long distances or desire a high degree of flexibility. The drive system uses hydrogen as fuel by converting it into electricity in a fuel cell and delivers an electrical output of up to 170hp. In coasting overrun and braking phases, it serves as a generator, feeding energy into a power battery. The energy stored in this battery can be accessed for sporty driving manoeuvres and delivers a system output of 374hp, guaranteeing the brand’s signature driving experience. The IAA Mobility 2021/IAA Munich (Motor Show) runs from 7th to 12th September 2021.

BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021 13

motorsportnews Marco Wittmann celebrates his first victory of the season at Zolder Two-time DTM champion, Marco Wittmann, celebrated his first victory in two years, and his first of the DTM GT3 era, at the sixth race of the season at Zolder, Belgium. Wittmann took pole for the second race in the BMW M6 GT3, entered by Walkenhorst Motorsport, with a lap time of 1:26.687 minutes. He was able to defend his advantage at the start and also bring the M6 GT3 to the finish line after leading for all 39 laps. For the Walkenhorst Motorsport Team, which is contesting its debut season in the DTM, it was the first triumph in the racing series in only their sixth race. BMW officially pulled out of DTM at the end of the 2019 season as the whole DTM series underwent a revamp and relaunched as a GT3 series. BMW Motorsport supported the privateer teams like Walkenhorst and Rowe Racing by loaning them their factory drivers. It paid dividends for Rowe Racing as South African driver Sheldon van der Linde finished 7th in the same race in the Rowe Racing M6 GT3.

Two-time DTM champion Marco Wittmann on his way to victory in the Walkenhurst Motorsport M6 GT3 in Round 6 of the DTM Championship at Zolder

24H Spa: A personal victory for Boutsen Ginion Racing BMW Motorsport never entered this year’s 24 hour race at Spa, so it was down to the privateers to uphold BMW honour at this famous endurance race. Flying the BMW flag was Boutsen Ginion Racing, which was running an M6 GT3 in the Pro-Am Class. In the early stages, marked by a long full-course yellow flag phase and subsequent heavy rain, the #10 BMW M6 GT3, driven by German racer Jens Klingmann, thrilled with a courageous first session. Starting from 45th place overall, he ploughed through the field, moving the car up to 25th place and took the lead in the Pro-Am class. Unfortunately, 24-hour races have their own laws. Like many other teams, the Boutsen Ginion Racing M6 GT3 wasn’t spared technical problems, ones that required longer pit stops. But the team of drivers – Jens Klingmann (GER), Karim Ojjeh (KSA) and Jens Liebhauser (GER) – kept fighting, and after battling horrendous conditions they managed to reach the finish line in eleventh place in the Pro-Am class and 35th overall.

German racer Jens Klingmann started the Spa 24H Race brightly in the Boutsen Ginion Racing M6 GT3, scything through the field to move up from 45th to 25th place to take the lead in the Pro-Am Class. Unfortunately, technical issues would blight the team during the evening

The Boutsen Ginion Racing pit crew battled through the night to get the M6 GT3 back on track. They were rewarded for their hard work as the car and drivers raced through atrocious weather conditions to make it to the chequered flag and finish eleventh in the Spa 24H Pro-Am Class

14 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

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Roving reporters Jeff Heywood & Paul Kelly

Three podiums for BMW, at a packed Oulton Park. Lancashire-based Ciceley Motorsport were in a buoyant mood coming to their home circuit in neighbouring Cheshire, with Adam Morgan winning last time out at Brands Hatch. Sad news from Brands, reached the paddock on Saturday, that a marshal had been struck by a crashing car. A minute silence was to be held on Sunday. Qualifying Adam Morgan was top BMW in qualifying, with a fine 6th place in the Car Gods backed 3 Series. Next up was Stephen Jelley in 8th, Colin Turkington 9th, local lad Tom Oliphant was 14th, and Tom Chilton was 22nd in the second Ciceley car. Senna Proctor took pole position in the Norlin Honda Civic Type R. Race 1 Great start by Adam Morgan put him in 3rd going into the first corner (Old Hall). Pole man Proctor down in 4th. The two Halfords Hondas were first and second, Gordon Shedden taking it. Jelly was not far behind in 5th, closely followed by Colin Turkington in the sister WSR BMW. Going into Cascades, Colin Turkington was forced wide onto the grass, followed by an Infiniti and a Toyota. Turkington re-joining dead last! Ending the first lap, Rory Butcher tagged Adam Morgan, putting the 330i on two wheels on the grass, but Morgan kept control and 3rd position. Lap two now and the two Hondas upfront started to pull a bit of a gap. Stephen Jelley in 5th was being hounded by Senna Proctor, trying to make up from his poor start. Drama on lap seven, 13th-placed Tom Oliphant was tagged by Jason Plato’s Vauxhall Astra spinning the WSR BMW at Lodge corner and was hit heavily from behind by the Hyundai of Chris Smiley, then Rick Parfitt. Oliphant’s car was very badly damaged, as was Smileys. The red flag came out to recover the stricken cars. Racing resumed, and it was a six lap sprint! The Honda’s led again and stayed there till the end, Dan Rowbottom taking his first win in the BTCC. Adam Morgan was a brilliant 3rd, just behind Gordon Shedden. Stephen Jelley finished 5th, Tom Chilton 17th, and Colin Turkington 18th.

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Race 2 From the off the top three from race one went nose to tail into the first corner. Going into Cascades, Rory Butcher came flying past Morgan first, and then the two Hondas in short order, in his Motul backed Toyota. Stephen Jelley was down in 7th, Tom Chilton 11th (up six places), and Colin Turkington 16th. Oliphant, a nonstarter, after his race 1 shunt. The front three stayed pretty much like that to the flag, Butcher getting his first win of the season, from Rowbottom. Adam Morgan was 3rd again, the BMW running well with the success ballast. Stephen Jelley was 7th, Colin Turkington 12th and Tom Chilton 13th, with some welcome points. Race 3 The reverse grid draw put Senna Proctor once again on pole. Could he win this time with another bite of the cherry? Adam Morgan was placed in 7th alongside Dan Rowbottom. Colin Turkington would start 12th. Tom Oliphant was starting from the back. WSR doing a brilliant job to repair the car. From the off, reigning champ Ash Sutton took the lead, but drama at Cascades when Sam Osbourne touched the grass and went spinning off, collecting four cars in the process! The race was red flagged, the cars parking back on the starting grid. Drivers got out of their cars while the cars were recovered. The cars would start from their original grid positions for the restart. Senna Proctor took the lead from Sutton, who spun and damaged his car. Stephen Jelley was 2nd, and Adam Morgan 5th. Team mate Tom Chilton 9th, a whisker ahead of Colin Turkington. Drama

Adam Morgan ahead of Rory Butcher to take the first of two podiums!

Adam Morgan would do this twice today!

again on lap 10 as Carl Boardley spun out at superfast Druids. His Infiniti collecting race 2 winner Rory Butcher’s Toyota, bringing out yet another red flag. A result was declared and Senna Proctor got his win, to go with his pole position. Stephen Jelly was a brilliant second, BMW’s visiting the podium in every race. Adam Morgan finished 5th and jumped from 12th to 5th in the championship, and top BMW driver. A very good weekend for BMW; Adam Morgan getting his championship back on track, as the teams now headed North to Knockhill, in the Kingdom of Fife.

Tom Oliphant gets hit by Chris Smiley.

BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021 15

dannorris The great mod debate. Let’s all go on Twitter and have a big row.

ocial media is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? Where else can you go to hear the strongly worded opinion of thousands of angry people, revved up and looking for someone to pick a fight with? Where else can we hear hundreds of different perspectives, funnelled through a narrow pipe into a melting pot of unsolvable arguments, all carried out in the glare of public scrutiny. Through this minefield, Munich Legends must gingerly navigate, fearful of triggering an endless discourse that may possibly result in losing the faith of a swathe of customers. Or, of course, we might win big, trouncing the nay-sayers with our wisdom and eloquence. Or, we could stay silent, become irrelevant and invisible, standing back with our arms folded, shaking our commercial heads. Classic Hobson’s choice. But, fortunately, I have this place to hide. I can voice my views, you can read them, and decide if you think I’m an idiot. Quietly, and in the privacy of your own home. If you’re really angry, you can write a letter to the editor, and if it’s polite, the mag may even publish it. In my head, I’ll thank you for your opinion, or something like that, and we’ll move on. So, I’m going to talk about ‘mods’. I’m doing it here because it’s safe, civilised, and, if you don’t agree, I won’t be hounded until I’m forced to quit my job. But seriously, as showroom manager, and charged with running our social media account, I’ve watched with interest the growing enthusiasm for mods, resto mods and the whole fashion for customising your BMW. I’ve got a personal opinion and a professional one, and they aren’t necessarily the same. Put simply, from a showroom perspective, most mods ruin a car. It narrows your audience when you come to sell it and our job is to find the widest audience we can. BMW has spent millions developing your car, so I think it’s unlikely you’ll improve it with a couple of grand. And, mostly, one ‘improvement’ nearly always means a compromise somewhere else. Nine times out of ten, the money you’ll spend not only disappears, but it may even lower the overall value of the car when it comes to selling it. Most importantly, remember, mods are a subjective thing. One man’s dream mod is another man’s ruined gem. I’ve had this discussion with many a customer. Do they listen to me? Of course not. Why should they? It’s their car and their money. Of course, there are exceptions

16 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Picture courtesy of Autocar Electric DS gets the Norris thumbs up

to the rule. AP brakes on an E46 M3 spring to mind (missed opportunity for a suspension-based gag there). My own 3.0 CSL has 16-inch wheels instead of the standard 14s and it rides all the better for it, but that’s the perfect example. Half of the ML team think it looks overwheeled. I think it looks the nuts. It’s with so-called resto-mods that the real controversy starts, and it’s often a generational or cultural thing. Social media is a great place to find like-minded people, a chance to share the joy of your project, find inspiration, and show off to the world what a beautiful machine you’ve created. But if your dream E9 CS has the sort of look where polished 19-inch rims disappear half way into the arches, the gleaming violet paintwork is offset against deep tinted windows, the interior is from an E46 M3 and features a boot full of specialist audio, and up-front is an engine from an E36 M3, then be prepared for the backlash. My personal opinion is that it’s your car, do as you please and nuts to the world. As a showroom manager, you’re going to make my life difficult. As a private individual, it may not be to my taste, but I’m going to respect the care and effort you’ve put in, and I’ll die on a hill to protect your right to mod. Yes, even if you take a concours E9 and ‘ruin’ it. With the know-alls from social media, you’re just as likely to get grief if you go the other way. You only have to check the Munich Legends Instagram account to find a perfect, super low mileage, factory standard E30 M3 Sport Evo coming in for a hail of abuse. Their beef? Owning a car like that, and not using it enough. These things are meant to be driven, and it’s a crying shame, even a crime, for it to stay locked away and not taken out to perform for the hungry public. I’m serious. Some people get into a proper lather over this stuff. The team at ML even gets dragged into the debate. Shouldn’t I have something to say about this? As a matter of fact, I do. Thank you to the owner for

giving me the car to sell on his behalf. I’m grateful for the business. The next owner can do as they please. The most recent, and I suspect growing controversy, is electric mods. Basically, taking a classic car and converting it to electric. Social media is awash with the debate. Some accounts, with religious fervour, believe what you’re doing is the automotive equivalent to flagburning or insulting God. You’re ruining the spirit of the car, selling out to the electric devil, and generally committing blasphemy. Others see it as a clever way to preserve the longevity of the car, as the world begins to frown on smoky, old fashioned machines that fewer and fewer people know how to maintain… if you can buy the bits. You won’t be surprised to hear I have an opinion on this too. I love the innovation. I love the idea that some under-powered, unreliable, carburettor 2.0 Citroen DS – that probably never starts when you want to use it and breaks down every other journey – can be given a new lease of life. That it can be made usable and enjoyable for the next generation. Not only will it be reliable, but the drivers following you will not be suffocated with oily black smoke as you drive along. The electric motor suits the gliding, smooth nature of Flaminio Bertoni’s classic design, and you can probably burn off an E46 M3 from a standing start at the lights. It will work whenever you want to drive, and it will be repairable if it ever goes wrong, which it probably won’t. So, as my wife pointed out (possibly playing devil’s advocate), what about an electric M1? Why not take out that cumbersome, noisy, gas-guzzling, awkwardly-expensive, planet-ruining M88, with its irreplaceable sodium-filled valves, and replace it with a silent, smooth and equally quick electric motor? Not on your nelly. That’s blasphemy. I’ve been triggered. I’ll see you on Twitter.

Electric M1? Don’t even go there www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

products Clarke CMC60 2-in-1 Folding Car Creeper and Seat

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NEW - Clarke 18V ½” Cordless Impact Wrench The Clarke CCIW160 Cordless Impact Wrench is an essential lightweight, compact, yet powerful tool suitable for contractors, engineers and mechanics. Protected with a rubber design and a soft grip ergonomic handle, this impact wrench will ensure maximum control. The impact wrench is controlled with a variable speed control trigger with electronic brake up to 2,200rpm, the fan cooled motor offers forward and reverse rotation. For improved visibility this tool benefits from a bright LED work light and can conveniently be transported and stored using the belt clip and hanging loop. This model also includes two 2Ah 18V batteries, including charge level indicator, a fast battery charger and a convenient moulded carry case. The CCIW160 is available for only £107.98 Inc. VAT.

Machine Mart’s New Autumn/Winter Catalogue is out now The new Machine Mart catalogue is packed full of all the tools and equipment you need whether it is for a hobbyist, DIY enthusiast or professional. Featuring over 400 price cuts and new products, the new 500-page Autumn/Winter catalogue is a must have for anyone seeking a huge choice of tools and equipment at unbeatable value. With over 21,000 items of tools and machinery in stores across the country and online, you’ll be sure to find the tools you need. To order your catalogue simply go online to www.machinemart.co.uk, visit your local store or call 0844 880 1265. Machine Mart is Britain’s biggest specialist supplier of tools and machinery. Established in 1981, it has a growing network of 65 Superstores nationwide with 1000s of tools and machinery on display. Products can be purchased with confidence and ease in-store, online at www.machinemart.co.uk or via mail order on 0115 956 5555. Its experienced store and telesales teams are there to provide helpful, friendly advice to Machine Mart’s customers, ensuring that they purchase the right tool for the job, every time. In addition to over 6,000 catalogue lines, the XTRA section of the Machine Mart website now includes a further 15,000 specialist hard to find tools for just about every application.

18 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

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M-Style M2 Competition Look Kit for F22 and F23 BMW 2 Series M-Style now has a complete M2 Competition Look Kit for F22 and F23 BMW 2 Series. The kit includes a front bumper, rear bumper, side skirts and all grilles and trim as pictured. Parking Distance Control (PDC) is available, but needs to be specified at the time of ordering. Complete kit price inc. VAT: £994.99 Painting and fitting services are available at M-Style’s BMW specialist workshop. Painting and fitting: add. £650.00 inc. VAT Painting of kit: add. £450.00 inc. VAT The kit is suitable for both the LCI and Pre-LCI models. For further details e-mail info@mstyle.co.uk or call 0208 598 9115

M-Style Performance Bodykit for BMW G30 and G31 5 Series M-Style is pleased to announce its new Performance Bodykit for the G30 and G31 BMW 5 Series. The kit consists of a front performance front splitter, side skirt extensions and a rear diffuser. The kit is available in a choice of matte black at £395.00 or gloss black at £495.00 inc. VAT. M-Style can also provide fitting at its Romford workshops at £180.00 inc. VAT and can quote for painting to match the car if required. For further details e-mail info@mstyle.co.uk or call 0208 598 9115

Quik Scratch Eraser Kit This exciting new kit includes Meguiar’s proprietary 4-inch Scratch Eraser Pad, Meguiar’s® ScratchX® 2.0 Fine Scratch & Blemish Remover and a premium 16-inch square microfiber towel. Using the power of your drill, the Scratch Eraser Pad maximizes the ScratchX® 2.0 formula to quickly erase scratches with minimum effort. This combination allows you to safely remove paint defects and blemishes like light scratches, scuff marks, paint transfer, fingernail marks around door handles and more. ScratchX 2.0 contains microscopic abrasives to remove light defects and enhance depth of shine without harming the paint on your car. After working the ScratchX 2.0 in, the included microfiber towel safely and gently removes the remaining residue to reveal a brilliant shine. Stop working by hand to remove fine scratches and blemishes in your paint. Let your drill do the work and erase them with the Meguiar’s Quik Scratch Eraser Kit. The Benefits • Blemish Removal • Scuff Removal • Easy to use drill attachment RRP. £25.00.* BMW Car Club members get 10% off by ordering through officeadmin@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk. *Delivery charges apply www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021 19

Feature

The Classic – Silverstone July 30th - August 1st Words: Jamal Blanc / Images: Chaydon Ford

20 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

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Feature

In what has been an extremely challenging year, with no guarantee for indoor consumer activities in early 2021, we are thankful to attend two national outdoor events; one at London’s Syon Park and now one at Towcester. The Classic-Silverstone (formerly known as ‘The Silverstone Classic’), is firmly established as the must-attend event for classic car owners, collectors, experts and enthusiasts everywhere, celebrating its 30th anniversary post-Covid, I can’t recommend it highly enough as a festival.

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BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Feature

he Classic-Silverstone 2021 did not disappoint, it’s the best mix of everything we enjoy; a three-day summer festival of motorsport, classics and family fun at the iconic Silverstone circuit, the scene of that epic Formula 1 battle two weeks earlier between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Featuring historic racing action from Formula One cars, sportscars, GTs and touring cars, with over 20 races and demonstrations, plus full access to the paddocks to get up close and personal with the cars, and talk to the drivers and pit crew. Friday is the official day of qualifying, but with the sound of race engines reverberating across the vast circuit on setup day as they are prepped for action, it gives the BMW Car Club events team a sneak preview of what was in store. With over 160 cars arriving on the Saturday, we were fortunate to be located opposite the National Pits Straight on the hard standing area, conveniently next to the Pit-Stop café, and surrounded by other enthusiast displays of popular 80s and 90s classics.

Heritage

Taking centre stage at the heart of our stand was the fascinating 328, proudly showcasing BMW’s heritage. The preproduction Type 328 started its life in 1936 as a race car, and was the most successful car for a decade, a milestone

22 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

for the brand built with reliability, agility and lightweight construction in mind. At 780 kilograms, powered by a 1.9-litre straight-six engine producing a modest 80 horsepower, it famously won the Nürburgring on its debut, going on to win over 200 races across Europe. From 1937, 464 private buyers received the

road-going version of the 328 before production ended in 1940. Cars sold in the UK were badged as Frazer NashBMW. Visitors were delighted to get close to this 85 year old piece of automotive history, a car that embodies the values that underpin the BMW brand today. Complementing the 328 was another head-turning roadster, the Z8. Paying homage to the BMW 507, the Z8 featured a classic roadster design created by Danish designer Henrik Fisker, who also created the Aston Martin DB9 and Vantage. Powered by a 395hp 4.9-litre V8 engine paired with a six-speed manual gearbox, each car had a matching hard top designed to integrate into the Z8’s shape. Produced until 2003, only 5,703 examples were built. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Feature “Great variety of cars and entertainment, never a dull moment.” GRAHAM ALEXANDER

Touring International Injection.

