Heya guys :)

so, meeting is off .... :(

but was really a great one

i wish to tnx all of u that has come here in Pesaro and made this meeting grown from "tiny" to "amazing"

like one of u said, we started months ago with about 5-6 cars then, mainly in the 3 weeks just before the meeting, many other 8ers wanted to join (i really appreciated it) and in the weekend we was 18 .....

ok ... i have to move many ppl to manage and organize it (really hard work ... trust me ...) but i'm really happy and proud of what we saw in that weeked !!!!

i hope u agreed with me .... :mrgreen-angel:

sorry for the food ... i know that was too much ... but i prefer that ppl would say "no more pls !!" than "i would like to eat something else ..."

i want to tnx Philippe Gegou and his Wife for the beautiful gift they gave me ... an original BMW PRESSE 850 brochure (about 50 pages) that was presenting the model to the public in the first '90s .... and all in italian !!!!

this is a really good "debriefing" written by Reinhard Wolf about the meeting:

Pesaro - in retrospect

At first looking like a serene and small get-together, the list of
participants grew considerably during the last days preceding the
meeting and lo, no less than 19 8ers originating from many parts of
Europe started to move towards the Mediterranean sea at the Italian
Adria, en route often greeted and waved at by the friendly people of
Pesaro and surroundings. Wherever the train of cars halted - always
perfectly stage-managed by the patient and untiring organizer
Gianluca, droves of smiling people clustered around the cars,
realizing with appreciation that certain cars from outside Italy can
also be described with attributes such as "emozione e passione". A
similar bunch of "Ferraristi" certainly would have come off worst ;)
Following an atmospheric Italian-German evening at the seaside
Flaminio Hotel (the spits for the "Teuton grill"(see below) were just
being anchored in the beach with German precision. The area
surrounding Pesaro and esp. Rimini has been dubbed "Teuton grill"
many years ago due to it being a fairly close and always sunny summer
holiday destination for hordes of German tourists catching more than
a ray of sun.) the first official day of the meeting set out with a
photo shooting and easy driving in the hinterland of the regions
Emilia Romagna and Marche. The afternoon passed, spending some time
at the still dormant and peaceful racing circuit of Misano and was
highlighted by the arrival of the remaining participants. Group shots
taken during the next days normally showed the full complement of 18
cars. A fantastic dinner in a nearby restaurant opened the
opportunity for everyone to rub noses and assign faces and people to
the nicknames and avatar´s of the E31 forum. Surprisingly the flown
colors were almost exclusively black and blue. Only four of 18 cars
dared to be different: 1x "barbadosgrün", 2x "granitsilber" and 1x
"arktissilber"
The next day the bulk of cars moved at an almost environmentally
friendly leisurely pace, shone upon by the sun and everyone took time
to enjoy the beauty of the landscape in the Emilia Romagna. Early
saturday was dedicated to medieval Italian history with a visit of
the beautiful Gradara castle, where the infamous Lucrezia Borgia
lived and where the hapless love story between Francesca and Paolo,
described in Dante´s Divine Comedy is said to have taken place.
In the afternoon everyone moved to the Misano Circuit where
championship truck races were about to begin. Gianluca had managed to
bestow us with VIP parking permits, allowing us to line up the cars
just behind the pit lane. Many visitors used this opportunity to
closely inspect the slumbering beasts. A group of German race fans
was overheard saying "they´re not building such beautiful cars
anymore..." (make that a Bavarian accent ;) and the events on the
racing track took a back seat for some time.
There was enough time to watch a thrilling truck race after which we
made our way back through the unfathomable alleyways of Pesaro.
A sumptuous dinner based on the treasures of the Mediterranean sea
had, despite its quality, some faces contorted gasping for meat,
which they should receive "ad libidum" the following day.
After only a quick stint to the picturesque mountainside village of
Urbino, this day of feasting began with an almost unbelievable
assortment of plates full of "antipasti" in an old-fashioned
restaurant in Pian di Rose. Everyone thinking that he/she would never
eat anything again after all that, quickly learned that resistance is
indeed futile and surrendered to the plethora of Italian treasures in
the historcal centre of Gianluca´s hometown Pesaro.
Crawling through the narrow and winding lanes, almost scraping walls,
pedestrians, bikers and cyclists we had permission to parade on
Pesaro´s marketplace. We have no idea how often Gianluca had to go
down on his knees begging Italian officials in order to make this
possible but the payoff was spectacular which could be seen in his
and the other´s faces. Our "Bavarian Ferraris" again received a very
warm welcome and subliminal fears of truckloads of cars being
hijacked were totally unfounded.
During the next sun bathed morning several smaller caravans took
leave towards their countries of origin, everyone indulging in the
still fresh memories of this great come-together in Pesaro. Gianluca
was cocksure that the next meeting he was to organize would have to
cover "at least one month" and, rest assured, he was not the only one
being happy that those days in Pesaro had become a great experience
through and for all participants, being part of the 8er family.
Again our gratefulness goes out specifically to Gianluca Porta, known
in this forum as Cadfael, and his lovely friend Rosella, without her
he would have had to carry the load all alone.

so ... i'm looking forward to see all the pics and movies u made in the weekend

Cheers, Gianluca.

Wow , what a picture from my daughter Linda ,
thanks Mike !!

Oh, Gianluca, grand hero, one more thing:

Your Italy, the Mayors, the Police Commanders, the Hotel Managers, the general Public, those that are car enthusiasts, all of them will be in my mind forever - how to make foreigners such as we are feel at home in your country is a skill difficult to learn.

I just re-read your broshure, where you thank all the people who made it possible:

City Mayors of Urbino and Gradara
Pesaro Police Commanders
Hotel Flaminio Events Coordinator
Misano Circuit Admins

!!Italy!!

Oh, and I did some real research into

Lucrezia Borgia

who lived in Pesaro and Gradara for some time.

She was not as bad a woman as one would believe. Very beautiful, very cultured but at the same time a victim of her times, everyone believed her to be a very bad woman with poison at her fingertips.

Gradara Castle was beautiful for its own sake, but when imagining the famous Lucrezia Borgia living there, it becomes like Michael Jacksons "Neverland" and ravaged children.

Use Google to do a find on "Lucrezia Borgia" and be astounded by the story of her life - it is a drama of its own.

Bravo ! :clap:

me too

:clap:

Well, I did say that words are too short to describe an 8xx meeting organised by an Italian. Organised? You know that you don't really need to buy policemen, I hope. I don't know how many policemen, city mayors, restaurant owners and other innocent bystanders you bribed, cajoled and plain talked into allowing us to drive through your sunny and beautiful italian countryside and eons old castles and towns.

So, our hero:

Gianluca:



We bow down before you and devotedly accept that at least during the month of may and june no one will top your organisational effort and that the Pesaro Meeting will go into history as the largest tiny meeting we will ever see!



But it was not all cars. Visit the pictures of the Italian Meeting to see all of them, but here are some of my highlights:

Fall in love with your car and here's what will happen...


Family comes first!


Don't make it dirty, then you won't need to wipe and clean...


But you know, we were all captivated by your program, even Janne could not escape...


Since we always see them from the front, here's their bums:


Many more pictures coming, 166 in all. Give us some time to format, sort and to clean them up. Until then, Greetings from FanDjango + Sammy, the photo/video dream team.