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Montery (part 2)

This is part 2 of a summary the Montery Historic Races. Hopefuly part 1
preceeds it.

Friday Banquet: Some have complained it was expensive but IMHO it was worth
it. I mean how many other places can you have an informal conversation with
top BMW racing drivers. A tent had been set up on another near by golf
course. A jazz band played on the green and tables were set up with some
incredible cheeses. Everyone was seated and the banquet began. Eric Wensberg
spoke about Motorsport, then Vic Doolan got up and spoke about the importance
of the enthusiast to BMW and ended by saying he wanted to hear from anyone
who had ideas on how to improve BMWNA. He hinted that the dealers were one of
the biggest problems for BMW to overcome in the US. Sam Possey than got up to
speek on his experiences racing with BMW and he introduced the oter drivers
BMW had invited to talk about their experiences. Those who spoke included
Brian Reedman, Dieter Quester, Mark Surer, Steve Soper, Pete Halsmer, Ray
Korman and Bill Oberland. Their stories were entertaining and too numerous to
recount here. The evening finshed up with a video going through the history
of BMW in racing that included some great footage and interviews. It ended
with the McLaren F1 and said "To Be Continued".


Saturday:
The track opened at 7:00am. I pulled in just as the coral had begun to form.
With in a couple hours there would be over 700 BMWs. The sight was awe
inspiring. At 8:00 the vintage cars went out on the track to practice.
Nothing is better than the scent of hot brakes and oil in the morning. I
before the crowds arrived I strolled through the conscession stand looking at
all the neat products from places like Griot's. BMW NA had its own tent with
some interesting new accessories introduced especialy for the races with the
vintage theme in mind. How about a 2002ti speedometer watch or a 328 towel or
embrela. I spent most of the morning in the paddock watching the drivers and
the cars beeing prepared. Nelson Piquet was over at the BMW tent doing a
television interview and I managed to get him to autograph my Motorsport book
(which also had the autographs of all the drivers that were at the previous
nights banquet). At 11:00 I headed back over to the coral for the parade lap.
It was great to be on the track with 300 other BMWs of all vintages.
Following the parade lap BMW's racing drivers went out for some exhibiton
laps. Dieter Quester took out the 635, Sooper in the E30 M3 diced with a 320
Turbo and several other Motorsport cars did some laps. The lunch break
finished off with Nelson Piquet doing some hot laps in the McLaren F1. For
those of you that have never heard it the F1 has a very distinctive shriek.
The afternoon races provided some interesting BMW action. In group 5a the
Bretch 1602s did quite well against the Alfas and Lotus. In the Trans Am race
the the 2002 won their class. The last race of the day (F1 and F2 cars) was
the most exciting. Steve Soper was driving the Benetton and Brian Redman
drove a 1978 F2 March-BMW . Unfortunately the Benetton was not running well
and it had to retire early but Redman came from behind to win the race and
beat a number of F1 cars! 

Saturday Banquet: I went into this event not being very excited because it
seemed too non automotive. However I found the aquarium fascinating. If you
are ever in Montery and have the time you should check it out.

Sunday:
I skipped the Peble Beach Concours because I did not want to miss out on the
racing. The morning warm-ups gave me a chance to wander around Laguna Seca
and view the cars in different corners. Towards the end of the warm-up
sesions I hiked up to the Carosel in time to see the class where most of the
BMWs were running. It was incredible to see all those great the CSLs,M1s,320
Turbos etc. flying down the carosel. I also stayed thier to view the parade
of corral cars and the demonstrstion laps. Again Nelson Piquet drove the
McLauren F1. 
The last race of the day proved to be very exciting. The BMW factory drivers
really went for it and provided some really close racing. Nelson Piquets M1
ended up with a damaged nose and Dieter Questers M635 came away with a dented
front fender. Once again BMW prevailed and Brian Redman won the race.

Hardcore Reception. Sunday evening after the races those who were still
around gathered at Ken Whitson's office. About 50 people stuck aruond to talk
about how incredible the weekend was .

Monday
 I arrived at Leguna Seca around 10:00am and spent a leasurely day watching
the Ferrari Club school and the club race. I also got a chance to ride in the
new 4 door M3. Eric Wensberg had stuck around and brought with him the
current IMSA M3 drivers Pete Halsmer and Bill Oberland. Pete   gave rides to
3 people at a time a in a Blue 4 door M3 while Bill took one at a time in a
yellow 2 door M3. Their driving skills were amazing. I am sure they took a
number of Ferraris by suprise. During my ride we passed a tube frame 308 race
car in the Carocel and we had 4 people on board!
Pete and Bill were having alot of fun out their and a few times their was
even some dicing going on between them. After they came in from thier second
sesion they asked if they could get in on the club race but they were
dissapointed to find out that their M3s would need roll bars to participate.
Although I am sure Eric Wensberg was relieved. 
The club race was great fun to watch. TC Kline led the whole race in an M3
light weight. He was pursued in the begining by Paul Porteous in his M
powered 325e who ran some very fast laps but unfortunately had to retire
because of oil cooler problems. Another E36 M3 driven by Doug took over
second place. Mike Ward managed to move up into 3rd or 4th(?) place in his
vintage 2002. Unfortunately the race ended under yellow flags as Jim Osborn
crashed his 325i into the inside wall of turn 4. He was unhurt but the car
was badly damaged.
I then left at 5 pm for the long drive home taking with me incredible
memories.

Juan Bruce
BMW CCA 95025
BMW ACA LA
95  ///M3
85  ///M635

P.S. I sincerely thank everyone who did a great job in organizing this event.