It’s another milestone for the 2002, with the 50th birthday of the Touring International Injection or ‘Tii’. Revealed in 1971, the 2002 Tii was instrumental in transforming BMW’s fortunes, using the same elegant body-shell of its two-door siblings, it boasted reinforced rear trailing arms, uprated front brakes with different front suspension legs to the regular 02s, bigger cylinder head exhaust valves and the mechanical injection pump with injectors capable of delivering a healthy 130bhp. A larger twin air filter cylinder box was fitted and an uprated alternator, relocated lower in the engine bay. 44,479 Tii models were produced, the last of which was built in 2006 by Mobile Traditions from new parts. The 02 owners were treated to a parade lap around the circuit on Saturday’s show.

Zukunft - ‘Future’

In June 1995 the BMW Z1 was superseded by the Z3, adding to an already impressive line-up of roadsters from the Bavarian marque. Staying true to its predecessors, the Z3 sported a long bonnet and rearwards driving position; it also inherited side grills like its 507 big brother. The Z3 was assembled in Carolina, USA, in two forms, as a Roadster and a Coupé, the former going on to sell over 297,000 units and 18,000 www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

for the latter. Partnering with Zroadster.org, owners were treated to a belated 25-year anniversary lap of the Silverstone circuit.

Planning

Planning for this Gold standard event every year takes into account changes to annual

hire costs, stock condition, merchandise updates, clash management, site visits, marketing and promotion, and display cars. At the heart of our plans, one aspect tops all others, our members and visitors; they bring the cars and we provide the BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Feature hospitality. With a beautifully decorated marquee festooned with lights, ceiling banners, LED signage and parasol outdoor seating, we achieved our objective to recreate a garden-styled setting, allowing visitors and members to admire these beautiful machines, talk to the people behind them and exchange stories, surrounded by a fantastic chevron display of Z Roadsters, M Powered cars, 3, 5 and 8 Series classics, coupés and convertibles. Our job is made all the easier working with Barbara Easter from Cotswold Marquees, who have been supplying equipment for this event since 2016. Designing a layout can be tricky as clubs are not informed where they will be positioned until a few weeks prior, building on hard standing is very different to grass, marquee size and surface determines weight requirements to ensure the structure is windproof and meets compliance.

Barbara Easter, Cotswold Marquees

“It is always a pleasure to work with regular customers and when the phone rings and it is Jamal, I know that there is a challenge ahead but it is tempered with good humour and laughter along the way. To get the right marquee and kit for the BMW Car Club event at Silverstone I need to understand the way that the marquee is to be used on the day and it takes plenty of discussion time, sketches of layouts and photos of equipment going to and fro, working together to come to a final plan. It is always useful to look back to see what worked for the last set-up, and what was difficult; did the marquee cope with number of people and did the configuration work with the weather, too? The easy option is to repeat what has gone before, but making a change adds interest both in the planning and for the

visitors. However, it is always important to retain the identity of the Club by bringing in colours which complement the BMW Car Club logo. This year’s setup was more of a challenge due to the changes to life of Covid has brought. The marquees needed to be open, giving a feeling of space yet still offer the opportunity to see the cars. There needs to be an area for clients to sit and enough room for refreshment prep. A marquee setup needs to provide an area for everyone to feel safe and, of course, provide essential shelter from the weather. Hopefully that was achieved. The logistics for an event are often tricky, but all is straightforward at Silverstone circuit with staff passes issued early and vehicle access is great. All that is then needed is a bit of kindness from the weather.”

YOUR FAVOURITE CAR AT THE SHOW?

“Ferrari F50” – SIMON MASKELL “TVR Tuscan” – FRANK MARSH “BMW Z8” – CHUCK HALLEN 24 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

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Feature

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BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Feature

DID YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW?

“Didn’t realise there was that many Triumph Stags still going!” – MATTHEW BRAMALL

“I learnt about the Bertini body kit for the Z3. This is something I had never seen or heard about before, but two of these cars appeared on the club stand.” – RICHARD RIXHAM

The i3 Taxi

Despite my best efforts for this festival, I was unable to acquire a Golf buggy to ferry our weary members to far flung corners of this vast estate. However, the Cotswold Region came to our rescue with an i3 for the weekend. In addition, our Regions Director arrived with two electric bikes courtesy of Kustom e-Bikes UK to get around the estate. My knowledge of e-bikes is limited, and judging by the reaction from visitors, I was not alone, but the Kustom Clubman and Cruzer with their café-racer styling didn’t need explaining, becoming an instant hit with visitors to the club stand.

Family fun

GOOSE are well versed in what makes a festival tick, and entertaining the next generation of car enthusiasts is a must, with lots of food and entertainment on offer for children on the Village Green, with free funfair rides, crazy golf,

26 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

simulators, a shopping village and kids favourites such as a carousel, dodgems and a big wheel.

Thank you

I couldn’t end this write-up without extending my thanks. Firstly to Martyn Harrison at BMW for the loan of my personal favourite, the magnificent Frazer Nash-BMW 328; it was the highlight of my weekend. To APLAN’s Ian Arthur for the loan of his fridge, the directors

for marshalling and the office team for working tirelessly in hospitality and exceeding expectations in clothing and merchandise sales. To the 47 people who joined over the weekend, welcome to the club, and the 27 ex-members who renewed. A touching tribute was made by The Classic to Robert Foote, who sadly lost his life volunteering as a Brands Hatch race Marshall, our condolences to his family.

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Insurance solutions for BMW Car Club members. At Footman James we understand that every classic vehicle owner is different and with FJ+ enthusiasts can build their policy from a range of cover options including breakdown, agreed value, salvage retention and spare parts. Whether you prefer to transact on the phone or online, FJ has you covered, including access to our online document portal, allowing you access to your policy documents digitally at all times. Call our friendly UK team on

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Life Feature – Tuned In

LIFE

Tuned In

Words: Will Beaumont Images: Oliver Brookwell/Litchfield

Max Power has a lot to answer for. Not just the dodgy puns in the headlines or dubious questions asked to women during late-night supermarket car park cruises. But the tons of filler and fibreglass that was plastered onto feature cars, yes there were cars in the magazine not just women, has tainted the world of modified vehicles almost beyond redemption. Aftermarket tuning is a dirty phrase to some. Dirtier and as untouchable as a copy of Max Power after it had been in the private possession of a young teenage boy.

28 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

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his world set in fast food restaurant car parks with dashboard-mounted PlayStations and underbody neons is now almost 20 years old. There has been a shift in attitudes, tuned cars are becoming socially (and morally) acceptable. Companies like Litchfield Motors are forging a new solid gold reputation for the aftermarket. To say that Litchfield simply tunes cars is to do it a serious disservice. It’s really an engineering firm. Cars go into Litchfield’s Gloucestershire-based facility

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and come out the other side transformed. Behind the roller shutter doors, you’ll find endless service bays, cavernous parts stores, surgically clean engine build rooms, rolling roads, engine dynos, car storage, a body shop; everything you might need to test, develop and build a car to genuinely improve it after it’s been honed by a manufacturer. What Litchfield doesn’t do in-house, it partners with external companies to develop bespoke parts. The best companies, too. A peek into its shelf-lined stores reveals a long list of recognisable

names – Eibach, Alcon, Akrapovič, Nitron and more – most of which are building parts to Litchfield’s specifications and exacting standards. But don’t they just tune Nissans at Litchfield? Oh no. GT-Rs tuned by the company have indeed been plentiful and powerful. Oh so powerful. But cop sight of the car park and you’d struggle to decide on Litchfield’s preferred brand, if it had one. Nissans rub bumpers with Toyotas. Not literally, of course, everything’s looked after far too well for that to happen. Alpines wait behind

BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Life Feature – Tuned In

New wheels and suspension not only give this tuned F82 M4 a subtly aggressive stance, but also transform how it drives

Audis. Aston Martins occupy the spaces between Porsches. Then there are the BMWs. Around three BMWs a day are given the Litchfield treatment, whether it’s boosting their engines with the company’s tuning maps, adding its bespoke Nitron-built suspension or simply servicing them. Litchfield looks after so many BMWs, from smaller M135is to the brawnier M4, like this Yas Marina Blue car you see here. This car is Iain Litchfield’s own M4 and it’s been the testbed for many of the company’s F80/82 improvements, along with the S55 engine modifications. So, over the years, it’s received a lot of attention. Let’s start with the motor. Iain is a huge fan of BMW’s S55, he considers it one of the most durable, versatile and reliable engines the company has ever tuned. Once the crank hub issue has been sorted, that is. The S55 doesn’t use a keyway to locate the timing chain sprocket to the crank. Instead, it simply uses a sintered washer and fiction to stop the gear from moving. So far, it has proven to be a poor solution and the cam timing can change resulting in a warning light at best. Or the pistons hitting the valves at worst. The problem has been known to affect standard engines, and it’s even more likely to present itself on powerful tuned motors. Litchfield has two solutions, the first is a crank bolt capture plate to lock the hub retaining bolt in

30 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

This car has plenty of gadgets to keep you occupied on a trackday, even when you’re not doing laps

place and stop it from loosening. The second, more comprehensive fix, is a new single-piece crank hub assembly (the original is in three pieces) plus the capture plate. This is necessary on engines where the crank timing has already slipped and Litchfield recommends it for cars with over 600bhp as a precaution. Although possible, Litchfield hasn’t taken this car to over 600bhp. Instead, this F82 M4 makes do with just 125bhp more than standard, 550bhp. I’m clearly not being serious, that’s almost 30% more power. Torque is also at up by a

similar proportion, it goes from 406lb ft to 530lb ft. Along with tuning the ECU, the extra engine performance comes from the addition of an Akrapovič exhaust. Of course, this makes more noise, too. The sound from the lightweight titanium Akrapovič system isn’t much louder than the bellow that comes from the regular pipes, but its busier rasp does make the entire car feel more intense. It seems angrier, even more so than the already furious standard M4. Some of this extra intimidation comes from this M4’s bigger, sharper teeth in the www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

A titanium Akrapovič exhaust with carbonfibre tips helps increase this car’s power output to 550bhp

form of all that power. Even before you’ve sampled the engine’s extra force, you know it’s there, you know it’s going to feel serious. Anyone familiar with the M4 will now be backing away slowly so as not to aggravate this more extreme version. It’s true that the F82 M4 has a propensity to be snappy, aggressive and is just a little bit unhinged. It’s crazy, that is its character. Teasing it into a car with more bite so that when it loses its temper it causes more destruction seems unwise. It’s like poking a lion that’s jacked up on Red Bull. Put your small stool and lion-taming whip down. Remember, Litchfield doesn’t just pile on the power with just a simple plug-in program. It provides an engineering solution to a problem. Even the sort of temper troubles the M4 has. Unhappy with the, err, let’s call them inconsistencies, of the M4, Litchfield developed a spring and adaptive Bilstein damper combo that reacts faster than the standard car’s units. The new shocks also maintain the car’s three suspension modes, Comfort, Sport and Sport+. The suspension is added in combination with a new all-mechanical plate-style LSD, which replaced the electronicallycontrolled M-Differential, forged HRE wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres. Litchfield has also updated the stability control and gearbox data with that from the top tier M4, the GTS. The uprated chassis is like the www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

The standard steering wheel controls now have a second use in the Litchfield M4, they allow you to choose different engine maps

Forged HRE wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres are on Litchfield’s latest development of its F82 M4

exhaust. Initially, anyway. Its presence is subtle. The car is no less comfortable, it’s certainly no brutal track car. Instead, there’s just the sense it’s wound a little tighter, like the suspension is going to be a bit more strict with the M4 and it won’t take any of the car’s messing around. As a result, you have the confidence to explore a little more of the throttle, you really want to experience the car’s extra power rather than cower in fear of it. Prod the accelerator and there’s noise in stereo; whistling and whooshing from the turbos upfront and a mechanical growl from the exhaust. It’s not a sweet, sultry noise. It’s industrial and purposeful, yet no less evocative and it shoots tingles up your spine. The sheer force of the acceleration can take some of the credit for those shivers of excitement, too. Okay, most of the credit. You sense the rear of the car dig in, the tyres cling to the tarmac and

shoot the car forward. Speed seems to multiply when the throttle is pinned. You can’t keep your foot there for long, the roads and laws simply don’t allow it. Remarkably, there’s none of the F82’s super smooth wheelspin, despite the extra power. The new diff, fast-twitch suspension and that rubber completely eradicate any wheel slip. Even the thud from the harsh DCT gear changes doesn’t induce a flare of revs as the rear tyres are shocked from their hold of the asphalt. None of that new performance is wasted. This grip, this composure, it gives you an all-new outlook on steering the M4 through some bends. The F82 has never wanted for more front-end grip, not on the road anyway. It allowed you to maintain a fantastic pace through a corner, you just had to be tentative with the throttle on the exit. The Litchfield version allows you to be more robust BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Life Feature – Tuned In

All that extra power needs a race track for you to really make the most of it. That doesn’t stop the car from being fun on the road, though

with your actions. You can maintain your momentum and be deliberate with the accelerator if you really want to pile on extra speed, not that you ever need to be going that fast on the road. Still, it’s nice to know such performance is there at your disposal, it’s usable too. You can still make it throw shapes like a proper bolshy M Car, but now purely on your own terms. That’s what this über powerful M4 is like on a glorious sunny day. However, as magical as this M4’s suspension and tyre combo is, 530lb ft and rear-wheel drive is a tricky twosome in the wet. You might have guessed this by now, but Litchfield has a solution for that too. It gives you the choice of just how much torque you want the engine to deliver. You can pre-program two different performance maps so you can quickly switch between each of them, much like the M1 and M2 settings that you select from the steering wheel. How you access these two different engine maps is almost as easy as the different M-modes, too. There are no nasty add-on panels, no awkward phone app to contend with, all you do is press and hold the cruise control resume button on the left-hand spoke of the steering wheel. You then take over control of the rev counter, and the needle points to either the 1 or 2 of the dial, depending on which map the engine is set to. To switch to the next setting, you use the cruise control speed toggle and flick between the two settings. After a moment, once you’ve chosen your preferred map, the rev counter returns to its main job of displaying revs. It’s clever, it’s neat and your control over the engine’s output doesn’t stop there. Press the cruise resume button again, after you have control of the rev counter, and the built-in BMW power and

32 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Litchfield’s facilities have everything the company needs to build well-developed tuned cars, including its own rolling road

torque dial appear on the infotainment screen. Now you can control exactly how much torque you want to have access to, again by using the toggle switch on the left-hand steering-wheel spoke. This all sounds like a gimmick, albeit one that requires no extra buttons, dials screens and knobs. But let’s be honest, we love gadgets, don’t we? We love messing about and perfecting our car’s settings. That’s what all those regular steering, engine, gearbox and suspension modes are for, this is just an extra layer of things to tinker with. Great. Imagine you’re at a trackday, what are you going to do with all that time you’re not out on the circuit if it isn’t to tweak the car to suit your preferences? Imagine if it’s raining and, not only is the M4 a bit frightening with all of its torque blasting through the back axle, you can adjust away from the driver’s seat and not even get wet.

Amazingly, given the numbers associated with it, this M4 is less scary than the standard car. But that means some of the M4’s innate character has been eroded. What it loses in shock value and heart-stoppingly terrifying moments, some of which are really quite endearing I will admit, it gains in quality. What that means is, the Litchfield M4 is closer to a new G82 M4 in terms of attitude. Quality and composure are the overriding factors of its persona. Both the M Division and Litchfield have taken the M4 package in the same direction, it’s just that the latter has stuck with the old platform. For now, anyway. Okay, so the new generation M coupé has a wider breadth of abilities, it’s more refined while still being as sharp as this tuned M4. But Litchfield’s F82 is more powerful, it’s certainly not embarrassed by the new contender and, this will be important to many, its grilles are tiny by comparison. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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BMW E39 M5 Touring Build – Part 2

Putting the M into an E39 Touring… Words Barry Sheward/Jeff Heywood - Photos Barry Sheward

In the first instalment we covered how BMR supremo Barry Sheward purchased an E39 540iSE Touring which was, over a period of months, to be transformed into an M5 Touring. The first part covered the total stripdown of the Touring, including the drivetrain removal, plus how the engine and gearbox was extracted from the donor M5 Saloon. The first part ended with the M5 donor heading for the great crusher in the sky, while the Touring’s body shell was off to the bodyshop. Part two follows the Touring as it undergoes surgery to transform it from a load-lugger into a genuine BMW M car, just as it would have left the factory floor at Dingolfing. There’s always a hiccup, though, and a replacement boot floor has prolonged the Touring’s stay at the bodyshop… On arrival at the bodyshop, before any cutting and welding had taken place, the Touring’s underside was given a thorough power washing using various chemical washing agents to remove years of built up mud and road grime. The process revealled a reasonably clean underside. All four wheel arches received the same

34 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

attention to make sure there wasn’t any rust lurking anywhere. Only the jacking points and a few small patches had suffered from corrosion, which is unusual on a UK E39 that has seen the worst the British weather could throw at it and many liberal dosings of road salt. Most E39s suffer from corrosion along some of the

panel seam joints, which are surprisingly only spot welded. The areas for treatment have been marked off on the photo, the main areas for concern being the rear jacking points. The next job for the bodyshop was to prepare the boot floor. Barry had liberated one from the M5 Saloon donor car to www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Feature

This photo shows the boot floor from the M5 Saloon with lots of metalwork trimmed away so that it will slot into place in the Touring’s boot. The top right of the photo (marked with an arrow) shows the Touring’s old wheel well and boot floor panel already cut-out

The bodyshop gave the Touring’s underside a thorough cleaning with a jet washer before work commenced. The underside was relatively rust-free. Only the jacking points and a few panel seams that were spot-welded needed work, the problem areas are marked with red arrows

This photo shows the amount of corrosion found on the M5 donor car’s boot floor. Look at how surface rust has travelled under BMW’s own rust proof coating and around the large hole punched out on the panel. The second pointer highlights how corrosion starts to manifest in these seams, showing just how difficult it is to keep the dreaded tin worm at bay on a car constructed mainly from steel

fit into the non-M Touring shell. To get it ready to weld in, lots of metal needed to be trimmed to get the panel to the correct size. This is where the bodyshop technicians ran into problems, as the boot floor from the M5 was quite badly corroded. The easiest and most walletfriendly solution was to purchase a new OEM E39 M5 boot floor from BMW, but a quick call to the local BMW dealer elicited a response that Barry didn’t want to hear – the panel was no longer available… There was only one thing to do, the bodyshop fabricators had to split apart all the relevant panels that make up the section of flooring, which is ten in total, then start to clean up and cut out all the corrosion. This added quite a significant chunk of time to the process (approximately 30 extra hours), nearly an extra week in unforseen labour charges. A new boot floor panel would have saved a lot of time and money, but when you can’t buy new you have to work with what you have. Once the panels were thoroughly cleansed of all corrosion, they were rewelded back together before receiving a coat of weld-through etch primer to protect the bare metal surfaces. The workmanship in pulling this panel apart,

it at the factory, exactly what Barry set out to do. The next job was to tack a strengthening box into place and then, once the bodyshop fabricator was happy with how the whole panel fitted, it was time to permanently weld the boot floor into place. Moving topside and into the Touring’s load area, you could see what an amazing job the fabricator has made of the boot floor. All that was left was to prepare the area for paint and give the boot area a coat of Oxford Green. BMW never lacquered areas like the boot, so it received just three coats of flat Oxford Green paint. Even

