# BMWCCA Oktoberfest 2012



## kashrahman (May 10, 2004)

The 2012 BMWCCA Oktoberfest just finished in Ohio! We sadly missed the whole week (doh!!), which included the autocross, races, test drives, concours, fun rally and more!! 

We showed up Friday night and left Sunday morning. I had hoped to do some test drives (some by Goodyear, some by BMW) but sadly those ended Friday. We showed up just as the Friday night awards dinner had started. We enjoyed a nice dinner and met some new friends, who were happy to tell us about all the fun they had during the week.

Saturday we drove up to the track (almost an hour away), hoping to do the test drives, but Goodyear and BMW had both packed up and left. The last of the races and autocross were still going on. It was fun to watch, but after a few minutes, the wife and kid were clearly interested in doing something else.

We headed back to the hotel and split up. Lara and I went to the hotel pool, spent two hours at the mall across the street, and played at Dave and Buster's for an hour. LondonBlue bravely suffered through an hour long massage at the hotel spa, followed by peace and quiet back in the room. Poor thing!!

We then headed to the sat night BBQ, which was awesome!!! :bigpimp: There was a contest for most creative use of wire pipe cleaner (M colors)! Some created scale models of race tracks, some did 2-D cars. Lara and I combined ours to make a 3-D car and she won!!! The winner was chosen by applause, and she was grinning from ear to ear as over 100 cheered loudly for her!! Later in the evening, we heard stories from Mike Valentine! As in Valentine 1 radar detectors! It was hilarious hearing about how he did early testing for his radar detectors late at night on the Ohio highways! LondonBlue started talking to him after the dinner, and they spent almost an hour talking about everything from his business to his kids to her family, etc, etc. I joked about how flattered I was that Mike Valentine was hitting on my wife!

The bbq was the result of hard work of many people, including Nikki from the Ohio chapter. Nikki was actually LondonBlue's driving instructor about 6 years ago!! She remembered Lara as a little baby, and was impressed by how much Lara had grown!

A big thanks to all the Ohio chapter members and BMWCCA members/volunteers who put together an awesome Oktoberfest, and special thanks to Steve Schlossman who put up with countless emails from us and did an awesome job with the website!!


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## kashrahman (May 10, 2004)

Hotel parking lot -- M5 and M6


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## kashrahman (May 10, 2004)

BMWCCA Friday night dinner





































Map of where everyone is from


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## kashrahman (May 10, 2004)

Hilton Polaris



















souvenirs from dinner



























finally made it to Mid-Ohio!!!! and then we left . . .









Polaris mall


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## kashrahman (May 10, 2004)

Sat night BBQ!!!!




























Pipe Cleaner Competition!!



















Everyone loved Lara's pipe cleaner car!!!



























Mike Valentine!!! I almost asked him to autograph my Valentine 1!!


















Nikki and Lara!









Sunday morning brunch


















driving home


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## Dork Knight (May 5, 2012)

Great shots -- looks like a great time!

As an aside, can I just say how happy I am to see someone else who actually puts their kids in a car seat even if they may appear big enough to not need one? I know the laws are really restrictive but I've lost track of how many times I've seen parents disregard child car seats entirely. Enfuriating.

Getting back on track, thanks for sharing. I've never made a sanctioned event like that and may have to start planning.


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## kashrahman (May 10, 2004)

Thanks, it was awesome!! There were a ton of driving events during the week -- from casual driving tours of the suburbs to serious racing at the track! Sadly we arrived just as all that was wrapping up, but still loved hanging out and meeting new people and a few old friends!! The dinner was great and BBQ absolutely awesome!! Hearing Mike Valentine tell stories about how he tested early prototypes on Ohio highways late at night ("We couldn't do it during the day, we had jobs!") and explaining to police all the equipment in his car was hilarious!! If you get a chance, you should totally go! We have never been to a national level event, but since it was only 3 hours away, I felt I had to go, even if it was just for the weekend! And totally agree with the car seat! She's able to fit in a booster, but I feel better with her older 5-point harness/latch system car seat. thanks!


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## Dave 330i (Jan 4, 2002)

Thank you for taking the time to do a detailed write up and time taking the pictures. I enjoyed them. :thumbup:


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## AndrewZ (Feb 1, 2006)

Beautiful family and great pics! Thanks for sharing!


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