Z Roadster Top Level Section at Int'l Council (archive)

: I am a member of the BMWCCGB (BMW Car Club Great Britain) and an overseas member of the Amy/Wayne's Z Series Register (Z3CCA). Of the two I have no doubt that the Z3CCA does the better job--the BMWCCGB seems to be mainly composed of M3 owners charging round race tracks and, if anything, I have more in common with the British Porsche, Mazda and MGF owners.

: I think Amy and Wayne do a brilliant job given the ridiculously small membership and Homecoming fees they charge. Yes, I agree, BMW MC probably covers most of the costs, but just do the math. 450 cars at $20 generates $9,000. I have run many national and international events and I can tell you the workload is horrifying--I guess Amy/Wayne probably put in a MINIMUM of 60+ days effort between them, which works out at a daily rate of $150 (which has to cover all overheads, travel costs, printing, etc.) Please don't insult them by saying this is "for profit!"

: We attempted to organise a similar event in Europe for May 2000, with BMW Munich as the venue. We put together a team of about twelve volunteers from Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Nethelands, UK, etc to share the work. We had 100 people provisionally sign up, but eventually had to cancel the event. The problem was that BMW insisted we go through the struture laid down by the International Council of BWW Clubs.

: In Europe the national groups (no matter how large) have no direct links to BMW, so we had to go through the 'BMW Club Europa' umbrella group. The national groups were not proactive in pushing BMW Club Europa, who in turn did sweet FA. Because time was running out we couldn't get the hotel reservations and had to cancel. Be warned--this is the type of 'cock-up' that could happen to your Homecoming event if .

: Currently BMW attempts to limit contact with owners to organisations that are directly members of the INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF BMW CLUBS (marked with '*' in the structure diagram below).


: * INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF BMW CLUBS http://www.bmwclubs.org
:    |
:    |-- America
:    |      |
:    |      |-- * BMW CAR CLUB OF AMERICA http://www.bmwcca.org
:    |      |     |--sub-groups (Registers/Chapters)
:    |      |-- * BMW MOTORCYCLE CLUB OF AMERICA http://www.bmwmoa.org
:    |            |--sub-groups
:    |
:    |-- * BMW CLUB EUROPA http://www.bmw-club-europa.org
:    |      |
:    |      |-- BMW Club Deutschland eV
:    |      |     |--Car sub-groups
:    |      |     |--Bike sub-groups
:    |      |
:    |      |-- BMW Car Club of Great Britain http://www.bmwccgb.org/
:    |      |     |--Car sub-groups
:    |      |
:    |      |-- British BMW Club http://www.bmwclub.org.uk/
:    |      |     |--Bike sub-groups
:    |      |
:    |      |-- other European countries
:    |
:    |-- * AFRICA, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN, ETC.
:    |
:    |-- * AMERICAN VINTAGE MOTORCYCLE OWNERS
:    |
:    |-- * BMW VETERANEN CLUB (Germany)  http://www.bmw-veteranenclub.de  
:           |-- Car / Bike sections: * = Members of the International Council

: In the International Council's neat and tidy view, the American Z3 SERIES REGISTER which organises the Homecoming would be one of the Registers (model-specific groups) or Chapters (regional groups) belonging to BMW CAR CLUB OF AMERICA.

: I think there is an alternative to the BMW CCA route. I believe the Z roadsters (Z1, Z3, M roadsters and Z8) should be recognised as a new 'International Z Roadster' TOP-LEVEL section at the International Council Level, with European and other chapters/sections as sub-groups to the Z Roadster group (and Wayne/Amy running the top level).

: There is a precedent to this with the completely separate Vintage and Veteranen sections. The 'control by BMW CCA' would then disappear into the background as would the 'not-for-profit' aspects as Amy/Wayne would be entitled to a proper reward for the effort they put in, which would undoubtedly lead to an INCREASE in their remuneration.

: Tim Cullis
: Webmaster, UK Z3 Message Board

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