SIGFest Event Galleries...
SIGFest 2026 Recap:
Our 25th Annual Event!
SIGFest 2026 was a huge success! We had beautiful sunny weather, lots of enthusiastic participation, amazing food, and (of course) incredible E30 M3's. For those who couldn't attend, here's a brief recap of the day:
Friday Night SIGFest Opening Dinner:
We had a great turnout for the SIGFest 2026 kickoff dinner at Harpoon Willy's in Manasquan NJ. Twenty seven SIG members and their guests came out to celebrate our 25th annual event, including several of our event sponsors. We had great feedback last year regarding our E30 M3/SIG/BMW trivia contest so we decided to add it to this year's event as well. The night included great conversation with fellow BMW E30 M3 enthusiasts and owners, delicious food and drink, and even prizes for those with the most correct quiz answers (courtesy of BMW of Turnersville (represented by Pete Ballias) and Morristown BMW).
Saturday's Picnic and Concours:
Saturday's 25th Annual SIGFest Concours and Picnic event was held at Shore Car Club, in Ocean Township NJ. This is a new, full service enthusiast owned and operated car storage, meeting, and social facility designed from the ground-up for automotive events. There were amazing cars to see inside and outside, in addition to the custom decor and incredible architecture. Meanwhile, chefs were busy grilling burgers, pulled pork, and sausages, there was a variety of side dishes. Definitely sensory overload for people like us...
We had a great turnout, Saturday, with 55 E30 M3's, and about 150 SIG Members and guests. Those who registered received their registration packet, which included some great gifts from our sponsors- including a custom SIGFest travel mug- courtesy of Mario and Chris Langsten of VSR.
As always, the cars and their owners are the main attraction at SIGFest. There were pristine, low mileage examples, restomods, high-mileage cars that enjoy regular use and everything in between. Every car was really amazing, and no two were alike. After several hours of meeting new people, enjoying great food and experiencing incredible E30 M3's - it was time to hand out the car show awards. John, James and I spearhead this event - but these events literally would be impossible to run without the help of a few people we need to recognize. We work on these events all year, and believe it or not we're already working on aspects of next year's event. My wife Laura and daughter Avery put up with a lot of clutter, expense, and have to endure conversation about these events, all year long. They also assist with writing (including this wrap-up summary), logos, artwork, and much more. James would say the same about his wife Shauna and his daughters Chloe and Ava, they assist in writing updates about the event, creating the placards and many other event-organization tools. The day of, they literally make the event possible by running registration, selling raffle tickets, keeping us organized, and constantly keeping the event on track when we get caught up in the details. As a token of our appreciation we made each of them a custom commemorative E30 M3 pendant necklaces that will remind them of how appreciative we are for all that you put up with and do to make this event happen and run smoothly.
A huge thank you also goes out to everyone who volunteered to help organize and run this event- including SIG Members John Dunnock, his son Lucas and Bob and Shiela Morin. The event looked organized and ran smoothly because of you.
This year's trophies were custom-made S14 Air Intake Plenum trophies conceived and created by James Liu. We always custom make trophies for SIGFest, and refuse to award something off the shelf or traditional - and this year James (with the design assistance of Dean Kyriannas and a contribution by VSR) created these amazing mementos. It really, truly is a difficult task to pick winners for trophies at this event, so I feel a bit sorry for our judges each year. The collective knowledge of the judges / enthusiasts (Dave Flogaus, Emil Curko and Charles Lennon) made selecting the winners a lengthy task, as they poured over the incredible examples. All trophy categories and winners can be seen in our photo gallery
After the awards were presented, we then raffled-off some prizes, donated and funded by our generous sponsors, including a BMW Bicycle, a baby BMW Ride-On Car, Bose Products, Gift Cards, BMW Luggage, Scale Models, Auto Body Care, Human Body Care, Books, tools and E30 M3 Parts.
Thank you to our sponsors:
BMW North America
BMWCommunity - E30 M3 Special Interest Group (Alex Shiroma)
Bimmerworld
BMW Car Club of America
BMW Car Club of America Foundation
BMW Car Club of America Foundation Store
BMW Car Club of America (New Jersey Chapter)
BMW North America
BMW of Bridgewater
BMW of Manhattan
BMW of Morristown
BMW of Ramsey
BMW of Tenafly
BMW of Turnersville
Tom Gratiano (formerly of the Bose Corporation)
David Haueter (Bimmer / Roundel / Bimmer Life)
Dave Tormey - (Enthusiast Spec)
Detailers Domain
FCP Euro
Guten Parts + Storage
Lavanila Laboratories
Optima Beauty
Paul Miller BMW
Rogue Engineering
Shore Car Club
Tire Rack - Street Survival
Our sponsors' generous donations to SIGFest allow us to raffle off some great prizes, the proceeds of which benefit the BMW CCA Foundation's Street Survival efforts, training young drivers to focus behind the wheel, the basics of car control, collision avoidance, automotive maintenance and more. Thank you to all of those who bought raffle tickets and support this great cause.
IF YOU WON SOMETHING, PLEASE EMAIL THE VENDOR THAT DONATED THE ITEM THAT YOU WON AND THANK THEM. IF YOU DO THIS, IT WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR US TO GET DONATIONS NEXT YEAR. IF YOU DO NOT REMEMBER WHO DONATED A PARTICULAR ITEM, SEND US AN EMAIL, AND WE WILL REMIND YOU WHO DONATED IT. PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING THE VENDORS WHO SUPPORT US, IT MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE TO OUR EFFORTS NEXT YEAR.
A BIG thanks goes to the staff of Shore Car Club (Brian Gold, Michelle Gold, Dayna Gold, Mike Solerno, and the Manager Niko) for being SO accommodating and welcoming. As anyone who attended will attest - this venue has to be seen to be believed.
As event organizers, James, John and I (Tony) see our role in all of this as setting the stage for you, the stars of the show. These cars are now considered rare and valuable collector's cars, and that means that it's more important than ever to get them out of the garage. Far too many of these cars will become just part of someone's collection never to be seen again, so we encourage their continued use and enjoyment. Without all of the enthusiasm and active participation, the event would fall flat, so thanks for coming out and spending the day (and in many cases- the entire weekend) with us, and making SIGFest 2026 a huge success.
We are already working on the event for 2027, so if you have any ideas for making the event the best it can be, and or if you would like to collaborate with us on future events - please let us know. The more you are involved, the better the event will be.
E30 M3 SIGFest: You Come For The Cars- You Stay For The People
We look forward to seeing you all next year!
Sincerely,
James Liu, John Henriquez, Tony Rausch
The SIGFest Team
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