Sweet 16 from Bimmerfest 19
For 19 consecutive years, Bimmerfest has united Bavarian Motor Works enthusiasm like no other organization. This year, they assembled yet another iteration of the country’s largest gathering of BMWs at the hallowed grounds of Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
Hundreds of BMWs in dozens of models spanning the decades, along with some assorted friends of other manufacture, took to Auto Club Speedway’s infield parking lots, pit garages, staging areas and even the tarmac of the Sports Car Course in full “Roval” configuration.
Racers, vendors, show contestants, partnering brands and hundreds upon hundreds of enthusiast showgoers helped make Bimmerfest 19 one of the best showings yet, and rather than attempt to bring you everything from the show (which we couldn’t do, and you really wouldn’t have the time for) we’re painfully narrowing everything we liked from the show down to just our 16 favorites.
1. Steven Chan’s GT-R
Fastest lap of the event! Yes, we’re aware that this was Bimmerfest and not some other "fest." In keeping with previous years’ proven model, on-track festivities were handled by Speed Ventures and were open to any eligible and qualified driver—no matter what they chose to drive. Plenty of impressive BMWs helped to dominate run groups by a startling majority (see below), but at the end of the event, Chan’s time-attack beast of a GT-R rose to the top of the points list.
2. SCTS Racing’s M3 and M4
Bimmerfest’s draw is huge. Attendees flew in from as far away as Germany and drove from the Midwest, Pacific Northwest and points in the south, to participate. Who could blame them? SoCal BMW enthusiasm is impressively strong and adding to that reputation at this year’s Bimmerfest was SCTS Racing, the first of two SoCal race teams that made our Top 16 list. SCTS’s M3 and M4 ran fast and confidently all weekend long at Bimmerfest, at times setting the pace for the rest to follow. We’ll be looking forward to more from this team on the road ahead.
3. Strom Motorsports
Located in Costa Mesa, CA, Strom Motorsports continually seems to set the bar for the region among BMW race teams and performance builders. You can catch Strom’s in-house cars racing in everything from BMW club racing and regional NASA events, to the grueling 24 Hours of Thunderhill, to professional ranks like IMSA. Follow their Instagram and you can catch them supporting winning race efforts the world over. Their trio of fast German cars (yes, they brought one Audi—but an awesome one!) were a treat to watch and hear on track at Bimmerfest.
4. Murdered-Out M4 Madness
The one that got away. Ok, this one’s a unicorn. Chalk it up to racers’ affinity for giving themselves creative aliases on their timing sheets during track days, or simply the organizers’ failure to see the importance of listing car numbers on the results they publish, but we could find no information on this black beauty. You have to believe us that it was bad—as in very, very good—to see tear up the Fontana infield and blast around that speedway oval. So bad. Any and all leads into the driver/car’s identity would be much appreciated.
5. BMW Motorsport
The best of the best, straight from the source. One clear indicator that your one-make auto festival is doing well is when your manufacturer of choice continues to support your efforts at the national brand level, with their most performance-oriented division! Enter BMW Motorsport, who continued their official support of Bimmerfest with a display of their instructional vehicles, professional driving instructors and retail display of apparel, accessories and optional equipment upgrades—you know, the kind of parts that add to vehicle performance and resale value.
6. Supercharged E39 540i
In a recent Instagram post, Seth Ortega called his SWR Motorsports-supercharaged E39 540i “not everyone’s cup of tea.” But it was good enough for Black Widow Exhaust to attract people to their booth at Bimmerfest this year, and it was good enough to survive Saturday’s Bimmer Challenge race and lay down a fast time of 2:02 with Seth at the wheel. You could say it’s good enough for us, too, but that would be a massive understatement.
7.Prestige Marketing E92 M3
You’ve probably seen this car at or in coverage of popular Southwest shows in one form or another for the last several years. It’s undergone plenty of parts, styling and livery updates along the way, but now in its new livery debuting at this year’s Bimmerfest, it seems to really have found its stride. It might look like a show car built to look like a race car, but the truth is it’s a highly tuned street car, and to see endless frames of video and pics of it rolling hard and laying on the two-step, simply search “Prestige Marketing M3.”
