BMW Car Club of America
Puget Sound Region Board Meeting
Mercer Island Fire Station
January 6, 2005

The meeting was called to order by President Rick Gulstrom at the Mercer Island Fire Station at 7:05 p.m.

Those in attendance were:

Rick Gulstrom, President
Jim Millet, Zündfolge Advertising
De Anna Martin, Banquet Chair
Martin Hovenkotter, Treasurer
Tom Olsson, Driving Events Chair
Jane Otway, Secretary
Louis Hesselt van Dinter, Roster Chair
Lance Richert, Concurs Chair
David Lightfoot, Vice President
Bill Spornitz, Past Driving Events Chair
Walt Conley, Chief Driving Instructor
Alan James, Tour Coordinator
Lucetta Lightfoot, Zündfolge Editor
Mike Ellis, Member
Lynn Eskil, Membership Coordinator
Jeff Butler, Tech Events Chair
Jeff Schlimmer, Rally Coordinator
Dave Clary, SIG Coordinator
Louie Lindenmayer, E28 Gruppe SIG
Mark Baker, Member
 

Opening Comments:  Rick Gulstrom welcomed everyone.

Presidents Report

The club lost 21 members last month, many due to the sale of their cars.

The majority of BMW club chapters have signed up for  the D&O insurance. Bill Spornitz reported that the information that we reviewed at last meeting was an application only and that exact amounts for premiums and deductibles will be determined when the actual policy is issued.  The premium may increase over the year but it was generally felt that we, as a club, could handle the increased costs.

Treasurers Report

 A balance sheet was submitted showing total assets $85,977.58.  Total checking/savings balance is $48,524.09.  All track dates have been prepaid.  David Lightfoot is in the process of transitioning the Treasurer duties to Martin Hovenkotter. They have changed banks to Bank of America.  There are still bills to be paid and taxes must be filed this month.

General Meeting and Non-Track Event Calendar

 No report on past events.

Upcoming Events:

     The VRM Tour will be held on March 5, 2005 from 10:00 - 12:00.  Bill Spornitz will take care of food and refreshments. 

      Team Seattle- There will be an open house for Team Seattle on February 5, 2005 from 2:00 - 4:00pm with a speaker phone conference on how the team is doing.  People are encouraged to donate only what they are comfortable with in support of the team.

      Safety Gear Meeting- on 2/19/2005 there will be a Safety Gear Meeting held by Jeff Butler.  He has already received several email confirmations for this event.  Lucetta reminded Jeff to submit another article about this event to her for the February Zündfolge issue.

      Amateur Racing Q& A will be held with Jeff Butler and Wes Hill.  Jeff feels that many of the people interested in the Safety Gear meeting will also attend this event.

     Per de Anna Martin, the All Members Meeting will be held at Bison Creek pizza on March 26, 2005.  A buffet will be provided.  Info will be in the Zündfolge about this event.  Rick Gulstrom encouraged all Board Members to attend and make it a point to introduce themselves to new members.

New Events:

    Jeff still needs some date ideas from Carrie for a Woman's Only Tech session.

    Jeff was wondering if a Sunday Tech session at BMW Seattle would be of interest, if the vender would be willing to open on that day.  James Barlow is now the Parts Manager of BMW Northwest and Jeff will contact him about having a tech session there.

     Audio Aftermarket event is still in the works, however, no venue has been located at this time.

     Bill brought up the subject of a Dyno Day. Jeff states that these events are very popular, however, Jeff suggests we look at this for a summer event.

     Le May tour-  Alan James will research this and see if it would be feasible to pursue.

     Dave Clary brought up the possibility of doing some sort of autocross day where parts could be installed, tested and tweaked all at one event. Jim Millet stated that most shops are brand specific and would not support multiple venders.  He also mentions that most shops are not available on the weekends as these are prime business hours for shops.   Jeff mentions that he is willing to do a Tech Session like this, in April.

