Tickets are on sale for the 2011 National Festival

You can now buy tickets for the National Festival and concours in August, details of the ticket prices are below

Saturday 13th August: 

Concours entry £5 per car **

Hog Roast: £9.95 each or £18 for 2 **

Camping £25**

Sunday 14th August:

Member "early-bird" tickets offer (1st March to 31st May)

Adult £9.95 (£15 on the day)

Child (6 to 16) £5.50

Under 5's Free

Member Advance tickets (1st June to 8th August)

Adult £12 (£15 on the day)

Child (6 to 16) £6.50

Under 5's Free

Non Member Advance tickets (1st June to 8th August)

Adult £12.50 (£15 on the day)

Child (6 to 16) £7

Under 5's Free

Family ticket (2 adults and 3 children) £29.99 (£42 on the day)

Groups (>10 tickets) Members £9 Non Members £10

Show and Shine £5 per car #

Cars for Sale £10 per car #

Auto Jumble £10 per car #

** All individual attendees must have purchased an entry ticket for the festival in order to gain access to the museum on Saturday or they will need to purchase a normal entry ticket (£11)

# in addition to entry ticket price

Call the club office 10am to 4pm Monday-Friday (not bank holidays) to book: 01225 709 009

Photos from previous festivals can be found here

Bedford Autodrome Novice track evening with Tiff Needell!

A gorup of novice track day drivers gathered for an introduction to track days at Bedford Autodrome on Monday 11th April, the event is one of a series that has been organised by BMW, The BMW Car Club and MSV. The events are all sponsored by BMW which makes them very affordable (Bedford was just £49!) and a great way to get a go at driving your BMW on track.


We even had a visit from Fifth Gear presenter Tiff Needell who had a few tips for the novices, most included the word "flat" and he also threw in a "Scandinavian flick" for good measure! More photos from the event can be found hereL http://tinyurl.com/3aupcld

Prodrive factory tour

A group of around 45 BMW Car Club members enjoyed a very informative tour around the Prodrive facilities in Banbury on Saturday 16th April. The tour guide was not only informative but also had some interesting stories to tell about some of the cars, the history and the way that things are done at Prodrive. Photos can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/3oy7pac


Simon Alcorn organised the trip and is thinking about doing another in September, if you are interested please email purebmw@btinternet.com and let him know you are interested.

Targa Tasmania 2011 final report

Classic Heroes update on Targa Tasmania.....The rally ended in Hobart last night, after the long run across the island on the last day in the rain. Many cars did not make it home. But for those finishers, it was a hugely satisfying experience. In hindsight, the experience is simply surreal. The ultimate boys’ adventure. And an immense challenge. Over the last days, the miles increased, the speeds increased and the rain fell. A deadly cocktail. The roads were unbelievable. Even in our little M3 we regularly touched 200kph on winding country roads. We saw 7500rpm in 5th many times. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Pure adrenalin! One can only imagine how fast the guys in the modern cars were going.

Up and down mountain pass we sprinted, wound our way along valleys below, testing brakes, engine and skills, over and over again. On the last day we ran the famed Arrowsmith stage, at 58kms apparently the longest stage in a tarmac rally in the world. In the rain! It was here that we had our “moment”: about to overtake a Jaguar XJS it spun and bounced off the embankment blocking the road ahead of us. I still don’t quite know how we managed to avoid hitting it. But we did. So after having confirmed that the crew was OK, we continued, albeit at a more subdued pace.

To our surprise and delight, we picked up a podium finish – 2nd in the (rather contrived) class comprising those entrants who had competed in the inaugural Targa all those years ago. We were beaten by a Jaguar XJS “Walkinshaw look-alike”. So we’ll take home a lovely piece of silverware to remember the best week of motorsport you can ever imagine. In the truer class comprising all classic cars, we finished 47th from 83 finishers. There were 20 cars which DNF. So for us, it was a terrific result, for we certainly did the best we could and came home without a scratch on the car. And that was all we aimed to do.

And in case you are wondering what really won the honours? Well, the rally was won outright by a 2009 Nissan GT-R in the modern category and, as usual, by a 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RS for the classic category. But the truth is that we were all winners, every one of us. For we’ve competed in the world’s best tarmac rally. And will we be back next year? You’d better bloody believe it! Because we couldn’t disappoint spectators like those in the attached photo, could we?

On-line Straight Six magazine

Experimenting with an on-line version of the magazine, feedback welcome.....

Open publication - Free publishing - More bmw car club

Targa Tasmania 2011 "Day 2"

Classic Heroes update on Targa Tasmania.....Day 2 done. 410kms after a 7.27am start. Makes for a long, tiring day. But this is easy to forget when the weather is so utterly perfect and the Tassies so hospitable. Crowds gather and wave wherever the cars pass. And spectators can be found in the oddest of places. Even by themselves in country farmhouses. But there can be a downside to this tarmac rallying nirvana as we discovered today: the dreaded co-driver car sickness. It hit us high on Elephant Pass, a 12kms stage up and down the mountain pass. Needless to say, Genevieve stopped calling the pacenotes and left me driving blind. I think my resulting lack of concentration may have been the cause of what I diagnosed as a flat tyre – the car started to oversteer and slide dramatically. After a thorough check of the car after the stage the reality of the situation became clearer: the problem was the driver not the car!

And a few images for the day: a piece of Aussie muscle. This immaculate original 1971 Falcon GT was parked beside us at lunch today. Something to tantalise the Brits who may never one in the flesh. Awesome, but very scary I suspect! And the view of Tassie from inside the M3 today.

