RECENT ARTICLES
The Pressure of Maintaining and Running a McLaren F1 GTR Is Real
The McLaren F1 is still one of the greatest automotive achievements of all time. A bespoke road car from the mind of F1 genius Gordon Murray designed to be the greatest driver’s car in the world. It just happened that it also became the fastest, quickest, most expensive, and...
People Still Want Manual Transmission BMWs. Sales in 2025 Prove It
If you want to buy a new car with a manual transmission, your options are more limited than ever. Currently, there are fewer than 30 individual models from all automakers available in the U.S. with a clutch pedal. However, the models that do offer manual gearboxes are seeing strong...
Team WRT Took Second in 2026’s First Endurance Race
The first endurance race of the year took place this past weekend with a six-hour race at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. The 6H Abu Dhabi was the first race in the 2026 season for the 24H Series, which features seven races...
Michelin Pilot Challenge Will Have Eight M4 GT4 EVOs in 2026
The entry for the 2026 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series is becoming clearer. We now have the official entry list for next weekend’s Daytona test, before the season opening race at Daytona on January 23rd. There are eight BMW M4 GT4 EVO entries in the GS class from six...
Tech Talk | Gasket Woes, Transfer Case Questions, and Transmission Fluid Best Practices
Welcome to Tech Talk, where our resident BMW tech Nick Owen answers all your pressing BMW technical questions, frustrations, and issues. Have a question for Nick? Email him at techtalk@roundel.org. Let’s get into it. Confidence Drainer My Z4 was purchased one year ago with only 15k miles. The car is...
Book Review: Reading Between the Lines of Car Design by Chris Bangle
American designer Chris Bangle joined Opel in 1981 after graduating from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. In 1985, he was poached by Fiat, where he designed the radical Fiat Coupe, the last car on which he drew every line. Review by David Lightfoot In 1992, Bangle...
BMW’s M1-Powered 7 Series Race Car Is a South African Legend
BMW has a long history in South Africa. Since it was the first place BMW built a plant outside of Germany, there are a number of special models that were made just for the region, and that extends to motorsport. Those motorsport stories include two E23 745is that went...
BMW Sold a Record Number of Cars in the U.S. in 2025
BMW sold 388,897 cars in the U.S in 2025. That’s not just an impressive amount of cars, it’s the third year in a row that BMW has set a record for sales in the U.S., with an increase of 4.7 percent compared to 2024. And, perhaps a sign of...
The E39 Alternator Surprise (Part II: The trick to installing a Valeo voltage regulator)
Last week, the Bosch alternator in my daily driver 2003 E39 530i died due to a broken brush on the voltage regulator I’d installed in 2022 when it died the last time (and this time looked like it trashed the slip ring). I was all set to buy a new...
The Year in Project Cars Was Frustrating, Expensive, Fun, and Totally Worth It
Is project car ownership still fun, even when unexpected, difficult, and costly issues continue to manifest themselves? Yes! Especially when the projects are running and driving well, but also sometimes when they’re not, too. It may have seemed like jack stands made weekly appearances under my 1991 318is and...
Racing Lines | These Are BMW CCA Club Racing’s 2025 Champions and Special Award Winners
Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing has announced its 2025 national champions and award winners. National champions are racers who score the most points in their respective classes while running in at least four separate events over the course of the season; in addition to these championships, the series...
The Year in Project Cars Was Frustrating, Expensive, Fun, and Totally Worth It
Is project car ownership still fun, even when unexpected, difficult, and costly issues continue to manifest themselves? Yes! Especially when the projects are running and driving well, but also sometimes when they’re not, too. It may have seemed like jack stands made weekly appearances under my 1991 318is and...
Racing Lines | These Are BMW CCA Club Racing’s 2025 Champions and Special Award Winners
Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing has announced its 2025 national champions and award winners. National champions are racers who score the most points in their respective classes while running in at least four separate events over the course of the season; in addition to these championships, the series...
Anyone? Anyone? | Hello, Virginia; Spicoli, I’m Gonna Miss You
When you read this, I will be gone. No, not from this venue1, nor from this mortal coil2, but rather from Southern California3. I’ve packed my trash and moved to Northern Virginia—the DC beltway, to be specific. Apparently, the denizens refer to this area as NoVa or the DMV...
The E39 Alternator Surprise
Loyal readers may recall when, about three years ago, the alternator in my 2003 E39 530i stopped charging when I was up in southern New Hampshire. I was alerted by the battery warning light on the left corner of the cluster coming on. I usually drive with a cigarette...
Self Propelled | Some Skills Transfer in Both Directions
In my fourscore years on Earth, I’ve learned some wide-ranging skills, with an array of abilities from rudimentary to reasonably proficient. Most have been related to the plethora of jobs I’ve held, some hands-on, others involving more head work. An unexpected benefit was transference: job to hobby and vice-versa....
