Magazine of the National Capital Chapter BMW Car Club of America March/April 2019 March | April 2019 Magazine of the National Capital Chapter BMW Car Club of America Cover: James Chew test drives the 2019 BMW X2 xDrive2.8i equipped with Premium and M-sport packages. Read the article on page 8. Photo: James Chew VOLUME 49 | NUMBER 2 8 Confessions of a Station Wagon Lover BY JAMES CHEW 11 Autocross Season Wrap-Up BY JACK RAYMOND 2 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 11 14 Czech Automotive BY RON COSTELL, MD 17 Oktoberfest – Bimmers and Beemers 3 THE STEERING COLUMN BY PEARL ALIGA JONES 17 19 The Big Toy Box BY JAMES CHEW 4 CALENDAR OF EVENTS 22 Autocross – A New Season’s Guide BY JACK RAYMOND 19 24 Pie Run XXII BY ROB HOPKINS 4 COMING EVENTS 26 Please Don’t Bring the BMW 1 Series to the US BY JAMES CHEW 35 NEW MEMBERS LIST 26 29 Z4 Reveal at Pebble Beach BY CHRIS WOOTTEN 34 Autocross and HPDE Meet Street Survival 36 ADVERTISERS INDEX BY JACK RAYMOND 29 National Capital Chapter President’s Message BMW Car Club of America Chapter Officers (Please call 7:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m.) This time last year I made the trek to Daytona to watch the inaugural race of the BMW M8 President Paul Seto . [email protected] 301.908.1928 GTE and had an outstanding time. Warm temperatures, oceanfront hotel, and race cars Vice President everywhere at such a historic venue; couldn't ask for a better weekend. Unfortunately, James Laws . vice-president @nccbmwcca.org 240.424.5380 I wasn't able to make it this year, and of course, missed the historic, season-opening Treasurer victory. I also missed a cold and extremely rain-filled race, so I'm not too sad I was able Richard Kempf . [email protected] 703.455.8210 Secretary to watch the win on TV. But I did truly miss hanging out with all my CCA friends at Gina Hector . [email protected] 202.570.4462 the race and it would have been awesome to celebrate the victory among true BMW fans. Membership Chair That's why this club is so cool; we all love the cars which bring us together, but the James Laws . [email protected] 240.424.5380 people are what makes CCA so special. Social Chair Paul Seto . [email protected] 301.908.1928 Back in the DMV, it's still pretty cold outside and like many of you, I can't wait until Driving School Coordinator it’s warm enough to get out there and prep my car for the spring. As I write this, the Matt Oleksiak . [email protected] winter hasn't been too bad, but the car season is almost here and we're getting ready! Concours Chair Our schedule is jam-packed with all kinds of events that car folks will love. Whether you John McWilliams . concours [email protected] DIY Chair want to get your car on the track, take a fun drive to some cool places, or just need to do Phillip Cummings . diy [email protected] some required maintenance, this is just a small portion of what we do. And, if you Webmaster haven't been to many events, come check us out. We promise you'll be among other BMW Steven Schlossman . [email protected] enthusiasts and have an incredible time! Autocross Committee Phil Yates . [email protected] In NCC news, one major announcement that I want to share is that Craftsman Auto Baltimore Activities Care has agreed to be our Title Sponsor for Chapterfest 2019! As many of you already Billy Dixon . [email protected] 410.802.0188 know, Chapterfest is our huge annual event that showcases everything that NCC has to PR & Community Engagement offer. To be held at Summit Point Raceway on May 11th, we'll have an HPDE on the Main Kelsy Hill . [email protected] circuit, autocross on the Washington circuit, ///M5 hot laps courtesy of the BMW der Bayerische Staff Performance Center, and a whole lot more! Thanks to Matt and Judy Curry, both longtime Co-Editors Walter Jones . [email protected] club supporters, for making this happen! Look for more Chapterfest information in the Anna Maripuu . [email protected] coming weeks. Production/Layout Also, for 2019, we are commemorating our club's 50th anniversary! Members from Raine Mantysalo . [email protected] across the US will join us October 15-19 in Greenville, SC for our annual Oktoberfest Chief Marketing Officer Robert Cosentino . [email protected] 202.641.4208 celebration! As the largest CCA chapter, NCC will be there in full force as we visit our new Contributing Writers CCA headquarters and home of BMW Manufacturing, for several days