Newsletter for the St. Louis Chapter of the BMW Car Club of America Spring 2010

IN THIS ISSUE...- An Exhausting Trip to Borla via the Dragon - BMW Thoughts- Surviving on the Streets with Tire Rack Street Survival

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Original Thought #23:

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636-227-5454800-962-4244

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be shown. Vehicles may also be pictured with non-US or optional equipment. We make reasonable efforts to provide accurate

information but we do not provide a warranty of accuracy. Consult your authorized BMW center or www.bmwusa.com for more

information. ©2005 BMW of North America, LLC. The BMW name and logo are registered trademarks. All rights reserved.

Factory trained technicians who regularly receive technical

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Chapter OfficersPresident Tom Allen president@stlbmwcca.org 314-363-1185

Vice President Pete Knese vp@stlbmwcca.org 636-536-3778

Secretary Steve Smart secretary@stlbmwcca.org 314-482-3412

Treasurer John Hoffner treasurer@stlbmwcca.org314-616-9575

Board Members Alex April John Cox Julian Cates Damon Peak John Holzbauer

Committee ChairsDriving Events Coordinator Julian Cates drive@stlbmwcca.org

Driver’s School Chief Instructor John Cox chief_instructor@stlbmwcca.org

Social Events Alex April social@stlbmwcca.org

Membership Alex April member@stlbmwcca.org

Advertising Steve Smart advertising@stlbmwcca.org

Legal Burt Garland legal@stlbmwcca.org

AdvisorsDetailing Brad Bloomquist detailing@stlbmwcca.org

Technical Pete Knese tech@stlbmwcca.org

Newsletter CommitteeEditor / Art Director Mike Allen gesundheit@stlbmwcca.org

For the latest

information on club

events and discussions,

classifieds, and photos,

visit the message board at

stlbmwcca.org/wwwboard

ContentsCover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Photo by Mike Allen

. . . . Car owner - Andrew Harkonen, 1990, 325i

President’s Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Upcoming Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

An Exhausting Trip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Member Connections John Holzbauer . . . . . .14

BMW Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Surviving on the Streets . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Get more online by going to the St. Louis Chapter

website at www.stlbmwcca.org

For the latest information on club

events and discussions, classifieds,

and photos, visit the message boards at

www.stlbmwcca.org/wwwboardGesundheit is a publication of the St. Louis BMW Club Inc. Its contents remain the property of the Club. All information furnished herein is provided by the membership of the Club for members only. The Club assumes no liability for any of the information contained herein. Any ideas, opinion, and suggestions expressed herein are those of the authors and no authentication is implied. Unless otherwise noted, none of the information in this publication is “factory approved.” Modifications within the warranty period of your BMW may void the warranty. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce any material published herein provided full credit is given to the author/photographer and Gesundheit.

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President’s Letter

There are a lot of different car clubs here in the US. Clubs for American cars, clubs for European cars and clubs for Asian cars. Their members all have something in common - a love for their brand of car, camaraderie between members or just sharing information. It’s the same thing we doi n the BMW Club, but they do it with a different model.

The clubs are usually pretty autonomous. They have their own events, their own interests and we usually don’t do a lot of activities together. Lately, though, I’ve been noticing a common interest between all the car clubs. Our kids. And more specifically, our kids that are just starting to drive.

The St. Louis BMW Club is an avid supporter of the Tire Rack Street Survival Schools (TRSSS). These car control, accident avoidance driving schools are a great thing that we do for the community. Even if it’s only twice a year that we do these schools, the kids that participate end up with a much better grasp on how to control a car, and that knowledge will save lives.

But there are changes brewing, the schools are expand-ing.

Through the hard work of our national sponsors Tire Rack and the BMWCCA Foundation, there are other car clubs joining our ranks. The Porsche Club has started holding Tire Rack Street Survival Schools. The Mer-cedes Club is providing their members as volunteers to support our schools. The Audi Club is holding Teen Car Control Clinics. Other clubs like Corvette, Mustang, Honda, Acura and Alfa Romeo are providing volunteers and instructors for these schools.

