The BMW Car Club Concours is a competitive event, in which members come together with their vehicles for examination, scrutinisation and judging. Most, if not all, regions arrange such an event each year. It may help if the organisers make the event low key and place the emphasis on fun. The object of these rules is to help any region that may require advice, and to make the judging consistent, so that the National Concours can be conducted on a level playing field.

First find an appropriate venue, ideally one which is free to enter, at least for the show cars and with a paying attraction alongside. It should have good access roads, a well maintained grassed area and, if the grass is wet due to poor weather, some hard standing will be needed. Also required is a nearby supply of water for washing down cars, good toilet facilities and ample visitor car parking.

You will also require sufficient familiar signs to direct members to their exhibition area and detail someone, preferably the chairman of the region, to greet and welcome members on arrival.

You will need to arrange shelter for trophies, raffle prizes, and for your judges to finalise their findings, especially if the weather is bad.

ENTRY

The BMW Car Club Concours are open to all members and affiliated clubs. The organisers should give those participating entrants, on their arrival, a judging sheet, on which they should enter their details. Advise entrants where to park and the need for security, also the need for participants to be with their car when judged. Tell participants as to the times of judging, usually starting no later than 10.30 am. Likewise, advise as to the prize giving time, again, usually aimed at 3.30 pm, so that all members may attend the prize giving before setting off home.

Using the regional judging sheet will give a consistency throughout all regions, which, in turn will help even-handedness at the annual national event. The sheet also been geared to the judging advice that follows.

This is open to members who have not entered their car in any Concours before, and will be judged according to the Open Class sheet.

In the event of a tie, use discretionary points to produce a winner.

This should comprise any vehicle where a member chooses to enter due to non standard parts and non original paint colour.

In the event of a tie, use discretionary points to produce a winner.

This should comprise all other vehicles using the regional judging sheet and the age related classes below.

The first objective of all judges is to set themselves a standard on at least one, if not two cars before starting to judge, preferably including one the judges know from experience. You must keep to that standard throughout the length of the Concours. When judging a car, be very critical on any point you feel deserves to be marked down, likewise if you feel the car deserves praise - mark accordingly. You will find that experienced entrants’ cars are of a very high standard, so a small number of points will separate the cars. On each item you will see that there are 20 points to allocate - use them all if you have to but do not be afraid to mark down as many points as you wish.

BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR MARKS THROUGHOUT THE CONCOURS.

Before a car is considered to be ready for judging the interior / boot must be emptied, overmats I seat covers / etc must be removed by the entrant who must be present before judging starts, and have filled in personal details on the marking sheet. It is helpful for the entrant to place the sheet under the wiper, as this is a good indication to the judges that the entrant is ready to be judged.

You will require a number of judges, normally four is enough, but this will depend on expected turnout.

When looking for judges it is a good idea to try your local BMW dealer. The staff are normally pleased to assist. By befriending dealer staff I technicians you can achieve impartiality, while more of your regions members can be free to partake in the competition. If you decide to divide the judges into two groups for speed, you must keep an eye on consistency of judging.

You may find that a small token of appreciation for each of the judges promotes a lot of goodwill. Likewise, it is helpful to provide light refreshment for helpers and judges.

A co-ordinator will be required to collect and collate the sheets when the judges have finished judging a car and add up the scores so that the results are known within the time scale. Collecting score sheets as they are completed has proved much easier than struggling to do them together near the end of the day.

The co-ordinator will check the scores are correctly added and ensure that everything is running to plan, sort out any problems that may arise during the concours (ie judging scores).

The adjudicator’s decision will be final in any disputes about judging.

It is a good idea to collect perpetual trophies over the years; in many regions this has already been done. You will therefore need a trophy for the winner, and plaques for first, second and third place prize winners to keep. If you keep these plaques universal, without place or date, unused ones may be carried forward to the following year. This may be very helpful if you are unsure as to the size of the turnout or for that matter the classes you may get on the day.

In the areas in which you operate there will be a number of BMW dealers. Approach dealers with the view of cajoling them into providing a trophy, possibly for a car class. A trophy or award for the recipient to keep in addition to the class trophy, is a big encouragement. There may be other businesses and / or customers in your area who, if approached, would be able to assist. It is a bonus if plaques for second and third in class can be provided. lt has been found that there are skilled members that may be able to make regional trophies.

Costs can be further reduced if a raffle is run on the day.

Class trophies and the overall trophy will be supplied by the Region. A plaque for the winners name to be engraved will need to be fitted to the trophy.

It is the responsibility of the recipient to have the trophy engraved with their name.

Do not forget to take the name, address and telephone number of perpetual trophy winners so they can be contacted to return these in time for the next year’s Concours.

IT WOULD BE HELPFUL IF ALL REGIONS USE THE JUDGING SHEETS PROVIDED BY THE BMW CAR CLUB. A RECORD SHOULD BE KEPT OF WINNERS AND PLACES, SO THAT THEY CAN BE SENT TO THE MAGAZINE FOR GENERAL PUBLICATION. THIS WOULD ALSO GIVE THE NECESSARY INFORMATION TO THE CLUB OFFICE TO FORMULATE THE ENTRANTS FOR THE NATIONAL EVENT.

Class winners qualify to go forward to the Master Class at the National Concours.

Overall winner will go forward to Elite Class at the National Concours.

THESE SUPERCEDE ANY PREVIOUS RULES