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Tejas TraxFebruary 2009 1

February 2009 InsideThis Issue

The M Azing SchoolDing Co. Tech Session

Post-Holiday Party Review

BMW Performance Driving SchoolGreer, South Carolina


DISCLAIMER: TEJAS CHAPTER is a local association of BMW owners. TEJAS CHAPTER (hereafter, theClub is a non-profit (74-2732211) Texas corporation (#10340292-01), and is associated with the BMW Car Clubof America as a local chapter. The Club is not connected in any way with BMWAG or BMWNA. Tejas Traxis the publication of the Club and is mailed to all members in good standing, as well as to all current advertisingpatrons. All of its contents remain property of the Club, but BMW CCA & BMW ACA Chapters may quotefrom the publications, provided proper credit is given. The ideas, suggestions, and opinions expressed hereinare those of the authors and no authentications, endorsement or guarantee is expressed or implied by TEJASCHAPTER. TEJAS CHAPTER assumes no liability for any of the information presented. None of theinformation presented bears the status "Factory Approved" unless so indicated. Modifications within thewarranty period may void the warranty!

Tejas Chapter Officers

President Vice President Secretary/Treasurer

Glenn McConnellAustin

[email protected]

Herb LooneySan Antonio

[email protected]

Sandy McConnellAustin

[email protected]

Membership Driving Events Events Coordinator Chapter Mail

Gina SilvestriAustin

[email protected]

Linda CavazosAustin

[email protected]

Kathy EltringhamRowlett

[email protected]

P.O. Box 17216Austin, Tx 78760

Project Coordinators, Chapter Email and Newsletter

Austin Area San Antonio Area Kerrville Area San Marcos Area

John WagnerAustin

[email protected]

Vacant John SwannKerrville

[email protected]

Jack LaumerSan Marcos

[email protected]

Corpus Christi Area Chapter Email Tejas Trax Newsletter Editor

Donna BoganAlice

[email protected]

[email protected] Glenn McConnellAustin

[email protected]

BMW CCA

Vice Pres. SouthCentral Zone

South Central TechTips Rep

MembershipInformation

Fred IacinoPOB 217

Arvada, CO 80001(H) 303-478-8490

Terry SaytherAustin, Tx

512-442-1361(8am-5pm Central Time)

$40 per year1-800-878-9292

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The Tejas Trax is printed monthly by Kinko's of Austin


FromThePresident

Welcome New MembersAustin Midland

Brian Hall Cynthia Podolnick Hermann EbenJoseph Hall Jay Podolnick Louise Eben

R. Scott Harris Shawn Williams

Anthony Overfield Dixon Wu GeorgetownBilly House

San AntonioJames Blue Lakeway

Jonathan Kelly Keith Williams

Rony Valme

On the Technology Trap .....

Working as a systems analyst in theInformation Technology (IT) world, I amconstantly amazed how the solution toevery problem that exists has seemed tobecome technology. Everytime there isa business problem, the first solutionalways seems to be “let’s automate theprocess”. I have seen thousands ofdollars and hundreds of hours thrown ata business process in trying to automateit, when in fact what is broken is theprocess itself.

Of course, another trap is that youcannot do away with stupidity throughtechnology. A case in point is a motoristfrom Germany. The motorist obedientlyfollowing the satellite-guided navigationsystem of his car drove straight into theHavel River in eastern Germany, policesaid. He drove his BMW Friday nightpast a stop sign, down a ferry ramp andabout 12 feet into the river beforestopping. The 57-year-old driver fromHamburg and his passenger were not

hurt. Police said the driver reported hewas following the navigation system,which had evidently failed to note thatthe road in the town of Caputh nearPotsdam ended at a ferry crossing!

One of the biggest technologytraps - one that BMW has embracedwith open arms - is that technologyalways makes things easier. Do youremember the days when you couldpush a button to change the station onyour radio? Or do you rememberwhen adjusting the temperature of theair conditioner involved turning asimple knob? Have you tried to dothose things in a new state-of-the-artBMW? If you can take your eyes offof the road long enough to use aNin tendo con t ro l le r to nav iga tethrough a less than user-friendly menusys tem and ac tua l ly f ind thecomponent you are looking for and theitem you are trying to change, youmight achieve the same success thatyou did when you pushed a button inthe o ld days! ! I sn’t t echnologywonderful?

Until next time ....Glenn McConnell


"Experience Our Passion"

7011 McNeil Dr

343 - 3500

10% Discount onParts & Service

for BMW CCA members

THE ULTIMATE DRIVING MACHINE


RSVP by filling out the RSVP form on the website athttp://www.tejaschapter.org

Coffee, Dents and Bar-B-Q

Saturday, February 21, 20098:30am - ?

