derBayerische September October 2022 - 15

N C C A N N U A L M E E T I N G & P I C N I C
■ (From the Left) - Garry Bowring won a watch from sponsor BMW of Owings Mills. Mike Renner, Doug Verner, and Mike Wah enjoy the barbeque.
Special thanks to our special guest Mike Renner of the BMW Performance Center.
lap. But it always comes back to
basics for him-teaching students to
be smooth with throttle input, using
vision properly, understanding the
cause and effect of driving dynamics,
and his favorite topic: how to
drift. " If you get to ride along for hot
laps with Mike, he's likely to ask " do
you want to go fast or do you want
to squeal tires " . In the go-fast
department, my favorite part of
Mike's talk was his recounting of a
high-speed session with an
acquaintance named Duane; I heard
multiple references to " like the autobahn " ,
at least one reference to " 194
mph, " and mention of " crying like a
baby. "
Perhaps the most helpful parts
of Mike's talk were his safety tips.
I'll recap one or two here, since they
may save your bacon. The most
important skill in all of driving,
whether high-performance or commuting
to work, is vision, specifically,
looking ahead and looking
around. The short version is that
the car goes where the driver is
looking. The slightly longer version
is that the driver should be looking
ahead and mentally processing
what's coming up, two seconds in
front of the car, since what's right in
front of the car is already history.
With regards to looking around,
that's also called situation awareness.
What's next to you? What's
behind you? What's in your blind
spot? Do you see that car that's
rapidly overtaking you from behind?
In order to avoid hitting something,
you need to be aware that it's there.
Next up was the announcement
of the 2021 NCC Volunteer of
the Year: our very own Mike Bevels!
Mike has shown tremendous initiative
over the last year as co-editor of
NCC's der Bayerische magazine
(which you're reading right now!).
Not only does Mike spearhead the
effort to solicit the various programs
for content, update the Calendar of
Events, pull together the list of ads
and fliers and new members, and
draft the publication priorities list,
he also writes articles and takes
photos (one of his favorite hobbies)
for virtually every issue. To top it
off, Mike has led the way in promoting
dB on Facebook and Instagram
and via bi-weekly email blasts.
I can't think of a more deserving
recipient for Volunteer of the Year.
Last but not least were the
announcements of the People's
Choice awards from the Cars &
Coffee show and drawing tickets for
the various door prizes. The winner
of the BMW Performance Center M
School was Phyllis Watkins. The
winner of the set of tires from Radial
Tire was Afshawn Towfighi. The
winner of the watch from BMW of
Owings Mills was Garry Bowring.
The winner of the detailing package
from Encore Detailing was Andrea
Johnson. The winner of the
People's Choice award in the
Classic car category was Reese
Madsen with his orange 2002. The
winner in the Classic M category
was Doug Dolan with his gray Z8.
The winner in the Modern car category
was Odie Silva with his blue
■ (From the Left) 2022 Volunteer of the Year recipient, Mike Bevels. Photo by Mike Bevels. Cars and happy people - what it's all about.
September I October
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derBayerische September October 2022

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