Once upon a time...
Back in the 1990's, the club's founder Chris Pawlowicz bought his first car (a rusty 1981 E21 320i) and instantly fell in love with sporty practical automobiles made by BMW!
Wanting to know how to properly drive on the twisty backroads, how to fix and modify the car, and even wanting to meet up with other like minded people led him to head down to Mosport and take part in an Advanced Driving School run by the Trillium chapter of the BMW Club of Canada.
With lots of encouragement from their executive (especially Rolf Lange, Rob Foreman, and John Dimoff) Chris put the word out in Ottawa looking for other local enthusiasts.
He put together a basic website on a new thing called the World Wide Web, advertised at the local BMW specialist garages and dealers, and by 1999 a core group was starting to meet regularly and put on events. Hagen Hohn and Rob Yap joined as key executive helping move the club forward - including officially joining the BMW Club of Canada umbrella as the BMW Car Club of Ottawa.
Elite BMW provided a regular meeting location, Duss Brothers Motors provided some funding to help with newsletter publications, and events included autocross, drives through countryside, go-karting, and Advanced Driving Schools at Tremblant and Mosport with the Quebec club and the Trillium club.
Fast forward 20+ years and the BMW Car Club of Ottawa continues to thrive and be a club focused on having fun, sharing knowledge, skills, and the enthusiasm for BMWs.