Event planned by Roger Williams

8:30 am - Meet at WhataburgerCoffee and Taquitos

1908 E. Ben White BlvdAustin, TX

9:45 am - Drive over to the Ding Co.4202 Santiago, Ste 11Austin, TX

www.thedingcompany.com

Afterwards we will have a short scenic drive over to The Salt Lickfor some good old Bar-b-que and socializing.

The Salt Lick only accepts CASH - no checks, no credit cards!!

You can even try your hand at taking out a dent on a panel that Oscar willhave set up for us, while Oscar shows us how the professionals do it.

www.saltlickbbq.com18001 FM 1826Driftwood, Texas 78619512-858-4959


BMW For A Good Causeby Denise Reid

Just wanted to send a photo of our2007 328iconvertible that was recentlydecorated for the Chuys Blue Santa Paradein Austin this November 29th;

Every year for the last 7 years, I andmy teens have participated in this paradewith a vehicle decorated full of stuffedanimals. This year we really had fun bystringing the cuddly critters together anddecorating the car (all soft plush so noscratches here!); as we drove thru theparade route down Congress to CesarChavez and the river. It was so much funto hear the little kids along the street,viewing the parade, shout “Wow, I reallylike your car—look at those animals!”. Alot of the adults said the same thing, andeverybody was all smiles. My 16 year olddaughter and her 2 friends dressed asbigger-than-life-turkeys and danced alongthe parade route, while my 17 year old sontook photos to use as part of his Sr. project

for Cedar Park High School. At the endof the parade, the animals were allcollected by volunteers and added to allthe other toy donations.

Every year we all look forward todoing this parade, and this year, it was thebest, with the addition of our 328convertible!

We can’t wait till the 2009 Chuysparade! Itwould be a lotof fun if wecould get agroup ofBMW’s toparticipate, asthere arem o t o r c y c l eclubs, antiquecar clubs andother groupsthat also dothis, and it allgoes to a great cause. Any takers??

[email protected]


BMWEngines Earn Two PlacesOn Ward’s Annual 10 BestEngines List

Diesel and Gasoline Engines Make BMWthe Only Double Winner for 2009

Woodcliff Lake, NJ - January 15, 2009...BMW of North America yesterdayaccepted two 10 Best Engines awards fromWard’s Automotive Group. As the onlydouble winner this year, two BMW twin-turbo inline-6 engines — one diesel andone gasoline — were elected to the 10 BestEngines list for the 2009 model year bythe Ward’s panel of expert judges.“These two awards are further testamentthat BMW’s EfficientDynamicsengineering strategy is delivering theperformance and efficiency that driversexpect today.” said Hans Hohenner,General Manager of DrivetrainDevelopment for BMW Group. “Each ofthese very different engines brings tomarket new technologies that combine tocreate the highest-performing six-cylinderengines BMW has ever produced whiledelivering fuel efficiency that waspreviously unattainable.

”BMW’s gasoline 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged DOHC Inline-6 received aWard’s 10 Best Engines honor for the thirdtime since its introduction in the summer

of 2006. The acclaimed engine nowpowers 11 BMW models in the US - fromthe 135i to the X6 xDrive35i SportsActivity Coupe. This 300-horsepowerengine features twin low-massturbochargers, High Precision DirectInjection and electrified accessory drivesfor an unbeatable blend of power,efficiency, and responsiveness. As anexample, this engine propels the BMW335i coupe from rest to 60 mph in just 5.3seconds (manual transmission) yet deliversan EPA-estimated highway mileage of 26mpg.

The second Ward’s 10 Best Engineshonor for BMW was awarded to the new50-state BMW Advanced Diesel withBluePerformance technology. Featuringall-aluminum construction, this light-weight 3.0-liter Sequential Turbo DOHCAdvanced Diesel inline-6 offers V-8performance on four-cylinderconsumption: 265 horsepower and 425 lb-ft of torque, with EPA efficiency figuresof 23 (city) and 36 (highway) in the 2009BMW 335d Sedan, which is capable of 0- 60mph in just 6.0 seconds. In addition tothe 335d model mentioned, this newengine will also be available in the X5xDrive35d Sports Activity Vehicle, whichis capable of 0 - 60mph in 6.9 seconds and26mpg on the highway. Both AdvancedDiesel models will be in BMW centerslater this month.

BMW 6 cylinder diesel engine with Aluminium-Crankcase and 1800 bar Piezo-Injection

BMW 6 cylinder petrol engine with Twin -Turboand High Precision Injection


continued on page 12

BMW Assist(tm) ExtendsAutomatic Collision NotificationTo Include “Risk Of SevereInjury” Algorithm.

Woodcliff Lake, NJ - January 11, 2009 at13:00EST... BMW of North Americatoday announced that 2009 and later modelBMW vehicles (excludes X3) featureBMW’s unique “Risk of Severe Injury”calculation when equipped with the BMWAssist(TM) system. If an accident occurs,this BMW-exclusive system collects datafrom on-board control units and transmitsit automatically to the BMW Assistresponse center. There, the data isevaluated using a unique algorithm todetermine the probability of severe injury.Rescuers can now be informed not onlyof where an accident took place, but alsothe risk of severe occupant injury.

