Fun Times at Independent Motorcars!

by Paul Silver

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A sunny Saturday in June saw more than forty chapter members convene at Independent Motorcars’ new digs in the Miramar area for an Open House Meet & Greet. Club members got a chance to socialize and to snack on the marvelous bites and drinks provided by Independent Motorcars, while Kim Schwarz gave us a rundown of everything that went into renovating the facility and getting it ready for move-in. Chris Keefer gave us a tour of the facility and explained the layout of lifts in the work area and how it assists in efficient workflow. And then there were the contests, including “Name That Track,” in which contestants had to identify several race tracks just from some 3-D maps hanging on the wall, and a Sim Racing contest featuring the Buttonwillow track where we just had our recent HPDE. Congratulations to Name That Track winner, Dan Tackett, and to the Buttonwillow Sim Race winners, Grayson Marble (1st place), Estefan Morton (2nd place), and Spencer Capozello (3rd place). Special thanks to Chris Keefer and the Independent Motorcars team for hosting such an enjoyable event!

K1 Speed - August 17, 2019

By Tyler Johnson

On Saturday, August 24, the San Diego BMW CCA chapter hosted a great event at the K1 Speed Karting facility in downtown San Diego. The day started off meeting in the parking lot which became a mini car show. Coffee in hand and hoods popped open, you could really tell there was pride in ownership. We had a couple of M2s, a few M3s, and even a Z4 M Coupe to name a few cars at the event.

The group raced in three races for some intense battles against the clock and bragging rights. Toshi claimed the top lap time of the day with a blistering 21.930s and won two of the three races. A true ringer! The action was intense with everyone having a great time on track. One of the sessions we had the course to ourselves which enabled some time to really practice your line and braking points. In between sessions, we discussed tire grip, kart power, racing line, and how best to make a pass without losing the pass in the next corner. The racing was truly wheel to wheel—something we don’t get in autocross and track events for obvious reasons, because who wants to scratch their BMW?! Bring on the Miata and Corvette clubs as we have some fast racers in our group!

After the race, the group walked to a local brewery just a few blocks away for lunch. One of the attendees was a BMW mechanic from a local BMW dealer. Needless to say he got plenty of questions!

All in all, everyone had a great time and met some new friends. Be sure to join us next time at one of our chapter events!

BMW CCA Outstanding Dealership 2019 - BMW of Escondido

By Dan Tackett

BMW CCA recently selected BMW of Escondido as the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding BMW Dealership award for the Pacific Region. This annual honor is the result of a nominating process and a decision by a national committee. We were very proud to present the award and surprise Tim Brecht during a Club event that BMW of Escondido hosted.

BMW of Escondido is the only remaining family-owned BMW dealership in San Diego County. One by one, the other four dealerships, which used to be family businesses, have been sold to corporate owners. The Brecht family has maintained their ownership and passion for our favorite marque through three generations. Patriarch Bill Brecht began his enthusiasm for the marque as General Manager for BMW of San Diego way back in the 2002 era, when they were the only local BMW dealership and had a small operation on Columbia St. downtown. When a 3.0 CS that Bill had personally sold new came onto the market 15 years later, he promptly bought it, and that classic coupe remains in the family to this day. He stayed with BMW of San Diego for 20 years, overseeing their move to the current location in Kearny Mesa. Following several years of effort, Bill earned a BMW dealership franchise of his own, opening Brecht BMW in 1985 at a former Cadillac dealership facility in downtown Escondido. The family’s big step was to build a new state-of-the art facility in the then-new Escondido Auto Park, which now houses their Mini of Escondido dealership.

Once their modern building was completed in 1988, Brecht BMW was able to fully reach its potential. Along with his wife Jeanelle and sons Tom and Tim, Bill Brecht began to establish a strong reputation for great customer service and genuine support for the BMW community. Bill was also involved in his Escondido community through serving in the Rotary Club and on the Board of the Escondido Chamber of Commerce—a spirit of volunteerism that continues with both of his sons today.

The Brecht family had a long history of building very fast turbocharged dune buggies and enjoying many weekends racing them in the desert. Wasting no time once in BMW circles, they transferred their racing passion to the track after buying two 2002 race cars. I remember Bill Brecht saying, “If it goes fast, burns gas and makes noise, I’m interested.” Their family weekends moved from the desert to various race tracks as Bill, Tom, and Tim all got their SCCA racing licenses. The first shakedown of the 2002s occurred at our Chapter’s inaugural 1989 Holtville Driving School, making their driving debut as we made our hosting debut. The family went on to campaign a pair of E36 325s and later a pair of E36 M3s in SCCA National races. The 2002s continued in VARA Vintage racing in parallel with competing in SCCA driving in more current BMWs: a turbocharged Z3, then a Z4, and a 328i sedan. Brecht Motorsports has evolved into the current era by competing in a Motorsport-built M235i Competition. Bill even created a track paddock runabout out of a Motorsport-liveried Isetta, which remains in the showroom at BMW of Escondido. The lure of the desert hasn’t been completely forgotten: Tim Brecht built and still kicks up the sand in a dune buggy with a twin-turbocharged M5 V10!