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The left-hand photo shows the boot floor strengthening box section cleaned up of all corrosion. The four areas highlighted either side of the box section are where the support for the M5’s twin rear exhaust silencers bolt through the floor. The right hand photo shows the battery replacement panel, again all cleaned up and ready to fit. The battery has to be relocated to the boot to accommodate one of the exhaust silencers under the floor, hence why this panel is flat

removing the rust and then piecing it all back together, welding and priming is second to none. The panel is now a piece of art, it’s just a pity it’s going to be installed under the car and will probably never be seen. There was no turning back at this point, as the Touring’s boot floor and wheel well was removed. The newly refurbished replacement panel from the M5 was offered up to see if it fitted, the bodyshop guys had done an amazing job as it slotted into place perfectly. The panel was tacked into place and looked superb, just as if BMW had done

BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

BMW E39 M5 Touring Build – Part 2

The finished boot floor with rust removed, all ten pieces welded back together, etch primed and ready to fit

The wheel well metal work has been removed and the newly refurbished M5 replacement panel has been offered up for fitting. It passed with flying colours so the job of welding it in place starts…

The new floor panel is welded in place and looks superb, giving a factory-like finish to the floor

Job done. This is how the new boot floor looks from the inside, leaving a lovely flat floor area which can be used for additional storage once the boot floor carpet is fitted over the top

Strengthening box section is tacked into position before being permanently welded to leave a perfect finish

The finished article. It turned into a mammoth task, but the boot floor is now finished. I bet no E39 owners are thinking, ‘what about the big hole?’ For the rest of you, believe it or not, this is filled in by an OEM plastic panel held in place by ten fasteners

without the shine of a top clear coat, the results are impressive and the boot floor looks just how Barry imagined BMW would have fabricated this area on Richter’s M5 Touring, the only E39 M5 Touring the factory built. On the photo above to the left, you can see the repositioned battery box. In a second photo you can see this battery area with the vent, which helps to dissipate any noxious fumes that may leak from the battery. The next area to tackle was the corroded jacking points. Did Barry mention they are a weak point on the E39? Okay, he may have mentioned it once or twice. It’s important to stress,

36 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

This is the new battery compartment on the far right hand side of the boot. The vent is there to let any noxious gases escape

though, as this really is the E39’s Achilles heel, especially on the rear points. The first photo in the run of jacking point photos shows the driver’s side rear, which was quite badly corroded. The bodyshop fabricator cut away all the rust until he found sound, rust-free steel and then started to rebuild the jacking point. You can see clearly in the second photo the strengthening applied to this area by BMW so that the car can be lifted from this point without damaging the floor area or twisting the floorpan in any way. Once all the rust was cut away, the area was built up until a factory finish was achieved. The same process was applied to the

passenger side rear jacking point, which had a similar amount of corrosion to the driver’s side. This may look quite drastic to some, but believe me when I say that the jacking points on this E39 Touring were actually quite good, BMR have seen far worse. Now that the rears were repaired, attention turned to the front jacking areas. One of the points had some superficial corrosion, which was easily dealt with. Although nothing too serious, the front driver’s side jacking point was being slowly eaten away by rust, so the bodyshop cut out all the offending corrosion before building it back up with new metal. This photo again allows us to see the www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Feature

The driver’s side jacking point is nearly complete as the panels are stitched back together, with just the etch primer to apply before painting can begin

Ouch, that corrosion around the driver’s side jacking point looks nasty, but Barry assures us that it isn’t too bad and is relatively easy to repair

Once the corrosion was cut away, it allowed the fabricator to build up the area around the jacking point, paying particular attention to the strengthening BMW engineered into the area to help support the car when it is being jacked up

The passenger side rear jacking point had a similar amount of corrosion as the driver’s side. It looks nasty but can be repaired quite easily, if you catch it quick enough… The passenger side rear jacking point is now free of rust and the job of stitching the steel into place to mirror what was there before begins. Minus the rust, of course

The front jacking points weren’t as bad as the rears, which is often the case. Even so, they still needed metal cutting away before any repairs could begin. Never let a bodyshop talk you into patching these up or applying a rust inhibitor before giving a fresh coat of undercoat, as the tin worm will continue to munch away under whatever coating is applied. The only cure is open metal surgery

On the home run now with the body repairs. You can see in this photo of the underside that all the areas have been repaired, repainted and refinished. Read the main body of text for the explanation of the finish. Marked off with red pointers are the two towers for the air-spring units. Most of the E39 Touring models have self-levelling rear suspension, and more importantly for Barry, both the E34 M5 and E61 M5 Tourings all had selflevelling rear suspension. So, wanting the car to be just as it might have left the factory, new air springs will be installed into the car. Also highlighted is the ‘plastic’ panel which fills the ‘hole’ in the boot floor

A close up image of the new boot floor seen from the underside in its finished state, but minus the panel filler for the hole

strengthening pad applied by BMW during manufacturing. Once all the repairs were complete, the bodyshop set about re-finishing the underside to Barry’s instructions, and there was to be no deviating from his desire to see this car look like a factory finished vehicle. On a lot of restored cars, or on a vehicle that has been freshened up, a bodyshop will often paint the underside black or in body colour, whatever the customer requests. In Barry’s eyes, this is over-finishing, because it isn’t how cars left BMW’s factories. BMW uses a product that has a beige colour, hence the finish on the underneath of Barry’s Touring.

His instructions didn’t just include what colours to paint the car, they explained how to paint it too. At the factory, cars are painted in a booth by robots. When the robots are nearing the completion of their painting cycle, as the nozzle reaches the bottom of a panel, the fan of paint starts to spray the underneath of each and every car. Which is why, when you look at an unmolested BMW that has had no work underneath, be it 6 or 16 years old, you will see the outer edges of the underside in body colour, which is essentially overspray, and the rest in beige. This is just how Barry wanted his Touring finished, exactly as the factory robots would have painted it. So,

the underside received a 3M sprayable sealer with an e-coat sealer on top. Then the beige sealer went on for that factory look, before the edges got a dusting of Oxford Green paint. Now, for those who always wondered what happened to the exposed inner metal of a car’s box sections, or in the inaccessible areas that have been repaired and boxed in, and how you stop them from rusting, pay attention. All cavities, seams, inaccessible areas and all box sections are flooded with Tectyl ML Cavity Wax Amber, a product that displaces water and provides corrosion protection to the metal panels. The was is visible in

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BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

BMW E39 M5 Touring Build – Part 2

This pic shows a close up of the battery tray as viewed from underneath. You can just about make out the vent to the left of the panel, partially hidden in this shot

This image of the driver’s side rear jacking point shows what a first class job the bodyshop has carried out in repairing and refinishing the area to factory standard. The red pointers show where the Tectyl ML Cavity Wax is leaching out of a seam, showing the protection it gives in areas like this…

The rear jacking point on the passenger side. Again, the work carried out is up to BMW factory standards

This pic shows the front jacking point after its repair and refinishing. The bodyshop has finished the Oxford Green metallic paint at the sill sightline where the 3M sealer protection starts, protecting the sills and underside panels from stone chips and other road debris

Barry is especially pleased with how the wheel arches have turned out. We all know how cruddy they get with all the muck being thrown up by the wheels, and there are plenty of nooks and crannies where damp mud, salt and other debris can sit and start to slowly eat away at the metal. Both rear wheel arches are in perfect condition and, again, they are finished to factory standards using 3M sealer. Highlighted in both photos is the receptacle for the self-levelling air-spring units. In one of the photos, four brackets have been maked; this is where the compressor units fit for the self-levelling suspension attach.

the last few photos where it has seeped out of seams and joints. You can see just how effective the wax is as it finds its way through seams, cavities and leaches out onto panels, leaving a light brown stain. The jacking point repairs look really professional now that they are finished, treated, painted and protected. In one of the photos, you can see where the Tectyl cavity wax has weeped out of a seam, it’s a light brown colour; the area is marked on the photo. The front jacking point repair also looks superb and factory, with plenty of 3M protector, plus the whole

38 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Will Barry make the Caffeine & Machine deadline, and will his build surpass this Alpine white M5 Touring converted in the US by a marque specialist?

area was flooded with Tectyl cavity wax for maximum corrosion protection. Barry was extremely happy with the work on the rear wheel arches, too. There was no unexpected surprises when the bodyshop gave them a really good clean, removing years of mud and other road debris that had accumulated in the little hard to reach areas. Thankfully, any corrosion was just minor so, once the bodyshop had removed the corrosion, the panels were treated to the same process as the jacking points: plenty of 3M sealer and cavity wax.

When the bodyshell was finally delivered back to BMR’s workshop, Barry was over the moon with the standards of workmanship. The bodyshop had followed his instructions to the word and he now has a solid, rust-free BMW E39 M5 Touring shell ready for reassembly. Part three follows Barry as he begins to piece together the E39 M5 Touring with one or two minor irritations along the way. Plus he has a deadline to meet, he has promised to finish the car in time to attend a Caffeine & Machine E39 M5 gathering. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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Body Motorworks have over 23 years experience, 14 years of which were spent in a BMW Approved Bodyshop.

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

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

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Feature

Nikasil: Friend or Foe? Words – Jeff Heywood / Images – BMW Press

BMW E34 540i

To motorists of a certain age, the word Nikasil is as scary as a Siberian labour camp. Back in the ‘90s, engines with Nikasil-coated cylinders suffered excessive bore wear. A batch of petrol was the culprit and it destroyed engines, many of which were built by BMW. The controversy tarnished BMW’s reputation, but quite a few automobile brands suffered cylinder bore wear problems, too. But who or what was to blame exactly? Nikasil History - Nikasil was a coating introduced by Mahle in 1967. It was initially developed to allow the apex tip seals in Wankel engines (most notably in the NSU Ro80) to work directly against the aluminium rotor housing. Before Mahle’s innovation was implemented, the tips in the rotary engine were renowned for wearing and letting oil pass by the seals. NSU struggled with this issue and it led to VW taking over the brand in 1969, as the compensation claims were crippling the small company. Mahle’s Nikasil coating allowed aluminium cylinders and pistons to work directly against each other with low wear and little friction. Unlike other methods, including cast iron cylinder liners set into aluminium blocks, Nikasil allowed very large cylinder bores with tight tolerances and thus allowed existing engine designs to be expanded easily. The aluminium cylinders also gave a much better heat conductivity than cast iron liners, an important attribute for a high-output engine. This is why the coating was further developed as a replacement

40 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Well known German automotive parts supplier Mahle introduced Nikasil back in 1976, principally to help stop the wear on seal tips in rotary engines, which was a blight on NSU and their excellent, modern looking Ro80, Car of the Year in 1968 but hamstrung by a wonderfully smooth but oil burning Wankel rotary engine…

for hard-chrome plated cylinder bores for Mercury Marine Racing, Kohler Engines, and as a repair replacement for factorychromed snowmobiles, dirt bikes, ATVs, watercraft and automotive V8 bores, and it is still used to this day in top line racing applications; F1 and IndyCar engines use Nikasil extensively. Suzuki also uses a nickel phosphorussilicon-carbide proprietary coating

trademarked SCEM (Suzuki Composite Electro-chemical Material) – a techoogly not dissimilar to Nikasil – to maximize cylinder size and improve heat dissipation in the Hayabusa range of engines, which are also used in automobile and racing installations. Nikasil is short for Nickel Silicon carbide. Silicon carbide is a very hard ceramic (much harder than steel) that can be dissolved in nickel. The nickel solution can then be electroplated onto the aluminium cylinder bore. The piston

Porsche’s Motorsport engine builders used Nikasil widely in the venerable 917’s amazingly powerful flat-12 engine www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Feature

rings then rub off the exposed nickel, leaving a very hard layer of silicon carbide to prevent the cast iron or steel piston rings from directly contacting the aluminium cylinder. With this setup, the engine tolerances can be much tighter for better performance. The cylinder must be re-plated after it is re-bored, but Nikasil is extremely durable, so the cylinder does not need to be reworked as often as an iron or chrome cylinder. Porsche started using Nikasil on their 1970 917 race car, and later in the venerable 1973 911 RS. Porsche also used it on production cars, but for a short time switched to Alusil due to cost savings for their base 911s. Nikasil cylinders were always used for the 911 Turbo and RS models. Nikasil-coated aluminium cylinders allowed Porsche to build air-cooled and turbocharged racing engines that had the highest specific output of any engine of their time. Nikasil became very popular in the 1990s. BMW used it in its straight-six and V8 engines, and it was also used by companies such as Ducati, Jaguar (mostly in its V8 engines) and Moto Guzzi in its then new family of engines.

So who was to blame for the Nikasil debacle? We’ll stick with BMW for this bit. Nikasil is a manufacturing process that was used by BMW (and others) back in the ‘90s to turn the relatively soft aluminium cylinder bores into a hard wearing surface. This process involved impregnating the bores with a Nickel-Silicone (Nikasil) compound which chemically bonds with the aluminium bore surface. The resultant bore has exceptional wear-resistance, much superior to the standard iron liners used in most BMW engines in the ‘90s. Unlike other bore lining methods, like cast iron cylinder linings, Nikasil also allows car manufacturers to machine larger cylinder bores with tight tolerances, thus allowing existing engine designs to be expanded easily, which is desirable on a cost basis and something we have seen extensively in BMW engines. Unfortunately, the high sulphur content of some fuels (not necessarily the cheapest – read-on) broke-down the chemical bond resulting in a bore that was essentially machined aluminium. Where this problem occurred, the piston rings would rapidly wear away the cylinder bore

to a point where compression was lost. An increase in oil consumption was the first sign that something was wrong, with a hint of blue-smoke from the exhaust a tell-tale sign, especially as the wear got worse. Over time the engine would then gradually lose power and the smooth running of the engine started to noticeably deteriorate. Once compression was lost, the engine would fail to tick-over smoothly and power-output would significantly reduce. Most noticeably, the car would become very difficult to start as the lack of compression at cranking speeds wouldn’t produce combustion. The cure (as was so often quoted) was to replace the short block, there is no chance of reconditioning the bores. The usual advice was to look out for V8s that rocked at tick-over or that smoked when started. So was BMW to blame? Well yes and no. The actual wear problem was caused by poor quality fuel with a high sulphur content that was introduced to both the UK and US markets. Europe mostly escaped the Nikasil issue, although there were a small number of Europeanbased BMWs whose engines fell foul of the Nikasil bore wear issue, most likely

BMWs delightful E34 540i was powered by the M60 V8 engine and it was the M60 equipped cars that suffered the most from the Nikasil issue, along with the E32 M60 V8 models

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BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Feature

One of the biggest casualties of the Nikasil debacle was the M60 V8 engine found in models like the E32 740i seen in this photo

stemming from those visiting the UK on a regular basis unknowingly filling their fuel tanks with high sulphur petrol. So how did this poor quality petrol enter the UK’s fuel supply? It seems that someone, somewhere (the offending culprit or company has never come to light) had agreed to take a large delivery of oil from South America, which generally has a much higher sulphur content than oil from the Middle East. This oil was then fed into the UK supply system and was received at UK refineries and refined into petrol. The high sulphur content isn’t normally an issue as the sulphur is nearly all removed at the refinery. Unfortunately, the process of removing the sulphur is an expensive one, hence why petrol companies would sooner receive oil from countries that have less sulphurous content. Now, this is where things get a bit cloak and dagger because no one has officially held up their hands up and admitted that they were responsible for not refining most of the sulphur out of this batch of South American fuel. Instead, the oil was run through the normal refining process reserved for oil from the Middle East, and so petrol with a high sulphur content was introduced into the UK petrol system.

42 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

As mentioned earlier, the sulphur reacts with the engine block’s Nikasil lining, damaging the bore walls. Once the lining is damaged, excessive bore wear of the soft underlying alloy occurs very quickly. Some BMW Nikasil-lined engines have failed having covered as little as 30,000 miles. The Nikasil wear issue first reared its head in the North West of England, where cars that used cheaper supermarket fuel were the first to exhibit problems with the lumpy running engines, followed by a smoky exhaust. People quickly jumped on the bandwagon and blamed cheap supermarket fuel, but then the problem spread as cars which were only refuelled at Shell, BP, Esso, Texaco and other service stations were also developing problems. The reason why the North West was initially blighted by this dirty fuel is that the first batch of the South American oil was refined at Stanlow at Ellesmere Port and then shipped out by tanker to North West petrol stations. The North West malaise then slowly spread to the rest of the UK as the dirty fuel entered the system nationally via other refineries. This didn’t stop the general public and motor trade alike saying it was a North West thing – people would avoid a V8 BMW if the car had lived in the North

West – it’s the perfect example of how gossip spreads faster than any plague. In BMW’s case, the engine most affected was the M60B30 and M60B40, 3.0i and 4.0i V8s. Although some M52B20, M52B25, M52B28 six-cylinder engines also suffered problems. The M60 V8 in both 3-litre and 4-litre guise built between 1993 and 1996 suffered the most. This affected the V8 powered E34 530i and 540i, as well as both the E32 and E38 7 Series 730i and 740i variants, plus a handful of early 840i models equipped with the M60B40 V8. The M60 V8 was also used by Alpina in the following models at the time, the E34 B10 4.0 and E32 B11 4.0. Alpina also enlarged the M60B40 engine for use in the E36 based B8 4.6 and B10 4.6, but there are no reports of any Alpina engines being replaced, although one would have thought it would have affected Alpina just the same as BMW, seeing as their modified M60 V8s still used the same block. The M52 issue is a weird kettle of fish; BMW chose to release the engine after the Nikasil issue with the M60 V8 had come to light. One can only assume that BMW thought the Nikasil and high-sulphur-fuel issue was, at the time, exclusive to the US market as American www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Feature

Even BMWs volume seller the (E36) 3 Series didn’t escape the Nikasil ‘pandemic’ with a small number of 6-cylinder M52 equipped cars like the 323i Saloon in the photo falling victim to high sulphur petrol damage to the engine

petrol also has a high sulphur content. The fact that BMW only released an iron block version of the M52 in the US backs up this theory. As for the M52 bore wear issue in the UK, the M52 single-Vanos version is a little more difficult to break down, as the engine found its way into so many models – E36, E46, E34 and early E39s – yet it affected some but not others. The models with the most problems Here we have the M60B40 V8 engine seen in the engine bay of an E34 540i, plus a cutaway image showing the M60’s internals. The M60 was particularly prone to Nikasil wear to the cylinder bores… were the E36 models equipped with the M52 the meaning of precedent; all I can say is in any crisis. The poor owners whose engine. A very small handful of very early that I wouldn’t like to explain to someone cars were no longer covered by BMW’s E39s also had problems, mainly the whose BMW was running an M60 engine warranty and had decided not to have 520i, 525i and 528i models, whilst also had been refused a replacement when their car serviced via the BMW dealer affecting a tiny handful of E38 728i’s. that person knew others in a similar network found that BMW were reluctant Luckily, most of these cars were under situation who had been the recipients of to change their failed engine gratis. warranty and BMW changed the engines goodwill from BMW. However, some people who serviced their as and when required so as not to All I would add to the above is that, cars outside the dealer network were swamp the dealer network with a blanket thanks to the good fortune that the world lucky and BMW replaced their engines as recall. To this day, BMW will not divulge wide web was in its infancy, the Nikasil a goodwill gesture, while others weren’t just how many engines it replaced here in crisis quickly lost its legs as a story. I so lucky and faced a large bill for a new the UK during the Nikasil crisis. dread to think what it would be like now engine. I don’t know what happened to Of course, there are always victims www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Feature

It was a shame that BMWs E34 was caught up in the Nikasil debacle, as it was a fine machine. Unfortunately at the time the M60 equipped cars like this wonderful 540i became ‘persona non grata’ in the car world for a time during the 90’s, although a car with a job sheet showing BMW had fitted a new engine had to be a good buy?

with the advent of social media and YouTube. As for still being nervous about purchasing a BMW running an M60 or M52 engine that could be affected by the Nikasil issue, don’t be. Most, if not all, cars with problems had their engines replaced and I haven’t heard of a car turning up with bore wear issues caused by Nestled in the engine bay of an E36 323i sits an M52B25 2.5i engine. The cutaway pic shows the M52 in all its glory, with the block cutaway exposing the pistons where the damage occurred to the cylinder walls. The M52 wasn’t as badly affected by the ‘rogue’ petrol with high sulphur content like the M60 was, with only a high sulphur fuel since small number of straight-six engines replaced here in the UK. How many is impossible to tell as BMW has never released exact figures… the controversy in the 1990s. Although I bet executive and luxury class has always Is this harsh on BMW and others? someone will prove me wrong after been the domain of the big Mercedes That’s for you to decide, and if you search reading this piece. So the advice I would Benz, but thanks to the excellent V8 online the debate still carries on to this day. give is the same when viewing all used engined E34 5er models and the E32 For what it’s worth, I do think the classic vehicles, Caveat Emptor. Apply 7er, BMW made inroads into the class motor industry knows who was at fault due diligence and if the car uses oil, has a traditionally occupied by the Merc for this mistake, which allowed millions of smoky exhaust or runs like a bag of nails, E- and S-Class models. Sadly, the gallons of high sulphur content petrol to walk away unless you’re willing to take on Nikasil issue set it back for a good enter both the UK and US national fuel the work and repair it. It probably won’t few years, although the superb E39 5 supply. I think some kind of under the be a Nikasil issue, but it still might prove Series soon made BMW the darlings counter compensation was agreed to costly to fix. of the executive set once again as the cover the cost of replacing the engines So why did BMW (plus Jaguar etc) company switched to Alusil linings in its affected, but that’s just a personal view. cop some of the blame? Well, many have engines, which is much more resilient In the end, BMW has actually made a pointed out that if BMW and its peers against high sulphurous fuel… very small amount of money supplying had tested their engines using a mixture new engines to those who were refused of different fuel grades, replicating what goodwill, although the tarnished image it could end up entering the fuel tank of any We recommend that you always gave the company for a while probably BMW model in all parts of the globe, this choose quality fuel and oil for your cost them more in the medium term. issue would have been discovered and BMW. The market in the medium to upper (hopefully) rectified.