The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is diving head-first into holding schools. In 2009 the SCCA held 34 of the 79 Tire Rack Street Survival Schools around the country. This year they are scheduled to hold about 50% of the 90 schools scheduled.

This expansion of the Tire Rack Street Survival Schools is wonderful, and we’re going to help.

A couple of months ago I received an e-mail from Bill Wade, national director of Tire Rack Street Survival Schools. Bill deals with everything related to the schools, finances, safety and day-to-day operations. He asked me if the St. Louis BMW Club would be willing to train some folks in the St. Louis Chapter of the SCCA on how to hold a Tire Rack Street Survival School. We said, “Yes. Absolutely Yes.”

So now, we have a training mission coming up. We’re going to be teachers. We’re going to teach the SCCA members here in St. Louis.

We’ve been holding Tire Rack Street Survival Schools here since 2004 and have developed a pretty good step-by-step process to organizing a school. We’re going to teach the SCCA everything we do. We don’t feel that the knowledge we possess is confidential, or proprietary. We are more than happy to share. We’ll give them our notes, schedules, written procedures and allow them to attend all of our planning meetings and watch what we do at the school. We’re all moving toward one common goal. Teach the kids to drive.

Please join me in welcoming the St. Louis SCCA to Tire Rack Street Survival Schools. Let’s get these folks trained and let’s hold some more schools.

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Upcoming Events

- July 6, 2010 - The St. Louis BMW Club -- Monthly Meeting -- 6:30 PM -- Pujols5

- July 18, 2010 - Registration for our September 18, 2010 Street Survival School opens.

- Go to www.streetsurvival.org to register.

- August 3, 2010 - The St. Louis BMW Club -- Monthly Meeting -- 6:30 PM -- Autohaus BMW

- Sept 3, 2010 - The St. Louis BMW Club -- Monthly Meeting -- 6:30 PM -- Growlers Pub

- Sept 18, 2010 - Tire Rack Street Survival School

- Located at Gatway International Raceway.

- Go to www.streetsurvival.org to register.

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I used to drive a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP (su-percharged) with a Borla Cat-Back exhaust system. I enjoyed the sound and sensation produced by the Borla design. In January of 2010, I came across a post on Bimmerfest that caught my attention: “This is Chris Higgins from Borla Exhaust. We’re working on an R&D project and if you own a 2004 to 2007 525i/530i, we’d like you to be our partner in development. We would need your car for about 3-5 business days. As a token of our appreciation, we’ll present you with and install our performance exhaust system for your vehicle free of charge.” I have a 2004 530i Sport 6MT with the M54 engine. Google Maps showed me the numbers: round-trip to Johnson City, TN, 1200 miles, 20 hours, via Nashville and Knoxville, all Interstate. It was probably a long and boring drive for a simple visit to Borla Performance. But wait, what was this little green area just south of Knoxville? Zooming in, it’s the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where the Tail of the Dragon is located.

In Google Maps, I added a stop in Robbinsville, NC, and only 2 hours was added to the entire trip. Hmmm…

A few years ago, I stumbled across the photography site http://killboy.blogspot.com/ run by Darryl Cannon. The site shows vehicles traversing highway US-129 in the Great Smoky Mountains. I’ve seen pictures of motor-cycles, trikes, mopeds, sports cars, muscle cars, custom hot rods, exotics and even bicycles. What is even more amazing than the variety of vehicles is the distance people travel to drive on this stretch of US-129. Vehicles from all corners of the US, and even outside of the US (including Canada, UK and Australia) have been cap-tured by Darryl and his photographers. Through Darryl’s site, I have grown fascinated by Deal’s Gap and the Tail of the Dragon - 318 curves, hairpins/switchbacks com-pressed into 11 miles with 800 feet of elevation change. I was hooked.

A road trip to Borla Performance Industries’ new manu-facturing and R&D facilities in Johnson City, TN was

An Exhausting Trip Slaying the Dragon and Visiting Borla Performance ExhaustBy Victor Khong

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sounding better by the minute. How can a Bimmer-phile turn down the opportunity for a few days of driving a BMW, at highways speeds, carve through the Great Smoky Mountains, visit Borla Performance 330,000 sq ft facility and come home with a complimentary exhaust system? A plan was set in motion.

