MBCA StarFest 2018

[neelyrc]

Many of our members from USA are also members of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America (MBCA).  One of the major events organized by MBCA in alternate years is StarFest. 

StarFest 2018 will be hosted by the Alabama Section and will be held in and around my home town, Birmingham, Alabama. StarFest 2018 is scheduled for May14-21 and will feature guided tours of the MBUSI factory, the second largest MB factory in the world, several scenic Rallyes, a Concourse d’Elegance, driving events at the Talladega Superspeedway and at Barber Motorsports Park as well as technical presentations at the MBUSI factory’s Brand Immersion Center and visits to local museums, historic and cultural sites. There will also be a number of evening social gatherings.  The organizing committee has made an effort to provide a variety of events in order to meet the multiple interests of MBCA members.  Around 600 participants are expected. 

Details of the week’s activities can be found at www.starfest2018.mbca.org and event registration is at www.msreg.com/starfest2018.  Event fees will increase from January 1. Some event dates have just been finalized and are firm as listed on the msreg.com site.  The StarFest2018 site is to be updated.

I expect that a number of our forum members will attend StarFest 2018.  If members are planning to attend with their cars, we could plan to do one of the Rallye events as a group and/or we could plan a sl113 lunch or dinner during the week. If there is member interest in this I would be pleased to coordinate.  Let me know what you think.

[neelyrc]

As of today there are 160 registrants for StarFest 2018.  This translates into about 90 cars participating in the various activities during the week.  The oldest car registered to date is a 1913 Benz W5 from Canada.

The latest participants list includes four Pagodas including mine.  I stand to be corrected but it appears that the owners of the other three Pagodas are not members here.

There is still plenty of time to register.  A good number of our members live within reasonable driving distance of Birmingham.  If other members do plan to attend I would be pleased to hear from you.   

[neelyrc]

The MBCA StarFest 2018 event in Birmingham is less than a month away now.  There is still time to register and participate.  Details of the event and registration information can be found in my earlier posts above.

At last count there were 243 registrants from 30 states including participants from as far away as California and Oregon as well as several from Canada.

There are currently six Pagodas registered and as far as I can determine, four of them belong to owners who are not members here. Our cars are well appreciated by all and hopefully we will have a few more of our members sign up in the coming weeks to join in the fun.



 

[bama9eleven]

I will be attending Starfest. Being a resident of Birmingham made The decision to attend easy. The schedule is full of great activities of all types. I will be attending the tech sessions at the factory, a couple of drives and the performance driving events at Barber (volunteer instructor). 

Perhaps we could coordinate a Pagoda meet-up sometime during the event?

[neelyrc]

Porter, I see that you are registered for the opening reception at Barber on Thursday evening.  I will try to see you and the other Pagoda owners there.  Will you have your Pagoda at the event as well as the w108 you have registered? 

[bama9eleven]

No, unfortunately I will not be able to bring my Pagoda. The rescue is still a work in process. I have exchanged emails with Pierre Hadery about possibly coming out to my shop in Leeds to do an assessment on the car. I hope we can make that happen.

I am really looking forward to meeting some new MB people at the event.

Regards,

[neelyrc]

The MBCA StarFest 2018 event in Birmingham wrapped up Monday evening.  Almost 300 participants enjoyed an intense week of activities.

At the Concours on Saturday at the MBUSI factory in Vance there were five Pagoda entries in the 90 car show, two in Street Class and three in Show Class.

Show class was won by Thomas Zarello of Gloucester, MA with Tommy Couch of Perry, GA (a member here) taking second and Randy Bibb of Nashville, TN third.  In Street class I was fortunate enough to take first place with second place going to Janine Porretto of Bogalusa, LA.

I gave a sales pitch to the three owners not presently members here and all expressed interest in signing up.

A few pictures are included below.

[neelyrc]

On Sunday almost 100 cars participated in various StarFest activities at the Talledega Super Speedway.  These included Autobahn Laps on the banking, acceleration runs on the pit straight and Autocross events in the infield.  The off-road participants hit the mountain trails in the nearby Talladega National Forrest.

[neelyrc]

On Monday 35 Mercedes-Benz owners took to the track at Barber Motorsports Park.  Classroom training and personal driver instruction preceded track time.  After verification by instructors, intermediate drivers were able to do solo laps.