Targa Tasmania 2011 update - Day 1

Classic Heroes update on Targa Tasmania.....
Today the rally really began. 8 Targa stages in beautiful, brilliant, unseasonal Tassie sunshine. Perfect rally weather and sensational scenery.


But part of the magic of Targa is the famous faces you find everywhere. Like ex World Rally Champion Walter Roehl driving a 1982 911CS which he drove in the 1982 San Remo Rally. Herr Roehl is competing here with 2 other Porsches from the factory museum: a 356 and a 908. Now Porsche really know how to preserve their history – by driving it flat out! Here’s a shot of your correspondent’s M3 parked just 2 cars away from Roehl’s 911. And a shot of your correspondent with the great man himself.


In case you’re interested, the M3 ran perfectly all day. And changing up at 7500rpm it sounds wonderful in the countryside. Yes, it gets plenty of attention from the rally fans who you find in the most interesting places along the route. Not to mention a helicopter hovering over a particularly nasty corner, which scared the hell out of me I must admit.

Targa Tasmania 2011 update

Classic Heroes update on Targa Tasmania.....
Today we completed the prologue stage – a 4.82km blast around the closed streets of Georgetown where our time determines the rally starting order tomorrow. Slowest cars start first with the fastest at the back, all at 30 second intervals. Needless to say with many professionals in the event and many modern, more powerful cars than our little M3, we are way way down in the field, qualifying 51st out of 100 “classic” cars.


I’m sure that in better hands the M3 would qualify faster, even more modern cars, but for me that is really not the object of the rally. With my wife in the navigator’s seat and photos of our kids on the dash, these days rallies are an opportunity for a fabulous holiday in spectacular scenery where we can drive a special car as fast as we like and share our experiences with fellow enthusiasts in some of Tassie’s sensational restaurants savouring its seafood delights and wonderful cool climate wines.
So tomorrow Day 1. The rally really begins.


Here’s a shot of typical scenery: gum trees to shade the cars during the wait for our run around town and a varied assortment of cars and old geezers enjoying early autumn sunshine. My favourite, a few cars back behind our M3, is an ex-works Lancia Fulvia HF, still in original Marlboro livery. Classic."

Targa Tasmania 2011 reports

Classic Heroes have been advising one of their customers based out in Australia who runs an E30 M3 on brake set ups for the Targa Tasmania, and in return they are receiving regular updates and photos from the event. Classic Heroes have been kind enough to offer these reports to us as well and so we'll reprint the reports here as soon as we receive them......


And so it begins: the long countdown to the start of Targa is almost over. We are finally in Launceston in northern Tasmania (or Tassie as we Aussies call it), having passed scrutineering and attended the drivers’ briefing and now ready for the rally prologue tomorrow. So the car is emblazoned in T11 paraphernalia, bearing special T11 number plates and ready to go. But the truth is we’ve been on the road to Targa for months. The entry process is rigorous. To qualify you need a car worthy of the world’s best rally. An E30 M3 of course passes this test, as its motorsport credentials are impeccable and as the LHD only E30 was never brought to Australia by BMW they are still rare here. In fact it is the only E30 M3 in the rally. And then you need to satisfy the requisite motorsport experience/licence. Having been rallying and racing on and off for about 25 years I managed to get the tick in that box too. 


So with the car retrieved from the workshop, we began our journey on Friday morning. For those in the UK who don’t know the distances involved in Aussie travel, getting to Tassie from Sydney is like leaving London for a rally on the Isle of Skye. First we trailered the car to Melbourne, a 700 mile trip. Then caught the overnight ferry across Bass Strait to Tassie. A great opportunity for a few beers with other entrants on board. Then an 80 mile drive from the port at Devonport to Launceston where the rally starts. And so here we are: in a town of less than 100,000 now completely filled with motorsport fanatics preparing to drive wild on some of the planet’s best roads. With over 300 entrants Targa is now the world’s largest competitive rally.

2012 BMW M5 Concept leaked ahead of Shanghai debut

Seen on Autoblog.com

BMW Concept M5 - Click above for image gallery

The 2012 BMW M5? Here it is in the "concept" form that will make its official debut later this month at theShanghai Motor Show, courtesy of photos leaked from an embargoed preview event held this weekend in Germany.

As is BMW's wont when it comes to these things, "concept" simply means, "This is exactly what the production car looks like, and we'll reveal the rest of the juicy details at a future date. And maybe the production wheels won't be black."

Of course, some stuff related to the F10 M5 is pretty much set in stone already, courtesy of Chris Harris' first drive for Evo magazine.

• The twin-turbo V8 should out-power the one in the X6M, which makes 546 horsepower.
• Shifts come via a seven-speed DCT.
• Selectable driving programs include Comfort, Sport, and Sport-Plus, plus the let-it-all-hang-out M Driving Mode.

Snap judgement: this is the best-looking BMW M vehicle since the E39 M5, and whatever BMW's cooked up underhood should have no problem backing up the looks. Stay tuned for more info on the BMW Concept M5 as we receive it.

Some of the cars M didn't build

There were quite a few April fools about cars that BMW's M division were to make, the pick up, the special "Royal Wedding" M3 and so on... Car Magazine did a blog article on the subject of M cars that they didn't build, some have been seen before but it's well worth reprinting some of the photo's, especially what would have been the M8. Take a look at the ones I have re-printed below and wander over to Car Magazine's blog for a few more: http://tinyurl.com/3ja4qkg