An action-packed Friday launch to MiX included a half-day at the Performance Center for some, tours of the Foundation, scenic drives, and wine tasting (independent of any activities behind the wheel). Saturday’s agenda mixed it up even more. Highlights included the morning Caffeine and Gasoline car show by Griot’s Garage followed by a series of demonstrations and tech talks. If you wanted a little more action, members continued to jump in the arsenal of cars BMW had supplied for 25-minute unchaperoned test drives.
There was a great mix of cars at the car show Saturday at the MiX event.
The car show was much more than simply leaving your car on the BMW CCA headquarters lawn for three hours. The club arranged a fantastically productive line-up of supporters, discussing everything with members from insurance (Amica and Hagerty) to local automotive performance and racing shops like Autowerks SC and Thunder Bunny Racing to national supporters like Michelin and Akrapovic. Also active around the show were Griot’s Garage, Tire Rack Street Survival, Extreme Colors Auto Spa with XPEL, the BMW Performance Center, BMW CCA’s own M and X chapters, and ADDS officially licensed products.
The BMW CCA store welcome members throughout the weekend.
The weather was great—the week’s rain paused Friday and waited until 4 p.m. Sunday to return—but for those seeking respite from the heat, inside provided more than just air conditioning. The BMW CCA store was a popular place, too, especially with many visiting the headquarters for the first time.
The rains earlier in the week paused just long enough for amazing weather throughout the weekend.
ALPINA Automobiles contributed a car to the test drives but also provided a tech talk Saturday afternoon and had news for club members. “ALPINA’s participation at the 2023 MiX event as the forthcoming Legends of the Autobahn West signals our recognition that enthusiasm for ALPINA Classic models continues to be on the rise,” Matt Russell, ALPINA’s representative for North America, says. “For ALPINA, it is the right time to get to know our classic car owners better. We’re proudly offering MiX participants a 10% discount coupon for our ALPINA Online Shop that includes everything from caps and keychains to sets of ALPINA twenty-spoke wheels for your vintage E30 with more coming online soon.”
Russell continues, “On the heels of this excellent event, Legends of the Autobahn is quickly shaping up to host the first organized US meet for ALPINA Classic models with fifteen cars already registered. This is going to be another great time and for me, a photographic opportunity not to be missed.”
There were great cars—M and more—with the Autowerks SC group.
The partner booths were busy, but we did hear from a few others. Caleb Hightower from Autowerks SC brought a great team out and a handful of cars including E30s, E46s, and an M3. “This is great for us being just twenty minutes down the road in Boiling Springs. We support pretty much everything you see out here,” Hightower said, looking around the packed lawn. “Custom wheels, tires, suspension, performance parts, set-up, alignment—we fill that gap a lot of people say no to. I like events like this. We’re looking forward to a lot of BMW CCA members out at our annual Car-toberfest over in Inman. We’ll have breweries, food trucks, rides for kids, 400 cars and 4,000 people.”
Aimee Shackelford (and Maloo!) catch up with Michelin’s Carl Driver as the Caffeine and Gasoline car show by Griot’s Garage.
Presenting sponsor Michelin had its Pilot Sport tire line on display ahead of its afternoon tech talk. David Carpenter helped design one of the impactful tires on hand. “A highlight for so many today has been our limited 50th Anniversary Pilot Sport 4S tires specifically designed for the BMW 50th anniversary M4 CSL,” Carpenter explains. “We really enjoy working with BMW and BMW CCA and are happy to be here again to support the MiX event.”
Daryl Sampson’s F90 M5 Competition made quite an impression in front of the Akrapovic booth.
Among the hundreds of cars on the lawn for the car show, Daryl Sampson’s brilliant Daytona Violet F90 M5 Competition captured attention all day long reflecting in front of the Akrapovic booth. “I’m definitely happy to be down here for MiX,” Sampson says. “I drove this Akrapovic-equipped M5 down from Pennsylvania for this event and am happy to be out seeing and meeting our BMW CCA members. We’ve been working with BMW CCA on the new Car of Your Dreams and are excited for the new raffle. It will be a G80 M3 xDrive in Voodoo Blue over Ivory White competition bucket seats. With Akrapovic exhaust, BBS wheels, AST Moton suspension and more, this is going to be incredible.”
People were eager to learn more about the Akrapovic performance parts for BMWs.
One of the new people Sampson met was Miguel Torres, both M car fans, discussing the new exhaust products there at the booth. “I’ve been a BMW CCA member for fifteen years, but this is actually the first time I’ve been to a CCA event outside Florida,” Torres says. “It is definitely something I’ll continue to do year after year. This has been great. The Performance Driving School experience has blown me out of the water. It was incredible; you really need to come do this.”
Nelson Ragan shows Vicki Schroemer how to use the new Griot’s cordless buffer.
Torres knows a thing or two about events; he’s an integral part of Bimmer Invasion, a fixture in the Florida events calendar but now branching out to Los Angeles. “Come on out to SoCal September 3rd for Bimmer Invasion and if you’re out east here in February, we’ll be doing a repeat in Orlando!” Torres adds.
David Harrison provides a little coaching for Junior Judge Olivia Swanson.
Also active outside were the Junior Judges, a group of little ones who were getting their feet wet getting a little judging under their belts. Judging in general was popular; later in the day there were a tech talk targeting a little older audience for Concours Tips and Judging presented by John Farrell. Other tech talks included those by Hagerty, ALPINA, and Michelin and then a ceramic products demonstration with Griot’s Garage.
Tarheel chapter member Dimitri Krull proudly shows off his Junior Judge Award.
The headquarters again hosted the hundreds of attendees for a dinner Saturday night. It was really the first structured central gathering with everyone and gave everyone a chance to recount the highlights of the weekend and talk with old and new friends.
The silent auction raise more than $5,000 for the BMW CCA Foundation. If you’re interested in contributing directly, visit them here.
Dinner was accompanied by a charity auction benefitting the BMW CCA Foundation, supporter of the Tire Rack Street Survival program and The Ultimate Driving Museum. There was a lot of energy around the many tables of automotive materials and collectibles, eventually leading to more than $5,000 for the Foundation.
The IMSA racing provided plenty of excitement for the IMSA viewing party at the BMW CCA headquarters on Sunday.
Sunday included a scenic drive with the X chapter and a great skidpad event with the M Chapter at the Michelin Proving Grounds. Many others gathered at the BMW CCA headquarters for the IMSA viewing party. The race ended with what was two second place finishes for BMWs—the Paul Miller Racing M4 GT3 in GTD and the RLL Racing M Hybrid V8 in GTP. Shortly after everyone left, the GTP was awarded first place after an infraction by the Porsche that finished first. There was still a lot of enthusiasm for what turned out to be the first BMW prototype victory in more than 23 years.
Jason Kazian and Paul Seto catch up during the Caffeine and Gasoline show by Griot’s Garage.
Jason Kazian, BMW CCA Marketing Director, was thrilled to see so much excitement and enjoyment through the weekend. “MiX is an enthusiast weekend for all members, intended to celebrate everything BMW,” Kazian says. “It highlights the M, X, and the newer i vehicles whether on the caravans, the Performance Center activities, the BMW test drives, or the car show and more. It really provides a full range of opportunities and fun.”—Kyle van Hoften
The rains stayed mostly away until the end of the day Sunday. Then those X cars seemed even more enticing!