44 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

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REDUX E30 M3 BUILD

Building the ultimate E30 M3...

The Redux E30 M3 build No.2 sits in the body shop, ready to be painted

Words Simon Lord/Jeff Heywood ~ Photos – Simon Lord

Build No.2 has been a long haul for the Redux team. They have experienced the fallout in parts supply that Brexit has contributed to, followed by the disruption the Covid pandemic brought upon the planet. But, after hundreds of hours of prep were carried out to ensure the M3 receives a flawless paint finish, they are nearing the finishing line. Then the final push can begin to fit the doors, boot, bonnet, spoilers to the bodyshell, followed by hundreds of pieces of trim and the special interior that will see Redux build No2 finally cross the finishing line.

The Paint Process

Many people associate a car’s paint job with the final application of the body colour, the part you usually see on carbased TV shows. However, that stage accounts for only 0.75-1.0% of the whole process. The hundreds of hours of preparation work determine whether it will have a deep, flat, mirror finish or not. Next time you visit a car showroom, look closely at the paint finish of any new car; the best way to do this is to focus on a reflection then move your eyes back and forth along it. The reflection is blurred because the surface of the paint has small dimples known to everyone as orange peel. Major manufacturers like BMW, Audi, Mercedes, even Ferrari, cannot justify the additional time and cost required to create a glasslike flawless finish on all their vehicles; that

46 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

would take much longer than the vehicle assembly process. One of the very few exceptions in the automotive world is Rolls Royce, which uses both robots for the initial paint application and humans for additional painting application and the wet sanding. It also has one man, Mark Court, who handpaints every coachline. This is also how Redux achieves a flawless paint finish, every time. Once the metal fabrication work is complete, the shell is seam brazed with a TIG torch; this means adding brazes by hand at regular intervals along the shell’s interior to provide extra stiffness. The shell is then media blasted for a second time to remove any debris left by the fabrication or brazing; the underside is then treated with a hot zinc protection

This shot was taken immediately after painting. The shell is left to cure before it receives a wet sanding and final polish to give it a mirror-like finish

spray to provide corrosion protection. Even if this coating is scratched, the zinc retains its protective properties. Immediately upon leaving the blasting bay, an epoxy primer is applied to the bodyshell to protect it against surface corrosion. With a clean shell, the paint team can www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Feature of days. The paint is then wet sanded and buffed, which takes it ‘from the gun’ finish, which is what you would expect on a new car with a slight level of orange peel, to a mirror finish. Perhaps now you will understand why the major manufacturers cannot justify the additional time and cost.

Final Assembly

The shell’s new paint looks absolutely stunning. Unfortunately you’ll have to wait to see which colour the client chose, hence the black and white photos.

start their preparation work. The first step is seam sealing along the underbody joints to prevent any potential ingress of moisture and dirt. As this build features our new pre-preg carbonfibre body panels, the filler required is minimal (less than 1mm). On older cars, particularly those with hand-beaten panels, this process can be very time-consuming as the filler smooths out any human imperfections. Once the filler has been block sanded, a coat of polyester – the same material as the filler – is applied to all exterior surfaces to ensure a consistent surface finish; otherwise, there will be variations between the metal, carbon, and filler surfaces. A thin layer of paint, called a guide coat, is then applied on top of the polyester to highlight imperfections. Long sanding blocks then remove it; the guide coat will be taken off the high spots and remain in any low spots, thus highlighting any imperfections. A urethane coating is then applied to the shell’s underbody and interior panels; because polyester is porous, the urethane coating prevents moisture ingress and is harder wearing than acrylic paint. The underside is tinted body colour, and the interior panels are sprayed black. Next, the front wings and doors are fitted back onto the shell, this time with their rubber seals and latches in place; as you would expect, the rubber seals affect how they sit. This is done to ensure everything is perfectly aligned, The panel gaps are then block sanded to ensure the polyester surface is consistent, giving a crisp finish when you look along the side of the car. Otherwise, if the doors and body panels are blocked separately, there is a danger of a slight change in surface www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

finish between them. Once complete, the second coat of epoxy primer is applied to the body panels to seal in the porous substrates. The team then ‘scotch up’ and key any unsealed seams; for example, the roof gutters to minimise the amount of material over the top of the sealer. Once keyed, the seams are heated and left to cure before wet sanding down with 800 grit. The panels must be wet sanded to keep the paper clear of clogging, thus avoiding swirl marks. After over 300 hours of preparation, the topcoat painting process can finally begin. All the body panels are removed once more, enabling the paint team to access the areas behind them. The body colour spray application takes around 3 to 3.5 hours, after which the shell, body panels, and all other exterior painted parts – bumpers, wing mirrors, spoilers and side skirts – are baked and cured for a couple

Now that the shell, carbonfibre panels and ancillary parts are all painted, the Redux team feel they’ve turned a corner and have entered the home stretch with final assembly left to do along with testing and the unveiling. All the months of grinding, welding and metal fabrication seem like a distant memory. The hundreds of hours of paint preparation described above have paid dividends; the new colour looks absolutely stunning, and the trick now is not to scratch it! As you’ll have gathered by the moody black and white images, you’ll have to wait a little longer to see which paint option the client chose (my guess is black – Ed). The Redux team now face the fiddly and time consuming job of fixing the hundreds of new and upgraded parts back onto the shell. One of the photos highlights what is happening at the moment: repeatedly checking off lists of parts to ensure a) the team know where everything is, b) they’ve got all the parts they need, c) all the parts are labelled correctly, d) they’ve still got time to order any additional parts they might have forgotten, and e) they know which supplier(s) they need to chase down for parts that haven’t arrived yet. For everyone on the team, there is great satisfaction in finally seeing everything coming together. It won’t be long before they can step back and admire their handywork. However, there’s much to be finished before the back-slapping and champagne-cork popping can get underway.

The reality of final assembly: checking off what seems like a never-ending list of parts BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021 47

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Feature

A dream combination?

Words: David Mason / Images: Motortrend, Drive2

Who would have thought it? My dream vehicle exists, but there are only two of them in the world. Imagine a 1930s Hollywood-style open topped roadster but designed and built in the early 1980s.

hrow in a Citroën centralised high pressure hydraulic system and BMW engine and drivetrain. Add to that, a chassis made up of 21 precision aluminium castings, SAAB door hinges, Mercedes door latches, Cadillac electric windows and BMW electrics. If the car was just an assemblage from other makers’ part bins, the vision was to select only the best. The Cumberford Martinique was the vision of Robert Cumberford, American car designer, motoring historian, author and critic. He was feared and admired for his hard hitting and insightful critiques of cars and men. He described Alec Issigonis as ‘not terribly innovative’ and Chris Bangle as ‘a man with the courage of his convictions and of solid character, and he is worthy of our admiration for that alone.’ The i8 he said was ‘BMW’s extreme expression of a possible and probable future for the automobile, [it] is a brilliant reality.’ The company formed to build the Martinique was led on the business side by Robert’s brother, James and Henry Buckhards III. Robert and James loved boats, which may explain the wood veneer used to cover the Martinique’s Kevlar and foam built wings, of which more later. The unique Citroën centralised high pressure system originated in the DS, a machine which looked as if it came from space when it was launched in 1953 into a world full of drearily bodied vehicles equipped with cart spring rear suspension, non-powered steering and not a whiff of flair. As well as providing previously unknown levels of ride quality and handling, the DS’s suspension was self-levelling with the ability for the driver to adjust the ride height and was the perfect fit for the Cumberford. The same Citroën hydraulic system powered the Martinique’s steering and brakes. On the DS it also operated the semi-automatic gearbox. Cumberford also used Citroën’s speed variable power steering and a unique self-centring function developed for the CX. The Martinique was powered by the BMW 7 Series 3.2 litre-derived engine that produced 174bhp, which was fuelled by Bosch Jetronic fuel injection and had a chain driven single overhead cam. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Power went to the rear wheels by either a ZF auto or Getrag manual transmission. The power output was not huge, not by 2021 standards, but the engine was a worthy example of a long line of sublime BMW straight sixes. As smooth as silk, quiet and refined until provoked, then it produced just a hint of a snarl. It was the type of engine that set BMW apart. BMW was, and is, the master of the straight six. We can only mourn its approaching end. BMW provided the electrical system, the emission control system and other crucial components for the Cumberford. The only part of the drivetrain that was not BMW were the steel half shafts, specially manufactured to mesh with the BMW U-joints at one end and the Citroën wheel spindles at the other. Michelin developed a special tyre for the car and the unique and elegant wheels were produced by a division of Rockwell International. The car’s looks might be described as controversial. Its front grill and ungainly headlights were incongruous against

the flowing roadster body. The wood veneered wings are very much a matter of taste, unless perhaps you love yachts and yachting. However, ignoring those debatable details, the Martinique had the flowing elegance of an earlier age. Imagine Carey Grant at the wheel with an azure Mediterranean Sea background on a winding coastal road, Grace Kelly in the passenger seat. The Martinique was intended to have a unique place in the market. Its asking price was to be $125,000., which made its contemporary, the Ferrari 308, look like a hot hatch at $45,000. Production was limited, but about 100 wealthy people paid deposits with Cumberford. Funding for the development and production of the car was forthcoming at first, but then in 1982 John DeLorean’s drugs scandal emerged, plus the economic climate of the day, induced investors to withdraw their support. Only two Martiniques were ever built and the project came to nothing. One of the prototypes sold in 2015 for a cool $3.9million. Having owned and driven Citroën DSs and CXs, along with BMW straight-six powered cars, I know their contributions to the Martinique were individually brilliant and unique. In combination, I expect they were undoubtedly superb too. I can only try to imagine what it would be like to have owned and driven such a car. BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Pirelli Performance Centres for you and your vehicle Pirelli’s audited network offers high-level technical proficiency and service

irelli Performance Centres (PPCs) form a network of carefully selected audited tyre dealers with a core focus on providing the highest levels of technical proficiency and service. Since the inception of the PPC concept in 1998, the objective has always been to raise standards within the tyre trade. Today, the PPC network prides itself on offering the latest cutting-edge technology and expertise in recommending, fitting and balancing high-performance tyres, all under one roof. In the UK, there are currently 138 depots in the PPC network, making it possible for you to take your high-end vehicles and head to an established centre, right on your doorstep. BMW Car Club members can also utilise their exclusive Pirelli offer at any of these dealerships listed in the PPC network – further details on the offer can be found below. All depots must complete a 130-point technical audit, twice a year, in order to ensure that the highest of standards, first-class customer car and attention are all maintained across the network.

50 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

Each centre is subject to this increasingly demanding criteria as Pirelli continues to push the industry forward. Pirelli’s passion for premium and prestige vehicles and tyres is embodied across the entire PPC network with expert teams and technicians offering their extensive knowledge. Customer service is

valued by our expert auditors to the same level as technical know-how, ensuring all of our centres’ teams are welcoming, informative and knowledgeable to help you make the right tyre choices. For more details on Pirelli Performance Centres and to find your nearest dealer, visit www.pirelli.co.uk/ppc.

Pirelli Pre-Paid Mastercard Offer BMW Car Club members can benefit from an exclusive offer of a Pirelli pre-paid Mastercard. Available only when purchasing Pirelli tyres from a Pirelli Performance Centres or official BMW dealer, the card’s value depends on the size and quantity of tyres purchased as follows: Rim Size

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crossword Across 1.  7.

BMW Car Club GB Crossword

12.

BMW dark blue metallic paint colour [code 287] named after an island in the Indian Ocean (9) US Midwestern State bordered by Lake Erie to the North. Dealers include BMW of Westlake and Kelly BMW in Columbus (4) Perhaps how an Italian would refer to a group of the distinctive Morris model of which 1.6M were produced between 1948 and 1972 (7) BMW Individual turquoise paint colour [code 633]. Also the name of the illfated liner that sank on her maiden voyage in April 1912 (7) Initials for US West Coast State. Dealers include BMW of Chico and BMW of El Cajon (1,1) Hand control used for guiding or checking a horse whilst riding (4) A waxy substance extracted by alcohol or ether from cork (5) Positive or negative...?: Early models of 8. Across were positive, but almost all except some older British cars with Lucas electrics are negative (5) …Hosseini: Liverpool-based footballing and social media sensation (4M Instagram followers) born in northern Iran in September 2013. Hint: Also the name of the Copthorne hotel in Kensington spelt backbards! (4) Chemical symbol for what BMW's light metal foundry at Plant Landshut has now almost half of produced using solar energy (1,1) Mexican YouTube star (160k subscribers as well as 40k Instagram followers), born September 1993 (4,1,1,1) How you might refer to Mitsubishi saloon models, over 6M of which were made in 9 generations from February 1973 until August 2017 (7) Ancient Incan sun God, revered as the national patron of the Inca. Could also describe trying out the new BMW 128! (4 / 2,1,1) BMW blue metallic paint colour [code 290]. Note German spelling of the Indian Ocean Republic that it is named after (9)

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Dealers include BMW of Schererville and BMW of Layfayette (1,1) 26 27 28 10.  …Modules V8...: Swedish-built submersible Inspection-Class ROV model 9. Initials for US Midwestern State bordered by from cork (5) capable of diving to 500m (5,1,1,1) 11.  BMW solid paint colour [codes 318, models 327, 571]. Note again German Lake Michigan and west of 7. Across. Dealers 19. Positive orblue negative...?: Early of 8. spelling of the Greek island it is named after (8) 29 include BMW of Schererville and BMW of AcrossThat were positive, but(1,1,5) almost all except some 13. is, car security device 14. Could be Transports Internationaux Routiers (1,1,1) Layfayette (1,1) older British withTeam Lucas electrics are negative 18.  Could be cars Rapid Relief (1,1,1) 20.  for High Voltage Electrical Engineer (1,1,2,1) (5) Shortform 24.  Initials for US South Central State. Dealers include BMW of Little Rock 10. …Modules V8...: Swedish-built submersible (1,1) Inspection-Class ROV model capable of diving to 21. …Hosseini: Liverpool-based 27.  Initials for US State bordering 15. Across.footballing Dealers includeand Bill Pearce BMW Winner of last month’s crossword Richard Rixham of Reno and BMW of Las Vegas (1,1) September 2021 Crossword 500m (5,1,1,1) social mediausedsensation (4Mfull Instagram 28.  Initials to designate the suspension andfollowers) electronics package on All entrants for the September issue’s crossword must the latest BMW R1250GS motorcycle models (1,1) 11. BMW solid blue paint colour [codes 318, 327, born in northern Iran in September 2013. Hint: Also be received into the office by 11th July. Winner will be 571]. Note again German spelling of the Greek the name of the Copthorne hotel in Kensington announced in next issue. The first correct crossword island it is named after (8) spelt backbards! (4) chosen at random will receive Meguiars Goodies. 13. That is, car security device (1,1,5) 22. Chemical symbol for what BMW’s light metal Please email all completed crosswords to 14. Could be Transports Internationaux Routiers foundry at Plant Landshut has now almost half of office@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk or post it to BMW Car Club (1,1,1) produced using solar energy (1,1) GB, Unit 5h, Glan Yr Afon, Aberystywth, SY23 3JQ 18. Could be Rapid Relief Team (1,1,1) 23. Mexican YouTube star (160k subscribers as 20. Shortform for High Voltage Electrical Engineer well as 40k Instagram followers), born September Answers to August 2021 Crossword (1,1,2,1) 1993 (4,1,1,1) 24. Initials for US South Central State. Dealers Across: 1. Bridge (Bashi), 7. Stone (Ishi), 4. Tom, 9. Michelin, 12. 25. How you might refer to Mitsubishi saloon include BMW of Little Rock (1,1) models, over 6M of which were made in 9 Rain Metz, 13. Neons, 14. Usual, 16. Yokohama, 19. Goodyear generations from February 1973 until August 2017 27. Initials for US State bordering 15. Across. (Charles), 20. Iroko, 22. TWR, 23. Diesel Dealers include Bill Pearce BMW of Reno and (7) 26. Ancient Incan sun God, revered as the national BMW of Las Vegas (1,1) Down: 2. In Cro, 3. ESLN, 4. Tone, 5. ON (Ontario), 6. Metzeler, 8. 28. Initials used to designate the full suspension patron of the Inca. Could also describe trying out Times MY, 9. Money Pit, 10. Hankook, 11. EIS, 14. UAD, 15. UAE ES, and electronics package on the latest BMW the new BMW 128! (4 / 2,1,1) 17. Kg Or, 18. Hood, 21. RW R1250GS motorcycle models (1,1) 29. BMW blue metallic paint colour [code 290]. 1

15.