Brecht BMW was a strong supporter of the San Diego Chapter from the start. After our first few years of conducting High Performance Driving School events, Brecht BMW became our consistent track school sponsor. Not only have they provided helpful funding and raffle items, Tim Brecht often came to the track in his racing rig with one or more new BMW models (and sometimes a race car) to give track rides to participants and demonstrate the capabilities of the latest cars (and SAVs!) from BMW. That is genuine enthusiasm for the marque and the Club! When another dealership bowed out of sponsoring trophies and providing some auction items for our Clean Car Show and Charity Auction, Brecht BMW stepped up to fill the void and has continued ever since. When we had a Club Tour or other event that started in North County, they often offered to let us start from the dealership and provided food and beverages before we hit the road. Our relationship has flourished for over 30 years.

Bill Brecht succumbed in 2003 after a battle with cancer, a sad loss to the entire BMW community. His sons have maintained the enthusiasm that their father exuded, and despite a franchise-required name change to BMW of Escondido, the Brecht family still conducts their business as Bill would have. Going to extra lengths as a business, genuinely supporting the BMW community, and being a sincere friend of the San Diego Chapter are great reasons to honor them with the Outstanding BMW Dealership Award. And as a tribute to the memory of Bill Brecht and his fine example of volunteerism, our Chapter annually selects the “Bill Brecht Volunteer of the Year” award recipient to recognize the Chapter member who stands out for going above and beyond in their service to the Chapter. Congratulations to BMW of Escondido!

New BMW Intro Night at BMW of Escondido - June 19 2019

By Dan Tackett

On a warm June evening, a large group of San Diego Chapter members went to BMW of Escondido following the invitation to sample several new BMW models for 2019. Our favorite car company has been on a product blitz lately, refreshing some familiar models and entering some new segments.

Our friends at BMW of Escondido were gracious hosts, with experienced technicians and BMW Geniuses on hand to answer our questions about the advanced new engines and latest technology features. Co-owner Tim Brecht greeted all of us and provided a tasty spread of food from Mike’s Barbecue. Several new models were arrayed for us to drive, with no chaperone and no specified route. We were careful not to abuse that level of trust.

These new BMWs made a great impression on our members:

M2 Competition – Nobody was surprised to discover how quick and nimble the M2C is; definitely a crowd favorite. This is a throwback to the size and weight and handling that brought many of us to BMW in the first place. BMW clearly hasn’t forgotten its roots.

M340i – The 3 Series was the first sport sedan, and the latest G20 version takes everything up a notch. Now an M Performance model, the B58 six cylinder has been tuned to a whopping 382 hp, more than M3s had until two generations ago. It’s very quick, but the 3 Series has grown up to be a spacious and comfortable car. Seeing how it can memorize and duplicate steering movements to retrace a maneuver the driver just made was quite impressive.

Z4 30i – The all-new Z4 has returned to driving like a true sports car. Ditching the folding metal top for a traditional lined cloth top has reduced weight and lowered the center of gravity. With the 4 cylinder engine, it feels light and nimble and is still plenty quick. Many members were quite surprised and declared it the most entertaining car of the bunch. The stacked headlights are an interesting update on the traditional BMW style.

X5 40i – The larger new X5 was very luxurious, this one having a rich brown leather interior. We were astonished by how quickly it accelerated with the 6 cylinder engine and how nicely it handled. There really IS a BMW under that large SAV!

X7 50i – BMW has entered a larger category of utility vehicles formerly dominated by Cadillac and Mercedes Benz. BMW says it waited to enter this market until it could produce a large car that felt like a proper BMW. We think they succeeded. It was very quiet, very opulent, and had lots of space. More than just being a larger X5, BMW brings the luxury of a 7 Series to this category. The interior had lots of room and lots of tech and very nice materials. It drove quite well, with a V8 that knew just when to break through the silence.