“Knowing not only the preciselocation of a crash but also the potentialfor life threatening injuries immediatelywill propel emergency services to thescene armed with the necessary life-savingtools,” states Dr. Jeffrey S. Augenstein,director of the William Lehman InjuryResearch Center in Miami. “When fullyimplemented, a trauma system based onenhanced Automatic CollisionNotification will save thousands of lives.BMW has taken a leadership position inthis effort. BMW is due a tremendousamount of credit for spearheading this life-saving safety initiative.

”Following a severe accident, the firstpriority is to dispatch prompt andappropriate assistance to the scene. BMWAssist helps ensure rescue services arenotified quickly and accurately. Now,using a predictive algorithm jointlydeveloped with the William Lehman InjuryResearch Center, BMW Assist’s

Automatic Collision Notification servicehas been enhanced to include more-detailed information about the injuryprobability and type of collision to helpthe local emergency services determine themost appropriate response team todispatch.

BMW introduced vehicles withAutomatic Collision Notification in modelyear 2000. This service helps ensure rapidresponse after a crash by sending an alertpromptly and automatically, including theaccident location, and then establishing avoice call. More than 500,000 BMWvehicles are now in operation with thiscore BMW Assist feature.

More data helps determine the bestresponse

In the event of a severe accident, theBMW Assist system will automaticallytransmit location and vehicle data to aresponse specialist. The specialist thencommunicates verbally with the driver todetermine the condition of the vehicle’soccupants. Meanwhile, a second responsespecialist contacts the appropriate PublicSafety Answering Point (PSAP) to requestdispatch of emergency services, sharingthe vehicle’s transmitted location, basedon GPS coordinates and informationobtained from the driver. This informationcan also be made available to the PSAPvia a web site.

To better understand the type ofaccident and possible extent of injuries,BMW Assist’s enhanced AutomaticCollision Notification service takes intoaccount a wide range of relevant data.Numerous sensors distributed around thevehicle shed light on the type of collisionand the resulting probability of injury. Thedeployment status of various safetysystems in the vehicle is ascertained along


with front seat occupancy and seat beltengagement status for the front seats. Thisinformation makes it possible to identifyand differentiate frontal, rear, side, andmultiple collisions, and estimate the levelof injury to occupants.

About BMW Assist:BMW Assist provides the driver with

services that enhance on-the-road securityand convenience, for added peace of mind.The BMW Assist and Bluetooth® Systemis standard on all 5, 6 and 7 Series models,including the M5 and M6, and is includedin the Premium Package or available as astand-alone option on all other models.BMW includes the Safety Plan for 4 yearsat no additional cost. BMW is the onlymanufacturer that offers this duration ofservice as other manufacturers onlyinclude the first year. The BMW AssistSafety Plan is a subscription based servicethat is subject to certain limitations.

The in-vehicle equipment integratesGPS technology and hands-free wirelesscommunication functions to deliveremergency and other services, accessed viabuttons in the overhead or center console.The BMW Assist system transmits thelocation and vehicle information to theBMW Assist Response Center. A responsespecialist speaks with the vehicleoccupants to coordinate dispatch, notifyemergency contacts on file, and link BMWRoadside Assistance or emergencyservices as needed and/or requested. Asevere accident automatically activates theAutomatic Collision Notification function.

The BMW Assist Safety Plan alsoincludes Door Unlock and Stolen VehicleRecovery services, which can save the

driver time and money. MyInfo allowsusers to send business listings and streetaddresses with associated phone numbersfrom the internet, directly to their BMW.TeleService automatically notifies theBMW center when the vehicle needsservice. A service advisor then proactivelycalls the customer to set up a convenientappointment and have the needed partsready.

BMW Assist subscribers can alsoenroll in the BMW Assist ConveniencePlan (available at an additional cost of$199 per year) to avail themselves ofBMW Assist concierge services; fromfinding the lowest fuel price or the bestFrench restaurant in the area to informationon flight arrival gates or times, as well asreceiving directions, traffic and weatherinformation. On most models producedSeptember 2006 and later, a selecteddestination and its phone number can besent directly to the BMW Navigationsystem and the subscriber’s Bluetooth -linked mobile phone, after a push of theConcierge menu option. New for most2009 and later models is BMW Search,which allows online access to the GoogleMaps database inside the vehicle toquickly find a desired business with just akey word. The Convenience Plan alsoincludes Critical Calling, a service that canconnect the driver to a requested party viaa response specialist in case their mobilephone is not in the vehicle or its battery isdischarged. Lastly, theBMW Assist system includes Bluetoothhands-free calling and phone connectivitywith phonebook access and speechrecognition for dialing by name or numbervia steering wheel controls. Use of thisfeature requires a customer-providedcompatible Bluetooth mobile phone. Tolearn more about BMW Assist, please visitwww.bmwassist.com.