16. 17. 19.

CLASSIFIEDS FOR SALE: Beautiful classic BMW 528i SE Automatic. 43,000 miles. We have owned it since 1998, the second owner. It was first registered in 1997. It is our second car which belongs to my husband, and he is now too old to drive. As it is no longer required we are rather reluctant to sell as it is still a lovely car to drive. The car has always been kept in a garage at our home and has never been involved in an accident. We would accept £8,500 for it. Tel. 01978780785 or email a.brookshaw@btinternet.com

52 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

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FOR SALE: 1975 BMW 2002tii Matching numbers, 156,000 miles, original owner’s manual, with owner’s handbook and original Service Book with 23 BMW dealer stamps up to 136,000 in 1992. MOTs to verify subsequent mileage from 1992 to 1999 at 151,000. Less than 6,000 miles since. File of receipts from 2004 to 2010 from then owner. In private collections since. 10 previous owners. Solid, restored, rust-free wax oiled chassis, floor pans and sills. Bodywork restored and in excellent condition. £8000 spent in last three years. New, quality woollen carpets throughout. New door cards and refurbished seats including new inners. Engine recently serviced, starts first-time and runs faultlessly. As-new period alloys, new spot lights and bar. Price: £25,000 Tel. 07543 309060

FOR SALE: 1990 BMW 316i with Lux pack. Reg. H524 KAR 31,733 miles, full service history, one owner from new (we leased the car for first two years then brought it). Has been garaged from new, have all the bills and MOT certificates. It is in mint condition. Offers over £10,750. Tel. Bob on 07850 914 856

FOR SALE: Set of used genuine BMW staggered E46 M3 Style 67 18-inch alloy wheels. Generally in good condition - one of the front wheels has kerb damage in one location, the other wheels show minor stone chips in places. The rears are shod with Kumho Ecsta tyres with an average of 4mm - 5mm tread remaining. Located in North Yorkshire. £285 plus £50 postage if unable to collect in person. Tel. Sean 07557 671803

1978 BMW E21 Built to take part in the BMW junior Saloon Championship. Last used on track in 2008, needs tyres and refresh. BMW M20 straight six with 3 twin choke weber side draught carburettors, tested on rolling road at 240bhp. Included is a Brian James Trailer, Clubman with manual hydraulic pump. Offers over £15,000 Contact Kaz 01842 813662 email kazskiprop@gmail.com

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021 53

regionalnews Central Tony Skerrett Central Region sponsored by

07879 404648 central@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Barons Bedford

01234 362 400

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

At long last, we are now enjoying the Regional meets once again and the last meeting on the 12th July was no exception. With eight members present it was good to see Peter Minchinton once again. Past Events Cotswold Trip 11th of July by Dr Terry Nicholson, M.Sc., CChem MRSC Captain/TRI B737-800. With Pictures by Rodolphe Arnoult

“When Tony’s email dropped in my inbox advising me of a trip to the Cotswolds, I was excited to revisit a part of the country that I think is exceedingly picturesque. I thought I knew the area; Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh. All picture perfect villages worth revisiting. Little did I know that I would see parts of the Cotswolds that I didn’t even know existed and every one more beautiful than the previous. In other words, another trip meticulously put together by the club. Rosalia and I had to get up early in the morning as we had an 80-mile drive from Leicestershire down to our meeting place at the Peartree Roundabout near Oxford. The forecast looked reasonable. Temperatures were in the high teens, even some sunshine. Although there was the possibility of some rain later in the day. We might even be able to have the roof down on our F33, which was going to be our conveyance for the day. The drive to the meeting point was pretty quick. Empty Sunday morning roads. When the rest of the crew assembled, it was obvious it was going to be another great day. Lots of banter started from the word go, and the range of cars did not disappoint either. Notable amongst them were Jeff’s immaculate yellow 2002 and Gary’s gorgeous E31 Alpina, which deserves a story for another day. Our first port of call was Hailes Abbey, a former Cistercian Abbey, two miles northeast of Winchcombe. Tony’s precise directions kept us away from the narrowest of lanes down the A40, before taking the B4632 towards Toddington, Didbrook and Hailes. Despite the fact that the route was well described by Tony, I for one was very happy to be following Peter in his Z4 who seemed to know the area like the back of his hand. Especially when we started getting into the smaller and narrower and even narrower Cotswold lanes that made me think that we had been teleported to Cornwall. The views and hairpin bends were absolutely breath-taking, seeing beautiful villages and hamlets, and the open expanses of the green and pleasant land that is the Gloucestershire countryside. I really did not know the Cotswolds at all, as it turns out. Once we got to the Abbey, we met up with Rodolphe in his F21 www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

(who decided on an alternative route to the Abbey) and Richard in his F21, who, due to traffic, missed us at the meeting point. Time for some quick waxing of the 2002 and E31 by their loving owners and then off to the Abbey remains and its museum. The focus of the exhibits highlight interesting artefacts from its time as an active abbey back in the 13th century and up to its untimely demise in the hands of Henry VIII. Tony mentioned the existence of a fruit farm a short walking distance away, so most of the group walked to a great spot where a cup of tea went down a treat. Fresh strawberries were also procured, so too was some ale. I hope it was as good as you expected Jeff. Time was pressing on, so we continued in convoy to our next destination, The Chedworth Roman Villa. The route was again through narrow and twisting roads taking in Winchcombe, Andoversford and Chedworth. The villa was another must see attraction. Britain’s first known 5th century mosaic found at the villa was in fantastic shape and thanks to a £3 million Lottery grant, a platform suspended from the ceiling allowed visitors to fully admire it by literally walking over it. The Romans seem to have thought of everything down to a sauna and underfloor heating. I couldn’t help thinking of Monty Python and “what have the Romans ever done for us” at that point. As lunchtime had come and gone and tummies were beginning to rumble. We said goodbye to Peter, who left us at that point, and the rest of us drove to our final destination, refreshments at the Old Bell Hotel 12th century inn in Malmesbury. The day had one final surprise for me. We drove past Kemble BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

regionalnews airfield and I was amazed at the number of aircraft parked on the apron awaiting their fate. Amongst them was an ex-BA B747, the Queen of the skies and an aircraft that every pilot dreams of flying. Still in her BA livery, albeit without her engines, it was accompanied by two ex-Jet2 B757s, which I had flown for nearly three years when they were in service with the company. It was heartbreaking to see those three beauties at Kemble, knowing that they would never fly again. The sad times we live in. The hotel had reserved a cosy room for our group. High Tea and hot food was served as the weather, which had been steadily deteriorating throughout the day, eventually turned into heavy rain. It mattered little, though. We all had a brilliant day out, new acquaintances were made and old friendships reaffirmed.

I am already looking forward to the next outing.” Future Events 5th September – Rousham Autumn Scrummage. We display in the courtyard Maybe more events with a possible revisit to Delapre Abbey Northampton. 10 October– October SCRAMBLE! Second open day event of 2021. Bring your pre-1990 vehicle. More details from Club shortly. Next Central Regional Meeting – 13th September, The Aviator Hotel, Sywell, Northampton for 7.30pm

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

Cheshire & Staffs Steve Cooper Cheshire & Staffs Region sponsored by

Blue Bell

Rybrook Wolverhampton 01902 457000 rybrookwolverhamptonbmw.co.uk

cheshireandstaffs@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Knights

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

Cornwall Jim Husband

Blue Bell Fourth Avenue, Weston Road, Crewe Cheshire. CW1 6XH. Tel:01270 212525 Knights Bede Road, Radial Park, Stoke on Trent Staffordshire. ST4 4GU Tel:01782 572100

cornwall@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Hello and welcome to Richard and Mark, our new members of the Cornwall Region. I hope you enjoy being a member of the Region and the Club. If you need any information on meets, events or activities please contact me. I hope to see 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 and 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. Recent Events The Ford RS Owners Club show at Little Bodieve on Sunday the 4th July was attended by four Cornwall Region members with three cars. The weather was not good (understatement!) to start with, but it did improve as the day progressed. As we sat in Tesco car park with the rain beating down, we were in two minds whether to even attend but we decided to go for it. Numbers were down on the previous years’ figures, but it was a good event and great to see the range of Fords on display and a Mini and two BMWs. Events / Monthly Pub Meets. Pub meets – The second Monday of the month at the Plume of Feathers, Mitchell at 7:30pm. Drive Out Sunday 26th September - If you could please let me know if you wish to attend. I will contact those interested with details of meeting points, the route and stops beforehand. Christmas Meal 17th December – I am hoping to book the Britannia Inn between St Austell and Par for 7:30pm for this year so please pencil the date in the diary. As soon as I get confirmation from the venue I will let everyone know and take numbers of those interested.

56 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

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regionalnews Cars and Coffee - A regular monthly Cars and Coffee meet is to be held in Cornwall. I am following this with interest and as soon as anything is arranged will let you know. 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. Photos If you do have any photos of past events or of your car suitable for inclusion in the magazine please send them to me.

Cotswold Martyn Goodwin Cotswold Region sponsored by

Cotswold Motor Group www.cotswoldgroup.com Corinthian Way, Cheltenham, GL51 6UP Roman Road, Hereford, HR1 1LN

cotswold@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Cheltenham BMW Cheltenham MINI Cheltenham Motorrad Cheltenham Parts Cheltenham Service Hereford

01242 335 335 01242 335 345 01242 335 355 01242 335 365 01242 335 375 01432 375 555

Cumbria James France

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

Hello to all Cumbria Region members, The Cars the Star at Holker Hall and Gardens was attended by the Cumbria Region. Sadly, I couldn’t make it due to Covid isolation. Reports from Cumbria Region’s Andy Clayton said that it was a good show and everyone enjoyed it. Although, looking at the pictures sent to me, the grass seemed a bit long and could have been cut; something to mention to the organisers next time around. I am just back from the Silverstone Classic, which was very enjoyable as usual, except for the rain. There were some fantastic cars of all makes and ages to see, along with some great racing too. If you have not been before, put it on your todo list. We visited the Silverstone Auctions and some of our group were present for some of the bidding, one of them actually bidding for a Kawasaki Z900. The motorbike was the property of Richard Hammond who was at the show, Mike dropped out at his set limit and was short by £1000. The prices of some of the cars being made was eye watering. gearbox oil in being my hair with a full swear box, One example analong unmolested apparently lasttoo. off the line Hope to catch up with you, if you are a new member please Audi Quattro, bringing £163k along with commission of around feel free to come along to our meets and events.

13%. A series 1 Escort RS Turbo went for £63k, again plus commission. Hutton in the Forest Car Show is scheduled to be on again in September. Any members wishing to go would be best advised to book now as the last one was a sell out, I missed out before so will be booking a slot for this year’s event. Becareful, careful,stay staysafe safeand andbebekind. kind. (It’s free!) Be Phone 07799 620 381 or email jimfrance1@hotmail.co.uk Phone 07799 620 381 or email jimfrance1@hotmail.co.uk Regards Jim.

KathyJemfrey Jemfrey Devon DevonKathy

regionalnews

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

Devon Region sponsored by

INDEPENDENT BMW & MINI SPECIALISTS

By time youCar receive Straight Six we shall have 7.30pm enjoy a meal if 10am desired or just join us for a and drinkgoand Thethe Sidmouth Showyour hascopy beenofcancelled, however if anyone Sunday to 27th September until 4.00pm. Come as had ourto first pub meet and meetings social evening. wishes attend, we will behopefully attendingour themonthly Crash Box End ofat you please. Hare & Hounds willitrecommence. A warm welcome awaits on Those who and havesee managed to register for Sidmouth, see you Season Car Show is at Lady’s Mile Holiday Park, Dawlish, Take care you all soon. new and existing members on the return of our get togethers, on the 18th September, weather permitting. 07514 216660 which are held every last Wednesday of theChamp month except for As always, drive safely and take care. George eastanglia@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk December. We meet at Hare & Hounds, Kingskerswell, 7 for Barons offers members www.barronsbmw.co.uk East Anglia Region sponsored

East Anglia

East Anglia by Barons

Cambridge Cambridge George Champ Stansted & Stansted

: 01954 784 500 : 01279 755 906

www.barronsbmw.co.uk Anglia Region sponsored by HiEast everyone, ToBarons say 2020Cambridge has been a strange and difficult year would be784 an500 Cambridge: 01954 understatement, we755 still 906 Stansted: to say 01279 & Stansted but nonetheless I am delighted have new members joining the Club, so welcome to you all, the good times will return. themany meantime as I remind yourecently all every It’s very pleasing to seeInthat new members have month,us, keep date with respective joined andup it’stoexisting thatyour members haveFacebook been ablepages to enjoy and enjoy the contributions thinkallabout sharing your coming to reading what seems like a flood ofand events of a sudden. stories all and with asand well. Please tryphotos to come to everyone our events make yourselves known We have a little glimmer of hope that we will able to enjoy to us, we try to make everyone feel welcome butbe sometimes we at least a couple of events and/or pub meets if the situation allows, hence I still produce a rather small list. I am sure like www.bmwcarclubgb.uk me you all miss shows and events. Personally I have found it

• Generous discounts off the new BMW and MINI range • A minimum discount of £500 on approved used cars in stock 07514 216660 • 15% discount on parts and accessories 10% off servicing, excludes Value Line Servicing which eastanglia@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk applies to cars over 4 yrs old.

Barons offers members

car but I •always feltdiscounts the BMW was bit ‘sportier’ and less Generous off the newaBMW and MINI range • Acar’. minimum discount of £500 on approved used cars in stock ‘company • 15%the discount parts and accessories 10% off servicing, excludes Scouring local on magazines and papers I found an interesting Value Line Servicing which applies to cars over 4 yrs old. looking E34 540i for sale near Watford. The advert mentioned an interesting owner did not givea any details. A need you toprevious say hello first.but Always have lookmore at our various phone call pages was made andour a trip to Watford Facebook or see emails for lastarranged. minute additions, as I The car was a beautiful Forestmore Green E34 540i suspect there may well be some popping up. with a parchment leather interior and filledDunmow with ’toys’ such as athis remote Little Easton Manor, Park Road, CM6 2JN; is controlled radio and a car phone, completed with a personalised a beautiful new location that holds small car meets on the first number plate, A2HKJ. The interior was perfect and the rear seats looked almost new. I BMW still remember looking at the massive Car Club Magazine September 2021 57 V8 engine under the bonnet and thinking to myself that while I

regionalnews Sunday of the month. The 5th September will be the first chance many of us have to try it out. The cafe has been described to me as fabulous, anything from a scone to a full English from 9am onwards. Castle Pub Meets CM3 1NE were held on 11th July and 8th August and regularly every second Sunday of the month, the next being on 12th September and 10th October so see you there. These are very popular and well attended so please come along. Breakfasts or just a coffee is available in the pub if you wish.

Kings Lynn Car Show and Heritage Open Day 12th September. Unfortunately car spaces have all gone. However you can still visit Kings Lynn and view the cars and enjoy free entry into museums, galleries, historic houses and rides on classic busses around the town and hop on hop off at interesting places. Bridge Classics RAF Bentwaters and Pettistree have told me they will be holding some more coffee mornings, so watch this space. Star Wing Brewery Unit 6, Hall Farm, Redgrave, IP22 1RJ have indicated to me they would be happy to host a visit from the BMW Car Club. All I need at this stage is for you to indicate that you might be interested. If I get a sufficient response, I will make arrangements; probably on a Sunday with a meeting up point beforehand so we can enjoy a drive first.

Eastern Paul Rice Ashover show First visit for me to this local show set in the heart of the Peak district. It’s run by the local Rotary Club, who recommended we got there early; I’m glad we did. With four fields in use, it soon started to fill. We were fortunate to have a good shady spot as the heat was also starting to build. With the use of a good size gazebo (thanks Alex, well thanks Mrs Alex for the loan for the day), we had our own little display area. Weather plays a big part in the success of these shows and we weren’t disappointed. But weather isn’t everything, the show is well organised with a pleasant atmosphere and a degree of professionalism. There was a great collection of vehicles on display, too, plus an assortment of motor related stalls and a selection of refreshments on offer. The only drawback, as I see it, was the absence of club stands. This doesn’t seem to be catered for as space is allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Unless all display vehicles turn up together, it would be very difficult to save places to keep members together. It’s worth looking out for this one next year. It’s a pleasant place to be, just not somewhere we could turn up with 76 cars like we did at Thoresby and hope to all park up together.

58 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

eastern@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Yorkshire day We had a good turnout for the Yorkshire Day event at The Motorist, with over 50 BMW’s on show in our designated area. Unfortunately, I missed this one as it clashed with my annual trip to the Silverstone Classic. However, feedback suggests it’s another great event. A good opportunity to say thank you to all the staff at The Motorist especially with the way they worked so hard to welcome us all back safely to enjoy events over the last few difficult months. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

regionalnews Regional meets After an 18 month gap we finally returned to a pub meet. The George and Dragon, Whitley Bridge, welcomed the car club back to resume our monthly get togethers. With a good attendance of members present, the food, drink and chat went down really well. Such a relief to see some kind of normality returning. With the Reindeer, Sturton le Steeple getting a good attendance and the Elms club nights starting, things are looking up. As mentioned in Straight Six last month, our planned Saturday morning get together at The Motorist has hit a few snags. Although we are trying to work with The Motorist to continue our meets, we are actively looking at alternatives. We have two new venues we will be sampling soon. The first is the Stockyard (thestockyard.co.uk) on the 5th September, located just off junction 1 of the M18 Hellaby Lane, Bramley, Rotherham. This is more than a truck stop with ample parking and facilities, looks like it could be an ideal location to have a breakfast meet followed by an optional drive. The second is the NY500 (ny500.co.uk) located between Malton and Pickering. This new motoring based venue offers

ample parking, a café with a museum feel with cars and memorabilia on display and the excellent location at the foothills of the North Yorkshire Moors. This will be the meeting point for our Toast2Coast run on the 2nd October. Further details available on our website and Facebook pages. Big thank you to Nick Wright and Richard Rixham for their continued work in setting up these exciting new additions to our Region. Car of the Month Featured this month is Rob Thompsons E89 2.3 (2.5 really). This car is approaching 12 years old, it’s not long ago 10 years was the life expectancy of many cars. Well this one, as with most BMWs, bucks that trend. The car is almost as new and a credit to Rob. It looks stunning in its Space Grey paintwork with contrasting red leather interior, seen here camping out at the Silverstone Classic.

