Magazine of the National Capital Chapter BMW Car Club of America March/April 2012 Here comes the sun... Passport BMW One of the East Coast’s Largest State-of-The-Art Service Facilities State-of-the-Art Service Facility Make your appointment online Fast-Lane at www.passportbmw.com. Service With 53 Service Bays, We’ll Take You Today! Saturday Full Service Available on at Our State-of- The-Art Service Service Hours Facility. Modern, Spacious, Showroom Service Loaner You Will Receive a Service Loaner for Life With Every For Life New Passport BMW % BMW CCA Members Will Comfortable Customer Lounge Receive a 15% Discount on 15 Off Parts All Parts from Passport BMW Inquire Within for Discounted Dinan Pricing AUTHORIZED DEALER BMW Boutique passport bmw Passport BMW 4730 Auth Place • Marlow Heights, MD 20746 - - - | 1 866 813 6848 PassportBMW.com bmwusa.com 1- 8 0 0 - 3 3 4 - 4 B MW March | April 2012 Magazine of the National Capital Chapter BMW Car Club of America Cover: Southern California Christmas test drive of a 2012 650i convertible. Article on page 6. Photo: James Chew VOLUME 42 | NUMBER 2 5 Food, Fun and Freebies BY KENDRA SETO 2 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 6 A 400-Horse Open Sleigh 6 BY JAMES CHEW 3 FROM THE EDITOR 9 NCC BMW CCA Fall Tour 2011 Wintergreen v3.0 4 CALENDAR OF EVENTS BY DADID COSTANZA 9 12 December 2011 DIY at BMW Excluservice 20 TRADITIONS BY MARC CADEN 14 Newcomers Guide to Autocross 24 A LOOK BACK 12 BY MANUEL DE PENA 16 Making A CPO Car My Car 28 CLASSIFIEDS BY JAMES CHEW 16 18 The 50th Rockville Antique and Classic Car Show 29 ADVERTISERS INDEX BY MARC CADEN 18 President’s Message National Capital Chapter BMW Car Club of America It seems I always start off talking about the weather, so here it goes. It’s COLD out there! Chapter Officers (Please call 7:30 p.m.-10:00 p.m.) As I sit here typing, the temperature is plummeting into the teens and I still need to walk President the dog. Winter is my least favorite time of the year since washing the cars and playing Paul Seto . [email protected] 301.908.1928 golf is prohibited. However, it also means that spring is around the corner. Flowers will Vice President start to bloom and grass will begin to grow and everyone will be eager to begin a new year Algie Livingston . [email protected] 703.455.4717 Treasurer of chapter activities. Dave Miller . [email protected] 703.304.7950 Over the winter months, the driving school and autocross committees have come up Secretary with some great promotions to build and enhance member participation. Schedules and Zach Pullins . [email protected] locations have already been finalized and not only can you save money, but you'll be Membership Chair Greg Lindsay . [email protected] 703.440.0970 guaranteed a great time. For those who are not familiar with either program, register and Social Chair come on out! Our highly qualified instructors always look forward to new students and will Paul Seto . [email protected] 301.908.1928 have you hooked before the end of the day. Besides, you joined a car club, so why not Driving School Coordinator have fun driving your Ultimate Driving Machine? Matt Oleksiak . [email protected] Concours Chair Shifting gears to something a little more serious, by the time you receive this in the John McWilliams . concours [email protected] mail, the NCC board members will have returned from the bi-annual Chapter Congress in Webmaster Dallas, where we strategize with other CCA chapter leadership teams from around the Steven Schlossman . [email protected] country. Throughout the years, overall car club membership has declined in concert Autocross Committee Jonathan Thayer . [email protected] with the economy, so being able to share best practices and discuss current issues is Baltimore Activities invaluable to continuing our mission to enhance your BMW CCA experience. We are Bob Stern . [email protected] 410.602.0175 proud that our chapter is fortunate enough to have a truly dedicated volunteer base, a full Club Council Representative calendar of events, and a world-class newsletter, der Bayerische. Pete Lem . [email protected] In this way we're no different than any other business trying to stay afloat. We der Bayerische Staff struggle with member recruitment/retention, leadership succession, and finding the best Editor ways to inform our members of events. We're always open to hearing what our members Jim LaFemina. .. [email protected] Production/Layout have to say, and everyone is welcome to attend our monthly board meetings. We would