BMW Assist(tm) ExtendsAutomatic Collision Notificationcontinued from page 11



Tejas Chapter’s 2009 PostHoliday PartyA Review by Sandy McConnell

The historic Faust Hotel and it’selegant banquet room were the rightplace for the occasion, the occasionbeing the Tejas Chapter’s annual PostHoliday Party and Awards Banquet. Alively and expectant group of 58people began arriving at 6:00 pm andwere checked in receiving their doorprize tickets, name tags, Tejas patches,

and unexpected DVDs (more to besaid about those later.) As they beganmingling with the other Tejas friendsand guests, a drink bar was madeavailable and the door prizes werereadied for the bidding. The pile ofg i f t s for the whi te e lephant g i f texchange grew in size and in mystery,as one could only image what types ofsurprises, good and bad, might becollecting there.

Chapter members, Allan Gazza,Sridhar Kamma, Mary Beth and MarcoCordon, surprised us with DVDs theyhad put together, with an expressivecol lage of p ic tures cover ing thevarious Tejas events of 2008. TheDVD was being projected all duringour even t and we der ived grea t

pleasure in seeing and rememberingthe fun we had this year. The DVDsalso enabled many to fill in the blanksabout the events, for those who hadnot had the pleasure of attending themall! Each Tejas member in attendancewas g iven one of the DVDs a tregistration. Our thanks to Allan,Mary Beth, Marco & Sridhar for thisspecial treat!

The door prizes up for biddingthis year were donated by BMW ofSan Antonio, BMW of Austin andTejas Chapter. BMW of San Antonioprovided BMW sunglasses, a CD case,BMW key fobs and hats. BMW ofAustin provided a gorgeous 3.0 CSimodel and Tejas Chapter contributedseveral Tejas denim shirts.

Glenn presented the awards forour top 13 incentive points winners.The winners are announced in anothersection of this newsletter, with apicture. A special thanks to Glenn fordesigning the very elegant awardplaques.

Dinner was a buffet meal servingroasted pork loin, Chicken Scallopini,garlic mashed potatoes, roasted corn,various vegetables and dessert... allmouth watering and perhaps one of themore unique dinner venues of ourholiday parties.

And then our notorious whiteelephant gift exchange! The basicrules allowed items to be stolen 3times and then they were frozen andcould not move again. The f i rs tperson to pick a gift, also had theoption of being the last person withthe right to pick from any of the gifts.We had a genuine white elephant thisyear! It really was very elegant, butit amazed me that in all the years

Tejas TraxFebruary 2009

Post-HolidJanuary

Many thanks to K

Many more great photos are av

Tejas TraxFebruary 2009

day Party24, 2009

Kathy Eltringham

vailable on the chapter website


we’ve been do ing th i s , I cannotremember anyone ever having donethis before! I know who brought thisgift icon, but I’m not telling. Someof you who know our group prettywell, can pretty well guess who thiswas without too much stretch of theimagination. We had some of thosenot so popular gifts that we’ve cometo expect, l ike an old used radio/cassette player, and a returned itemfrom last year, a large diamond - abouta 4 inch, not so valuable one! Wealso had some really nice gifts thatmade the rounds unt i l they weref rozen. I tems l ike the bot t le ofBartenura, I ta l ian Moscato whitewine, some useful automotive tools,popular brand car cleaning supplies,a wheel clock and various car modelswere among the most sought aftergifts. If one person got picked on themost, i.e. had their gifts stolen timeand t ime aga in , i t was SpencerCubage. He was a really good sport,but first, he was so unlucky as to getthe old cassette player, which hecreatively got rid of by putting a$20.00 bill on it! Yes, it did get

taken... then. Then he had the wheelclock, a BMW keychain, and a carmodel taken. As I recall though, hefinally ended up with a nice keeper.

This year someone had brought anextra gift, so we added a little differenttwist at the end of the exchange. Folkswere asked who thought they hadreceived the worst gift and whetherthey would like to trade it for theunknown gift, being advised that itcould be better; it could be worse.Risking all (just like in Let’s Make ADeal) was Marco Cordon who waswi l l ing to t rade in h i s o r ig ina l ,pa ten ted , Turbo-Vented , KLEENWHEELS Dust Shields! Well, youdecide if he got a good trade... he gotan IMAX NASCAR race DVD!

We want to be sure and thankKathy Eltringham for refereeing thegift exchange and for finding the FaustHotel and making all the arrangementsfor this really great post holiday event.Everyone seemed to have a terrifictime and all the feedback received,confirmed that. It was an encouragingbeginning for another fun-filled andexciting year for the Tejas Chapter.

See you in February at our DingCompany Tech Session, Salt LickLunch event!