     Lance Richert mentioned that at the Puyallap Fairgrounds, October 7 - 9/2005 they are having an Oktoberfest with rides, games, a beer garden, and music events and wonders if our club would be interested in having some sort of car show/event in conjunction with this.  de- Anna knows someone who works with the company sponsoring the event and could contact that person to discuss the possibilities.

Track Committee

2004 Year End Wrap Up    
    Bill is concerned about the low turnout at the last Novice Day at Bremerton.   Lynne Eskil feels that the Novice Events are an excellent way to introduce members to High Performance driving and would encourage the club to allow Non-members to attend these events as well.  Bill stated that the PSR chapter has always encouraged people to join the club in order to attend the events thus supporting the club.  Jeff also mentions that he encourages his customers to join our club because of all the events we sponsor.

2005 Track Event Calendar
      Registration for the Instructor Clinic is open.  This clinic will be held the 25th and 26th of February.  Novice Skills days have been set.
     Tom Olsson wants to encourage all event registration to become completely electronic, with, eventually, the ability to pay for events on line.  All registration forms would be on line and downloadable.  This makes them more easily completed and read.  The paper forms would still be mailed to Tom, for the time being.  Lucetta is concerned about alienating people that don’t have a computer, however, Louis states that all track registration forms last year did contain email address' which indicates that most members have access to some form of online communication.
   Tom also feels that we should be using some sort of online payment processing system like Paypal. These systems do charge small, per transaction fees, however, it is felt that over the long term, these fees are very minimal and would be factored into the club budget.

  Alan James makes a motion that we forgo the registration forms in the Zündfolge.  Louis Hesselt van Dinter seconds the motion.  Motion carries with a unanimous vote.

  Street Survival- this event is still up in the air at this point. Several possible locations, under consideration for this event have changed hands and may or may not be available.

Upcoming Events
     WSP training facility- Shelton- to be deferred as Ken Hill not at meeting.

Autocross Event- Martin Hovenkotter
     Attending the WW Sports Car Council on January 18, 2005. He will see if we could use their cones, PA system, etc, however, the majority of their events are in Eastern Washington so it may not be feasible.
     Walt submitted comments to National about proposed Autocross minimum standards. National will write the standards and ask for input before approval.

Turn Workers - Lynne Eskil
  Last year we paid $750.00 per track event for corner workers. Since we employed the SOVREN Guild as corner workers and since they are part of Children's the money went t Children's. This is usually paid at the end of the season and this year they are asking for it up front.

David Lightfoot makes a motion that the club donate this money mid season.  Tom Olsson seconds it.  Motion carries by a majority.

   Also, by making 5 pledges to Team Seattle, Lynne received 5 nice sweatshirts she would like to give to corner workers. After each event, the workers would participate in a lottery like give away of the shirts. She feels this may entice more workers. Board approves.

Tours/Rally

   Jeff Schlimmer reports that he made an informal email survey of past participants of these events.  He found that most people didn’t respond and the ones that did had a variety of reasons for not attending again.
  Jamie Thomas has agreed to set up a station for the rally this year and not participate.
  The Spring Rally is scheduled for April 30, 2005.
  Lucetta mentioned that anyone interested in learning about Rally's, contact the Rally Council as they give free seminars and informational sessions throughout the region.

SIG Groups/Events 

  The 020202 event sponsored by Brian Capp is at Alki not North Bend as previously reported.   Any SIG contact changes should be forwarded to Dave Clary, SIG chair.

