Geoff: I'm not going to spoil your glory... but

[GJPinAU]

lets just say he had some HOT competition at the Show & Shine and I'm sure he must have a vaccuum sealed room in which he keeps his car.

[Jr ///M5]

Ok boys, time to come clean....=) Let's hear all about it. Looks like it was a beautiful day for it, did you have the scantily clad women (as in Wicked Weasels) draped all over your car?

Geoff, they are on to you now. The competition only gets tougher, now you're going to have to resort to cleaning the inside of the tailpipes...=)

We expect a full report and PRONTO!!!

Hope yall had fun!

Jr (Did that little lost Aussie boy show up?)

[Geoff Hoad]

Well Jr it was like this... The Show 'n Shine was out in the country at a little town called Wiseman's Ferry. Cool, clear sunny weather but pretty cold when the wind blew. The location kept a lot of people away but despite the numbers of competitiors being down, there were still a lot of visitors. Instead of the traditional class system the format was by year groups, so Greg and I with our E34's in the 1992 to 1996 group were up against E36's and even an 840i. A great collection of M3's especially E30's were also there. Apparently people are buying them in left hand drive format from California, shipping them into Australia and doing Right Hand Drive conversions. Still a very expensive proposition with the average value being between 35 and 40,000 Aussie Dollars. Nearly the price of an E36 3.0 litre M3! But they do look so good. I want one, I must have one.

A lot of people made the drive out to see the cars and there was a steady turnover of different BMW's all day. The judges were from one of the dealerships and these guys were pretty darn quick. Never seen people judge cars so speedily. But in fairness to them I thought they had got it right, and I mean that almost sincerely! :)

The big difference for me between the Nationals in Canberra and this event was the amount of preparation time. To prepare for the Nationals was a six day exercise with four of those days being spent on the engine bay. This time the engine bay took 4 hours and the car was fully prepared in two days. Much more fun. Given that the car still does work as a dialy driver for half the week I was surprised it came up to show spec so quickly.

Stephen came along in "his" E30 bringing along the new love of his life and Melissa came with her boyfriend the Refrigerator, I mean Rob. So I was able to give them all little jobs to do to finish the car whilst I stood back and chatted with Greg, an entirely civilised situation! Even better the Happy Dragon brought lunch and appropriate brewed beverages. No boat crossings here!

Good opportunities to socialise with the usual suspects. Greg was good company and all too soon it came time for the judges to announce their decisions. By plying the judges with liquor, stuffing their poackets with $100 bills, I was awarded first place in class. First the Nationals and now the state comp. Its been a good year so far.

The drive home was even more fun. the road is windy and in good condition. I followed an M3 and in turn was followed by Sue in her Mazda 6. Tell you what. Those Mazda 6's have great suspensions although its down on sheer torque. I hassled the M3 and Sue was on my tail the whole time. Eventually blew them both away. Thank you Mark D'Sylva! The 525iA now has a great deal more acceleration and I really got to see how the new Yokohama AVs db's performed. Stopped to let the rest of the group catch up then convoyed home. Sue again enjoyed the event and now that I have got her trained to bring food and booze, future events look like even more fun!

So another show year is over. This was a big one with two major events and I have got to say I had a ball at both. Missed the Q at this one but caught up with him by phone a day or so later. He send his best wishes to all on the board.

Now in a week come Sunday we have Springfest Down Under 2004. I think Greg is certainly looking forward to it as he thinks he will be able to give his 540i (a darned nice looking car) an opportunity to stretch its legs. So another write up with photos is on the cards!

[GJPinAU]

I thought I might have to write something like: Geoff won, I didn't!
Next time I get to brown nose the judges, OK. Maybe see you at Eastern Creek on Sunday, if not see you on the 26th.