President’s Column, April 2006

The Winter Doldrums Party on March 4^th at our home was a nice evening.  We ended up with thirty members and guests for what was supposed to be a light fare, but turned into a sit-down dinner.  There were some old friends and some new faces that we hope to see again, so that someday, they will fall into the old friend category.  Thank you to Sheila for the great job hosting the event.  I think everyone enjoyed the evening.

New blood on the board is paying dividends already.  One of our new members-at-large, Dave Rich, is hoping to revive Autocross as a Chapter activity.  April 23^rd, 2006 is Dave’s first attempt and there should be an article elsewhere in this issue if you are interested, and I hope you are.  If Autocross isn’t your thing, check out the Wine & Cheese on April 29^th at the home of Jim & Maria Hurczyn in Bristol, CT.  This is a fun event each year and a great chance to socialize with fellow members. 

May 5^th is our second Driver’s School of the year at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, CT.  Our Show & Shine on the 21^st of May closes out May.  Of course, you can always find a bunch of us at Lime Rock over Memorial Day weekend as well.

One event that is not officially a CVC event, but we would like to get behind is the MS Bike Tour.  We are hoping to get a Chapter team of cyclists together.  We only need four participants to have a team, but we’d like to have many more.  You can find information both in the DZ and on our website about this event, but it’s for a great cause and we’d love to be able to a raise a lot of money by getting the whole Chapter behind it.

The Formula One season is now under way.  Bahrain kicked off the year with something old and something new, as Michael Schumacher put his Ferrari on the pole with Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari completing the front row, just like two years ago (if you substitute Rubens Barrichello for Massa).  Qualifying has changed again this year with two knockout rounds followed by the battle for the pole.  There is a lot of strategy involved and it was quite interesting to say the least.  The new BMW Sauber guys qualified 10^th (Heidfeld) and 11^th (Villeneuve), but it was downhill from there.  Heidfeld was involved in first lap contact that put him straight to the back.  From there, he recovered to finish 12^th.  Villeneuve had a spectacular engine failure with flames and smoke shooting many feet in the air.  In the end, it was Alonso’s Renault, followed by Michael and then Kimi Räikkönen in the McLaren Mercedes.  It’s going to be a long year for the BMW Sauber boys, me thinks.  Up next, Malaysia. 

If not in F1, at least this promises to be an exciting year in the BMW showrooms.  The face-lifted Z4 will coming out with new 3.0L engines (same as the E90 3 series) and of course the car BMW never planned to build, the M roadster.  The coupe version of the Z4 in M version (with 330HP) should also hit and all of this before Spring is even over.  The awesome M5’s brother the M6 will also arrive this year and should be really cool with its carbon fiber roof and all. 

In News From National membership is now at 75,200, slightly ahead of both last month and last year.  We’re still ranked as the 11^th largest Chapter in the Club.  ZF has increased their support for the ZF Public Service Awards for 2006, allowing more Chapters to receive cash awards.  The Driving Events Congress held in Dallas was widely acclaimed as a great success.   In the National elections the results of the positions for which we could vote show that Scott Blazey remains the President, Mark Calabrese will continue to be our National Vice-President and John Sullivan will be our new Regional Vice-President.  Congratulations to all. 

Come to event soon and see what you’ve been missing.  See you there!