This past year has been a great one for Roundel Weekly as we've added new feature writers Andrew Murphy and BMW USA Motorsport driver Ashley Freiberg, shared stories from out national events like Legends of the Autobahn and Oktoberfest, and made sure you stayed up-to-date on BMW news. So what were our Top 10 Roundel Weekly stories of 2015?
#10 - Lessons I’ve Learned From Racing In The Rain
This past weekend’s race at Watkins Glen was quite an adventure. Throughout most of the weekend, it was dry and sunny through practice and qualifying, but when race day came around, so did the rain. I’ve had quite a bit of experience racing in the rain, and I’ve learned to love it, because to me it reinforces some of the basics of driving that should always be applied, no matter what conditions you’re in.
Read the full story >> https://www.bmwcca.org/roundel/lessons-i've-learned-racing-rain
#9 - Sometimes Four-Letter Words Are The Best Vocabulary, by Nikki Weed
I've always been a huge fan of four-letter words—you know, the kind of words that, if you used them when you were a kid, your mother would make you put a quarter in a "swear jar." It seems that most of my allowance every week was spent on that swear jar, and the worst thing is that I'm not quite sure where all that money went—perhaps to help my mom buy anti-psychotic medication to keep her from wringing my neck on a daily basis. I’d usually mutter my curses under my breath in the general direction of my mother, but there were always those chance occurrences of a really big one slipping—at full volume.
Read the full story >> https://www.bmwcca.org/content/sometimes-four-letter-words-are-best-vocabulary
#8 - Car-Detailing—Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Random Orbital, by Scott Blazey
No one ever accused me of being a car-detailing fanatic. You know the type: washing the car every week, polishing and waxing until it looks new, spending hours scrubbing every crevice of an alloy wheel designed by BMW or BBS to make the task impossible. I respected these people for their devotion to pristine paint, but that wasn't me.
Read the full story >> https://www.bmwcca.org/roundel/car-detailing-or-how-i-learned-stop-worrying-and-love-random-orbital
#7 - Con Artists, Mechanics, And Snake-Oil Salesmen, by Nikki Weed
“Be good—or at least be good at what you’re doing, even if it’s not good.” These are some of my favorite words of wisdom, words that have been passed down from generation to generation of the Weed family. Most of the time I’m pretty good at being “good,” but then again, when the decision to be good or not to be good comes along, I can rock bad pretty well, too. The biggest difference, however, is that when I’m bad, I’m not out to get anybody in trouble or hurt. I certainly don’t feel like I’m owed anything from anybody, or that I need to take anything from anybody simply because I can.
Read the full story >> https://www.bmwcca.org/roundel/con-artists-mechanics-and-snake-oil-salesmen
#6 - Classic BMWs Are On The Rise, by Andy Murphy
A few years ago, I found myself sitting in a buddy’s car shop, discussing the classic-car market. The conversation, ironically, was conducted in the presence of a collection of Ferrari Dinos, Daytonas, and race-bred Lancias—the crème de la crème of collectible Italian iron. My argument was something along the lines of insisting that my buddy buy a BMW M1, because “the prices are only going to go up—they only made a few hundred—German cars are on the move.” When I made that statement, an M1 could be had for the reasonable price of $150,000 to $200,000.
Read the full story >> https://www.bmwcca.org/roundel/classic-bmws-are-rise
#5 - BMW 228i Track Handling Package: Is It Really A Track Solution?, by Nate Risch
Last weekend, the San Diego Chapter held its annual high-performance driving school at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. Since it was one of the first BMW CCA schools of the year, I thought it would be a great idea to head out into the desert and promote what the Club has to offer—and wouldn’t this be a great opportunity to review a car? Maybe the BMW 228i with the Track Handling package?
Read the full Story >> https://www.bmwcca.org/roundel/bmw-228i-track-handling-package-it-really-track-solution
#4 - Don't Judge An M5 By Its Color, by Satch Carlson
So there I was, cruisin’ off to the Secret Car Club get-together on Saturday morning—think of Cars ’n’ Coffee without all the formalities—where I was dutifully entertained as a few Cobras (real and otherwise) rolled by, along with the obligatory Ferraris. There were some wonderful classics, like a brown-on-brown Bugatti and two—two!—Jaguar XK120 roadsters. And that unicorn of supercars, the McLaren P1, was sighted in white.
Me, I was taken with the M5s.
Read the full story >> https://www.bmwcca.org/roundel/don%E2%80%99t-judge-m5-its-color
#3 - The Beeping Nag: Friend Or Foe?, by Nikki Weed
On the same day that I received a discount on my car insurance for dealing with a monitoring device that beeped incessantly in my 1 Series, I also had a long conversation on getting an upgrade to my old fuzz-buster (forgive me, I still have some old lingo stuck in me). I had gone an entire three months with a device in my car that was recording my every movement; every spirited on-ramp, every mountain fun run, every time a child with a basketball jumped out in front of me, it recorded that stuff. I was being tracked by Big Brother.
Read the full story >> https://www.bmwcca.org/roundel/beeping-nag-friend-or-foe
#2 - M2? What M2? Anybody See An M2?, by Chris Doersen
For some bizarre reason yet to be explained to the universe, Satch and Roundel motorsports editor Brian Morgan decided to send me and my wife, Valerie, to the 63rd Twelve Hours of Sebring (article coming soon to a Roundel near you!). Despite shifting from the twenty-degree Cleveland winter to a ninety-plus-degree Florida swamp, we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. And aside from the awesomeness that is BMW racing, the conversations with Matt Russell and Tom Plucinsky were especially, well, special.
Read the full story >> https://www.bmwcca.org/roundel/m2-what-m2-anybody-see-m2
#1 - Hack Mechanic, by Rob Siegel
Though the Hack Mechanic is a recurring article in Roundel Weekly, it's continuously one of the top stories each week. If we were to list his stories on this countdown, there would be little room for other stories, so we just made him #1 for 2015. Whether it be stories about acquiring another 2002tii, working on his Z3, replacing brake lines on his Suburban, or just amking us feel like we are apart of his repair antics, Rob knows how to write a good story.
Read the Hack Mechanic's latest >> https://www.bmwcca.org/roundel/rusty-brake-lines-far-eye-can-see-part-ii
These were our top Roundel Weekly stories for 2015, and boy are we excited to see what 2016 brings! If you aren't receiving Roundel Weekly in your email inbox on Tuesday afternoons, be sure to check the box to receive them in the Manage Account section on the BMW CCA website.—Nate Risch