Raine Mantysalo . [email protected] 301.318.9949 love to see new faces and have more people involved with running the chapter. And by Advertising Manager the way, volunteering is a great way to meet others just as enthusiastic in BMWs as you, Steve Lim . [email protected] 240.888.8943 and we pay very well too (just kidding)! Contributing Writers Marc Caden, James Chew, David Costanza, Woody Hair, Finally, I'll close by adding a few words of thanks to everyone involved with this year’s Manuel De Pena, Kendra Seto annual meeting and holiday party. Special thanks to Radial Tire, BMW of Silver Club Address Spring, BMW of Fairfax, and Central Liquors for their generosity and continued NCC BMW CCA, P.O. Box 685, Arlington, VA 22216 support. Hopefully everyone in attendance was pleased with our new format and location National Membership Toll-Free Number and both Angela Dzuro-Quick and Kendra Seto did an outstanding job planning the party. 800.878.9292 We also formally announced our 2012 Board of Directors, which includes myself, onboard der Bayerische is the official publication of the National Capital Chapter for another year as chapter president, Dave Miller and Algie Livingston are also returning of the BMW Car Club of America, Inc., and is not in any way connected with in their respective positions as treasurer and vice president. Rounding out the team the Bayerische Motoren Werke AG or BMW of North America, Inc. It is provided by and for the Club membership only. The Club assumes no of elected officials, please join me in welcoming back Zach Pullins, who was voted in as liability for any of the information, opinions or suggestions contained here - secretary after a short stint in Florida. We're happy to have him back and we're all ready in. No factory approval is implied unless specifically stated. Modifications to tackle another year of serving our BMW brethren. within the warranty period of a vehicle may void the warranty. Deadline for all material is the 21st of odd-numbered months. All articles are subject to editing and must be received by the Editor. Send all photos to the Paul Production Manager. For placement of commercial advertisements contact the Advertising Manager. See Classified Ads for information on member advertisement submission. Contents may not be reproduced without permission in writing except by the BMW CCA and its Chapters. © 2012 NCC BMW CCA 2 der Bayerische From The Editor Last summer my wife and I packed there, I recommend doing whatever Pittsburgh Grand Prix, assorted up our first-born child and safely you can to be that place – if you can calendars, a few old license plates, deposited him 500 miles away at my make your house the one where your and the sweet smell of oil and gas. alma mater, the University of South kids and their friends want to hang Here’s to the garage. Welcome Carolina (Go Gamecocks!!) His out, play music, play games and home. younger sister, a high school junior, spend their time – you won’t Jim is getting ready to take her SATs and regret it. To the then she too will soon be off on a But now it’s time to think about Editor: great adventure of her own. swinging some sledgehammers, A Which got me thinking… pulling up some carpet, and replac - s the “ol der gent Thayer leman” r Eight years ago we moved to ing a lovely bay window with a ’s infatua esponsib Thin tion with le for Jo Bowie, Maryland, with two young pair of matching garage doors, a few g…” Jan M Coup nathan ch uary/Fe es (“It’s kids, settling on a nice suburban stout workbenches and brand agrined bruary d a Coupe to learn er Bayer did don that he ische), I house whose two-car garage had new shelving for tools, cleaning uts on p dumped was keys ublic str the clutc long ago been converted into a play - supplies, paint, duct tape, maybe a for my eets whe h and ’99 M Co n I gave room. Perfect for 2004, but much few more tools … upe. him the I won’t m less necessary in 2012, and Since 2004, my E28 M5 (sold ake the my 1M same er completely useless by 2013. Eight in 2007), 1976 ’02 (sold in 2009) , ! ror of jud gment w years without a garage is a tough pill and current E36 M3 (purchased in ith Ne for a car guy to swallow. But looking 2010) daily drivers have all been il Simon Washin back on all the fun the kids have had, homeless. Soon, in addition to gton, DC and all the sleepovers and pizza giving them a roof over their heads, parties that converted garage has I will be able to surround them with hosted, it was an easy sacrifice to all of their die-cast friends, posters make.