Post Holiday Partycontinued from page 13



The M Azing School!By Adriana Diesen

The date had been set since thesummer : December 10 th and11th, but Jonna and I decided that

we’d spend that entire week in SouthCarolina and surroundings. Jonna wassupposed to fly in from San Antonioon Monday December 8th and I wouldmeet her onboard the aircraft for thefinal leg: IAH – GSP (Greenville-Spartanburg).

Monday, December 8th 2009I never considered myself to be a

lucky person, but hey, never lose hoperight? It just happened that I ended upwith this new, fully loaded 335i sedanin my hands that very morning. Withthe approval from this baby’s owner,I was left with a decision to make: todrive or to fly? Well, those of you whoknow me will totally understand whenI tell you that it was actually a nobrainer decision. Of course I woulddrive the 957 miles instead of coveringthis distance by air. Duh! So I calledJonna – who was boarding the planein San Antonio – and updated her onthe situation. Long story short, beingmy “identical twin” when it comes to

our re la t ionsh ip to the u l t imatemachines, Jonna called me after awhile saying that she now had got herluggage out of the plane: “Come getme at IAH!” she said. Around 1:30pmI picked her up at Terminal C and offwent “Thelma and Louise”!

Because we were registered for the3pm tour of the manufacturing on thefollowing day, we did not have timeto spare, so driving the “short route”was our only option. At 11pm westopped in Montgomery, AL where wespent the night.

Tuesday, December 9th 2009We left Montgomery at around

7am. Worth mentioning, the 335 wasa sweet car to drive, pretty responsiveand agile. I guess our only problemwith that car was the vibrant CrimsonRed exterior, which seemed to attract“studs in trucks”, especially as wecrossed Louisiana and Mississippi.Nothing that 300hp weren’t able tohandle though. ☺ By 1pm we werechecking in at the Greenville Marriott.It had been raining pretty much all theway and the weather in South Carolinawas no different. Pretty frustratingsince we were going on the track thenext day and the forecast seemed grim.“There goes our M experience” wethought.

At 2:30pm we were pulling overat the parking lot of BMW. BeingAdriana and Jonna we had the goosebumps all over and could not containour smile. The little girls going to thecandy s to re . We were in sac redterritory! At 3pm sharp the group wastaken into the plant. We saw the newdiesel models, and were told about thefuture plans for the Spartanburg plant,

The 502. Built from 1954 to 1964 it had a V8engine and 100hp.



such as the arrival of the X3, whichf rom 2009 wi l l be p roducedexclusively in South Carolina. Noword on the upcoming X1 though, butwe were told that a new 2.9 millionsq. ft. facility is under constructionadjacent to the current facility. Thebuilding site is totally visible from theroad and from the Performance Center– if you went to the Z3 Homecomingyou probably spotted that site as well.Once the new building is ready, a totalof over 5 mi l l ion sq . f t . wi l l beavailable for the manufacturing. It wasa n ice tour tha t l a s ted about 45minutes and had us walk quite somemiles inside the plant.

Back at the hotel we got ready fordinner and once in the restaurant itwasn’t really hard to tell who wasthere for the school and who wasn’t:we al l had “BMW Menus”. Afterdinner Jonna and I met some fellowM owners and had some veryinteresting conversations (on BMWs,engines and performance of course!).

Wednesday, December 10th 2009: Day 1Early in the morning we met the

rest of the group in the breakfast room.It was real ly hard to contain our

excitement and, despite the heavy rainthat just kept pouring, we could hardlywait to get into the bus and off to thePerformance Center. Can’t be late toclass! ☺ We were welcomed by theinstructors and taken straight to theclass room for the theory session. Itwas then that Jonna and I noticed thatwe were the only women in a group ofsome 20+ people. Hey, the more malebutts to kick on the track the merrier!☺ The rain had just gotten worse whenwe were taken out to … the machines!And there was the sight all BMWlovers dream of: three lines of brandnew M3s, M5s and M6s. In fact welearned that the M3s we had at ourdisposal were the all new 2009 M DualClutch Transmission (DCT) ones andhad just arrived in the country a coupleof days earlier. The instructors hadfinished breaking them in the daybefore and we would be the first groupto drive them. What an honor!

We were told to jump into the M6sfor our first exercise. If you havenever been to a school a t thePer formance Cente r, what webasically do is perform a series ofdriving exercises using the differentcars in that type of school. In this casewe were using M cars only, so eachexercise was done in the M3, M5 orM6, one at a time. The school

The M Azing School!continued from page 17

The 3.0 CSL

Me on the skidpad


comprises a number of hands-onexercises such as emergency braking1

, skid pad2 , track / autocross exercisesand, in the case of the M school, alsosome rac ing on the PerformanceCente r ’s rac ing t rack – bu t wewouldn’t know that one until the nextday *smiles*

We were all too curious to try thenew DCT M3, but we didn’t really getto it, except for the rat race, whichdidn’t really give us opportunity tofeel the car, so that was disappointing.Or so we thought…