If you would like to have your vehicle included in our Car of the Month feature please send a good quality picture, details and history, in no more than 300 words to eastern@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

London Anthony Mason London Region sponsored by

london@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

BMW PARK LANE

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

Barons Watford 01923 700 217 and Borehamwood 02089 512 600 www.baronsgroup.co.uk/bmw Time seems to be slipping past rapidly at the moment; the meets pop up so quickly. So much so that the last meet I ended up turning up in my 18-year-old Astra; I’d been working in Luton before I popped to my girlfriend’s in Cambridgeshire and then came back to Luton and straight to the meet. It was a very wet one, too, which after the success of May and June came as a bit of a shock, but we made the most of it. There was a Silbergrau theme to the evening, see photos. Last month’s Straight Six magazine will have told you all about the London Classic Car Show in Syon Park, you might have spotted my 1M on the Club’s stand. It was lovely for it to be considered as a soon-to-be classic and it demonstrated how this little parts bin special stands up to scrutiny against its older siblings. I got chatting to some lovely folk there and I’m trying to work out what I’ve been up to since. I’m back at work full time and feel my weeks fly by before I’ve even planned anything. I attended the Festival of Classic Cars held at Helmingham Hall, held in conjunction with the Suffolk Vehicle Enthusiasts Club (SVEC). Over 7,000 people attended the 2019 festival. There www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

were approximately 1000 cars on show this year, anything from a Renault Sport Spider to a one-of-86 million pound Ferrari. It was a well laid out event; car clubs and brands roughly banded together with lots of good food and trade stalls. David Adams BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021 59

regionalnews and the East Anglia Region had a great turnout with some superb and unusual cars. They would even have had room for me, if I had got there on time. I attended with my future step son, we had a good look around and ordered a chicken sandwich and then the heavens opened so the 1M became a cafeteria. Once it had stopped raining, we continued to look about chatting to different owners as we went around.

North East Nick Thomas We have had quite a few new members joining in the North East recently. Welcome, and please come and join some of our events. Recent Events Our July monthly meet was at the Car Barn, right next to our usual venue, the Black Horse Beamish. We moved to take advantage of the good weather, and because pubs are still struggling with large groups. The Black Horse still provided our breakfast, this month in super quick time. We were blessed with good weather that meant an outdoor meet was a real pleasure. Late July we had our first run out for a long time, the Lakeland Run. We met up on the A66, then headed up over the tops into Cumbria. We headed there via Shap and Glenridding and further along the shores of Ullswater. Then over the Kirkstone Pass with a photo stop at the pub at the top of the road, and along the spectacular Langdale to reach our destination at Sticklebarn and a pub lunch. An excellent day out organised by John Rawsthorne.

Around the end of July to the start of August, a few of us went down to the Silverstone Classic. I counted five North East cars there, but might have missed some as there were so many BMWs on the club stand. It was a great weekend, even if it was a little damp. I particularly appreciated the chance to join the ’02 Register when they went on a parade lap around the circuit – my first time in an ’02 and the first time on the circuit at Silverstone. Sunday August 1st saw us attend Sports Cars in The Park at Newby Hall near Ripon. As most of the NE Committee was at Silverstone, Greg Lyons was left to run the stand. Many thanks for this and for writing this report: “After a few days of bad weather in the lead-up, luckily the weather gods granted us a dry and sometimes sunny day. After months of lockdowns it was obvious to see that people couldn’t

60 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

northeast@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

wait to get out and about, which was evident in the great turnout. Our club stand was well attended with around 30 cars, including a number of non-members who we were happy to welcome to join us. A great mixture of cars were in attendance from an E30 M3 right up to a F82 M4 CS and everything in between. We had 1Ms, Z3s, Z4Ms and a multitude of other moderns and classics. A great time was had by all with new friends being made and, possibly, a few new members joining the club over the coming months. A big thanks to the organisers for a great show.”

Forthcoming events Events are subject to last minute changes so keep an eye on the NE Region Facebook Group for the latest information. • Monday 30 August – Durham City Classic Car Gala • Sunday 12 September – Monthly Meet • Date Change - Sunday 19 September – NECPWA/ Beamish. Pre-Sep 2000 cars only. See the NECPWA website for details. • Saturday 02 October – toast2coast, Eastern Region run from NY500 (near Pickering) to Whitby. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

regionalnews

• • • • • • •

Sunday 10 October – Monthly Meet Sunday 24 October – ‘Route 66 Run’ Sunday 14 November – Monthly Meet Wednesday 24 November – NE Region Zoom AGM Sunday 28 November – Vertu Teesside Sunday 12 December – Monthly Meet TBD – Christmas Dinner

Car of the Month July Car of the Month was awarded to John Nearney’s eyecatching Z4M. All 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 Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the July show at Bodrhyddan Hall. However, from the feedback and the pictures I received from the members of Mid Wales and Shropshire, a good time was had by all and all backed up by some good weather. Roll on the 5th September, again at Bodrhyddan Hall. An invite has been sent out by the Trackday Register for all members to attend the Anglesey trackday on Sunday 12th September. You don’t have to be booked in for track time to attend, it’s also an informal meet up to socialise and watch the trackday event. For more information, contact lisa@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk.

North West Jeff Heywood North West Region Sponsored by The Zed Shed

northwales@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Forthcoming events September is a busy month: Bodrhyddan Hall – Sunday 5th September Anglesey trackday – Sunday 12th September The Waun Wrexham Carnival – Saturday the 18th September. If you are attending any of these events, I look forward to catching up with you and if you are going to the Waun Carnival, please send me an email. Car of the Month If you like your car and story featured, please let me know. 07801 506632 Search for: BMW Car Club GB North West Twitter: @BMWNW northwest@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

BMW & Mini Specialist Independent Specialist Concentrating on BMW Z4s. Contact Mike directly on 07973 540495. Mike@thezedshed.co.uk

Unit A3, Duke St. Earlestown, Merseyside. WA12 9QX. www.facebook.com/ZedShedNW www.thezedshed.co.uk

Read our reviews on our FB page: “Brilliant place to take your zed. Very reasonable and very knowledgeable. Succeeded where others failed. Very Happy.” Emma Guest. News Welcome to September’s North West news. We had a great turnout for our first Kilton pub meet of the year in July (report on the following page) followed up by an amazing turnout at our first Manchester meet of 2021. We return to the Kilton this month, when we’ll be holding a Regional Show & Shine competition as well as the usual pub meet. Hopefully we’ll see even more of you for the meet and the Show & Shine competition. We also have a visit lined up in October to the new Greater Manchester Fire Service Museum, which will be known as the Fireground. The museum is located in Rochdale and full details will be in next month’s NW News.

Trade Recommendations Darren Wood BMW Specialist, Bredbury, Stockport SK6 2QB. Offering BMW repair, servicing and engine tuning etc. Facebook www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

– Darren Wood Ltd – Independent BMW Specialists. www. darren-wood.com / 0161 425 7403. Class Alloys. Mobile service, repairs and refurbs alloy wheels. All finishes, including perfectly matched chrome shadowline. Covers most of the North West. Discount given to club members – contact Steve on 07594 018525. Facebook - Class Alloys. David Tully Bodyshop (Tully’s), Rochdale. For all body/ paint requirements, comes highly recommended. 01706 643866 / www.davidtullyltd.co.uk Facebook – David Tully Ltd. Express Dent Removal. For those niggling dent/dings to your BMWs bodywork. Speak to Simon Robinson on 0800 998 9828 or 07767 832255, or visit www.express-dentremoval.co.uk Swades Car Detailing. For car detailing/valeting/alloy wheel refurb. Highly recommended. Give Darryl a call on 07415 945979. Facebook – Swades Car Detailing or visit www.swades.co.uk New Members We’ve signed up quite a few new members during the Covid pandemic, so first of all I’d like to welcome you all to the Club and the North West Region. Secondly, we’d love to see you all at the events and meetings we organise. There are no cliques, everyone will be made very welcome so why not come along and share in your passion for BMWs. BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021 61

regionalnews Forthcoming Events 7th September, 5th October, 2nd November & 7th December – Manchester Branch Meet @ Sheldon Arms Don’t miss our latest Manchester Meet at the Sheldon Arms (M30 5QL). Come and join us for a bit of tyre kicking and some banter. The meet starts at 7.30pm, but please feel free to arrive early and grab dinner before the meet starts. All details are in the Local Branch News below. 26th September & 21st November – NW Show & Shine + Pub Meet @ Kilton Inn, Cheshire Come and join us at our latest pub meet. Along with our usual Kilton Pub Meet, which starts at 12 noon, we are also holding a (serious) NW Show & Shine competition. There will be age related category prizes and an overall winner who will receive a trophy and prize from Darryl at Swades Car Detailing. Please feel free to turn up early (from 10.30am onwards) to prep your car in the west car park (overlooked by the conservatory). For more info, please give Jeff a call on 07801 506632.

24th October – Visit to Greater Manchester Fire Service Museum Don’t forget to reserve this date in your diary when we’ll be visiting the all-new Greater Manchester Fire Service Museum ‘FIREGROUND’ at Rochdale, followed by lunch. More details next month. 12th December - NW Xmas Party + Pub Meet at Kilton Inn, Cheshire More details next month. Event Reports 18th July – NW Region Pub Meet at Kilton Inn We had a great turnout of Club members and their families, both old and new, for our first NW pub meet of 2021. Even if we were all melting in the heatwave we were experiencing. The Kilton’s car park was a sight to behold with an eclectic mix of BMWs finest on display, from an ’82 635CSi to a wonderful Z4 M40i. See below, plus lots more photos on the NW Region Facebook page. It was great to see everyone, including the Berry family, with Mikey and Sarah who brought Darcy, their gorgeous baby daughter with them. Just 10-months old and already driving a BMW, see photo. The Darren Wood sponsored NW Quiz was closely fought and them young. 10-month-old Darcy at ultimately won by the Taylors2 team; Starting the wheel of her first BMW.

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well done Nick and Angela. They were closely followed in second place by the Peter and Nancy Marchman team with Paul Hearn’s E39M5 team picking up the final prize in third spot. A big thank you goes out to Darren Wood for his continued support of the Region. We also had the difficult task of choosing the Swades Car Detailing sponsored Kilton Car of the Month, which finally went to Dazza Hatch’s Z4 M40i, see below. All in all, a great return for our bi-monthly pub meet. The Kilton serves up excellent grub or you can just call for a shandy and a chat, so why not join us on 26th September when we’ll also be hosting the NW Show & Shine Competition.

Lull before the storm. We arrived at the Kilton early to erect the club flag and relax in the shade with a nice cool drink…

Kilton CotM – Darren Hatch’s G29 Z4 M40i The Kilton Car of the Month, which is kindly sponsored by Swades Car Detailing, was deservedly won by Darren Hatch’s G29 Z4. An M40i First Edition model, it is finished in a stunning Frozen Orange Metallic with a contrasting anthracite hood and a Vernasca black leather interior with grey contrasting stitching. The Zed runs on BMW Style 800M 19” bicolour twin-spoke alloy wheels, shod with Michelin Pilot Super Sports (of the non-run flat variety), which complement the Z4’s sporting lines perfectly. The Z4 M40i First Edition is quite a rare beast, with only 45 officially sold in the UK, and was limited to 444 units worldwide. Powered by BMW’s B58 3-litre turbocharged straight-six engine, the Z4 M40i has 340hp and 500Nm of torque at its disposal, which means the Zed can sprint from 0-60mph in 4.2 seconds. Top speed is limited to 155mph. Darren’s Zed was built in February 2019 at the Magna Steyr Plant, Austria, and was first registered in March 2019. The car led a pampered life in its first year, having been registered by BMW UK and stationed at their Farnborough HQ, covering just 1303 miles in over 12 months before Darren purchased it in July 2020 from Bowker BMW Blackburn. His Zed is highly specced, with electrically adjustable heated seats, heated steering wheel, head up display, adaptive LED headlights. It has also been equipped with both the Technology and Comfort Packs and benefits from the much lauded BMW Live Cockpit Professional. Williams BMW Stockport looks after the car, carrying out all servicing and repairs. Although the only slight niggle he has experienced with the car was when a small strap on the hood www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

regionalnews mechanism came adrift, this was soon fixed under warranty by the Williams technicians. The Z4 is Darren’s daily driver, although he quickly explains that work is only a short drive away. The G29 Z4 M40i replaces an E89 Z4 sDrive 18i. He says he likes almost everything about the car;

Darren Hatch’s G29 Z4 M40i First Edition, the deserved winner of the Kilton CotM

South East Ian Bryant South East Region sponsored by

Chandlers Brighton 01273 423 312

The Kent and Sussex Micro meetings continued with good support from the members. The last Sussex Micro meeting was rather a wet one and, with Nigel and others on holiday, we had 10 cars. Welcome to Paul Hickox who attended with his family and two cars, a new 850i and lovely 318iS that had been purchased by his father from new and recently beautifully restored.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

it’s style, sporty looks, the paint colour, power delivery and how wieldy the Zed is on a country road. Plus there’s the economy; the Zed is returning nearly 30mpg on a daily basis. On a recent trip to Brighton, the Z4 returned almost 48mpg, which is quite remarkable for a car with a 3-litre 340hp engine under the bonnet. The only thing he finds disappointing about the car is the fact that he can’t polish it, because of the frozen paintwork. He finds that giving the matte finish a good going over with Meguiar’s ultimate detailer makes the orange paintwork pop. Well it certainly popped on the day in the judges eyes, who awarded the Car of the Month prize to this eye-catching Z4. 3rd August – Manchester Branch Pub Meet Our first Manchester meet of 2021, held at the Sheldon Arms in Ashton under Lyne was attended by a huge group of Club members and their cars, our biggest attendance yet at a local branch meet, so a big thank you to everyone who came along on the night. Here’s hoping we see you all again on the 7th. I took quite a large number of photos at the meet, too many to include here, but they can all be seen on our Facebook page BMW Car Club GB North West.

southeast@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

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

BARONS CC20133 =

15% discount code

Upcoming events in September include the morning of Saturday 11th, Hack Engineering is hosting an event for the BMC Car Club. It is a BMW independent that specialise in engine rebuilds and modifications, let me know if you’re interested in attending. On 19th September; the combined Porsche, Mercedes, BMW meeting is definitely going ahead at The Hawth in Crawley. This is our largest event and attracts a great selection of cars from all marques. The show is scheduled from 9:00am to 1:00pm, the theatre restaurant will be open serving breakfast and entry is free. We are supporting the St. Catherine’s Hospice again and are hoping that everyone can make a small contribution. I attended the Goodwood Breakfast Classic. It’s great to see this venue open and these popular breakfast meets resume. It was an enjoyable morning, there was a great selection of classics, unfortunately not many BMWs. I recently had the opportunity to drive an M3 GTS, what a privilege that was. It’s a road going car with track intent, definitely one of the best BMWs I have driven. The car is full of character with a cracking soundtrack and a chassis that makes you feel at one with the machine. Having finished my drive I looked back at the M3 GTS and thought totally awesome, they don’t build cars like that anymore.

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regionalnews My Z3 has developed an intermittent airbag fault that I am currently trying to resolve, not helped by the fact that the airbag control module holds the error codes and regular diagnostic tools cannot access that. Plus the fault is intermittent. BMR assisted me by reading the codes, but they showed nothing conclusive other than it could need a new airbag control unit, which is rather expensive. I am exploring options and will keep you updated. Lastly, as I am writing this, the travel restrictions seem to have

South Wales Jonathan Bamford Welcome to our South Wales Region news. I hope everyone is safe and well. Apologies for the lack of news over the last couple of months. If you are new to the Club and this is your first issue, then welcome. Our monthly meetings have started up again and are at the Twelve Knights Pub in Margam, SA13 2DB. They are held on the third Wednesday of every month. If you haven’t been to one of our meetings before, then please come along. It is a great opportunity to meet new people and share your passion for cars. They start between 6:30pm and 7:00pm, with some arriving slightly earlier for food. Please ensure the club has your correct email address so that you don’t miss out on any future events or plans. We had an attendance at Summer Action Day at Castle Combe last month. Sadly, I couldn’t be there due to work commitments. However, there were a number of members from across different regions who made the trip and joined us on the stand. The weather was intermittent, which I’m told created some interesting track action. Castle Combe never disappoints when it comes to watching the cars on track, especially in

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been lifted with France. So I am hoping for a proper drive in the Alps very soon. Details of all events can be found on the BMW Car Club site under South East Region homepage. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk/ regions/south-east Kent Micro Meeting – The George, Taylors Lane, Trottiscliffe, West Malling, ME19 5DR Sussex Micro Meeting – Billy’s on the Road, Stane Street, Billingshurst, RH14 9AE

southwales@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

the wet. I’d like to thank those that attended for supplying some action shots from the day.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

regionalnews

We were invited to attend the South Wales Car Festival at Chepstow Racecourse in early August. At the time of writing the show hadn’t taken place, so unfortunately I don’t have any photos for this. I will give you an update in next month’s issue, but we have got a good turn out of cars planned, including some members attending an event for the first time. This event is organised by the St. David’s Hospice Care charity to raise

Thames Tony Skerrett We had an action packed regional meeting at the Littlebury Hotel Bicester on the 29th July with the three amigos, Gary, Sir Roy and Phil. Congratulations to Pete Austin for making the meeting, I was really surprised to see him and very welcome it was too. Past Events See Central Report on The Cotswold Trip

some much-needed funds. Let’s hope the weather holds up for a great day. This month is our North Wales trip. We are travelling up on Friday the 17th of September and are planning to visit some places that we missed last year due to the pandemic. If you’re reading this and still fancy coming along, then please message me to check availability. The hotel is prebooked and payment is required on check in, so no money up front. The report on the weekend will be in the November issue due to deadlines for each article. Keep an eye out for it and maybe join us in 2022. We will continue to arrange meetings where we can and small runs when possible. Most Sundays we organise a cars and coffee meet at Unit 7 in Llanelli. It’s a couple of hours out of the house and a great opportunity to meet up and stay in touch. I know things can be difficult at the moment and not everyone can make every event, but it would be good to see some faces and to have a catch up. If you are not involved in our WhatsApp groups, then please contact me to be added. It is here that last minute runs and meetings may be arranged. Until next month, as always, stay safe and hopefully see you soon.

thames@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Niek Nijsen continuation of Brunhilda E9 Project, but not so much on the car this time. Ah the demands of Search and Rescue. “Hello Members, Welcome. It’s been a busy month, but not when it comes to either the car or my models. Let’s have a look at July’s update: SCALE MODELLING

Future Events 5th September Rousham Autumn Scrummage. Rousham House, Rousham, Bicester OX25 4QU. We may display in the courtyard. www.rousham.org

Maybe more events with a possible revisit to Delapre Abbey Northampton. 10 October – October Scramble! Public Event. Our second open day event of 2021. Bring your pre-1990 vehicle. More details from Club shortly.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

I’m still working on a few projects in the background. The Stuka is still waiting to be finished, with only the clear parts and final weathering left to do. The P51 Mustang is coming along nicely, most of the actual construction work is now finished. The next phase will be that of painting, which will include a lot of complicated masking; something that will probably take quite some time to get right. I will update you on this in next month’s newsletter, assuming it’s not finished by then. I finally got around to updating the website, which is long overdue. The main model page has been rearranged and various models have been moved to their correct category. I’ve written new intros and blog entries for the current builds to give you a bit more info about them all and hopefully will be able to provide photos of the finished models in the next few weeks. Including are the Stuka and P51 Mustang.” BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021 65

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Wessex Julian Pickering

Snows BMW snows.co.uk/bmw

wessex@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Our parts department is open 7 days a week. Portsmouth: Eastern Road, Portsmouth, PO3 5FF 02392 657500 Isle of Wight: Forest Road, Newport, PO30 5QJ 01983 522555

Barons Farnborough 01252 518 185 Club nights in both the Bournemouth and Basingstoke areas are in full swing once again. The Wessex Region has also held two events last month. The first was a drive and dine to the AtwellWilson Motor Museum at Calne, Eric Thompson describes: “Despite the weather forecast, we all set out from various starting points to meet at the Ivy Inn, Heddington. The Inn goes back to 1684 and still serves beer drawn straight from the barrel. The drive to Heddington was interspersed with picturesque Wiltshire villages and winding roads, a treat to drive on. Following a hearty lunch, we drove a further two miles to the Atwell-Wilson Motor Museum. We all parked together close to the entrance of the museum and had some good banter with the members of the Mazda MX5 Owners Club, who were also visiting the museum. The museum is well worth going to, with exhibits going back a hundred years or more. It features cars, motorbikes, lorries and a collection of wedding cars; there are two hundred plus exhibits in all. There is also a good collection of model vehicles displayed in well-lit glass cabinets. Overall, a small but interesting museum run by a friendly family. It’s a must visit if you are in the area. Top down motoring on the way home too. No rain, despite the BBC weather forecast.”

