I live in the Central Valley, about 2 1/2 hours from Monterey. I've been a BMWCCA member for 11 years but every August I've had other commitments-- until this year. So I'm wondering what these events are like. Is it just a bunch of people talking about shock absorbers? Are the attendees absolute car nerds? I ask because while I am fairly car centric, my wife is definitely not. She loves the Monterey/ Carmel area but I wonder how much all the car related events make the other activities a problem. I guess what I'm asking is: how are these events for a person who is highly interested in cars but not obsessed, and married to person who is indifferent to cars, more or less?
I was out there for the couple of O'Fests which were also during car week, but that was different from Festorics - looks like Friday is the German marque-centric concours, and the dinner event Friday night, so the concours is looking at all the pristinely clean & restored vehicles, and the dinner would be the social event for the evening. The rest of it is watching the vintage racing at Laguna Seca. I don't know all the specifics going on during car week with Pebble Beach and all that, but surely there are a lot of car-centric events happening beyond what the 'CCA's doing. Club members are a pretty diverse group, so conversations certainly can be BMW & car-specific, but I've generally found 'CCA members anywhere to be interesting & friendly - don't be shy to chat people up. To split it up if there's no particular emphasis on must-do this or that, I'd say try to structure it to whatever suits you both. Maybe hit up the concourse earlier-on before afternoon heat cranks up, go do something else local for the afternoon, then the Friday 'CCA dinner, and then watch some of the racing action Sat morning, check out historic racing bimmers on display if that's of interest, and either do lunch at the club's corral (or not) and then head off the rest of Sat. to do other stuff of interest to both you & your wife, and plan whatever works for some evening dinner/chow however you like. Sleep in Sunday am maybe, and see if there's something else local of interest before heading home, if a Sunday return home is the plan. Given that the area is pretty packed, I wouldn't be surprised if local eating spots are all pretty busy, so maybe confirming if any advance chow planning might compensate for the possibility of waiting hours to get seated someplace during prime dining hours. Now if you can connect with some locals in your chapter/area, they'll likely have better & more specific insight than I do! Might be worth reviewing the race schedule to see if there's any particular race or group of interest - See: https://festorics.org/ https://www.bmwcca.org/monterey https://www.weathertechraceway.com/rolex-monterey-motorsports-reunion https://www.imsa.com/news/022019/rolex-monterey-motorsports-reunion-provisional-schedule-announced https://www.roadandtrack.com/rolex-monterey-motorsports-reunion/
Not much to add to Marshall's comments as usual. Another website is https://whatsupmonterey.com/events/monterey-car-week There is every imaginable car worth collecting on the street. I have found owners very friendly. They have a passion and they will tell you about it. I am not even a car guy but I love watching all the cars and being in the middle of it all. It is a bucket list event. Hotels are not cheap though.