On the new M Dual Clu tchTransmission: as it was explained, theM DCT sys tem compr ises twoindependent shafts, say left and right,where the left one houses the odd-numbered gears (1,3,5 and 7) and theright shaft the even-numbered gears(2,4,6). By overlapping the clutchfunctions the flow of power is notin te r rup ted and the gear changeprocess is extremely smooth. Thisprocess means virtually no lag. Well,that is not totally true: there is a0.0004 second lag *smile* As thelatest BMW Magazine puts it, “it takesabout 50 times longer to bat an eyelidthan for this new 7 speed transmissionto carry out an entire gear-shifting

process”. www.bmwusa.com/m3And by the way, asses we kicked

alright! In the autocross Jonna actuallyhad the overall best time, which wasalmost 2 entire seconds ahead of thesecond place! I had the 4th best time,which wasn’t small either. And yes, itpoured all day long.

As most students were leaving thenext morning, we wrapped it up withdinner at a nice Greenvil le s teakhouse.

Thursday, December 11th 2009: Day 2If we had had any hope of better

weather on the second day, it died themoment we opened the curtains in ourhotel room and were greeted by evenworse weather than we had had the daybefore . Wel l , you can’t haveevery th ing . We were on ly fourstudents on the second day so it wasgoing to be like a private class. Couldwe have asked for more?! Ourinstructors on Day 2 were Jim Clark,who i s no th ing less than thePerformance Center’s Chief DrivingInstructor, and Matt Mullins, whosecareer also includes some drivingstunts in movies such as TalladegaNights. The program on the secondday included only track exercises(autocross and racing) except for oneexercise on the skid pad, where welearned a more advanced controltechnique. The “curriculum” includeda number of different track setups thatbecame increasingly more complexuntil we got to the last exercise of theday: a race whose setup used the fulltrack, several miles long. We woulddrive each setup some 10-12 times,then take a 5 minutes break and returnto the track for a new setup.


Jonna in love with the new M3


Jonna and I were assigned to JimClark and given that we were only fourparticipants that day we were givenfree choice of [M] car. Need I saywhich car we picked? ☺ Each two carswould follow one instructor during thewarm-up and recognition laps. As ourknowledge of the track increased sodid the speed. Jim would coach us viathe radio, pointing out the correctpositioning for the given setup wewere driving, the recommended gearon each curve, the recommendedbreaking points, apex, etc. As ourt rack sk i l l s improved J im’sinstructions would become fewer andfewer until he wouldn’t say anythinganymore, but join us in our joy.

I can tell you: there is no sensationlike the sound and the sight of threeM cars driving behind one another inabsolutely perfect synchrony on a racetrack that is pretty much yours alone.All your senses become engaged in theexperience and you literally feel youare one with the machine. You knowfor a fact that you will move right andthe car will move with you, becauseyou are in control. Your brain is totallyimmersed and concentrated in thedriving experience and for thosemoments you have no worries, nofears, not even thoughts crossing yourmind. At a certain point we actually

totally forgot about the ever pouringrain, noticing it only once as we exitedthe cars at the end of the program. Youhave reached nirvana with your BMWand each and every one of its horses!

Die-hard-I-wil l-never-drive-a-non-manual-six-speed-car-Jonna wasso amazed by the new M3 that sheliterally had tears in her eyes when shegot out of her car after our final lap.Myself, I had my usual goose bumpsall over. I had been in heaven for twodays and I didn’t want to leave it.Being Jonna and Adriana we were intotal awe, shock and ecstasy.

In the car on the way back toHouston i t took us some severalhundred miles before we snapped outof the M mode and out of the sensationwe had been feeling since we exitedthe track on our last lap. We couldliterally feel the adrenaline running inour veins long after we had left SouthCarolina. Sometimes we would talknonstop about the experience and atother times we would be totally quietfor entire minutes, both knowing whatthe other one was thinking about. Weknew we had just had the best drivingexperience of our entire lives thus far.Period.

The drive back home wasn’t as fun

Jonna Clark, our “colleagues” Jim & Jim andMatt Mullins

“Snowy” Louisiana?!



and exciting as the drive up to SC, butwe were definitely glad we drove orwe’d have missed the thick layer ofsnow that covered parts of Louisiana.Pretty amazing!

