The BMW Drivers Club Melbourne might be less than one year old, but it certainly has achieved a lot since first forming in April 2018.
Boasting a healthy membership of 345 members, the club has put on around 48 events in the past 11 months and shows no signs of slowing down. Their impressive display at this year’s Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix is further testament of their passion for the German marque.
Offering events such as hill climbs, show and shines, country drives and motor classics, the club has had a whirlwind first year of action and is set to continue in the next 12 months.
As one of the founding members of the newly-formed club, Secretary Lawrence Glynn was proud of the service the BMW Drivers Club of Melbourne provides to its members.
“The club was founded by four of us who wanted to concentrate on providing a positive driving experience as well as being friendly,” Glynn said.
“People are able to enjoy their cars in a variety of ways, whether that be on the road, the track, or even just on display.
“People look on the website, see what we’ve got to offer and see that it is professional, it makes us look like a friendly bunch of people that’s going to accommodate them and help them out.”
Located at turn eight in Albert Park, the club features an impressive line up of classic and modern cars, all of which have been left by the passionate members for the enjoyment of fans.
From the iconic 1964 BMW 700 - that is known as the manufacturer’s saviour - through to the M series and other current crop of models, the club is expecting a lot of foot traffic over the coming days. Glynn believes there is a simple motivation for the four-day event.
“It’s good to come to the Grand Prix. The members obviously like doing it because they want to be able to showcase their cars to the public watch the racing,” Glynn added.
“We do a lot of a displays, but this particular one is the one our members want to get to because it’s the top level car show around here for just showing cars to the public.
“It’s a good show, we had lots of interest in it. We could have had more cars then we had space for.
“We’re not motivated to sign people up - if people want to join the club, that’s fantastic, obviously we’ll take them but the main interest is to show our brand.
“What we wanted is to try and get a bit of variety with the cars, tell a bit of a story about the brand, and where it was to where it is now.”
The club’s next event is a hill climb in the coming weeks before celebrating their one year anniversary, with what will hopefully be the first of many annual dinners.
And for Glynn, there is only one piece of criteria the potential members need to have to join the club.
“As long as they’ve got an interest in BMWs we’re happy,” Glynn joked.
“Some of the car shows we go along to, people bring their own cars, because they’re fabulous so why not.”