It was towards the end of the winter, so I decided to keep my winter wheels and tires on my vehicle. In ad-dition to luggage, I included precautionary equipment such as a basic tool kit, a tire repair kit, a high intensity LED emergency / work light, a reflective safety vest and a Mylar heat-retaining blanket. An iPod with 1800 songs, 20 genres (Jazz, Pop, Rock, R&B, Electronic, Trance, World, etc), 7 days worth of music is standard in my glove-box.

I left on a Saturday just after noon and headed towards Robbinsville, NC. Just past Paducah, KY, a tractor trailer accident resulted in standing traffic and a detour off the Interstate. Around 9:00 PM local Eastern Time, I reached the pop-ulated area of US-129, north of the Dragon. By then, I was getting pretty excited to be this close to the Dragon, which was less than half an hour away. Luckily, I had to travel on the Dragon to get to a hotel in Robbinsville.

Road signs for “Switchbacks ahead” and large wide shoulders for turnaround started to pop up. Truck drivers unfamiliar with the area are given several opportuni-ties to turn around and seek alternate routes. Then I saw “Switchbacks ahead - last turnaround.” This is it!

It was then about 11:00 PM when I reached the North-ern start of the Dragon and there was no traffic to speak of. As I climbed US-129, the turns started to occur with more frequency, more sharply and the altitude increased. Some curves were blind and very sharp. Oftentimes, I had to look out the side windows to look ahead! The Adaptive Headlights helped greatly, aiming towards the direction of steering.

At 7:00 am, I set out for the Dragon again and made two runs on it. It was great as there was no traffic that early in the morning. I would have done more runs, but snow was starting to fall in certain sections of the Dragon.

I returned to the hotel and loaded up my vehicle for the next leg of the trip: a 3-hour drive to Borla Performance in Johnson City, TN.

I checked in to a hotel in Johnson City, washed my

vehicle at a self-service bay and took a needed rest. My appointment at Borla Performance was not until 7:00 am the following morning.

7:00 am rolled around soon enough and I met Tim Love-lady in the lobby of the Borla Performance facilities. Tim gave me a whirlwind tour of the facilities and the manufacturing process. I learned that Borla Performance also manufacture headers for delivery trucks, custom ex-haust system components for boats, race cars, dragsters, exhaust components for automobile manufacturers and other performance part vendors. I saw the process of taking pipes, sheet metal and using computer-controller equipment, highly-skilled welders and metal finishers to produce a Borla Cat-Back sys-tem. It is evident that they care about their products and

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customers.

I dropped off my vehicle on a Monday morning and re-ceived a call after lunch on Tuesday that my vehicle will be ready shortly. Marian Juszak of Borla Performance picked me up from my hotel and offered his office to me while they were performing the finishing touches and fi-nal checks on the newly installed exhaust system. While I was hunting for WiFi for my laptop computer, I ran into a gentleman that offered me a network jack in lieu of WiFi. I introduced myself and so did he. “I’m Alex Borla.” I just shook hands with the CEO and founder of Borla Performance Industries!

Marian fired up my vehicle and it sounded really mean in the enclosed area of the building. I was dying to take it for a drive! After loading my luggage on my vehicle, I was on the road quickly, since it looked like snow was starting to move into the area. I had to head west to-wards Nashville, about 4.5 hours away, where there was no snow in the forecast.

The Borla exhaust system transformed my vehicle’s laid-back nature into a more fun-to-drive personality. Every acceleration run and throttle-blip to downshift brings a smile. Combined with the K&N FilterCharger,

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the BMW 530i Sport 6MT is much more fun to drive, to shift, and to accelerate. There is some resonance some-where below 1500 RPM, but it is under my normal driv-ing RPM range, so it isn’t a real issue at all.

After 1500 miles and a few days, the sound of the Borla exhaust system had toned down somewhat, as expected. The fiberglass in the mufflers have settled from the back pressure and heat of the exhaust gas, resulting in a lower sound level and better flowing exhaust.

According to the vehicle’s trip computer: Duration: 24:31 hoursTraveled: 1387 milesSpeed: 64.1 mphConsumption: 29.4 mpg

Slayed the Dragon, February, 2010.

