Volunteers will help and assist in Star Fest activities and planning, including Hospitality, Concours, Driving Events, Registration, Rallye, Publicity and Sponsorship. Events will take place at the Biltmore Resort and the Firebird Raceway.  StarFest 2012 runs from Sept. 28th to Oct. 3rd.

An event of this magnitude always requires additional help for the hosting Section.  Hosting StarFest is a great honor for the Desert Stars section which is celebrating its 50th anniversary during Arizona’s Centennial anniversary. Being a volunteer is a great opportunity to meet and work with other section members and other MBCA members from all over the country. Volunteers will receive souvenier recognition gifts.

Some examples of volunteer roles needed are as follows:

• Concours Judges
• Track Corner Worker
• Credential Checker at Activities
• Registration Check-In
• Hospitality Ministers
• Concours Set-up Guides
• Concours Administrative Assistants
• General Aides/Runners
• Hotel Communication Assistants
• Hotel Guides

Please contact Debbie at dichiyama@me.com if you would like to help and be sure to visit www.starfest2012.com on the web. Also, check us out on Facebook and don’t forget to “Like” us.

Thank you,

Debbie Ichiyama

Wayne Carini, host of TV’s signature series “Chasing Classic Cars” on the Velocity for Discovery channel, has been named the StarFest 2012 Honorary Event Chairman.   Mr Carini will serve as Honorary Chief Judge of the Concours d’Elegance and will make a special award to “The car I’d most like to chase”.

Full biography of Wayne Carini:

With a lifetime of experience in automobile restoration under his belt, master car restorer, WAYNE CARINI has a resume that includes body and paint work on rare car collections owned by the likes of David Letterman, tennis great, Ivan Lendl and the DuPont family.  He’s been featured in The New York Times, as well as, numerous automobile magazines and starred in two one hour television specials.

Wayne’s passion for cars started as a child, working alongside his father on such classics as Duesenbergs, Lincolns, Packards and Ford Model A’s.  Then, at just nine years of age, he experienced a life altering event…  He went for a ride in his first Ferrari.  A 1960 rosso chiaro 250 SWB. Wayne was instantly bitten by the Ferrari bug and hooked for life.  Automobiles have been Wayne’s passion ever since.

After learning the art of Ferrari restoration from both his mentor Francois Sicard — a former Ferrari racing mechanic and widely considered to be the foremost Ferrari expert on the East Coast — and his good friend Luigi Chinetti Jr., whose father Luigi Chinetti Sr. won the 1949 24 hours of Le Mans race for Ferrari and opened the first Ferrari dealership in the country — Wayne went into business on his own. Since that time, Wayne has been the owner and operator of three companies in Portland, CT: F40 Motorsports, Continental Auto LTD, and Carini Carozzeria.

F40 Motorsports buys and sells vintage and classic automobiles.  Continental Auto Ltd. is a collision shop specializing in high end and exotic automobile repair.  Carini Carozzeria is the restoration shop where Wayne spends most of his time working on one of many restoration projects.  And while Wayne loves restoring cars to perfection, his personal preference is for un-restored, original cars.  Often shown in the elite “preservation class” at Concourses nationwide, these increasingly rare cars are the focus of Wayne’s private collection.

At home, Wayne is a dedicated father of two daughters and husband of twenty four years. The family resides in rural Connecticut, in a log home that Wayne built thirty-three years ago.  An avid supporter of Autism research organizations, Wayne helps organize and sponsor car events for the benefit of children and adults with Autism.  His incentive to find a cure or treatment is his youngest daughter, who was diagnosed with Autism at an early age.

Wayne is also involved in, and regularly attends many different car clubs and events to get young people involved in the car collector hobby. He believes that without young peoples’ involvement, the car collector tradition will disappear. His latest passion is encouraging families with special needs children to consider placing collector cars into a special needs trust with the hope that the cars will benefit the children in the future.

Prior to Chasing Classic Cars, Wayne appeared in two hour long television specials for Discovery’s HD Theater Channel. Monterey Week and The World’s Most Expensive Cars, which premiered in October 2008.

StarFest^® 2012 is a one-of-a-kind event that allows Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts to compete for best of show or for speed on the track.  Activities include the Concours d’Elegance – a private and public exhibit of rare, historic, refurbished and well-maintained Mercedes-Benz models; the Concours d’Elegance Awards Banquet featuring Honorary Event Chairman Wayne Carini of TV’s signature series “Chasing Classic Cars” on the Velocity for Discovery channel; time trials and acceleration runs at Firebird International Raceway, and a challenging rallye drive for Mercedes-Benz drivers throughout Greater Phoenix.