Barons Hindhead 01428 605 000

The next event on our social calendar is our forthcoming BBQ at Beaulieu Marina on the beautiful Beaulieu River. This is on Wednesday 18th August and so will be history by the time you read this, but a full report will appear in the October edition. Have a great month. Forthcoming events All confirmed Wessex Region events are published in the club website events area and on the Wessex Facebook page. Wessex has also set up a very successful WhatsApp group, which we are now using to notify members of all new events. If you haven’t joined this already, please send an email to wessex@ bmwcarclubgb.co.uk to be added. At this time, all events are provisional and depend on prevailing Covid restrictions. The following are planned currently (in addition to club nights):

Our second Wessex Region event was attending the Silverstone Classic. I have to admit to treachery here as I felt compelled to take my 1975 Triumph Stag to join in the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the car. There was a parade lap that included nearly 400 Stags. Although the BMWs stayed at home, I did buy a jacket from the BMW club stand in compensation. I have to say that the BMW Car Club was serving excellent coffee. Tim Maltby was there over the weekend and has provided the following report: “Along with some rain, there were well over 100 cars on display on the Saturday and Sunday, the days that I attended. Spotted amongst the eclectic range of cars spanning over five decades were a few from the Wessex Region, including a green Z3M, an Alpine White M2 Competition, an E39 B10 V8S and another M2 Competition in Hungaroring Silver. All classics or future classics in my humble opinion. The picture that helped make it for me was a certain Steve Henry astride one of the Kustom e-bikes on display adjacent to the Z8. Steve has agreed to show the picture here.”

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September • Drive, dine and skittles – 4th September. Antelope Inn, Hazelbury Bryan. • Simply BMW – 19th September. Beaulieu Motor Museum.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

registernews 02 Richard Stern

07770 443373 02register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Bavaria Tour At the beginning of August another email came to us from the organisers of the Bavaria Tour, stating it was still going ahead but with more restrictions. It also turns out that you need to isolate for 10 days when returning from Germany. Because of this, all the UK 02ers that I know of have pulled out, including myself. It’s just not worth it with the restrictions and difficulties in travelling across Europe and back, plus being unable to meet with our European friends once there. Let’s hope there is another one soon once all the Covid restrictions are lifted. Silverstone Classic As some of you might have seen on Facebook, not long after I set off for Silverstone Classic I broke down on the motorway. Some idiot that will rename nameless, replaced the battery on his 02 earlier in the week. It’s a tight space for the new battery, so bending the fuel hose from the fuel filter, I had, I mean the nameless person had room to fit the new battery. Little did “they” know that the fuel hose was now kinked. After suspecting the fault was with the electric Tii fuel pump, the excellent RAC mechanic discovered the kinked hose, and guess what? Off we went. I felt so stupid, but at least it was an easy fix and eventually arrived at Silverstone only an hour late. Even three days of almost constant rain didn’t dampen our enthusiasm. It was great to see old and new friends, we actually had 12 02s on the stand and the highlight was the parade lap on Saturday afternoon. It actually stopped raining too, just look at the superb photos. Earlier that day I did an interview for Silverstone radio and whilst doing the lap it was broadcast, I thought it came out really well.

Tail Pipe Keep me posted with all your local meets and share your stories and photos with the 02 family. Keep 02ing. I have a set of 02 Zender flared (box style) arches made of fibreglass, they need work. If anyone wants them, come and get them. They are free to a good home. www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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3 Series Simon Maskell Hello to you all and welcome to the 3 Series Register. I missed last month’s publishing deadline, thus no article in the last Straight Six. At the time of writing, I have just returned from Silverstone Classic, and what an awesome event that was. I was particularly impressed with our club stand. The layout was just right, there were some excellent cars on display and a constant supply of teas and coffee to members. The Club’s presence helped recruit new members and sell some merchandise. Well done to all who were involved with the planning and execution of that stand, it was the best one at the event. When I took over this Register, I was acutely aware that I had a very narrow experience of the 3 Series, due to the fact I am an E46 man. Well loyal readers, you will be glad to hear that I have finally bought another 3 and it’s not a 46. I am now the proud owner of an E36 328i Auto Convertible and I couldn’t be happier. The backstory to this purchase is that I was contacted by a gentleman, who owned the vehicle in question, and he wanted

3 Series E36 Michal Michalski It’s September, so it probably means some of you are starting to clear out some space in the garage to store your E36 for the winter. Hopefully you had a great summer and took your beloved E36 for many enjoyable trips. I know someone who did, Ieuan Evans, his story has captured BMW fans’ attention and it fully deserves to be in September’s E36 Register news. Ieuan loved the look of the E36 from a young age, this feeling only grew when he saw one in flesh outside his engineering college. He had to wait until his third year of apprenticeship to purchase his very own car. The intention was to buy a coupé and turn it into a Clubsport style E36, taking inspiration from great cars like the E46 M3 CSL and Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS. The specification for the car was clear; as light as possible, so no electric seats, electric rear vented windows, or sunroof. In general, as little heavy optional extras as possible. Ieuan’s dream

68 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

3series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

to sell it. The car had been standing on his drive for five years under a cover and had not turned a wheel in anger in that time. So a deal was done and I bought the car sight unseen. A few weeks passed and I was having difficulty with my usual transport man, so I decided to go down to see the car, because I could, and I needed to pay the balance of the agreed price. Well, what a little stunner this car is; it has all the keys, plus a comprehensive folder containing lots of service information. The original owner had been fastidious in his record keeping and the car has some nice options that include heated sports seats (a must for UK open-top motoring), light grey leather, headlight washers and so on. Fast forward to the present and I am still having transport man issues, so hopefully by next month you will be seeing some pictures of me in possession of the car and recommissioning it for the road. That is it for this month, so until next time I will bid you all a fond farewell.

e46register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

would be to use an E36 M3, however he does like to enjoy driving his car and quoted “I feel the M3 would be too valuable to be used without worry”. He settled for a very good looking Avus blue E36 328i, with a mighty 6-cylinder 2.8-litre engine. The car is one of the last coupés to leave the Bavarian factory as it was built in 1999. Also, this particular example is the factory M Sport “sport pack” and it features original M Sport design front bumper, rear bumper, side skirts, rear boot spoiler, stiffer suspension and alloys. In Ieuan’s opinion, the two piece BBS RC041/042 alloy wheels are the best part of the sport pack. In my opinion, BBS RC041/042 have a timeless design that’s always sought after and the price definitely reflects that. However, Ieuan likes them because “the wheels are extremely light and look amazing”.

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

registernews Wales is full of beautiful places, but, for petrol heads, the roads are the best bit of the country. If you don’t believe me check The Abergwesyn Pass. The E36 with its almost 50:50 weight distribution is a truly fantastic and engaging experience on those roads. However, before Ieuan could experience that himself he decided to refresh the exterior of his E36, quoting, “I thought it was starting to look a bit tired.”

His car was a fairly clean example, besides some rust bubbles on the rear arch. Once he had found a garage able to deliver a high quality job, Ieuan decided it was time to buy new parts. He bought all the exterior trims, badges, seals, grills, brake ducts and

3 Series E46 Simon Maskell Hello to you all, it’s been too long. I missed the publishing deadline last month, thus the radio silence from me. It has been a busy time for me and the 330i Convertible has been pressed into use as my daily. Although that will be changing soon, more of that later. Considering my convertible is 152K young, it makes a great daily vehicle, with one exception. You know it, fuel consumption. The recent UK weather has meant that I have been topless, so to speak, most of the time. The record I set was 10 days of never having had to put the roof up. It is garaged at night FYI. That’s quite an achievement, I like to think. Due to work commitments the car has been drinking about £80 to £100 of fuel each week. So, because of this, I am looking for a more economical version and I am thinking of going for 320Cd. There is a potentially very interesting option in that direction, so I will let you know if that happens, and a little bit of back story to boot. I have sampled the dark side, my fellow 46’ers. I have only gone and bought an E36 328i Convertible. Now before you start throwing things my way, let me explain. The 36 in question is lovely, it’s a six-cylinder car and I couldn’t help myself. Because of the imminent arrival of this car, and the fact I need a more efficient daily, the 330i Convertible is on the chopping block. It is mechanically in excellent condition, having had a new clutch, four Bilstein dampers, an entire new cooling system, a full set of discs and pads, four new Goodyear F1 tyres… the list goes www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

arch liners from Sytner BMW in Newport. It took a month to get all the parts. The car was dropped on the 10th of April and took four weeks to complete, but Ieuan could not be happier with the result. Ieuan has done many modifications to make it the ultimate weekend car for the Welsh roads near his house. His favourite tweek is the suspension upgrade. He has chosen BC ER coilovers with the ability to set custom spring rates, and it has transformed the way his car handles. Another worthy modification was replacing every rubber bush with polyurethane ones. Some say it makes the car feel like it has solid bushes, but I disagree. As Ieuan says “you won’t regret it!”

Ieuan would like to give credit to @sorcerer.ht81s on Instagram for the amazing photographs and Craig Nicholls at C.N body shine for the paintwork. e46register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

on. It is definitely not a concours vehicle, but it has a lot of life left in yet and could be a great car for someone else. If you are interested in it, drop me a line, it may be still for sale. For more details search out Simon On Cars on YouTube, as it should be on there by the time you read this. The other day I was sitting in the convertible, pulled up at the side of the road, with all the windows down. Because of the way a breeze was blowing I thought, I will just put up the two left hand side windows. So, I put my fingers under the window buttons simultaneously and both windows began to rise. As the front one got to approximately 80% of the way up, it stopped. This allowed the back to rise fully and the front glass to continue on its way to the top; who knew? It is sometimes the little things that amuse me. That is all from me for now, are there any things you have discovered about your car that surprised you? If so, drop me a line and some brief words and you will find them appearing on this page, thanks and see you in the next one. BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021 69

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4 Series Paul Roberts Another month has gone by and, at last, we are able to get out and about. Last Friday, the 30th July, Richard Howard and I were able to go to the Silverstone Classic, albeit in his Z4. We left Norfolk at 4.30am that morning and arrived at 7.00am. Too early as the gates weren’t even open. Needless to say it was a very wet day, but we were able to shelter under the BMW Car Club marquee with suitable refreshments. It was also great to meet Lisa and Michelle from the Club HQ and put faces to names. This was my first time at the event and, apart from the weather which actually made the racing interesting, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. No doubt there will be more coverage of the event elsewhere in this issue. After a day off on the Saturday we then attended the Sporting Car Club of Norfolk’s annual drive out on the Sunday. Fortunately the start point this year was in my home town of Hingham and we had 150 cars attending. Cars ranged from a 1915 Ford Model T to a 2020 Aston Martin DB11. Again, sadly, the weather wasn’t good until the last hour of the drive when we did get the roof down. Picture of my car is shown. Unfortunately, I didn’t get

5 Series E12 Pat Tremain

4series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

any chance to photograph the cars as we were away from the start quite early on. We will be restarting the monthly meetings soon and have already booked attendance at the Marham Car Show on the 22nd August. I believe we have 14 local cars attending and we will be joined by around the same number from the Central Region. A drive to the coast for a fish and chip supper is also on the agenda. Finally I have had an email from someone who has contacted me before, Terry Nicholson. He owns a 420i Convertible that was originally a BMW management car. Terry purchased the 420i 11 months later from Sytner Nottingham and I’m pleased to attach some great pictures. If any other 4 Series owners out there who would like me to feature their cars please get in touch. Will sign off now. Oh, I almost forgot. I am off to Chipping Norton on Friday 6th August for a week so I’m intending to visit Diddly Squat Farm Shop. Wonder if I’ll bump into Mr Clarkson?

e12register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

I am very sorry that the article I wrote to compliment the London Classic Car Show article did not include any of the photos sent with it, so it made no sense to be reading about an extremely rare E12 530 MLE originally from South Africa without any pictures of the car as it appeared at the show. My apology is specifically aimed at our member Ian Bergin and his team who moved heaven and earth to get the car ready for the show. As mentioned in the article, the car was in bits the days before the show. The head was not on, Weber carbs not set up. So it was an incredible achievement for the car to be able to drive onto the site under its own steam. It had been transported down, but was driven in and out.

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www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

registernews I just loved that everywhere you looked it had holes drilled in it to lighten the weight. And because this was done individually to each car as not everyone made it into competition, some had more metalwork removed than others and in different places just

5 Series E28 Tim Maltby

to get weight down. Ian has done a great job getting the car to the UK. He still has quite a long list of ongoing jobs to do, so look out for it at other events in the future.

e28register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

My thanks to those of you who have taken a digit or three to a keyboard in response to previous articles. In addition to Stu and his M5, Ian and his father from Birmingham have a 1986 528i that has been in the family since being purchased new and have kindly offered to have their car featured in our forthcoming ‘’ownership article’’. More takers welcome please, or you will have to put up with one of mine!

www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

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registernews Since last year’s Covid lockdown it was great to attend another National event and once again the Silverstone Classic at the end of July lived up to all expectations, including some wet weather. I was unfortunately unable to bring an E28 so had to bring my ‘modern’ which being an E39 of 2002 vintage was no hardship. I was delighted to see a lovely red E28 M535i representing the register and was sorry that I didn’t get the chance to chat to the owner. I may be mistaken, but could have seen this car at a Bicester Scramble a couple of years ago? My no-show in an E28 was down to poor planning and timing on my part as all of mine were off the road at the same time. The 520 front suspension recently started clunking on uneven road surfaces and was due to the nearside rollbar drop link giving up the ghost. As there is also some slight play in the bush of the idler control arm, I have taken the decision to replace all of the steering components with the exception of the steering box. The 535 is still slumbering awaiting his restoration. The diff on the M5 has started to weep oil from both output shaft seals and one of the driveshafts has play in the outer CV joint and so work began in mid-July. All being well both the 520 and M5 will be fully fettled by early September. Looking forward to any updates or news that you would like to share.

5 Series E34 Manj Sandhu Hi all, with the recent nice weather I have been giving the E34s a good run out. A few long distance trips and local journeys. Since the house move and the need to drop the kids off at school, the 12-mile round trip twice a day has really helped keep the cars running, tested and healthy. The 525iX is the daily driver and the regular workhorse. It takes it in turn with the white 535i Sport as well as the others in the fleet. Getting the tyres done was superb as the drive over the following weeks were fun. After the MOT and service, it was great to get out in the M50 engine 2.5-litre. It does pack a little bit of a punch (very little I know) and is different, but in a good way to the M30 3.5litre in the 535i. After writing about the return of the Big X, as in the 525iX, last month, I have been waiting for it to kick up some more issues and problems. I am happy to report there are no showstoppers. A few existing things have started to niggle me: 1. The rear windows do not open anymore. They packed up about a month or so before it went into the garage last year. It has never really bothered me as the driver. During the summer period we just had, it was a case of opening the front windows to help those in the back, usually the kids on a school run. The rear passenger side has started to develop a rattling noise that irritates me. It also does not hold closed, as in, it has begun to fall slightly over time, which is annoying when it starts to rain and I forget to push it back up into place. The only redeeming feature is that the rattle stops when the window is slightly open. Has anyone else experienced this issue before? Anyway, it will be one to look at in the future. 2. Leaks. I mentioned two last month. Let’s call them 2a and 2b; a. Coolant leak is still a message appearing on the dashboard every few weeks. It has reduced in frequency since the spat of warm weather we just had, but it still rears its ugly head. b. Oil leak. This is the biggest bugbear for Mrs Sandhu (the lovely wife Gurj) who hates to see oil stains on the newish drive. There appears to be multiple leaks. These long-term issues will inevitably need looking into.

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e34register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

3. The air con. This one was more of an issue during the recent spate of nice weather but still is niggling away at the kids and me on those warmer days. Whatever happened to just opening the window when it gets warm. How spoilt are the young’uns these days? 4. Paintwork. As you can see from the picture, the rear bumper lacquer has peeled and the paintwork does look in need of help.

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registernews 5. Finally, yet importantly, the door card on the driver’s door is loose and needs fixing. Before it is corrected, I will need to get new rivets and/or clips. It is not a big deal, it is just annoying. The 535i Sport has had both the front tyres replaced, as I mentioned last month. I got a puncture while I was out and about once. I did not have a wheel on the spare tyre (silly me), so the recovery van used their spare on it until I could find a new replacement. See the hilarious picture of the orange wheel. I used the same mobile tyre service company that did the 525iX a few weeks before for both the fronts as the passenger side one was looking a little worn too. With cash a little tight recently, I did not buy anything like the Goodyear £115-a-pop ones for the Big X, but I took a punt on the Blackcircles budget choice ones at £55 each. Please do not judge me. I sense the 535i is not happy about it either, but at least Mrs Sandhu was pleased.

5 Series F10/11 Dave Routledge Hello Fellow F10 and F11 enthusiasts. Hope everyone is safe and well and slowly adjusting to a normal way of life. Nothing much to report on Boris this month, only he’s been treated to two new rear tyres. I received excellent service, the new rubber was fitted on the driveway by Kwik Fit – highly recommended. I have a booking next month for alloy wheel refurbishment, too. I caught my nearside wheels a couple of weeks ago, so I will keep you all posted on progress. Now, to this month’s topic; iDrive Screens. When I first purchased Boris, I saw that the dreaded anti-glare coating was partly removed by the previous owner and it looked messy. I did some research on The Interweb and came across

6 Series E24 Simon Maskell Dear all, I must apologise for the lack of register news over the last year or so, like many of us over the last 12 months it has been a difficult time for me. Those who know me well and spoken with

7 Series Matthew Swanborough

f10register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

an excellent product called Novus Plastic Cleaner. I went onto a famous online auction site and managed to purchase a kit for £18.95. The kit arrived a few days later comprising three bottles: Plastic Clean and Shine, Fine Scratch Remover and Heavy Scratch Remover and a pack of lint free cloths. I thought I would start off with the Plastic Clean and Shine, and after 10 minutes all the old anti-glare coating had gone. I would recommend only using this bottle or the Fine Scratch Remover. After this task had been done, it was back onto the famous online auction site and I bought a gloss Anti-Glare Screen Protector, like the ones for mobile phones. After some jiggling, I managed to get the screen protector in place without any air bubbles. I did all this work with the screen still in place, but you can always remove the trim and screen if you don’t want to fit the screen protector vertically. My screen looks like new now, and it only cost around £35. That’s it for this month, please start sending in details of your own cars so that they can be included in future Register news. All keep safe, and happy F10 and F11 motoring. Dave and Boris.

e24register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

me will be aware of what’s been happing in my life. However, I plan to take a more active role and provide you all with more E24 news very soon.