So lessons learned:1. The new M DCT system is anunbe l ievab le p iece o f Bavar ianengineering2. M School = nirvana3. The 335i is a very nice car4. On the second day I beat Jonna’soverall best time by 0.04 second. NowI could sleep happy ☺5. What do you do to drive on aracetrack when it is raining? Youswitch your windshield wipers on ofcourse! ☺

1 Drivers are traditionally taught to pumpthe brakes on slippery roads to avoid askid, but with ABS, firm and continuouspressure – not pumping – is required toactivate the ABS feature. An ABS systempumps the brakes automatically, manytimes a second, to prevent lockup and helpa driver to maintain control. The main ad-vantage of ABS is that it prevents the

wheels from locking up, which helps tokeep the vehicle from going into an un-controllable skid. Thus ABS allows youto maintaining steering control duringemergency braking, but only if you con-tinue to steer. The National Safety Coun-cil has the following recommendations:

a) Slam on the brakes during anemergency, all the way to the floor – don’tbe alarmed by mechanical noises or pedalpulsations when applying ABS brakes.ABS is only activated under hard braking.Pulsations, and sometimes noises, are nor-mal and indicate the ABS is working cor-rectly. Don’t pump the brakes in an effortto avoid locking up the wheels. ABS auto-matically pumps the brakes, much fasterthan the driver ever could.

b) Keeping your foot on the brakepedal, steer the vehicle in the correct path.Maintain firm and continuous pressure onthe brake pedal when braking, even if thepedal pulsates.2 In the skid pad exercise you learn tocontrol [or regain control of] the car on aslippery surface.

For information on the different drivingschools offered by the PerformanceCenter go to the Experience menu onwww.bmwusa.com



From the membershipchairmanby Gina Silvestri

2009 i s here and f i r s t andforemost, I would like to welcome allof our new members from 2008! Andwelcome to our “old” members, too!As our Tejas Chapter president, GlennMcConnell, reported in the January2009 issue of the Tejas Trax, we hadmany wonderful events during 2008and we are looking forward to our fun,exciting, and new events for 2009.

Next , I would l ike to remindeveryone of some benef i t s o fmembership with the BMW Car Clubof America. I have recently beenchecking out their website (http://bmwcca.org) and discovered the manyoptions the website has. To begin with,opening tabs include BMW News,BMW CCA (c lub by laws , e tc . ) ,Na t iona l Act iv i t i es , Rounde lMagazine, Join the Experience, andMembers Community.

Staying current with the BMWCCA webs i te i s an amazingexperience. For example, today I wasable to vote for officers, view theentire membership list and be able tomessage fellow members, and readabout contests and club rebates. Forexample, did you know that the BMWX6 and 1 Series models have beenadded to the Membership Rewardsrebate program? Yes! If you buy a

new BMW as of 01/01/2009, an X6 iseligible for a $1,000 reward, and a 1-Series is eligible for a $500 reward. ACPO X6 is eligible for a $500 reward.

Wow! This is great news for meand any of you out there who werewaiting until 2009 to buy your newBMW. I have my eye on the 1 Series,but an X6 isn’t out of the question,e i ther. Under the MembersCommunity tab, you can find forumswhere members pos t th reads oneverything from vehicle reviews toBMW events, to tech tips, BMW CCAstatistics, and just about everythingelse under the sun related to bothBimmers and Minis. There is also aclassified ad section – what a greatalternative to finding another ultimatedr iv ing machine to add to yourcollection. You could literally spenddays on this sole website.

With access not only to our TejasChapte r webs i te , even ts , andnewsletter, but to the BMW CCAwebsite, it is my hope that our chaptermembers wil l become even moreactive than they already are, as wellas to keep informed about everythingBMW. I look forward to seeing youa l l a t the p lanned tech even t inFebruary, as well as all events for2009.

As always, please feel free to callme at (512) 632-4240 or contact mea t g inas i lves t r i1@gmai l . comconcerning membership. Commentsand suggestions are always welcome!


Tejas Chapter Incentive Points Challenge for 2009

Activity PointsReturn Survey Form (form available on request or at website) 50Attend a meeting or event 30Organize a monthly event, (social/technical etc.) 100Assist with a monthly event (credited by organizer) 50Each new member recruited (credited by CCA) 30Original photo(s) published in the Trax (30 pts max/issue) 10Original photo(s) published on the website (30 pts max/event) 10Original Tech Tip published in the Trax 15Original Article published in the Trax (500 words or more) 30Original Article published in the Trax (less than 500 words) 15Recruitment of a commercial ad for Trax 20% of ad cost

To encourage participation, the successful Incentive Points Challenge began in 1998. Themembers or associate members who earn the highest number of points by the end of the year(up to 10th place) receive valuable prizes at the Post-Holiday Party in January 2010. TheRookie of the Year award is for the member that joined in the current year and earns RookiePoints based on Incentive Points earned divided by the time as a member during the year.


