President’s Column, July 2007

by Bob Morin

Since last month’s column, we’ve had some very successful events.  On May 20th, second year Chapter board member Mike Zarolinski decided to build on the success of last year’s Bring More Wax Show & Shine with version two, also held at Wickham Park in Manchester, CT.  Sheila and I were unable to attend due a scheduling conflict when my nephew graduated from college in Boston on the same day, but I’ve been told that there was a great group on hand to eat, drink, and converse about and drool over the varied cars on hand.  Thanks to Mike for a great job. 

Our next event was also organized by one of our newer board members, Rudy Basztura, with lots of help from his wife Cheryl as well.  The Connecticut Winery Tour was limited to 60 participants because of logistics at the wineries and also in order to accommodate the catered lunch at the Haight Vineyard.  This event sold out quite quickly and brought us many first-time participants as well as a whole new youth movement, as the age of the crowd was decidedly less “gray” than we sometimes seem to get.  This is outstanding, as this younger group is the future of the club.  I hope we can build upon that in the future.  Of course, we also had a few veterans at the event and one couple, Jan and Bernadette Piepul, (Members #2429 and A2429) who have been dormant for quite some time, in spite of the fact that Jan has been a member for 37 years.  Welcome back!  Everyone seemed to have a great time and Rudy and Cheryl even arranged for a brief Fun Rally during the very scenic drive between the first and second winery.  Rudy and Cheryl are already thinking about how to follow up on the success of this event and we certainly want to thank them for their efforts to make this event so much fun.

In August, New Country BMW in Hartford, CT is in the process of working out the details of hosting the Chapter in a Car Club Open House on Sunday, August 26th.  I’m not sure how soon we’ll have all the information, so please watch the e-mail blast or the website (www.ctvalley.org) for last minute details.

Since my last column, there have been three Grands Prix.  The second leg of the European season was Monaco.  The history of this event and the glamour of the location make this one of the most watched events on the circuit.  Huge yachts in the harbor and beautiful people everywhere you look cause many photographers unusual neck strain trying to keep up.  But we’re race fans, so all we want to know about is the race, right?  Well, BMW Sauber didn’t get their usual 4th place, but BOTH cars finished in the points, which hasn’t been the case this year, so Kubica’s 5th and Heidfeld’s 6th was a good result.  But who snuck ahead of our boys to finish behind the McLaren Mercedes juggernaut and the also ran Ferrari’s?  Well, that would be Fisichella in his Renault, who all weekend long seemed to being showing signs of getting their act back together.  Not that they seemed poised to challenge for a win or anything, but they definitely seemed more capable of challenging BMW for third in the Championship. 

Next, the whole circus moved across the Atlantic for its North American swing and that began in Canada.  There were a lot of answers I hoped for in Canada.  That circuit has been good to BMW in the past; could we get lucky?  Will Renault continue to improve or was the uniqueness of Monaco the real reason for their 4th place there?  Would Lewis Hamilton continue his amazing run for McLaren Mercedes?  After all, a third followed by four second place finishes isn’t too shabby.  One has to think “Michael who” will be starting to permeate F1 before long. 

Well, a couple of the questions were showing some good signs of an answer during practice and when qualifying took place, there was Hamilton on pole.  Teammate Alonso was next, but Heidfeld was 3rd on the grid with the Ferraris 4th and 5th.  Poor Kubica, in the other Sauber, could only manage 8th after some car troubles put him behind all weekend.  The Renaults qualified 9th and 22nd, so maybe that was just a one-race fluke, right?  Well, practice and qualifying only tells part of the story, as the race is the real business of the weekend.  At the start, Hamilton got away cleanly and Heidfeld also got a good start.  Alonso didn’t get such a good start and then went off in the first corner.  This was the first of his many errors during the race, as he is apparently feeling the pressure of his young rookie teammate outperforming him.  He has started whining that Lewis is getting the better equipment.  You’ve got to love F1!  I’m the two-time World Champion and you’re paying me millions.  You hire a young, unproven rookie who immediately starts kicking my butt and it can only be because you are giving him the better stuff.  Why would you do that?  Good question!  Anyway, back to the race.  Heidfeld immerged in 2nd place and was actually pulling away from the field behind him, although clearly, he had nothing for Hamilton.  Through many Safety Car periods, all the pit stops and many penalties, the race became almost difficult to keep up with, but through it all, Heidfeld looked strong.  At one point, the pit exit was closed and Kubica was sitting at the exit waiting for the green light.  Massa and Fisichella drove right around him and were later disqualified from the event with a black flag.  Apparently that violation comes with a pretty severe penalty.  When I was watching, I also saw Trulli go around Kubica, but it must have been that he had momentum just as the light turned green, because he was not penalized, something that would prove crucial for Kubica.  On lap 26, while trying to pass Trulli, Kubica moved to the right at the kink just before the hairpin turn.  The two cars touched, and Kubica went off driver’s right and collided with the barrier at about 190 MPH, but at such an angle as to launch him back across the track doing several barrel rolls before coming to rest on the outside of the track all the way down at the hairpin.  Every person with whom I spoke after seeing the accident had the same thought; Robert was dead.  Safety crews arrived immediately and started to attend to what appeared a lifeless body.  Before long, word came that he was conscious and headed to the hospital.  Later in the broadcast, we were told he had a broken leg and maybe a concussion.  It turns out, he only had a sprained ankle and a concussion and might even race at Indy the following week, pending the F1 doctor’s evaluation the following Thursday.  He even drove himself away from the hospital when he was released.  What a relief!

Meanwhile, back to the racing, Hamilton went on to take his first win, with Heidfeld taking a very solid 2nd place and surprising Alex Wurtz taking 3rd after starting 19th.  The late race highlight came when Takuma Sato, driving for Super Aguri-Honda passed Alonso’s McLaren on the track!  Our favorite announcer, David Hobbs commented that the catering budget for the two-time champion’s team probably exceeded the entire budget for the Super Aguri team.  Great stuff!

I know I’m getting long on space this month, so let me just briefly say that we were really looking forward to our annual Indy visit.  This might be the year that BMW finally had a good result at Indy.  Kubica was declared fit to drive but was advised against it, because of the risk of another concussion so close to the last one, if he should be involved in an accident.  So, 19-year old Sebastian Vettel was named to drive the second Sauber.  Hamilton and Alonso again made up the front row, but the Ferraris were back in row two, Heidfeld managed 5th on the grid, but Vettel, after looking really strong in practice, could only qualify 7th.  He also messed up his start a little and fell back to 11th, before he eventually worked himself back up to 8th, to become the youngest driver ever to score points in an F1 race.  Heidfeld never looked any better than a 5th place car and that was before the car died on course.  Hamilton drove flawlessly to win again and you have to wonder how things could possibly get any better for this kid.  So, headed back to Europe, Heidfeld is 5th and Kubica tied for 7h in the Driver’s Championship and BMW Sauber is still a pretty solid 3rd in the Manufacturer’s Points.

In News From National, we’ve gained another 115 members and now stand at 76,229.  627 members have signed up 1012 new members since the latest membership drive began.  Look for your 2007 raffle information in the mail, if you haven’t seen it already.

I hope Nancie has enough room for this, as I know I’ve run much longer than usual this month.