BMW E36 M3 Hood Shock / Hood Strut

Replacement

by Steve Smart

www.tinyurl.com/E36HoodStruts

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HoneaAuto BodyCollision Repair Specialist

7145 ManchesterSt. Louis, MO. 63143Phone 314-644-1266

Fax 314-644-1295

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Member Connections

Each issue, we profile a member’s vehicle with the objective of providing information, enjoyment and perhaps some ideas for your ride. If you are a member and would like to have your vehicle considered to be profiled, contact John at jch197@charter.net. Not a member? No problem, contact our membership chair-man Alex at membership@stlbmwcca.org to learn how easy it is to join our club and enjoy all our benefits.

For your enjoyment in this issue: John Holzbauer

What John wants you to know about his ride:“This car is an absolute joy…never a dull day driv-ing this car…it loves the curves and eagerly wants to please. It feels like two cars really. Below 4000 RPM, where it normally runs as a daily driver, it is a strong running, responsive car. Above 4000 RPM, where it runs at the HPDEs, its torquey, highly responsive engine lets you know that you have power when you need it to throttle-steer in the turns or all-out in the straights. We have other cars in our family that I drive periodically, but it is hard to go more than three days without driving the “M”.

Bringing it home: I found my “M” in Fargo, North Dakota in January a few years ago. Knowing that I would not want to ship the car, I rolled the dice on the weather and flew into Fargo. Well, as you may know, summer tires, which this car had, turn to stone below freezing so I knew the drive would need to be docile. In addition, the car had lower springs on it at the time so ground clearance could be an issue as well if the weather turned nasty. So after completing the transaction with the dealer, off I went to the gas station to fill it up with gas, check the air in the tires and on the road I went. A couple of hours into the trip it was time to hit the rest area. Un-fortunately, they apparently don’t plow the rest area in the plains as often as the interstates, uh-oh. I managed to get on the off ramp with minimal snow plowing of my own but when I went to slow down, it was begin-ning to slide. I thought to myself, I’m not even going to get this car home in one piece. Thankfully, hav-ing grown up in Wisconsin driving in snow, being an accomplished down-hill skier and a reasonable boater, after the customary, “Oh S---“, I was able to draw on all of those skills to slide into the rest area in six-inch

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www.bavarianonline.com

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Series: E46Model: M3, Sequential Manual Gearbox (SMG) 6 speedCategory: “Daily Driver” and “Track Car” for High Performance Driver Education Events (HPDEs) Year: 2003Color: Exterior-Jet Black ; Interior-Cinnamon LeatherPerformance modifications:

Dinan Cold Air Intake; Dinan Stage 3 Engine Performance Software; Custom PerformaAnti-Rasp Section 1 Exhaust Pipe; Larini Club Sport Exhaust; SSR GT-10 Semi-Solid Forged19” Wheels 8.5” Front, 10” Rear; Michelin Pilot Sport 2 245-35-ZR19 Front, 275-30-ZR19 Rear; Dinan Rear Strut Tower Bar.

Exterior modifications:Carbon Fiber Hood/Trunk Roundels; Body Color Front Kidney Grills; Body Color Front Reflector Replacement; Body Color Brake Duct Inlets; DEPO Smoked Front Turn Signals; Solaris Ambersilver Front Turn Signal Bulbs; Flat Black Side Fender Gills; Body Color Driver Door Lock Replacement; 35% Charcoal Window Tint; Grayscale Rear M Emblem.

deep snow. I got out of the car and got a few odd looks from the other visitors, some I suspect were happy that I missed their trucks and probably others think-ing what the heck is a BMW doing here in the middle of the prairie? So after “resting,” I was off…sort of. Starting off in second gear to keep the tires from spin-ning, I was only able to get up to about 45mph which I thought would be perfect until I hit pavement. As luck would have it, a state trooper was pacing a caravan of traffic on the highway just as I was trying to merge. Well, I didn’t have much choice other than to merge at 45 and rely on the kindness of strangers as I was at

my top speed and had limited maneuvering capability. Fortunately, the other drivers took pity on me and let me in (with minimal hand gestures post merge). There really is something to this “Midwest Nice”. As night fell, I thought the trip would be uneventful as traffic began to thin out…then it started to snow. Fortunately, only a few inches fell so other than dodging the oc-casional salt truck that seemed to hurl salt the size of golf balls, I made it to Minneapolis and everything south from there to Saint Louis was clear. Next time I’ll ship.

