The Honda Accord Type R was such a blast to bring on track; leading up to the event, we thought the car would tear itself apart on track, but to our surprise, it was perfect; the only letdown was how soft the springs were. We fitted a new clutch and the Max Peeding free coilovers, some sticky used tyres and used brake pads, and a seat and off we went. We added that BTCC-style wing, too, which gave the car a budget touring look. Overall, this was a great success. I’ve thrown some photos from the shoot we did with it and pictures from the event at Mondello, organised by the Hiro racing lads. Top craic!
We take the Crusty Accord CH1 Type R to a Hiro Racing Honda Track day and see if it can survive the punishment.
This stuff doesn’t happen enough anymore, not with my generation of friends. Back in 2010 ish, this was an every weekend occupancy; we were surrounded by the best of cars, which we 100% took for granted at the time. We were all parked up with the best chassis, and the country was flooded with high-quality imports; it wasn’t uncommon to see a sight like this in every town up and down Ireland. Unfortunately, the recession came, and so did the end of days like this; cars were broken for parts, most people emigrated, and whatever was left was locked away in sheds.
There’s not a whole lot to say here. I’ll come back and update this with a proper spec list soon. For now, please enjoy this shoot we did with Jackies EG civic when it was fresh off of the press.
This Honda is the ultimate reliable EG civic track car, the perfect blend of 90s race style and modern tech finished to a show standard. I’d expect nothing less from our friend Jackie Fitz.
A Hidden shed Tour! We take a look at a freshly built AE86 Levin and a shed full of Japanese classics.
We drove for a good hour outside of Osaka to the outskirts of a town called Nara. This is where the legendary Honda shop known as Zero Fighter is based. After our day of mixed greetings, we didn’t know what to expect with what we were greeted to at Osaka JDM earlier in the day, so our expectations were low.
After already having the craziest day ever, we were keen to meet up with our new friend we had met online over the coming months leading up to our trip. He had organized a meeting with the local up and coming Honda enthusiasts who frequent the loop in Osaka.
I love Ireland’s hidden car culture. I always found myself abroad telling people about all these cool Japanese cars that end up in the rural countryside of Ireland and its always met with confusion or disbelief. The car pictured above is an A60 series Carina which used to roll around the streets of Japan. This Carina more than likely spent its time revving and hanging out with people who would consider themselves to be part of Shakotan/Bosozoku culture. Now the car resides down a back road in rural Wexford.
Let’s get stuck right back into our walk around Japfest 2017. I can’t stress how good this event was, it’s a clear indication that we are out of the dark times. The car scene is booming once again.
This article was lost when the website went under. I managed to recover most of it and felt it was right to get these photos up here from what was easily one of the best Irish car shows to date. This will be coming in two parts as there is a huge photo dump with this feature. I’ve left the original writing intact so it might sound a little weird as those were supposed to be posted back in 2017.
I didn’t want to miss this event. Last year Flip made the drive up and any of the photos I had seen from the day were amazing. The days of seeing Hondas out in the open have quickly disappeared. It seems the bad image the Honda had just over four years ago has vanished.
It has been exactly one year today since I returned from Canada. Before I left, the car scene was in the bin, quite literally. Everyone around me was packing up and heading off all over the world to escape the gloom. The country was a shattered and although things aren’t back to 100% the entire country as a whole is in a much better shape than when many of us left.
Time has become quiet precious over the last few years, coming home from nine to ten hours a day of commuting and work and then finding the enthusiasm for sitting down to edit photographs and articles for this site has certainly been a challenge, I have to sacrifice a few things, but I really believe its worthwhile.
Being away for a few years I really didn’t know what top expect at Japfest this year, if you were following the nonsense on the Instagram story, we went a little over board but it was with no regrets. Japfest an end of year calendar for most of the stuff we are into and most of the cars either come off of the road or go into hibernation for the winter.