BMW CAR CLUB (GB)
SOUTH EAST REGION
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Club Display & Stand at The RS owners Motorsport Show 2002
2002 RS Motorsport Show
30th June 2002 was not only the day that Brazil won the world cup football final for the 5th time, it was also the day that the display put on by members of the BMW Car Club won best visiting car club award for the second time, when we attended the RS owners club event at the Staines rugby club, Feltham. The day started with committee members Selwyn and myself setting up the South East Region hospitality support caravan and banners and flags. So by the time the regions chairman David arrived he could start on the breakfast. Tea, coffee and hot chocolate was on the go all day for club members.
Club members may remember Sarah being our birthday girl from Danson Park last year. She is just a girl who likes to be embarrassed by us! This time it was asking her what she had in the so-called soft drinks bottle? Barry brought along his Z1. Gordon Hyams and Chris Brown came down from Peterbough, Gordon in his 1988 E30 325i, Chris brought along Gordon’s AC Schnitzer Compact. And to round off the display we had two M3’s (E30, E46) and two coupe’s (E36, E46). So in the end we had a fine display of the BMW marque vehicles. During the day the club stands are judged for not only best display, the organisers also pick the best car on the display, which is then put in the main display arena, where the cars are judged on best non RS car at the show. I am pleased to report that Gordon’s E30 323i won the tankard for best car on our display, well done Gordon !
One of the many Ford owners clubs at the show was the Ford Anglia club, which was situated opposite our display. This brought back memories, as I passed my driving test in a Ford Anglia, was it really over 30years ago that I would be driving a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost around the yard where I was a apprentice motor engineer at a Vintage Rolls Royce and Bentley workshops, and in the afternoon taking my test in a Ford Anglia! Around noon the display areas started to become bereft of people as they made their way to the clubhouse where a large screen TV was showing the aforementioned football match. It was a good time to take a look around the other displays at the show. Ford not only had a main dealership display they had also brought along the Ford WRC Experience. One of the attractions in the WRC experience was a full size Ford Focus WRC rally car linked up to the Colin McRae rally game. Which had a large screen in front of the rally car, and you had to drive the rally course with pace notes being read out by the voice of Colin McRae’s navigator Nicky Grist. As usual when you know you can’t get hurt the car seems to roll very easily. It also had two scaled down rally cars for the children to have ago, or if you prefer there were two computers set up to play the game, so something for everybody.
The large outside BBQ , area was doing a roaring trade. There were many different parts and other items available from the Ford trader stands. Reading the programme of the show, which has an item relating to the best non-RS groups and car clubs display. BMW Car Club is put forward as a previous winner and they advise other car clubs to take a look and get some ideas from our display if they need them!!
Back this year was the “Blow A Banger prize” This is where a local trader donates a car; the oil and water are removed. You can enter by guessing how long it will take the car to blow up at full revs. Last years time was 3mins 11secs. It was £1 a guess and nearest to the time wins the money. So at 3pm with a large crowd gather around the area the car was started, 44.3seconds later bang, smoke and then fire from the sump of the car and it was over. The winners guess and nearest time were 48seconds. At 4pm the prize giving started, the raffle first, one of our group won a Performance Ford T-shirt ( will come in handy as a cleaning cloth). Then came the prize giving and one of our club members had been asked to make sure the BMW Car Club did not leave to early? It was announced that the BMW of Graham Hyams had won the best non-RS car at the show, again congratulations Graham. And The BMW CAR Club had won visiting non-RS club, to which we all received a scroll. So a big thank you from the South East Region Committee to all those members who took the time a trouble to make our display once again an award winning one, well done all.
Next to arrive was Gabriel. So with Gabriel bringing out his beloved BMW 5 series means only one thing, it’s not going to rain, and it didn’t! It was not to long before other club members turned up and the display was starting to take shape. On entering the site I was greeted by Bea one of the organizers who had contacted me regarding putting on a BMW car club display. She asked if we were going to win the visiting car club display. My reply was modest as usual “ BMW only knows one way to do anything, that’s being number one in any competition that they enter”. The one item we were missing was a Hartge flag to display along side our AC Schnitzer flag, as club members Iain Hamilton and Bill Zarif had brought along their fine examples of Hartge converted BMW’s. Iain’s is an E30 Hartge H27 convertible and Bill’s is E21 Hartge BMW. Both examples did look good on the display. By the time we had the display completed we had five BMW 5 series four of those being the M5 variety. Glen and Pauline not only brought along their M5, they also had Sarah and her friend with them.