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What makes us want to drive BMWs?

For me, it started at the movies. I can still remember Andrew McCarthy as the cool, rich kid in “Pretty in Pink.” And of course Kevin Bacon driving his 2002, and later a 325 in “She’s Having a Baby.” And don’t forget BMWs being driven in no fewer than four James Bond flicks! It’s sad but true….. I am a shallow, impres-sionable product of the power of marketing.

But wait just a doggone minute! Don’t be so fast to judge. How many of you out there own SUVs? How many of you have ever taken your SUV off-road? If SUV marketers give us “the promise of adventure”…..BMW marketers give us “the promise of being cool.”

And I still want to be one of those guys! I want to be the cool, successful guy with the understated, but awe-some car. I realized early on that I was never the type of guy that could drive up in a flashy, loud hunk of roll-ing testosterone. But rather the guy that was packing a ton of heat under the hood of say, an old M5, with only a small badge or two to tell the outside world what the car is really capable of.

By the time I could afford a reasonable car payment, those movies had made an indelible impact on my buy-ing decisions. And, based on a modicum of research I figured that I could get a decent used 325 for about the same price as a slightly newer American or Japanese car.

Luckily, I found a cherry deal on my first BMW, a 325es. I loved the way that car felt on the road. I even liked the spoon-in-pudding shifting of the 5-speed transmission. I particularly liked the color: understated Delphin Gray.

A year later, during a serious lapse in judgment, I traded it in for a Guards Red Porsche 924S. Don’t get me wrong, the 924S was a sweet car, but it went totally against the whole understated coolness I like in my cars. Living in a small apartment at the time, my little Red Porsche just seemed out of place in a sea of Toyotas and Chevy’s. And, the local teens kept prying off my hood badges. I had the car for about 8 months and went back to BMW.

So, we’ve established the fact that I’m a marketers dream….and I use the movies to influence my car buy-

BMW Thoughts By Chris Monks

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ing decisions. But wait, I’m not alone. Apparently, this world of Cinematic Product Placement is BIG business.

About the time TV remotes were invented, marketers figured out that most of us change the channel when commercials come on. To combat this effect, compa-nies with larger than life marketing budgets decided to use product placement in movies to expand their coverage. Not only does this give us exposure to their product, but it also gives us a feeling of relationship to the main characters!

I may not be suave enough to be James Bond, but at least I can drive his car!!!

A couple of months ago, I’m sitting on the couch with my 8-year old son watching a movie called “Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker.” Ewan McGregor plays the main character’s dad, Ian Rider. As Ian is involved in a chase scene with a helicopter full of bad guys, my son says, “Check out that cool car dad.” “Yes son, that’s a BMW Z4.”

Another generation……hopelessly influenced!

Story by Chris Monks

Photo by Mike Allen

In 2009 alone, the BMW CCA Foundation held 79 Street Survival Schools and their goal for this year is even higher: 90. The school has enjoyed a great deal of praise and success since its inception for having suc-cessfully taught teen drivers, myself included, how to stay calm and in control even through extreme situa-tions. I’m not the only one. The facts speak for them-selves, though; the school is fantastic at what it does: giving teenagers the knowledge and confidence they need to be truly fit for the road.

To best illustrate this, I’ll give my personal account of how great this school is. When I went to the license bureau to take my driver’s license test, the woman evaluating me was horrendous. For the purpose of this story I’ll just refer to her as “devil woman.” Everything went fine in the parking lot so we both get into my 1997 Champaign Nissan Maxima and begin the driving por-tion of the exam. As I come up to the first intersection, my vision on both sides is blocked by some very poorly placed bushes so I proceed to pull forward ever so slightly so that I don’t try to turn and end up fused with the side of a truck. Immediately as I do so, devil woman screeches some profanity and claws for my hand brake which startled me since I had no idea what she was do-ing at the time. Well, apparently this was enough to fail me as we turned around right there. I was very annoyed by this turn of events and it was my second attempt at the exam and I didn’t want to fail a third time.

