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Montery (part 2 of 3)
Preview party at Laguna Seca: At 4:00pm the party started. The cars that BMW
brought were amazing. At first I wandered into the Pit area and tent set up
by BMW Mobile Tradition. Inside the tent I found the 1986 Benetton BMW
powered F1 car, a BMW powered F2 car, the "BMW Original Parts Car" 635 (one
of my favorites), Nelson Piquets M1 Procar, a CSL, an E30 M3 Touring Car, and
Johny Ceccotto's1995 318 Touring Car adorned in the Motorsport flag paint
job. Outside the tent their where many more equally impressive cars. Their
were aproximately 5-7 CSL race cars, among them was the famous bright green
Grosser Beer sponsored, Alpina prepared CSL. Several other M1 procars, an
IMSA car, aprox. 5-7 vintage 328s, a 319, several 320 Turbos from the late
'70s with huge flairs and spoilers, a couple 1800TISAs and 2000Ti touring
cars. I have to say that the BMW staff and the Mechanics and engineers form
Motorsport and Mobile tradition were very helpful and adaptable. They did not
mind all the onlookers in their work area and they were all too happy to let
us take pictures and open up and see the cars all weekend. In adjacent areas
of the pits their were more privately owned BMWs like the Bretch 1600s and
the Cunningham 2002s. I am probably forgetting some but as you can tell thier
was a very impressive show of BMWs and that was just in the pits.
I next walked over to BMWs diplay tent where their were some even more
impressive cars. The atmosphere was very pleasant. BMW was serving a buffet
of various treats including oysters, german sauge and drinks (and this event
was free to BMW club members). Along one side of the tent were the four BMW
art race cars: the beautifully restored Calder CSL, the Stella CSL, the
Lichtenstien 320 turbo,and the Warhol MI Procar. Along the back wall was a
display of some of BMWs very important early cars:1940 Mile Miglia 328 with
the streamlined body, a 507 and several other early cars whose model
designations I can't recall. A platform in the middle of the tent displayed a
red Z1 and the new MZ3. The MZ3 was slightly different than the previosly
displayed car in that it had two roll hoops. Another corner was occupied by
more recent BMW racing macines; Nelson Piquets championship F1 car, and an
incredible race prepared McLaren F1 that was driven in this years Le Mans by
Steve Soper,Nelson Piquet,and Danny Sulivan. An other highlight was the
designer of the 507 singing atographs on neat brochures BMW provided and even
on the dash of a 507. An adjacent long tent had about 10-15 more BMWs.
Overall the display was quite incredible. Had I encountered any one of the
number of cars their, by itself under normal circumstances I could have spent
an hour studying it . So many neat cars and so little time. I had not even
got a chance to look at the rest of the Non BMWs in the paddock before it was
time to go ( In my case back to the hotel to work on those pesky water
spots).
Friday:
Concourse Italiana/BMW clean car contest. I arrived early (6:40am) to do some
last minute detailing on the M3. At about 9:00 I looked up for the first time
(previously I had been so occupied with last minute details and oblivious to
what was going on around me). The morning air was crisp and I was surounded
by hundreds of BMWs on the gulf clubs green. The BMW judging started around
10:00. Unfortunately the contest was a complete joke. The organizers had
underestimated the turnout and had too few judges. As a result the judging
teams were split up and not all the cars in the same categories were judged
by the same judges. Also some cars were forgoten and not judged at all. I for
one asked for my score sheet (which was incomplete) after the trophies were
awarded and the head judge admitted that the scores on my sheet did not match
my car. Besides my car some other really clean cars got overlooked. The said
it was supposed ot be a casual event but I think many people were under the
impression it was more serious,including several people who brought in BMWs
form very far away just for the show. Sorry for the complaining but that has
been bothering me for a while.
Anyways the turn out of BMWS was impressive. Their were some unique cars
including a Dinan Twin Turbo 850, a supercharged M3, a Z3 with an E30 M3
motor, a incredible Alpina CSL recently featured in European Car. The Alpina
CSL was even cleaner than in the mag pictures (those of you that looked in
the engine compartment or the underside know what I mean).
Oh yeah and thier was too much neat Italian stuff to even mention. My
favorites include a 1953 Ferrari F1 car, a black Daytona Coupe with paint
that looked 10 feet deep, and the new F50 with paint so thin you can see the
carbon fiber.
Friday Banquet: Some have complained it was expensive but IMHO it was worth
it. I mean how many other places can you have an informal conversation with
top BMW racing drivers. A tent had been set up on another near by golf
course. A jazz band played on the green and tables were set up with some
incredible cheeses. Everyone was seated and the banquet began. Eric Wensberg
spoke about Motorsport, then Vic Doolan got up and spoke about the importance
of the enthusiast to BMW and ended by saying he wanted to hear from anyone
who had ideas on how to improve BMWNA. He hinted that the dealers were one of
the biggest problems for BMW to overcome in the US. Sam Possey than got up to
speek on his experiences racing with BMW and he introduced the oter drivers
BMW had invited to talk about their experiences. Those who spoke included
Brian Reedman, Dieter Quester, Mark Surer, Steve Soper, Pete Halsmer, Ray
Korman and Bill Oberland. Their stories were entertaining and too numerous to
recount here. The evening finshed up with a video going through the history
of BMW in racing that included some great footage and interviews. It ended
with the McLaren F1 and said "To Be Continued".
Part 3 to follow...