2009 Incentive Points Challenge Leader Board

as of January 30, 2009160 Pts 80 Pts Martie Peterson Linda Cavazos David Plutowski

Kathy Eltringham Marco Cordon Roger Williams Linda Cook Harvey Reiter130 Pts Kevin Duffy 50 Pts Tim Cook Martha Ricketson

Allan Gazza Brian Hall Ron Buchalski Spencer Cubage Corinne Sayther110 Pts Mary Lou Katchen David Michna Tim Ehrhart Mike Sevel

Wayne Eltringham Steve Ricketson 30 Pts Joseph Hall Donald YuleNathan Fong John Wagner Dwight Allmon Bill Leisey 25 Pts

Sridhar Kamma 60 Pts Patricia Allmon Bob Lewandowski Denise ReidSusan Yule Eric Chang Mike Anderson Chris Pedersen 20 Pts

95 Pts Adriana Diesen Jacinta Avila Steve Pedersen Casey JordanGina Silvestri Herb Looney Tom Brown Gregg Peterson

Congratulations2008 Incentive Points Challenge Winners

From left to right: Nathan Fong - Honorable Mention; Roger Williams- 4thPlace; Gina Silvestri - 5th Place; Linda Cook - 10th Place tie; KathyEltringham - 2nd Place, Mike Sevel - 10th Place tie; Allan Gazza - 3rd Place;Wayne Eltringham - 1st Place; Herb Looney - 6th Place; Kevin Duffy - 1stRookie; Susan Yule - 7th Place, Donald Yule - 8th Place; Tim Cook -Honorable Mention

Not shown: Geraud Martin - 9th Place

2009 Incentive Points Challenge Rookies Leader BoardAs of January 30, 2009

6.74 Pts 2.53 Pts

Brian Hall Joseph Hall


Date Event Meet Location

February 18, 2009 Steve Dinan at BMW of Austinsee Tejas Chapter website

Austin

February 21, 2009 Tech Session at Ding Co.see page 5

Austin

March 21, 2009 Italian Tour Austin

April 25, 2009 BMW Bluebonnet Bi-way (B3) Drive TBD

May 23, 2009 Annual Picnic TBD

June 20, 2009 Drive and Dinner Train Ride TBD

July 25, 2009 Shakespeare in the Barn Winedale

August 22, 2009 Fun Rally TBD

September 26, 2009 Wine & Dine Drive TBD

October 23-25, 2009 Annual Utopia Weekend Kerville

November 14, 2009 BMW of Austin Tech Session Austin

December 5, 2009 Annual Charity Event TBD

Web Site Info

http://www.tejaschapter.org for the most up-to-dateinformation about the TejasChapter.


Classified Ads

1985 M635CSiVIN WBAEE310901051656 Burgundymetallic/black leather, 103,500 miles,rebuilt motor, upgraded brakes andsuspension, 17x BBS RS wheels, newBS RE050A PP tires, custom stereo,matching Recaro C and KRXT seats,perfect OEM front seats included, CAtitle available, will deliver lower 48 orship, Excel lent condit ion, $22,900OBO 830-537-3497 or emai [email protected] (TX)

2002 M3VIN# WBSBL93402JR16234; ImolaRed/gray leather, SMG, 46,500 miles,premium package, bi-xenon headlights,Harmon/Kardon sound, nearly newPS2s, original owner and serviced byBMW of Austin, Inspection II justcompleted ($1900), all service records,no wrecks and "c lean" CARFAX,a lways ga raged and in exce l l en tcondition. Extended warranty until 05/18 /2009; $26 ,900 ; Contac t F redBrinkley, 512-343-7454.

Car CoversI have 3 "official" car covers for sale:

1 for 2006 M3 (or similar), 1 for 2007Z4 M Roadster (or similar), and 1 for2007 X3 or similar model. Bought forover $100 each . BO. Mus t se l l .Moving!. Contact Gina Silvestri at5126324240 or send emai l [email protected].

M Series Wheels18"x 8" ET13 M Parallel replica wheelswith matching spare, BMW center caps,aluminum hubcentric rings, & M badgesincluded, mounted on 245/40 ZR18Falken Azenis ST115 tires for sale.They came off of an E34 5 series, butmay fit others as well, asking $1,000.To see what they look like on the car,check out the Utopia trip last year, theyshould be in there. Contact JonathonGriffith at (210) 573-0988 or [email protected].

M3 Wheels4 2003 BMW spoke r ims for sale .$400.00 OBO Contact Anton (Tony)Ciomper l ik a t 903-445-8922 o [email protected].

Brake PadsBrake Pads for 540i Brand new, neverused, BMW e39, 1997 - 2003 540i, PBRSemi Metal l icxs, a great s topping,quiet, and low dust pad. Sold the carbefore I had a chance to install. Newcost about $100 plus shipping, I willsell both sets (front and rear) for $50.Contact Robert Ogle at 512 653-0802or send email to [email protected].

Classified ads FOR PERSONAL USE items are printed free for current members ofBMW CCA. Ads will run for three issues, unless stopped earlier. Ads may beextended by a request in writing to the Tejas Chapter mailbox or by email. Membersare limited to five (5) classified ads running at a time. The ad rate for non-memberads or member ads of a COMMERCIAL nature is $10.00 per issue. These ads willbe accepted on a monthly basis and payment must be received before ad is printed.Classified ads submitted for publication in the Tejas Trax are also placed on theTejas Chapter's website.


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