of BMW nirvana. James Chew, Dr. RonCostell, Robert Hopkins, Pearl Aliga Jones, You won't find a larger gathering of BMW enthusiasts and there are some incredible things Jack Raymond, Chris Wooten being planned for such a historic event. Save the date and hopefully you'll join us. Club Address NCC BMW CCA, P.O. Box 685, Arlington, VA 22216 Finally, I know that joining a club such as CCA can be overwhelming at first. And there are National Membership Toll-Free Number members out there who have been around for many years without making it to a 800.878.9292 single event. Did you know that we have a mentor program for new members? We assign der Bayerische is the official publication of the National Capital Chapter of the all new members a mentor to 'show them the ropes' and invite them personally to an event. BMW Car Club of America, Inc., and is not in any way connected with the Please reach out to me if you'd like to be assigned a mentor and we would be glad to reach Bayerische Motoren Werke AG or BMW of North America, Inc. It is provided by and for the Club membership only. The Club assumes no liability for any of the out. Also, you can attend our New Member Reception/Open House at BMW of Sterling on information, opinions or suggestions contained herein. No factory approval is March 9th. We'll give an overview of everything that we do and you can meet all the other implied unless specifically stated. Modifications within the warranty period of a vehicle may void the warranty. All articles to be considered for publishing must folks who probably haven't participated much either. Registration is required, so please be received by the 14th of odd-numbered months (January, March, …) and sign up now to guarantee your spot. We are all about to embark on another great 'car are subject to editing. Please send all submissions to the dB editors at [email protected]. Send all photos and all links to photos to the season' and we want you to be ready! Production Manager at [email protected]. For placement of commercial advertisements contact the Advertising Manager at [email protected]. Contents may not be reproduced without permission in writing except by the BMW CCA and its Chapters. © 2019 NCC BMW CCA 2 der Bayerische TheSteering Column As we turn the corner from winter into spring, the their regular driving schools. We have several transmission. menu of activities for club events grows. We all concours and car shows to look forward to and of ReachNow is a BMW car-sharing and car- start to mentally and literally dust ourselves and our course, the 50th Annual BMW CCA Oktoberfest, rental service located in Portland and Seattle. You cars off from our winter hibernation. which this year will be held in Greenville, SC, to can either be driven or drive yourself. I recently Being a member of the largest BMW Car Club mark this important anniversary. This is a plethora read an article about the BMW i4 prototype, which of America chapter certainly has its perks. of events, an almost embarrassing array of riches. BMW has made to look much more conventional Our menu of options for car-related activities It’s probably good to pause and remind ourselves than the i3 or the i8. Even with the camouflage on, coming up for the year is long and varied. We have how lucky we are to have our Ultimate Driving since it has not yet been unveiled, one can see that the usual line up of socials, M Club days at the Machines and this great club in our lives! it has the shape of a ‘regular’ BMW. According to BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg, SC, As lucky as we are, I sometimes wonder what autoblog.com, spy pictures of the car reveal that it the NCC Autocross schedule is complete and the car scene will look like ten to twenty years from even has fake exhaust tips. The iX3, which made its includes two events at a new venue this season: the now. It’s hard to say how fast the landscape is debut last spring, looks almost identical to the gas- Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, MD. Our schedule moving, but it’s moving. There are more shared car powered X3. for HPDEs at Summit Point, WV is set. And we’ll services than ever, such as Maven, Turo and What are we petrol heads to do? I say savor be holding a big Chapterfest event in May at Zipcars, and one can always with the tap of an app, every minute of your manual transmission, gas- Summit Point. hitch a ride with Uber or Lyft.