“We’re excited to host StarFest^® 2012 in Phoenix, where Mercedes-Benz lovers can learn more about the past, present and future of the brand,” said John Hutchison, board member of the Phoenix-based Desert Stars Section of MBCA and chairman of the event. “We are celebrating more than 125 years of the Mercedes-Benz brand, the 50^th anniversary of our Club, and the 100^th year of Arizona statehood.”

In addition, StarFest^® will feature never before shown together collections from the Kemp Auto Museum of St Louis, Mo., and the MB Classic Centers in Irvine, Calif., and Fellbach, Germany. Highly anticipated models include rare Gullwings and exceptional 300SL Roadsters. Sunday’s showing will be free and open to the public, with donations accepted for the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center and Autism Speaks.

StarFest^® 2012 is sponsored by Mercedes-Benz USA and MBCA, hosted by the Desert Stars Section of MBCA, and supported by generous contributions from businesses across the country. Sponsorship packages and event registrations are being accepted. Visit www.StarFest2012.com for more information.

About StarFest 2012

StarFest^® 2012 is a biennial Mercedes-Benz Premier National Event that invites luxury car owners and the spectator public to a new location for exciting on-track driving, auto judging, restoration workshops, rally drives, and more. StarFest 2012 takes place in Phoenix, Ariz., from Sept. 28 – Oct. 3, 2012 and includes a celebrity-studded fundraiser for autism research, featuring Wayne Carini of TV’s “Chasing Classic Cars.” www.starfest2012.com

About Mercedes-Benz Club of America

The Mercedes-Benz Club of America (MBCA) is a 501(c)7 not-for-profit organization. Founded in 1956, the MBCA is the largest Mercedes-Benz enthusiast organization in the world, serving more than 20,000 primary Members and 8,000 associate members in more than 85 Sections across the United States and Canada. www.mbca.org

About Autism Speaks

Autism Speaks is the world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization. It is dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families. Autism Speaks was founded in February 2005 by Suzanne and Bob Wright, the grandparents of a child with autism. Mr. Wright is the former vice chairman of General Electric and chief executive officer of NBC and NBC Universal. Since its inception, Autism Speaks has committed over $173 million to research and developing innovative resources for families. Each year Walk Now for Autism Speaks events are held in more than 95 cities across North America.  The Walk Now Arizona event is being held Saturday, October 28, and benefiting Autism Speaks and SARRC.

www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/Arizona

www.autismspeaks.org

About SARRC

Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center, founded in 1997, undertakes self-directed and collaborative research, serves as a satellite site for national and international projects, and provides up-to-date information, training and assistance to families and professionals about autism spectrum disorders. www.autismcenter.org

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We have assembled a valuable briefing for the Concours judging class, which will be taught by MBCA’s National Concours Chair and Chief Judge, Peter Lessler.

The class will be held at Schumacher European Mercedes-Benz, located at 18530 North Scottsdale Road, near the North Loop 101 Freeway. Take Exit 34 off the Loop 101 Freeway and turn south. Please park in the service lot to the left of the main driveway when you arrive.

The class will begin promptly at 10:00 on Saturday, May 5th. Members are expected from Desert Stars, Chaparral, and Las Vegas Sections, so you may be able to share rides if you’re coming from the Tucson or Las Vegas areas.

Our agenda for the day will be the following, beginning at 10:00 SHARP….

• Meet at Schumacher’s Showroom; we’ll proceed to the upstairs lunchroom for our classroom session. Pete will go over the basics and the fine points of concours judging including the new 100-point score sheet we’ll use to score the cars. I’ve included a copy of the score sheet here so you can become familiar with it ahead of our meeting;
• Following a 60-90 minute class, we’ll move to the service area, where we’ll have several cars to “practice” our judging.
• If you have a particular type or class of car you’d like to judge, please let me know. You will be assigned to a class of cars that you believe you know well (e.g. W198, W113 or R107SLs, W124 or W126 sedans, etc.)… We’ll begin making assignments at this meeting.
• We’ll return to the classroom for a short summary and then wrap up by about 3:00.

There is no cost for the event and light snacks will be provided.

Special thanks to Craig Zielinski and Schumacher European, our host for this event. If you have any questions, please call Chuck Stanford at 602-549-4789 (m) before the day of the event. THANKS again and I look forward to seeing you there.