8. LTMW Cars
It’s been near-impossible to attend a major SoCal show or meet over the past several years and not see an upscale European sports car that was either built or being shown by a member of El Monte, California's LTMotorWerks—and usually a massive crew of them at any one time! True to form, there were several clean Beemers boasting the LTMW treatment at Bimmerfest. There weren't as many as in past events, maybe, but they were every bit the high quality one has come to expect.
9. Pure Turbos F80 BMW M3 2M GT3
There are a lot of letters in that title; let’s break it down. We all know what an F80 BMW M3 is (right?), but “2M” is for 2M Autowerks, and GT3 is for their aptly named GT3 widebody kit for chassis like the F80 M3 and F30 335i. It’s a 13-piece kit and consists of all the flared, widened and carbon-fiber-trimmed exterior gear you see on Thomas Mullenaux’s Second Place “Best Modified M” winning daily driven ride. At $15K it’s not cheap, but we'd have to say it's well worth it.
10. Pure Turbos Twin-Turbo M6
The current-generation BMW M6 is the best all-around BMW on the market. Prove me wrong. Before you try, take a look at Pure Turbos owner Jesse O'Hara’s upgraded twin-turbocharged, 800hp, Nitto Tire NT05R-clad example. You'd be hard-pressed to find better luxury, better style and—thanks to the Pure Turbos treatment—better power, with full streetability, anywhere in the range. Maybe in the segment. After seeing Jesse’s car for ourselves, it might just be our single favorite car of the show.
11. Mobile Dyno
In the giant whizzing contest that is most car shows or meets, a mobile dyno is the yardstick. Plenty of builders and owners love to put forth exaggerated claims as to the hypothetical power or performance potential of their creations, but the dyno only cares about what actually is. So do the fans who gather around one in search of the truth, for that matter. We’re not sure who spun the rollers with the most force, but we’ve seen more than a few videos of 600+hp pulls from the weekend.
12. Specialized German
Take a drive down Alameda St. in South L.A., or through any one of dozens of industrial areas in the L.A. basin, and you’ll realize just how many junkyards are dotting the landscape. Yet none of them seem to have memorable branding, do they? Well, Specialized German was out to change that at this year’s Bimmerfest with a display of cringeworthy crashed—yet still very salvageable—vehicles, and rare, appetite-inducing engines and parts worth remembering for any BMW owner or builder.
13. Mike Burroughs’s E28 BMW M5
They say true classics never age, but rather grow more timeless. Mike Burroughs’s Group A-inspired E28 M5 fits that bill to a T. Another car that seems to evolve in some functional or aesthetic way every time we see it, it just seems to get better as the events and years weigh on. If you’re looking for some guidance on a similar build, take a look at Mike’s car, for which parts and methods have survived the changing times.
14. Pedal Haus E30 and Trailer
It’s always impressive when a business does one thing well enough to become the standard within an entire industry. The team at Pedal Haus is like that. They make and sell pedals. That’s it, that’s their business. Well that, and some assorted interior knick-knacks for just about every BMW imaginable, but you get the picture. Judging from their buff pop-up display and sweet restomodded E30 and matching trailer, business appears to be good.
15. MV Forged BMW M6
Flared, aired and just don't care. When we spotted this F13 M6 at the SEMA show last year, we knew it would be a hit. Polarizing, yes, but there’s no denying the gobsmacking effect of its bold styling. Under the right circumstances, it could sprain necks with its very presence. Now that David’s newly announced collaboration with Weistec Engineering has the capability of yielding 1,000hp underhood, well, just know that we'll be eagerly awaiting what comes next.
16. Motorsport Hardware and Fluids
Dress-up bolts of unknown origin might be okay for holding on fenders and headlights, but in load-bearing situations, when materials simply cannot fail, quality is of the utmost importance. Enter Motorsport Hardware. Looking for ultra-strong and corrosion-resistant extended lug studs and strong, lightweight titanium nuts? Torx or triple-square bolts in exotic sizes? Quality wheel spacers? Cruise over to a Motorsport Hardware booth, like the one at Bimmerfest, and you would’ve found them on any one of the track-proven BMWs on hand, like Ryan Castro’s LSx-swapped E36 M3, which was out on track when we dropped by. You’ll be seeing much more of it soon.
