BMW CCA worth the $ ?

I was under the impression that the BMW CCA put on a lot of events and would be a worthwhile expense, but looking at the website there are no autoX or track events in SC listed on the events calendar for 2017. So, are there other benefits worth the $48/yr fee?

If you buy parts at the dealer then you will get a pretty good discount. Mine gives me a 20% discount for being a member and it has paid for itself many times over.

I'm seriously considering allowing my 20+ year membership to lapse. It's worth it for the driver's schools and the dealer parts discounts, but if you're not able to take advantage of those and you don't care about the social aspects or the magazine (which has taken a decided turn toward shilling the latest modern craptacular SUV-crossover-whatever if you ask me), it's not.

The number and type of events will depend on the local chapter, if they're active in that sort of thing or not. The national club publishes a pretty shiny magazine, but in recent years it's become more of a lifestyle thing with stories about trips to expensive places and road tests of brand new cars - in my opinion they don't cater very well to the people who own older cars.

If you W2W race, HPDE, etc... then it's not optional with them.

I have a 15yr member pin they sent me in the mail last week. In that 15yrs (20+ actually they just really suck at everything) I have won races, made numerous friends, taught their kids the ins/outs of a race track and generally benefited greatly.

I'm not sure you need to spend the money to do that, and the magazine is total E36 M3, but... I'm a happy customer.

YMMV.

I ran all the DC BMWCCA's autocrosses in 2010, despite not being a BMWCCA member. In 2011 they required membership, with the carrot that they'd give a free event entry with a new membership, essentially negating the cost of the membership, so I ran a good chunk of their schedule that year. But as someone who doesn't own a BMW, I got nothing else out of the club. With the free event entry no longer offered the next year, I let it lapse and stopped going to BMW club autocrosses.

I'm a member, mostly for the parts discount. I used to like the magazine but then Satch replaced a lot of the columnists and changed the character of the magazine. Now I skim through it and find little in it that grabs my attention.

The web pages are hosted by volunteers. There are probably events planned but the website is not up to date.

Call or send an email. My experience is the put on really great driver schools and autoxes.

The BMW target market has changed and if you do not drink their Kool aid, they do not need you.

I had the opportunity to attend an afternoon event at the BMW Center near La Quinta coronated by the San Diego chapter of the BMWCCA. The five elements included hot laps in a well driven M3 and the highlight of the day, two sets of lead follow in again the M3, left in full auto.

Now this was my choice. We were only going 6/10 but I do not drive a paddle car and at speeds getting close to triple digits I might just be old enough to know some of my limits. I might get to drive a "race car", but I an not a race car driver. Yet.

The club has provided the path from autocrossing, the Qualcom events on the west side are great, to track schools. One note, if you enter at this level they will tend to sort you at their digression in the beginning, not by your perceived skill level. I now have a much higher regard for those brave souls that ride along with the nubies, like me. That and a WRX Sti will walk away from most entry level bimmers, after that first session. So an "M" something with the paddles now becomes the "got to have".

But your new ride is going to grind the outside edge of the front "run flats", the lack of static camber is for your safety, that can not be flipped because of the tread pattern. For some reason they think your oil will survive for 15,000 miles. You never have to change any transmission or differential fluid. And for most, at the end of your lease your latest and greatest is just a pen stroke away.

No, the bus has departed. In my world, BMW desire ended with the onset of OBDII cars. Have you ever driven a SMG car? They are still working on it and with your monthly payment they almost have it nailed. But I will be spending my budget on my 1990 NASA GT2 325, with a stick. I just need to install the second seat so that brave instructor can help me with the "correct" line.

David

Oh man, oil and BMW guys. Do not get in to that discussion with a zealot

Keith,

So true! I run 10-40 dino in my E36 and they twich.

David

I will clarify my above post by saying that although I have driven, raced and instructed for the BMW CCA for over 20 years I have never attended any event that wasn't an HPDE or Club Race Weekend. Even at their huge annual Octoberfest... I never left the track. I've never been to a car wash or a "How to" session or any of that stuff.

A paddock full of drivers and racers is always going to be a great group of people. I'm also an SCCA, NASA and former WKA member and the same holds true there... except the karting thing. Those guys are not always the helpful friendly sort because they are typically much younger and still think that they are going to F1 someday.

jr02518 wrote: Keith, So true! I run 10-40 dino in my E36 and they twich. David

You are at the wrong end of the paddock. Find the instructors and guys with comp licenses who have a fire going and look kinda hungover.

Do not wear a brand new, clean, shiny fire suit on your first day at HPDE when driving a normal street car and maybe get some dirt under your fingernails - and you will fit right in. Bring beer.

I put 20w-50 Valvoline VR1 in most of my cars. It meets the ancient spec old cars crave, but most importantly, Autozone put it on sale for 2.50 a quart a couple years back so I bought all of it in town.

As a guy who owns 70's-80's BMWs, I'm not getting much out of the club these days. Most of the old-BMW social events don't require membership. The Vintage in North Carolina isn't run by the club, for example. It's probably worth it if your local chapter is active, but you don't need to be a member of a club to hang out with your car friends.

Here in the DFW autocross events the guys are nice, it's well run and you get more laps than SCCA (who doesn't give more laps and make it more fun than SCCA?), we even had a member volunteer a free tow this past weekend when my son's Miata blew out a CAS, BUT....

They don't allow ride alongs and with my newest son-in-law attending and running his first event and my grandson attending his 2nd event we really wanted to ride along. I got a one time only "instructor status" and was able to take my son-in-law with me and instruct him (he dropped from 116 seconds to 95 seconds in a very good progression) and he was able to ride with me to see the course at speed.

I have no idea about the other benefits and no one has ever approached me about joining.

If you've been a member for a year & buy a new BMW, BMW will send you a check. Amount varies by model. I got $500 after buying the M3 in 2015. Members can also buy Octoberfest raffle tickets if you're into that sort of thing.

I'm a member and my local chapter (National Capitol Chapter) is fairly active. I dig the social events, the parts discounts (nice when you need something the same day and don't want to wait for an online delivery, especially since the discount gets you to online prices). The local chapter does a lot of stuff with older BMWs, so my E38 fits right in. And I'm going to disagree on the magazine. I like it. Like the letters, the stories from owners about older BMWs, the columns are entertaining and it's cool to look at the classifieds to see what enthusiast owned cars are priced at. I've saved more than I've spent on the membership fees, and had a blast with the local chapter on road trips, and even done some of the DIY days at local service centers. The local magazine has a lot of coverage on club member owned cars, and I'm thinking of writing an article on the E38s. It's only $50 a year, which is cheap enough that it's worth it to just keep it going.

jr02518 wrote: No, the bus has departed. In my world, BMW desire ended with the onset of OBDII cars. Have you ever driven a SMG car? They are still working on it and with your monthly payment they almost have it nailed. But I will be spending my budget on my 1990 NASA GT2 325, with a stick. I just need to install the second seat so that brave instructor can help me with the "correct" line. David

Uuuhhhhh, they haven't produced an SMG transmission car in a decade.