Banquet

    De-Anna states that since we are having 12 cars on the floor, this limits the seating space, especially with the auction tables. It was noted that if we move the auction tables to the mezzanine, we could seat approximately 300 people.  The Board feels that this is an excellent alternative and de -Anna will discuss with the site coordinator. 
   The time for moving the cars into the venue is to be determined, but volunteers will be needed to move the cars when the time comes. 
    Lance needs all donation items for the auction to be in his procession by January 22, 2005 in order for them to be arranged and organized. 
   This year the auction will offer a Guaranteed Bid on some items.  This means that if anyone doubles the retail price, the bidding will be closed and that bid will win the item. 
    David Lightfoot states that the club has confirmation on 10 cars and back up cars if necessary.  Our speaker, Eric Wensberg has been confirmed, his airfare will be re-embursed and the club will pay for his hotel accommodations.  David also needs 5 volunteers to help with check out. We can now take cash, check, MasterCard and Visa.  Bill and Marty agreed to help with checkout.
     We still need a formal agenda for the program.

Concours d'Elegance

    Lance states that he spoke with the woman who coordinates the events at Renton River Days and she suggested that Sunday may be available for our Concours.  The Board feels that Sunday would be a good day for this as it gives participants a Saturday to prepare their cars, as many are daily drivers.  Lance will speak with the coordinator soon and firm this up. 

Zündfolge

    Lucetta needs Board approval to order pre postage stamped envelopes for sending the magazine to foreign subscribers. She found that the cost is greatly reduced if the order is placed for 1000 envelopes, plus her mailing service company will store the envelopes for us.   Board approves this purchase if under $200.00.
   Lucetta is also providing additional copies of the Zündfolge, featuring the banquet speaker on the cover so these can be purchased and autographed  by Eric at the banquet. 
  The Board also gives Lucetta approval to recycle any old issues of the Zündfolge as she sees fit.

Roster/Membership

      Louis mentions that bulk emails require some time to prepare, so please do not ask him to send them the same day. 
    The National trend shows that our club is in line with their statistics in that we lose about 30 members per year.
    Louis is separating the Track and Membership data bases.
    Anytime you see any empty Membership Form rack, at a business or establishment, let Lynn know so she can refill them.  Also, feel free to move our Membership forms to a prominent place if you notice they have been moved out of the way.

Web Site

    Tom would like to purchase Adobe Acrobat so that the online registration forms can be utilized directly on the computer. This program also allows the monetary totals to be automatically calculated for the person filling out the form. 

    Tom made a motion that he would like to purchase this software, not to exceed $440.00.
Rick seconded the motion.  Motion carries.

Next Board Meeting

The next Board Meeting with be February 3, 2005.  Site to be determined.  Food to be determined.

Roundabout

Dave Clary is resisting bidding on a 7 series on e-bay.

De Anna states the Barbara Adams will not be returning to Nationals as the Secretary next year. She will be in town and would very much like to be involved in one of our club events.

Lucetta mentions that last year a couple bid on a plane ride with Ken and have been unable to contact him to take advantage of their auction purchase. 

David Lightfoot had received feedback that our club was not very friendly and he would really like to reverse this attitude.  Suggested that all Board members make it a point to go up to members they do not know and introduce themselves. 

Lance states that we get 350 - 500 new members per year.

Dave suggests some sort of mentoring program for new members.

Lucetta suggests that all Board members wear special name tags at the Banquet.

Lynn and Lance are going to the Rolex 24 Hour race in Daytona.

Louis talked about his wedding reception on February 5, 2005 at 5:00 pm.  All members are invited to attend. No gifts but bring some food to share and an instrument if you play.

Jeff ask about David's Mini Cooper. David states it should be here in March.

Bill suggests that we, as a club, assist with the Alfa Clubs National Convention which is July 28 - 31, 2005.

Jeff is parting out his Euro spec Spider so he can get a Pro 3 car.

Addendum to previous meeting minutes.

After the January Board Meeting, Jeff Butler was able to secure a location for the February Board Meeting.   It will be held at Lombardis in Issaquah. Their address is 695 N.W. Gilman Blvd., Issaquah, WA  98027.  Their phone number is (425) 391-9097.  Meeting time is 7:00pm.

 Respectfully submitted

 Jane Otway, Secretary