7series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Despite a few incredibly hot days, what a wash-out July ended up being. For some reason I decided to take on a few repairs to the interior of my 750iL, jobs that required me spending a fair bit of time inside the car on some of the hottest days of the year. I can’t really complain about a bit of good weather, but my advice is to save working on car interiors for cooler weather and keep outside jobs for when it’s warm. That said, I managed to get to the bottom of an annoying issue on the 750iL where the remote central locking and the central locking button on the centre console stopped working. Few things bother me more with a flagship old BMW, one which should have remote central locking, but that you need to open with the key. The issue turned out to be the door locking mechanism within the door, I believe the door was not registering

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registernews that it was closed (as confirmed by interior lights coming on when opening any other door but the faulty one), and replacing it has restored order and what I consider to be a fundamental feature. I have been preparing the 750 in order to sell and having completed some of the last few bits I am able to do, I gave the car a full valet and took it out for a lovely cruise to a local beauty spot to get some photos of the car in the sunshine. Needless to say it looks amazing, and it’s hard for me to part with such a lovely example, but something else has come along (story to follow) and you can’t keep them all. Just my luck, though, no sooner had I finished taking a few photos where literally a few metres down the road I encountered one of those really short and sharp speed bumps and went over it at no more than 30mph. With that, the rear spring and damper on one side declared that moment to be their last. Although drivable, the car is now slumped on one side and awaiting a pair of replacements to be fitted. This has delayed me getting the car up for sale. In other exciting news, July bought with it an impulsive and rather rare and magnificent surprise addition to our household fleet of BMWs. A great friend of mine and fellow BMW collector Martin, came across an E65 Alpina B7 for sale, and as we were looking for a car to use for a road trip to the Alps, this LHD example seemed too good to miss. Comfortable, spacious for two big lads on a long journey, plenty of room in the boot for stockpiling wine in Calais, and a reported 520bhp to keep up with the rest of the convoy, most of whom are to be in various high-end sports cars. We were looking for something suitable and Martin found the car online on a Saturday morning, later that day we secured the winning bid and picked it on the Monday afterwards. We now share the ownership of this Alpina. Once Martin had enjoyed the car for a couple of weeks I got my chance to spend some time with it and set about attending to a few things that the car needed and some issue areas that commonly found on the E65 model. Some of which are from the fact the car is a Japanese import and some of the electronics are still believed they were in Japan. Changing the radio frequency to UK range was a simple coding exercise, however the navigation side of things is posing a little more of a challenge. The important thing though, is that we have a working radio for our road trip and are less worried about using an outdated satnav. I may bring you more news on the Alpina as I go, but do prefer to share news and stories from readers and club members rather than going on about my own cars every

8 Series Debbie Blythe

month, so please do get in touch with any and all photos and experiences with your 7 Series cars. To get in touch with me anytime, email 7series@ bmwcarclubgb.co.uk, follow me on Instagram @e38th and @bmw_7seriesregister, or find me on many of the 7 Series Facebook pages as Matt Bavaria.

8series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Hi and welcome to the September edition of Straight Six, I hope you are all well. There are a couple of events happening this month that we love to see you at, please see details below. Car of the Month – 850CSi owned by Jock Bryce M80 PWR was first registered 31/12/95. I left my details with Sytner of Nottingham to get in contact if they ever had an 850CSi for sale. Having been advised I would be very lucky to find an 850CSi, I went ahead and purchased an 840iL Steptronic in the summer of 2001. Which meant, for a short time, I owned two 8 Series cars; the locals must have thought I owned an oil well. Out of the blue in November 2001, Sytner phoned to say they had an 850CSi and I was welcome to come and look at the car, which I couldn’t resist. It transpired it had been owned by Lord Anthony Bamford (JCB). I was told, at the time, that the car had featured in Classic & Sports Cars and the man employed by

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Lord Bamford to procure interesting cars had seen the article. This gentleman then contacted the owner having read the story to see if he would sell it. The answer was no, but after three www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

registernews

attempts and upping his offer each time, the owner caved in and let it go. I spoke to the previous owner thereafter and he kicked himself for having sold it. The twist in this tale is that Lord Bamford’s procurement officer had heard of two brand new Alpina 850CSis in dry storage; either Hong Kong or Singapore, I think. Lord Bamford decided to purchase both cars, one for himself and one for his son, or so the story goes. That is the reason it came on the market and why I have been, for the last 20 years, the very proud owner of M80 PWR. In order to keep her in top flight condition I have spent a bob or two. There was a leak on one rear shocker, so rather than source one new shocker I decided to renew the lot, front and back. Originals were not available so Bilstein B6s were fitted along with a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 3 tyres. The rear silencers were showing signs of age and leakage so with a Scottish company offering the Powerflow SS System, rightly or wrongly I opted for that. Initially I wasn’t too happy as the end of the silencer box was in full view, however I have got used to it but the purists might cringe. The wide off-set MK alloy rims in my opinion look the part and help set the car off. Mileage when I bought the car was 40,610 and it is now sitting at just 47,385. I had a lot of trouble with misfiring for around 10 to 12 miles after start-up, then after that she was fine all day. On inspection, the distributor caps were found to have cracks in them. Luckily I had been thinking long term again and had purchased these, the rotor arms and a set of plug leads. So all age-related items were replaced and she now goes like the proverbial bat out of hell. If you want to and when tempted on these quiet Scottish Border roads. But I do not abuse the car, just enjoy the occasional little thrash and I’m very mindful of road chips on the sills and stones flying from other vehicles, and I never follow cars in front closely

E3 Tony Wilkes It has been a quiet few months for the E3 Register, even though the recent relaxation of the Covid restrictions has meant that we’ve been able to start attending events and shows again. Most notably, some of you may have seen one of our Register members stunning Fjord blue 1973 3.0Si taking centre stage on the Club display at the London Classic Car Show in Syon Park at the end of June. David has owned his E3 for nearly 30 years and his love affair with his car shows no sign of fading. A few more E3s have appeared for sale over the past few months, but seem to disappear just as quickly as they emerge. The optimist in me hopes that they will be restored. In other news, it won’t have escaped anyone’s attention

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unless about to overtake. I then had bother during slow speed driving in town traffic, like it was running on kangaroo petrol. This was traced to some air leaks affecting the fuel mixture, problem solved. However I am very mindful of the air mass flow meters on a car of this age. If only one goes faulty then it’s big trouble as there does not seem to be anything new or reconditioned available. I want to purchase two meters for peace of mind, anyone else in the same boat? Time for BMW to step up and support these iconic cars. Please BMW, make a limited run of these meters. They will undoubtedly be pricey, but there’s no doubt owners would pay the price to help keep these fine cars in their prime. Future Events Saturday 11th September 2021 – Cars in the Park, Lichfield. www.carsinthepark.com I have reserved an E31 club space for up to 20 cars and currently have a couple of places left. It is just £5 for the day and should by all accounts be a very good show. Please contact me on 8series@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk ‘Simply BMW’ on Sunday 19th September 2021 at The National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire. This event is open to all BMWs and runs from 10am to 5pm. We have an 8 Series stand for up to 20 cars, so if you want to join us then please email me so I can reserve you a place. You must purchase your own tickets. The entrance fee is £13 for participants (£6.50 for children) and covers you to bring your BMW and park up in the grounds of the Motor Museum and gives you entry to the museum, palace, grounds and other attractions. Tickets are now available from the events page on www.beaulieu.co.uk

e3register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

that our German friends have experienced some truly horrific weather recently. I was especially concerned to hear this as the Chairman of the E3 Limousinen Club of Germany lives in Ahrweiler, which was one of the towns worst affected by the catastrophic flooding. A quick phone call ensured that he and his family were ok, but that the town and its inhabitants had suffered a terribly destructive and devastating few days. My thoughts remain with them. Finally, as always I’d be delighted to hear from other E3 owners. Let me know about your cars and what you’re planning to do with them, or, of course, if we can help in any way. More importantly, get out there and drive.

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i8 Clive Neville Used car prices. Odd, aren’t they? One minute they are falling like crazy, the next minute they are buoyant and floating away. I expect you will have all noticed that over the last six months, pretty much all used car prices in the UK have risen by 10-15%. For some cars, including our cherished BMWs, they have risen even more. The media explains that it is supply and demand, the lack of new cars, and the pent up need for us all to buy things having been cooped up for the last 15 months. Much of this is true, but real price changes are a consequence of the first of these coupled with rarity. That really does make cars worth a lot, even during pandemics and financial crises. When I started as the i8 Register person eighteen months ago, I argued (in late 2019) that then was the time to buy a very lightly used i8. If you had bought a year-old car with minimal miles you could have had it for nearly half of its original retail price. I even explained that I was still expecting the car’s value to continue to slump but, for me, this was acceptable because it was going to be a long term ownership. But at least I hadn’t taken a huge initial hit. Throughout 2020, the BMW Approved Used site (and AutoTrader) advertised pages and pages of near new Roadsters each day as the year-old cars were let go by BMW UK into the network. Really, the choice was yours and, because they were all competing with each other, and many had the same colours and specification, prices were very competitive. By the turn of this year, near-new delivery-mile cars were less than £70,000 (against a retail of near enough £130,000 if some options were specified). All of this gave the impression that i8 Roadsters were pretty much unsellable. Then, in March this year, the supply from BMW stopped and, as quick as a flash, there were next to none for sale. As of today, there are eight Roadsters for sale and no LCI versions. And the prices? They reflect the new order and have risen by £20,000 to between £75,000 and £95.000. Now, I have no idea what they will do in the future, but the fact that they have not continued to plummet means that there is demand for them. And of course, because production has stopped, and BMW will never again make another car like this, and because only 2,000 (or so) Roadsters were built, then their rarity will always make them very collectible. Will the i8 Roadster’s value follow a similar trajectory to the Z8, of which 5000 were made? Prompted by the above, I have also been delving into i8

M Power Anthony Shilson

i8register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

statistics. It’s what we Register folks do, isn’t it? So, here are some. Thanks to Sean Holmes at BMW UK for the data. Please message me if anybody wants the whole lot in tabular form. BMW UK supplied a total of 3111 i8s into the UK market, made up of 2499 Coupés, 145 LCI Coupés, and 467 Roadsters. Of the original Coupés, 56 were in Individual Paint, 784 in Crystal White, 321 in Ionic Silver, 269 in Protonic Blue, and 954 in Sophisto Grey. There was also 10 in Dark Silver, 34 in Frozen Black, 14 in Frozen Yellow, and 48 in Protonic Red. Of the Roadsters, 29 were in Individual Paint, 130 in Crystal White, 114 in e-Copper, and 193 in Sophisto Grey. The final one was the Sophisto Grey special edition. Of the LCIs, 14 were in Individual Paint, 43 were in Crystal White, 15 in e-Copper, and 73 in Sophisto Grey. So, if you really want to be different, go for the Sophisto Grey special edition Roadster, a Frozen Yellow, or an Individual Paint. Interestingly, BMW only offered the choice of Individual Paint to the customer wanting one of the original Coupés, this service was not offered to those in the market for a new Roadster or LCI. Rather, any Individual Paints you find here are either colours like Donington Grey (which was offered as a brochure option in 2018) or those chosen specifically by BMW UK for promotion purposes. The photo of the Riviera Blue Roadster is one of those colours (many thanks to North Oxford BMW for the photo). Next month I will go through the different interior options sold in the UK. In the meantime, we can only guess whether Amido Black took more orders than Carum Grey…

essex@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Following on from last month, this is the first in a series of Ben Shaw’s stunning E46 M3. Ben has kindly sent me a lot of informative material, so it’s a case of ‘where to start?’ He also has an excellent Members’ Rides thread on M3 Cutters (www.forums.m3cutters.co.uk/threads/bens-sg-progressthread.212111) Let’s start with the fading of the rear parcel shelf, as it is likely something that many will experience. First photo is what a faded black parcel shelf looks like. And yes, it was black and not a grey, lilac colour originally. Ben writes, “Another common age related visual let down on the E46 is the colour of the rear parcel shelf. Unless the car has been stored in a garage most of its life, you will find that it has faded from black, through to dark purple or lilac in some instances. The solution is to re-dye or spray paint it black. I opted for

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registernews dabbing on dye with a sponge but other than feeling rougher I can’t see paint having any drawbacks, as it is a common alternative. I decided to remove the parcel shelf for the job and recommend doing this over trying to re-dye it in situ, it allows you to get into the corners properly. This is a highly satisfying task to tick off the list. To remove the shelf, the back seats, leather bolsters, C-pillars, speakers and a few bits of plastic trim need to be taken out first. Once on a worktop or a floor (somewhere that isn’t beige carpet) you can begin the re-colour. My technique involved a sponge dipped lightly in dye, followed by thin layers dabbed onto the surface to achieve an even colour. Once dried it seems to hide uneven application pretty well, so don’t panic if it appears a little blotchy while damp. Leave overnight to dry or longer if you can, then refit the way it came out. The improvement is incredible. Despite the difference in lighting you can clearly see the original material colour under the speaker covers”.

Many owners would have not thought to re-dye the parcel shelf, so this is a great tip, that not only saves money on buying a new one, it also helps save the planet. One of my own mottos is “reuse not recycle”. Moving on to another interior change and this time a mod. As you may have remembered from last month, Ben’s M3 is significantly modified. The following concerns the inside of the boot. “This was an idea I borrowed from another M3cutters’ member, to give easy access to the rear strut towers. With the trim being covered in carpet, having an access hole allows much quicker removal of the shocks and for the installation of a brace. Most importantly, it allows the KW V2s to be easily adjusted. By drilling with a hole saw roughly where I knew the top mount would be, I could see enough to work out where it was exactly and mark it on the carpets. I then removed the trim.

X Series Greg Lyons & James Brigginshaw Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to arrange an X Series meet in July. However, we have now managed to arrange a meet in September. There is a slight venue change, the fantastic NY500, Pickering, YO18 8EA is now welcoming us on Saturday 2nd October from 9:30am onwards. We are pencilled in for between 10-20 vehicles. If people could confirm their interest and attendance by emailing xseries@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk as soon as possible, so that we can tie numbers down. We hope you can attend and look forward to seeing a range of X Series cars there. We do know it will be slightly too far for some of you so we are hoping to also arrange another X Series meet further south later in the year; a possibility of V-ATE in Lincolnshire or other ideas to www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

Then I could measure outward and mark a neat rectangular opening centred on the top mount, which I found easiest to cut out with a small saw. At the recommendation of a friend, I located some IGNPION rubber edge trim from an online marketplace and used it to neaten up the edges.

Fitted back on it looks tidy and is fully functional. You may require a few re-cuts to the hole in order to achieve the size required, so don’t forget to start conservative, offer up and increase the size as necessary”. I’ll be featuring more of Ben’s excellent handiwork in future columns. Do you have anything interesting to contribute to this section? Please email me your own M Power mods, fixes or stories to essex@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

xseries@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

follow. Watch this space. For any of the meets into the future it’ll be great to see the usual suspects, from the X3 and X5 stable and also, with luck, some of the less seen XM models and maybe even some of the monster X7s. If anyone is interested in all things large (in automotive terms) then I can tell you, whilst we’re talking of the X7, that BMW’s biggest SAV is well worth a look. After having had use of an X7 40i for a bit this month, I can confidently say that the niche motor certainly puts you in the spotlight. If attention isn’t your thing then steer clear, but if it is then its remarkable performance when considering the significant heft is pure witchcraft. It handles well, goes like a scalded cat in a straight line and yet BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021 77

registernews still returns sensible(ish) miles per gallon. The luxury is in-keeping with the price tag but is, nonetheless, impressive. The cabin is quiet thanks to exceptionally cosseting levels of insulation, yet the looks are anything but quiet. Niche it may be, but it certainly stamps quite a visual impression on all of those who see it. Love it or hate it the X7 is one hell of a statement. This may be of importance to some, but to those with more of an interest in a vehicle that happily houses seven with room in the boot aplenty, and yet still provides thrills and spills, then you don’t have to go down the MPV route. Go outside of that box and check out the ultimate (massive) driving machine. As always, if anyone has an X Series vehicle that they want to show off or tell us all about, then give us a shout. Likewise, we will continue to publish any news or trends and also look at individual models of enthusiast note to give a flavour of the cross section of X Series models. Maybe this will just give some a little inspiration to go ahead and jump into an X Series model or just be of interest to those who already are. Either way, do let us know any feedback and have a great month.

Z3 Register Alan Jones

z3register@bmwcarclubgb.co.uk

Welcome to the September edition of Straight Six, where does the time go? It doesn’t seem that long ago it was Christmas. Anyway, I digress. I have seen this question asked many times on various forums about the Z3, so I thought that I would cover it here just in case any Z3 owner was wondering. The question I am referring to is: ‘Is it possible to remove the external rear view mirror without removing the door card’? The answer is, yes you can. Although the internal door card isn’t really difficult to remove anyway, just a bit fiddly reattaching it back onto the door takes a bit more time than removing it, once any repairs that are required are done. Ideally the mirrors attached to the outside of the door should twist about 90 degrees, but many don’t as the metal in the mechanism fuses together making it impossible to turn. If you are lucky enough that your mirrors do turn, then this will give you access to the two securing bolts which attach the mirror to the door. Once the securing bolts are removed, the wing mirror will be free to fall to the ground, but I’m sure that you will have a hold of the mirror to prevent this. Once the mirror is free there should be a wire coming through a hole in the door and going into the mirror to provide power to the motor to allow you to alter the mirror using the switch on the internal door card. If you pull the wire gently through the hole, you should come across a connection in the wire, you can then unplug this connection allowing the mirror to be removed from the car. Make sure that you secure the wire coming out of the hole in the door with some sticky tape to prevent it from falling back into the door. If it does drop back into the door, you will then have to remove the door card to retrieve the plug. If the mirror on your car doesn’t turn to allow you access to the bolts for removal, all is not lost as you are still able to remove the mirror from the door by dismantling the mirror while it is still attached to the car. The first step is to remove the mirror itself, to do this you have to pull the mirror on one side to release the plastic fixings. I used a wallpaper scraper about three inches

wide and inserted it behind the mirror on its outer edge. As the scraper is wide it spreads the pressure across the blade of the scraper making it less likely that the mirror will break when trying to remove it. Once one side is released the other side should come off with little effort. Then there are four small screws to remove the motor and another four screws enable you to release the front and back covers of the mirror. Once the plastic covers of the mirror are removed, you then have access to the fixing bolts of the mirror. As before, you pull the wire out of the door until the joint appears in the wire. If you wish to repair or replace the mirror, you have a few options. You can buy a new one from a BMW dealer, or, if you are lucky, you can buy a used one. The third option is to replace the metal piece with plastic from a company called X8R.co.uk who sell various car parts to allow you to rebuild various items rather than having to buy new. As the metal support bracket is plastic, you will not have any problems in the future of them fusing together as the metal parts would have.

Concours Dan Wood Concours sponsored by 78 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

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www.woodsmotors.co.uk Byards Leap Garage, Cranwell Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34 8EY 80 BMW Car Club Magazine September 2021

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www.bmwcarclubgb.uk

19/11/2020 09:40

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Straight Six September 2021

Articles inside

Registers

Nikasil: Friend or Foe?

Club Pub Meets

Building the ultimate E30 M3

Your Photos

A dream combination

Putting the M into an E39 Touring

MLife: Tuned In

BMW News

The Classic, Silverstone

Motorsport News

Products

Dan Norris

Thoughts from the Boardroom

Board Torque