Zfest motors back

By Cindy Landrum  

JUNE 17, 2011 11:18 a.m. (0)

Greenville will host on Labor Day weekend the 2011 ZFest, a gathering of BMW Z Roadster and Coupe enthusiasts.

It’s the first time the weekend of activities for owners of Z1’s, Z3’s, Z4’s and Z8’s will be held in the Upstate since BMW stopped making the roadsters and coupes at its plant in Greer.

“We’re coming home,” said David Weeks, a Greenville County resident who is chairing the 2011 ZFest committee for the Z-Series Car Club of America.

2011 is the 15th anniversary of the BMW Z.

The last time Greenville hosted the event was in 2008 when it was called the Roadster Homecoming and it was organized by BMW.

More than 1,300 people and 625 cars participated.

But BMW stopped sponsoring the event after it stopped producing the Z’s at its plant in Spartanburg County.

Since the ZCCA has taken over the event starting in 2009, it has been held in Cincinnati and Los Angeles.

This year’s ZFest was supposed to be held in Dallas, but plans fell through and the decision was made to bring the event to Greenville, Weeks said.

“We’ve put this whole thing together since April,” he said.

Next year’s event will be held somewhere on the East Coast. The location hasn’t been announced yet.

“Our agreement with BMW calls for the ZFest to be moved around the country,” Weeks said.

This year’s fest will raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Weeks said.

ZFest is open to members and non-members of the ZCCA, he said.

The ZFest will be based out of the Embassy Suites in Greenville.

The fest will feature special tours of the BMW plant in Greer and several drives that participants can do at their leisure, including the Tail of the Dragon, a drive in North Carolina and Tennessee that includes 318 curves in 11 miles. Other drives include those that go past Caesar’s Head, the Moonshine 28 in western North Carolina and a winery tour.

On Saturday from 11 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., a street will be closed off in downtown Greer to allow participants to display their Z’s while eating lunch.

“A lot of people come to ZFest just to see each other once a year,” said Weeks, who owns a Z3 and a Z4. “We know that the Z’s are a perfect, well-balanced handling car that is fun to drive. It’s a great opportunity to bring the ZFest back home.”

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