 The BMW Car Club of Gauteng set the date for their annual Concours d'Elegance as the 30th August and set up camp at the popular Monte Casino in the North of Jo'burg. The event was billed to run from 09:00 through to 16:00, I arrived just before ten and was greeted with some pretty damn neat BMWs. There were mainly older BMWs parked around the water feature in the small piazza and the more modern ones were down a short path, parked on the grass just before the gate to the main piazzo where the Ferari chaps have their events. A silver 2002 was my favourite at the top section, super neat and clean in every aspect, a car I'd happily roll with daily. The older 5-Series cars were good too, a red 535 in particular. Some cars were more for display I think, because one of the older CSL cars had it's bumper/spoiler just bolted in place, something a concours judge with have a complete shitfit about - and rightly so. The old 6-Series cars were also very pretty cars, the Jagermeister racecar was just too cool though, track shots of it are a must.  
Other cars worthy of a mention were the neat 333i, the SavSpeed turbocharged M-Coupe, the black 840ci and a couple of E36 M3s. Sure there was an i8 and an i3 there as a modern representation of the brand, but if we're going to be choosing a modern car to drool over in the top piazza it would have to be the Yas Marina Blue M4 cabrio - that car is the sex. Besides the cars mentioned, there were a few others, but not as many as I thought I'd see. This year's event was definitely a lot smaller than in previous years, that goes for cars competiting as well as the cars on display. Many well-known BMW collectors and tuners were missing from the event. I couldn't begin to offer up an explanation as to why this was though. I'm sure there were other BMW fans who also expected to see cars from the likes of RGMotorsport (I did see Rob though, but he was there to visit), RACE!, Datyona, Tune-Tech, Sportech and similar outfits. On the owner side of things one man missing (if he was there I missed him) was Jack Kaplan. I also didn't spot any of his cars. Again, he may have a few different cars I haven't seen but I wasn't the only one to comment on his absence...  EDIT: Jack Kaplan was indeed present with his Vortech supercharged and nitrous assisted E36 M3. I should have known it was his car as I've seen it many, many times - parked and in action. As seen here being scrutinised by the judges. 
 Luckily there were some companies present with cars to display. My good mates at Big Boss Auto had a few cars there including and awesome Reiger Tuning-kitted Z4M. I spotted Quinton from H-tech Mag Repairs with his super hot M4 cabrio (on custom wheels of course), the guys from Evolution 2 Motorsport were there with some nice stuff and Adrian Burford from Roadworx / Stigworx had his very cool 2002 on display. The Evolution guys were set to reveal their latest awesome build, I left just before it happened but I knew what it was going to be - Farouk Dangor's original 325iS Speedy Sales track car from the early 90s in ammaculate condition. I'll have to snap some pics when I see it at the next big BMWCCG event. The other E30 parked at their stand was the Tovy Viana racecar - such an awesome car from such a great era. Also on the grass section, over and above the BBA Z4M and the Evolution cars, I was loving the mint E46 CSL. You can't help it really, pure automotive porn right there. Well as long as it hasn't been put through fence and patched up with dodgy bits.   It was a pretty cool event all in all, the BMW Car Club events always are. It was a little disappointing on the attendance side considering the size and the support that the club has, but I guess only those who have been to many of these shows would really know who and what cars were missing. There was an E30 picnic event on at the same time though and also many of the racers who usually support these events would have been on their way home Dezzi Raceway where racing had taken place the day before. I'm sure most of the car-loving public still had a great time though, which at the end of the day is what really counts at events like this. I'll see you at the next one... Here's a few pics... The full album will be on my Facebook page.                 |