• The National Football League has released their 2012 schedule and the Arizona Cardinals will be hosting the Miami Dolphins in Glendale, Arizona, at 1:05 PM local time on Sunday, September 30th. The Cardinals’ University of Phoenix Stadium is a mere 16 miles from the Arizona Biltmore Resort.
• Game times have been announced for the Arizona Diamondbacks homestand against the Chicago Cubs.
• Friday, September 28th, at 6:40 PM
• Saturday, September 29th, at 5:10 PM
• Sunday, September 30th, at 1:10 PM

September 28-October 3 — StarFest® 2012 Now registering for MBCA’s highly-celebrated national event in beautiful Phoenix, AZ. Soak-up the sun and excitement in/around the world-class Arizona Biltmore Hotel with fine cars, Firebird International Raceway driving, spas, golf, shopping, food, fun and more. Enter your Mercedes for a chance to win an award at the Concours d’Elegance. 5% discount & FREE commemorative grille badge (while supplies last) when you register by May 19. Visit http://desertstars.motorsportreg.com or go to www.starfest2012.com for details. Questions? Contact John Hutchison at johnhutchison@cox.net or 480.473.4887

Followers of the StarFest® 2012 website already know it, but registration is now available, and it’s online. That’s right. No more paper forms to fill out. No more checkbooks to find. No more envelopes to address, stuff, stamp and mail. Just go to www.starfest2012.com, click “Register Now” and with a few clicks and your credit card, you’re ready for the excitement of StarFest 2012 in Phoenix this fall. All the prices will be presented to you before you have to make any selections and you can suspend or terminate your registration at any time prior to submitting your payment.

Registration fees are grouped into “pre-bundled” savings packages but Members may also select and pay for a number of activities individually. Package options include the Basic Package, designed for MBCA Members, Associate Members and their guests. The Basic Package includes the welcome reception, rallye, admission to all seminars, credentials, a goodies bag and much, much more. Members can select either the Concours d’Elegance Package, the Driving Package or the Complete StarFest Package. These packages combine the most commonly-attended activities and offer significant savings versus registering for activities separately. These savings Packages, as well as separate events, are explained in detail on the website.

Starting immediately and continuing through May 19, 2012, we are offering a 5% discount to encourage the use of the online registration service. To receive the discount, check the box labeled “Enter EARLYBIRD5 discount code for 5% off” after you have made your selections. This box is located at the bottom of the registration page, just before the event waiver. When prompted, answer “yes”, then highlight and copy the discount code displayed below the “yes” and “no” buttons. On the following page, paste the discount code that you highlighted into the Discount Code box and press “update” to apply the 5% discount to your purchase. You will be able to see the discount applied before you complete your transaction.

Additionally, for those who register on or before May 19, 2012, or until our supply of 100 is exhausted, we have a special limited edition StarFest 2012 Grille Badge that will be presented to you at check-in. We will sell any remaining Grille Badges at StarFest 2012, but don’t risk that any will remain. Guarantee that you get one! Register now and get your limited edition StarFest 2012 Grille Badge and the 5% discount before these offers expire.

This registration site is run by MotorSportReg.com and the first time you use it, they will collect profile information. Please enter your MBCA membership number and your name as it appears on your MBCA membership card so we can verify your membership. Also, entering the Mercedes-Benz vehicles you plan to bring to StarFest 2012 will simplify your registration. Although we hope we will not need it during your visit to Phoenix, please fill out your emergency contact information. MotorSportReg.com also runs advertising in the right-hand column on all pages. Neither the MBCA nor the Desert Stars Section endorses or recommends any of these advertisers.

Once you have registered for StarFest 2012, a confirmation page will appear with your StarFest 2012 registration details and a Group Code which you will use when you register at the Arizona Biltmore. You will also receive a confirmation email with the same information. Both the confirmation page and email will include the Biltmore’s toll-free number and a link to their reservations website. Just fill out the dates of your stay and enter the Group Code into the second box on the right side of the page. We have negotiated an exceptional rate of $169 per night per room; a savings of 35% (their standard rack rate is $259). Additionally, the Biltmore has waived its normal resort fee for our group which includes admittance to the Spa & Fitness Center and many other benefits. Make sure you get this rate by using the Group Code. This rate is guaranteed for our group from September 25-October 5, 2012; so why not extend your stay and enjoy the Greater Phoenix and Arizona weather and everything else we have to offer! To help with your trip planning, we’ve added a page full of links to unique points of interest in the greater Phoenix area. Just go to www.starfest2012.com and hover over the “PLANNING” button in the upper right-hand corner; then select “Helpful Links.”

Exciting news for Concours d’Elegance attendees! Wayne Carini, as seen on “Chasing Classic Cars,” has accepted our invitation to attend StarFest 2012. He will be our Concours Awards banquet speaker and will be involved with all the Concours d’ Elegance activities. He is teaming up with us for a special “Concours Autism Research Fundraiser” on Sunday, September 30.

Simply go to the new page, click “Like”, and StarFest 2012 updates will appear on your home page.  Not only can users can chat with each other, but they can post photos and even videos.  This will become essential once we get closer to the StarFest event, as MBCA members will be able to share their StarFest experience as it happens!

“Like” the StarFest 2012 Facebook Page today!