M850i Convertible – This was the biggest surprise of the night. BMW replaced the 6 Series with the new 8 Series, leapfrogging their big sedan to become the new flagship. It’s a stylish coupe or convertible with a lot of leading-edge technology to justify the price. It can cruise serenely, coddling 2 people (forget the rear seat; small children only) in comfort and grace. But press the Sport Plus button and a tiger is unleashed! Dr. Jekyll, it’s time to run and Hyde as the Adaptive Suspension tightens up and the exhaust gets a whole new voice with a sharp bark on every upshift. I expected a grand touring cruiser, which it capably becomes in Comfort Mode. What shocked me and others is how the M850i is transformed with the push of a button to make you feel like a teenager again. Bravo BMW!

We want to express our sincere thanks to Tim Brecht and the whole team at BMW of Escondido for letting us visit their beautifully updated dealership and get to know the latest BMW models. Many of us are asked for advice on new cars by our friends and colleagues, so now we can offer better information and make some buying plans of our own.

Two County Tour - July 21, 2019

By Matt Gage

After what seemed like an exceptionally long wet season in San Diego, we woke up to a morning of clear skies and bright sun on this mid-summer Sunday. The Target at Westfield North County Mall (not to be confused with that other Escondido Target) was this tour’s meetup point for event registration and safety briefing. Spoiler alert: I want to thank everyone who attended for taking the safety briefing to heart and keeping cool heads out on the public roads as we experienced Zero incidents all day.

As we rolled out, it was easy to follow the audible exhaust trail west along the familiar 78 and Old Julian Highway with a brief stop at Dudley’s for bathroom breaks. Shortly after, we got back on the road for round two through Mesa Grande followed by going up East Grade and then down South Grade. I was told that people usually drive that route in the opposite direction so I hope this felt like a new road to many of you! We then made our way through Pechanga and finally a slow roll in Old Town Temecula before finishing up at Boris Said’s brand new BMW of Murrieta dealership and service center.

Mr. Said gave us the extreme pleasure of providing multiple tours of his facility for each of the separate waves of drivers who arrived, all while providing us tasty tacos grilled to order. Let me tell you something: Boris knows how to deliver stories; you can feel his passion behind each one, whether it’s about that one hill at Nürburgring that would cause his M3 to go airborne every time or about how he credits keeping a calm and cool head as he struggled to free himself from his literally fiery Corvette at the end of the straight in Long Beach. But his stories also highlighted his most recent passion of providing the best service he can to the customers of BMW of Murrieta which he owns and operates. After hearing about how he designed almost every feature of his brand new state-of-the-art BMW facility—down to the custom toolboxes that allow his employees to work in clutter-free environments so they can keep their attention on maintaining each customer’s Ultimate Driving Machine—it’s easy to see why BMW of Murrieta is ranked among the top BMW facilities in the world.

Thank you for all the drivers who attended the Tour and exercised safe driving habits. And thank you to Boris Said and BMW of Murrieta for helping us cap off an epic BMW CCA San Diego event!

BMW Performance Center Visit - January 27, 2019

Thermal Management - M Car Fun at the BMW Performance Center

By Dan Tackett

Thermal Management M Car fun at the BMW Performance Center

Our Chapter is fortunate to have one of BMW’s premier facilities, the BMW Performance Center, located just 3 hours away. So we have organized a special program there every year since 2015, featuring a program tailored and priced just for BMW CCA members. On January 26th, over 100 members ventured into the desert to Thermal, CA, location of the Thermal Club and BMW’s Performance Center facility. To provide the maximum driving time to all members, our goal was to be very efficient. We all registered and paid online beginning last September, most participants filled out another online registration and waiver for BMW in advance, and we pre-sorted drivers into 5 equal-sized groups with a sequence of activities to follow. That got us into our buffet lunch early and led right to the driver’s meeting.

The buffet lunch offered a tasty variety of salads and fruits and gourmet sandwiches, giving us a great start to our event. Our Instructor lead for the day was Brian Randall, who was very entertaining as he reviewed driving technique and briefed us on safety measures. “I named my dog Apex to make sure he would never be hit by a car.” Brian also drove us around the Hot Lap course, 3 passengers at a time, showing us how well an M3 can be drifted with careful management of extreme throttle and steering inputs. For many, riding sideways on a track was a highlight of the day. The Performance Center managed the inevitable tire destruction by having 3 more M3s parked in reserve. As Brian wasted one pair of tires, he’d just hop into the next M3!

Another driving station was the Drag Race, including a U-turn at the end and a drag race back to stop precisely inside a tight box. As last year, the AWD straight-line specials included the X5M, X6M and M550i. Those heavy SUVs are uncanny in their ability to accelerate, corner and stop so quickly. You can’t break the laws of physics, but these X5s and X6s surely bend them. With full throttle and full braking runs all day long, the cars never got hot and the brakes never faded on a nearly 80 degree day. Good thermal management indeed. A surprise treat was that BMW included two of their exclusive M760i’s, with 600 hp twin turbo V12s! Never before has a sub 4-second 0-60 been so stately. Where else would you get to drag race two V12 sedans side by side?

