If you haven’t seen the first www post about BimmerFest 2009, then go back and read that first.

BimmerFest 2009 is all about the cars and the stories.  The trek down still had more stories, and not all groups follow the straight and fast route…some take more interesting routes through the hills for great drives.  But, even those who stray from the main path, often have interesting stories.  One of the BRracing group was running with these other caravans.  This car was the recently completed E30 M3 w the S50B32 motor…with custom gauges.  But, we didn’t say that it had all the gauges, just the necessary ones.  And, with this being a track car (remember this statement later), one of the gauges that was not thought necessary was the fuel gauge.  He was running with the group, and thought that if they stop for gas, he’ll stop for gas.  And he did…except that the last leg was a long one, off the beaten path.  So, just about 20 minutes from completing the trek….the car started to feel a little soft in certain turns, and sure enough, a little while later, as he was back on one of the freeways, the car sputter to a stop.  Since BMW guys are a great group, one of them went ahead to get some gas, and the E30 M3 pulled to a stop just past a freeway exit.  So, while sitting there waiting for the gas and gas can crew to return in another car, the CHP pulls up behind him to see that all is OK.  The CHP officer starts to approach the car along the right side, and is eyeing the car as he approaches.  Hmmm, custom rear race wing, full race cage going everywhere, big wheels and tires….and, what is that sticking out the right side of the car just aft of the passenger door…..two massive pipes sticking out the side…hmmmm, so the officer sticks his head in the right window..hmmm…no passenger window, no passenger seat, no seats at all other than the driver, plastic rear side window, and then…to top it off, there is this massive steel braided line running through the middle of the car to a large blue cannister in the rear of the car.  The officer asks what is going on, and is told that the car is out of gas, and that a friend is coming with more fuel soon.  OK the officer says, but, we need to move this car up a little to make it safe, you are too close to the exit lane.  OK the driver replies.  So, the officer says, “lets push the car forward a little, and starts to walk back to his car, and as soon as he starts to do so, the driver jumps out of the car in a rush, to get to the rear of the car, and start pushing the car.  The officer looks at him as he is about to get in his patrol car, and asks, “what are you doing?”…..pushing the car is the reply.  Oh, I was just going to push you forward w the patrol car. Ohhhhhh, no, we can’t do that is the response.  Why, asks the officer?  The answer is guarded…but, “new paint on the car”.  Oh…..OK, and gets out to help push the car.  The real answer is that the car has a non-functional rear bumper, and a “push” from the patrol car would have destroyed the rear bumper, but it was just painted.  So, the car is pushed out of the way, and soon the friend returns with fuel.  As he approaches, he also in a not so stock BMW, he thinks, “oh crap”, and starts to clean himself up and approach very cautiously, and then gets out with the gas to help.  The officer is still talking to the driver, but tells the friend to proceed with the addition of fuel.  As the car is being fueled, the officer steps back, and gets on the radio to HQ, and tells them this story, “Ah, I got a 1392 in process, and its got all sorts of Fxxx things on it that I don’t understand, and it’s got a big blue cannister in the back of car, and Sxxxx, it could be anything, heck, I don’t know, it could be nitrous (it’s an Accusump unit), he could be racing, it could be stolen, it could be Fxxx fast, I just don’t know, and don’t know where to start writing him up.  WTF is going on here?

The officer is giving up, frustrated, and confused, but leaves the driver with this interesting thought.  We know all about this BMW gathering, and we are setting up inspection spots, and if we pull you over, and find things that are not stock during the inspection, we will assess all that needs to be done, and charge a fee for each infraction, and if you can’t pay the fee to have it returned to stock, then we’ll just keep the car……but, I don’t do inspections, so, your off for now.  But, be aware.  Talk about putting the fear of God into you…..this was a massive build, and to think that it could all go POOF……wow.  But we love the comments, “I don’t know what this Fxxx thing has, but it has all sorts of stuff that I don’t know about”…..yep, he got that one spot on.   Again, BimmerFest is often about stories…..great stories.

The event had moved locations this year, away from the Earl Warren Fairgrounds to the Santa Barbara Polo fields.  No one knew what to expect, but this was a GREAT new location.  Everything about the event location had changed, but the biggest was the size.  The field was HUGE.   It was a polo field, in beautiful grass.  The main vendor section was in the center, and the cars parked all around the center of the field, in row upon row upon row upon row, and all of them mostly amazing cars.

BRracing always makes this a special event, so we had gotten up at the break of dawn, and the complete team had assembled for a great breakfast at the same Denny’s we have gone to.  Done with breakfast, we then headed to the event, thinking that, like other years, we would park in line, waiting to get in when they opened the gates.  We used our nav system  to find the new location, and used the navs directions to come in from the other direction than the event instructions had noted, and wow…what a sweet result for us. On our side of the road, arriving from the North, the line was…..just us!  From the South, the line stretched beyond what we could see…..for well over a half mile, and then it just disappeared.   We “scored”, and were put near the front of the line, and got all our group into the event, putting our cars on the first row, right up against the main vendor area…..we “scored” again….what a location for the large collection of BRR cars at the event…front row and center.  WOW.

Here is a brief overview of the event…..it was mainly vendor booths, and the cars at the event.  There were no tech sessions, no actual activities, and all the vendor booths were much smaller than last year…..the economy had definitely hit, as many of the main vendors from last year were not here at all (Turner, BimmerWorld, Evosport, Vorsteiner…and of course, BRracing….as we all sat this year out due to the economy, and with the change in venue, we were not sure what this would really be about).

Here were the main vendors participating – HorsePower Freaks, Active AutoWerke, Falken, Nitto, Race Technologies (Brembo), VF Engineering, DPE, ESS Tuning, Evolution RaceWerks, Ground Control, J Levi Streetwerks, ModBargains, Remus, VMR, and WheelDude.  BMW itself did participate, as the event was used to showcase the new BMW Z4….nice car.  But, nothing special about the vendor area, and most booths were very small, and very little product to actually see….cars yes, but there were hundreds and hundreds of cars to see….just look in any direction.

There were more amazing cars than you can ever imagine.

WE will post some pics and video’s to help you gain an understanding of this fun event.

Share this story with your friends….or, let us know about your great stories about the event, and we’ll add them to this www log.

Post away……

BRracing ROCKS.