Happy Holidays to all of our members. We had a banner year full of new and ongoing events, informative meetings and great friendships that we shared at our monthly dinners. 2015 plans to be even better with some new events and of course the return of the more popular ones. At the January meeting we will let everyone know what the upcoming events will be and we welcome any new event ideas from the membership.

The fall Amador Wine Tour took us to another direction this year. We started by visiting Avio Winery, a new winery near Sutter Creek. We had a wonderful lunch and tour of Avio by the owner Stefano. We then went on to Convergence, Borjon, Karmere and Runquist for more great wine tasting. We then came back to the  Shenandoah Inn were we shared some wonderful wine and cheese around the pool. There were 14 cars participating this year. De Sharp and Ron Rachow did a marvelous job of planning this event again this year.

 Street Survival was held at Sky Tavern Ski Area on October 4^{th for} the first time. As always, thanks again to Jeff Warner for leading and coordinating this event along with all our wonderful volunteers.  This has become a favorite event for me. I really enjoy teaching young drivers how to drive more safely. It certainly is very rewarding to see the faces on these young men and women when they realize what a car/truck can really do when pushed to its limits. We had a record year for students with a total of 22.

The Holiday Party was held at Brick’s restaurant this year. We had 41 members attend our annual BMWCCA party on December 11^th.  I’d like to thank Gilbert Dayao and Bill Pearce BMW for all the wonderful raffle prizes as well as the Sharp’s for having the cocktail party at their home. Art and Diane Ona won the glass tinting from Gilson Autobody and Graeme Price won the X3 pedal car donated by Bill Pearce BMW which I am sure will come in handy with his son.

We elected new officers this year. Ron Nicasio is our new Vice President and James Russell will be taking over for Dody as Secretary. All other officers will continue for the next two years.

This has been a banner year for BMW as well. A field of new BMW vehicles roared out of the gate: The 2 Series Coupes, including the 228i and the M235i-the first M Performance vehicle in the US. The fifth generation M3, the 4 Series Convertible and the Gran Coupe, M4 Coupe and the M4 Convertible. The X4, the second generation X6 and finally the Alpina B6. WOW, what a list. Can BMW top this for 2015? BMW launched the BMWi cars as well. The new i3 and the i8 came out this year and have already won several awards for design and “green” awards. I can’t wait for 2015 for more exciting vehicles and events. Maybe a M2?

 That wraps it up for this year. I wish all of you a Happy and prosperous New Year and hope to see more of you attend our meetings to check out what is going on in our Club.

Happy motoring,

Pat McGoff