The 2025 BMW X3 M50 Is the Pick of the Litter
When the first X5 was introduced in 1999, I think there are few that would have guessed that BMWs lineup of SUVs would grow to encompass eight models—from the X1 to the XM—and 19 total trim options. It’s more models and trims than some entire car companies, and it...
Enter Now To Showcase Your Car In the BMW Classic Cars and Caffeine at the 2026 Amelia Island Concours
In conjunction with BMWNA, the BMW CCA has the exclusive opportunity to celebrate several BMW anniversaries at one of the most prestigious automotive weekends of the year at The Amelia Concours, this March 6-8th. Register here. The M Chapter secured 50 spots for the Cars & Caffeine showcase as...
Tech Talk | Preventing Destruction, To Lower or Not, and Sunroof Problems
Welcome to Tech Talk, where our resident BMW tech Nick Owen answers all your pressing BMW technical questions, frustrations, and issues. Have a question for Nick? Email him at techtalk@roundel.org. Let’s get into it. N55 DISASTER PREVENTION I own a 2018 M2 (F87) and love it. I keep my...
The Mini Column | When the Dragon Calls, I Answer
The Tail of the Dragon in the Great Smoky Mountains is one of the greatest roads in America. If you’ve never heard of of the Dragon, it packs 318 corners into 11 miles, making it a challenge and a bucket list destination for any driver. I make an annual...
Racing Lines | Roebling Road BMW CCA Club Racing Finale Saw Broken Track Records, Close Racing
Thirty-five competitors converged on Roebling Road Raceway near Savannah in December for the Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing series’ annual finale, hosted by the Tarheel Chapter. Racers ran three sprints and an enduro over the course of three days—a weekend of close racing, with the C-Modified track record...
Safety Third | The Great E30 M3 Parts Fiasco
Hindsight is always 20/20, and now that my car-sales business has been appropriately downsized and my service business closed, I have some breathing room to reflect on the past. In aviation, debriefing is an effective tool for identifying both the good and the bad elements of a flight in...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha (Part V: Heat)
The next step in making Bertha the knock-around-drive-during-winter-if-there’s-no-salt-on-the-roads 2002 (which is, not coincidentally, what it already looks like anyway) is to get the heat working. This had two components—getting the heater valve to turn on from inside the car, and dealing with the dead blower fan in the heater...
BMW Lineups Set for Bathurst 12 Hour
The Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst, Australia is one of the most dynamic and challenging circuits in the world. It’s 3.9 miles with long fast straights and 23 turns strung on the ascent up the mountain and descent back down, with walls close in on both sides. It’s one...
Proper Preparation Makes Maintenance Enjoyable
For the Do-It-Yourselfers out there, I wanted to share a few tips I’ve picked up over my years of working on different kinds of cars in various conditions. Whether it be in your own garage, shop, dealership, or even on the sidewalk, there are a few things you should...
Inside Line | Reminiscing on BMW NA Turning 50
Celebrating your own 50th birthday is really not much fun; for me it was a black-and-white realization that I’m officially older than dirt. Of course, I really wasn’t that old—but I only realized that when I turned 60. It’s a completely different story when a company turns 50, and...
The E39 Alternator Surprise (Part II: The trick to installing a Valeo voltage regulator)
Last week, the Bosch alternator in my daily driver 2003 E39 530i died due to a broken brush on the voltage regulator I’d installed in 2022 when it died the last time (and this time looked like it trashed the slip ring). I was all set to buy a new...
The E39 Alternator Surprise
Loyal readers may recall when, about three years ago, the alternator in my 2003 E39 530i stopped charging when I was up in southern New Hampshire. I was alerted by the battery warning light on the left corner of the cluster coming on. I usually drive with a cigarette...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha (Part V: Heat)
The next step in making Bertha the knock-around-drive-during-winter-if-there’s-no-salt-on-the-roads 2002 (which is, not coincidentally, what it already looks like anyway) is to get the heat working. This had two components—getting the heater valve to turn on from inside the car, and dealing with the dead blower fan in the heater...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha (Part IV: Brake Master Cylinder Replacement)
Last week, I was less than thrilled to find that Bertha’s low brake fluid was caused by it leaking out the master cylinder’s rear seal and into the brake booster, but that disappointment was nicely mitigated by remembering that one of the parts hoards I’d inherited a few years...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha (Part III: Where the Brake Fluid Went)
Last week, I punted the issue of brake fluid loss in Bertha, my ratty ’75 2002ti tribute car that had seen little road time since returning from The Vintage in 2019, and instead, inexplicably focused on replacing its Momo Jackie Stewart steering wheel with a slightly larger, slightly thinner...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha (Part II: Taking Stock)
Last week, I talked about bringing Bertha (the ’75 2002 I bought in Austin in 1984, brought back to Boston, drove off from my wedding in, heavily modified, sold to a friend in 1988, bought back 26 years later, revived, drove to The Vintage in 2019, then didn’t use...
