Winners are grinners and I managed to win the bowling event draw prize for a Hot Lap with Jim Richards.

It was nice to hang out in the relaxed environment with Jo and Serena and a few other BMWDCM members who were there along with Jim and his nice wife Faye.

Jim has a beautiful Porsche GT3 RS. He drives so smoothly it feels like the car was floating itself through the corners rather than being driven.

With such a smooth driving style I could get a sense of how he can go so fast by letting the car flow around the track and a real privilege to experience first-hand someone so especially good at his profession.  He makes it look so effortless and easy and at first disappointing to realize I can never come close to being able to drive that well. 

Oh well, I really enjoy being part of the club and experiences like this will help improve my driving and I will have an exciting time learning how to drive better and am privileged to have people like Graeme and Chris coaching me and owning a Bell Motorsport E30.

At lunch Jim shared his driving history and I guess after driving so many cars in so many events and with such natural talent that it is no wonder he has won Bathurst and other championships so many times.  It was interesting to see how humble and a bit shy he is so I guess his driving does the talking.

I believe he has two cars in his private collection, I think that infamous Nissan Skyline and one of those special BMW M3s.  It was kind of nice to get confirmation yet again on how great the classic M3 is.

Thanks to Shannons and BMWDCM for a memorable day.

Rod Martin | Member #29
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne

I rocked up early to the Sandown raceway to ride with Jim Richards, excited and a little apprehensive. It was only a few days before that my name, along with Rod Martin's got pulled out of the hat as the two lucky winners.  It was my own 10 year old that pulled the names out of the hat! But before anyone cries 'Rigged!', you can find the video on the BMWDCM Facebook page...

I've never been to Sandown before, it's impressively big. I was trying to figure out where to go, but by luck, I saw Jo and Graeme's X5 - and headed over that way. I was early, but there was already a fair crowd of people milling around inside the track side garage. The first thing I noticed, above the friendly chatter inside, was the distinctive noise of a single car out on the track. Jim Richard's Porsche simply sounds awesome. Even on the far side of the track, you can hear it echoing around, and then when it flies past us at full tilt on the straight - the roar of that distinctive flat 6 engine is so satisfying.

I signed up, and unexpectedly soon a woman came and asked me if I'd like to go early. I did, and before I knew it I was in a flurry of suiting up and finding the right helmet. 10 minutes later I'm standing outside as Jim comes in from the last hot lap. People help me to clamber in, do up the harness and connect a lead to my helmet mike, In the middle of it all Jim reaches his hand out and introduces himself. The helmet mic was great. It meant we could chat despite the noise inside the car. I told him I was a little nervous about being in a race car on a track with a true race driver, and his response was, "Look, think of it this way, this is my car and I have no intention of crashing it." And true to his word, I had nothing to worry about. It was a lot of fun. I appreciated how fast and responsive the car was. The way it braked and accelerated, and the way Jim shifted its weight from corner to corner to keep it moving at speed. By the end of the laps, I was thinking, "What a car, and a what a driver!" Jim was such a gentleman. During the laps, we talked about the car, and he talked me through the corners; explaining what he was doing at each point to set himself up for the next one.

All in all, it was a great experience. I clambered out at the end, thanked Jim for the drive, and was thinking about how could I do more of this track racing stuff...

Simeon Taylor | Member #168
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne

Elsie in Merrmbula

On the first day of the bmw drivers club everybody sped off leaving me my mum and Matilda all alone, actually i was glad. We set off for the small water side town, went to a Vinnies to see if we could find any thing nice. 

I found a golden dress, Tilly  got a swan shirt and a fairy statue . Then we went to Best and Less, Tilly got a night gown with a matching dolly sized night gown as well. I got a nighty with cats on it. It started raining so we went back to the hotel we were staying at. After a little bit we went to the pool and we had A LOT of fun. We chilled out for a little bit and soon every one come back and we all got ready for the dinner that night. 

p.s i got to draw the raffle ticket and pulled out .... MY DAD.

Elsie Taylor