To learn how to manage momentum on a slick surface, our experience included a “Rat Race.” Using their polished concrete skidpad and a tight oval layout, two drivers would start on opposite sides, then chase each other round and round while trying to close the distance. This rewarded deft throttle and steering skills to control a drift that was just sideways enough to keep the car moving forward without being at an angle that cost momentum. “When you’re going sideways, you’re not going forward.” Last year, we used 340i sedans with traction control off, which required miniscule throttle and steering inputs to win. This year was different. BMW gave us new M5s to drive, with 600 hp and all wheel drive. Having AWD was controversial when the M5 was introduced, but in this application, it was brilliant! Instead of tip-toeing around to avoid a spin in the 340i, the AWD Sport setting enabled heroic slides with lots of power that could be easily recovered with the pull of the front tires. The M5s allowed sideways AND forward to coexist, and boy was that fun! BMW generated a lot of AWD converts that day, which is good since the next-generation M3 will have the same system.

Those with a competitive streak reveled in the timed autocross event. Nimble M2s and a challenging, tight course combined to bring out the Beast Mode in all of us. Each driver got to be a passenger first, learning the layout of the turns, why “Patience Corner” earned its name, and when to apply full ABS to stop within a tight box at the end. We were required to leave DSC engaged, so there was no option for the throttle steering that many of us have used at Chapter autocrosses to point our cars tighter. Each driver had two timed runs, and when the red mist cleared, the clock told us that our third place finisher was Serhan Emre, second went to Greg Uhler, and our champion in the Autocross was Joey Cipponeri. Congratulations guys!

The main draw for many at the Performance Center experience was a chance to drive on one of their 3 race tracks. Only members of the Thermal Club, credentialed journalists at manufacturers’ press events (the new 911 was being introduced while we were there), or Performance Center participants are allowed to drive at this facility. We were able to learn the most challenging layout, the Desert Palm Circuit, in a lead-follow format. Three groups of Instructors would lead 3 drivers each around on the correct “line” while in constant radio contact. It was a great way to learn how to manage straight-line braking, precise turn-in, accurately hitting the apex, progressive throttle application, and unwinding to the exit in each turn. The layout had everything from a second-gear hairpin to a 115 mph straight, and the M4 Competition coupes never missed a beat all day. To provide the maximum driving time, 2 reserve M4s were parked in the paddock to save us time when refueling was needed. When the day in Thermal was over, we had managed our driving time, the BMWs managed continuous hard use without strain, and all of us managed to have a big smile on our faces.

If you missed it, we have already reserved January 25th, 2020 for our next Performance Center experience.

-Dan Tackett

Holiday Tour - Dec 2, 2018

The last Tour of the year was held on December 2 and what a beautiful day it turned out to be, both in weather and in the company we shared on the road.

Drivers and passengers started gathering in the middle of the Rancho San Diego Village Parking Lot at the end of the 94 and Campo Road at around 8:30am. When I arrived to set up the sign-in table, there was only a bright blue F10 M5 Sharknado and a beautiful red 1962 Triumph TR3B with the top down. By the time the driver’s briefing began at 9:15am, there were about 70 people. This was definitely shaping up to be a good day.

After a chat about the event to come and road safety, respectful driving, we headed east on 94/Campo through Indian Springs and Lyons Valley Rd which had its share of ascending and descending hills and some 2nd gear turns. We eventually passed under the 8 on the 79 and onto Old Highway 80. This led us to a left onto an old favorite: Sunrise Highway. As expected for any roads in higher altitudes around Mt. Laguna in December, a white dusting had occurred sometime earlier and evidence of this was not only along the side of the road, but also some slush directly in the road not in direct sunlight. I even heard my BMW chime warning of the icy conditions outside. Does the top in that Triumph go up?

Our group’s mixture of aftermarket and M Performance exhausts rumbled through the strip on Main Street Julian, turning more than a few heads. Fortunately, we weren’t stopping for lunch along Main Street as parking a hoard of auto enthusiasts would have been quite a challenge. We were still ten minutes away from our destination and those ten minutes were spent on a windy Wynola Rd before ending at Jeremy's on the Hill which served an excellent farm-to-table menu: thanks to Theresa and her excellent staff for accommodating our large group and began seating us even before they officially opened that morning.

Thank you to everyone who joined us on this amazing Holiday Tour. It was great to see everyone have such a great time as well as practicing safe and controlled driving through the 74 miles of wonderful county roads. I look forward to another great turnout on our first Tour of 2019: Sunday, March 3. Hope to see you there!