With Daylight Saving delaying the onset of darkness until later in the evening, an opportunity now exits for members to bring their special vehicles along and display them outside the Golf Club?s function rooms prior to our monthly meetings getting underway. It was nice to see a typically eclectic display of sports and classic cars lined up there this month whilst their owners soaked up the last of the sun?s rays with a drink on the terrace.
Around 50 members and friends attended this month?s meeting. Dinner was buffet style, but unfortunately it was very poorly catered for, resulting in our members on the last two tables fronting up to virtually empty food serveries and having to make do with the remains of the coleslaw and slices of corned beef ? certainly not value for money and very disappointing, especially as it?s not the first time this has happened!
General Business was handled with aplomb by Ray and his conscripts and this led into a presentation by Glenn Campbell centred on his recently acquired 2008 BMW M3 (E92) which was on display in the dining room. Glenn began by reading a note from his wife Pam, addressed to the Club. She wrote, ?My husband has a problem, he doesn?t know when to stop buying new cars ?. and, he is aided and abetted in these actions by certain members of this Club! Can you please help??
The M3 is the most recent manifestation of this problem. Glenn saw the M3 advertised and after a chat with Ray, they took off on a whim to Sydney to check it out. It is a fairly rare 6-speed manual version of the E92 M3 which is powered by a normally-aspirated 4-litre 309kW (414 bhp) V8 that spins to over 8000 rpm. This 10 year-old coupe was in very good condition, fully equipped with a stack of options and showing only 106,000km on the odometer. They bought it on the spot and drove it home the next day via Canberra, Cooma and Cann River, sharing 2-hour stints behind the wheels of both cars.
The M3 is a little bit faster than Glenn?s Porsche 911, which being an auto, doesn?t have the same driver involvement. Both Ray and Glenn agree that the M3 is a very quick and competent car, and it sticks to the road like glue, they love the way the M3 handles, although the active suspension?s three settings of hard, very hard and ridiculous take some getting used to. There is also a programmable ?M? button which can be set up for motorsport purposes and Glenn?s intentions may include some track time at some stage in the future.
At almost $200,000 when new, including options and on-road costs, this is one hell-of-a-lot of car. Today you can pick one up for less than $40,000 and if you?re prepared to take the gamble on reliability, do the leg work to find one that?s been well-maintained; it?s a temptation that?s difficult to resist.
In response to Pam?s concerns, I can only recommend that Glenn continue to regularly attend the self-help group which convenes several times per week at Frankies in Warragul for breakfast therapy sessions.
Great report Steve,we totally agree with your comments on the catering on the evening, otherwise a very enjoyable time, cheers Merv & Karen.