1974 May

The Schwarzpulver Rallye that I mentioned last month, was held between the 4^th and 10^th of March. The object of the rally was to accumulate as many points as possible between 3 am Monday and 4 pm Saturday, by riding, in sequential order, to town or cities that started with the letters contained in the word Schwarzpulver. These towns were only to be found on a specified map, and one point was assessed for each 50 air kilometers between towns.

At the start, and at each town, rally cards had to be stamped by the local police, to record the date, time, and odometer reading. On Sunday morning, the first 60 riders with the most posints shot flintlock and percussion reifles for additional points. Awards were presented that afternoon.

Four of us participated in the run: Rick Mundy, a good friend (he uses a chain for a driveshaft); Robert Kirkpatrick #1994; Tom McCartney, who's a new member; and yours truly. All our runs were made at night, with the exception of saturday, which was an all-day run. And although we were local "8" to "5" workers, our jobs did suffer when we arrived bleary-eyed from our nightly forages, which, for the most part, were cold and wet (what do you say to your wife when you arrive home at 5:30 in the morning and do the same thing two mornings later at 6 am?). We had traveled approximately 1800 land kilometers (1192 air kilometers), which placed us far down on the list, but still in the running. Much to our surprise, we placed third in group participation. We felt proud o this award, considering that we were the only Americans who participated, and felt that the effect and strain had been well worth it.

Fred Secker #2692, who is the secretary of the B.M.W. Club of Great Britain, has announced a BMW Rally called the Isle of Man International Assembly, which is to be hled on the fourth of June. The rally meeting point is at the Glen Helen Hotel located on the T.T. Course. My wife and I are planning to attend, and we hope to meet some of you there. For more information and reservations, contact: Fred Secker, 72 Windmill Road, London, N18 1LN, England.

Four new BMWMOA memberships were submitted in March. First, there's Mike Broadstreet, who's stationed in Worms (that makes two of us in Worms now). The other three are stationed in Mannheim; Mike Mastromonaco, and Tom and Jan McCartney. Jan is a first BMer in our little group, and my wife Rosalie, who rides a Honda 500 (with a lot of ribbing from us BMwes), is now happy to have another woman to ride with. Tom, by the way, rides an R60/5, and he went out and bought a used R75/5 for Jan. Now we know who's boss in the McCartney household! John Rhodes #3267, who's stationed in Bitberg, is also a new member, but sorry to say, leaves us in May.

Two members are now the proud owners of the new 900's: Miles Reichenbach #1838, stationed in Kaiserslautern, has the biggie, the "S"; and Mike Eaton #3171, stationed in Hanau, has the /6. Miles has promised me that could try out his R90S on my next trip to Kaiserslautern. That should be an experience! Happy third anniversary, BMW News, from all of us!

Auf Wiedersehen