My father, a member of the Saint Louis chapter, sug-gested that I try this “Street Survival” class. I did try the class and I’m glad I did. There are class room por-tions where you learn the basic principles of the exercis-es you’ll be learning as well as being put up to several hypothetical every day driving situations and how one should handle them. I took the class in that same Nissan and some hours, fire hoses, and slalom runs later my control of the car was leagues ahead of when I arrived that same morning. My instructor was incredibly help-ful as were all the instructors according to the other students I spoke with. Even more than all of that, it was fun. You’ll rarely get a chance to truly understand your vehicle as a new driver like you will in a controlled set-ting like they offer in Street Survival.

When I returned to the bureau to try my hand a third time, my mother gave me a dismayed look when devil woman appeared in the lobby to issue my exam. I waved off her concern and told her “I’ve got this.”, because I was up to the task now. Not only did I pass the exam but I passed with a near perfect score and I’ve never had a doubt in my mind that I owe Street Survival for it. Besides, if that story wasn’t enough to convince you: you get free jumper cables and a rain poncho from Autohaus BMW at the end. All right!

Story by Joshua Hoffner

Surviving on the Streets One Class Makes a Difference

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Letters to the EditorDear Mike Allen,

Another GAF checking in. I enjoyed the article about the Town and Country Police showing up at drivers school. I just wanted to let folks know that this was not the first time a Town and Country Police officer came to our drivers school.

Back before Gateway International there was St. Louis International. It was a 12 turn 2.2 mile track that was a lot more fun than what we have today but the facility was pretty low rent. We had, said officer, show up in the traditional Ford Crown Victoria squad car. I must admit, passing him in a warmed over 2002 was the high light of my weekend. I would slow down and let him in my mirror just to run away again. Now if I could only learn to out run the Motorola!!

We had a great time with him especially when he set up his radar at the end of the straight away. He was a lot of fun and I know he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

So there’s a little history from the good ole days and it’s nice to see it repeat in the here and now.

Greg Campbell

Past Prez, GAF

Dear Gesundheit,

I wanted to let all of the BMW Club members here in St. Louis know that AutoWerks of America and Clown Shoe Motorsports have come to an agreement where AutoWerks of America will be the primary sponsor of Brent “BJ” Meyer’s M-Coupe as Meyer competes in the Robin Hood Rally, a ten race series run on closed public roads in ten states. The race is expected to be televised in late 2010. For a formal press release and all of the details, go to the AutowerksOfAmerica.com or ClownShoeMotorsports.com.

Steve Warren

President of AutoWerks of America

Dear Mike Allen,

Many thanks to Pete Knese and the other chapter members who arranged the visit to Metric Mechanic on March 27. Jim, Teddy and Courtney are well known for their high quality work, but it is also refreshing to hear straight-up automotive wisdom based on a wealth of experience.

As much as I admire their mechanical skills (M.M. has not only preserved my E31, they’ve greatly improved it!) I really want to write about the “upstairs” department of the shop - less greasy and less cluttered - where the super quality work continues in Mary’s kitchen. Excellent organic ingredients plus loving care equals the best meal I’ve had all month.

If you have a special BMW that deserves “the best”, then schedule a visit to the little Bavarian car spa down in Richland, MO; you and your car will both receive the highest quality attention available anywhere.

Mark Weaver

Mexico, MO

Send your comments to:Gesundheit@stlbmwcca.org with a subject line of “Letters to the Editor.”

Thanks.

Mike Allen

Gesundheit Editor

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T h e N e w A u t o h a u s B M W C o m i n g S p r i n g 2 0 0 8

S t . L o u i s , M i s s o u r i

8 8 8 - 6 3 7 - 0 6 5 1

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S t i l l S t . L o u i s ’ O l d e s t ,

N o w S t . L o u i s ’ L a r g e s t B M W C e n t e r

T h e N e w A u t o h a u s B M W

St. Louis BMW Club Inc.P.O. Box 878St. Peters, MO 63376

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