Event: Japfest 2012…..
Ah good old Japfest… where to begin, this is the third year we have covered this event on Juicebox. It’s sort of the be all end the entire car scene as a whole at the end of every year. Everything and anything can come out of the woodwork and be on display, many a time I’ve been shocked, left scratching my head wondering where the fuck that did car come from. That feeling is one that I’ve always loved about the Irish car scene, we as a tiny little country was saturated with awesome cars from Japan that you never actually know what’s hiding down a dodgy little back lane, or hiding in some farm somewhere in Kerry…. With the “road car” scene falling down around us… it’s ironic that the drift scene is flourishing, we are spitting out some of the best drivers ever… going up against some of the world’s best.
Feature: Black Eyed Five
In Ireland, a country heavily influenced by Rallying, many of the Impreza and Lancer evolutions which have been roaming the streets since the days of been brought in from Japan have had a very reserved following. Quite a lot of the owners usually theme the cars loosely on a rally style or keep the cars very subtle and almost stock exterior when it comes to exterior modifications.
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Juicebox TV: The Hunt For Perfection
Most of you should know this car by know, in my eyes its one of the best EG6s this country has ever seen, with its unique front end conversion from a DC2 to its brown paint job which was unheard of in Ireland when car was sprayed, sparking others to go down a similar route. The car has always been progressing towards the perfect car, daily driven on some of the most horrible roads in Ireland and sitting low enough to look amazing, I have nothing but respect for Jackie and his quest to build his ultimate Civic. Wr put this video together, just to showcase how it looks at present, but believe me this will just keep evolving and help push the car scene in the right direction.
Feature: From Rags to Riches
The phrase “from rags to riches” was the last thing I wanted to call this feature, but the more Peter told me the story I couldn’t believe how the car had turned out. Eventually I realised after trying to come up with something a little bit more imaginative, this car truly earned the title. The common build we see in the United States of a bog standard civic being converted into a flawless masterpiece in both the exterior and interior is really something that has only started to come around over here in Ireland over the last few years.
New years Driftfest at Watergrasshill
So its a new year, and weve taken a little sort of break from the website, mainly because life got a little hectic. What better way to start the new year with a bit of drift action. We trucked down towards Watergrass hill for the driftfest which has been gaining some serious steam each time this event. It makes for an exciting watch as pretty much any type of rear wheel drive car can be seen tearing it up with a driver of any skill level.
Garage Life: The send off
It’s no secret that Irelands economy is down the tube, day in day out we hear a new story of something bad, someone losing a job someone forced to sell a car. The truth is, the “glory days” of what will be remembered as that chapter in the Irish car world where the port of Dublin was flooded with a car culture from the other side of the planet. All these “JDM” cars started pouring onto Irish soil, snatched up from the auctions in Japan and shipped the emerald isle. This happened for a good solid 8 years, there had always been the odd few Japanese cars which made it over before, but the major car rush which was witnessed by everyone was truly something special. Ireland immersed itself in the culture, rims, bodykits, seats, drifting, all these goodies which suddenly ended up being everywhere, suddenly Japanese cars were everywhere, it’s the biggest part of the car world in Ireland and has been since they started coming across the seas in the masses back at the turn of the millennium.
Random Juice: Timeless
It doesn’t get more timeless then this, a white EK9 sitting on Desmond Regamaster EVOs. Show me this car in another 10 years and regardless of what trends are around then I’m sure it will retain the same appeal.
Car Spotting: Number 189
I recently had the pleasure of checking out number 189. I’m sure many of you are well acquainted with the Tommi Mäkinen EVO 6 or 6.5 as its often referred to. The car is named after the Finnish World rally driver after he took four driver championships in a row, Its always been a cool thing when a large car company comes out with a model like this with that extra special feeling of exclusivity creating a collectors item almost isntantly.
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Meet: Honda Meet @ Midway court
So last sunday brought another Honda meet up in Portlaoise in the carpark at Midway court, the good thing about Midway court is it has a subway and is very central for everyone from all different counties to make the trip. I know your wondering about the picture above also, we managed to get stuck in a High nellie world record on the way up, which was extremely amusing to say the least.I really had no idea there was that many High nellie’s left not to mention useable! I’m sure they bet the record as there really wouldnt be any comparison!
Car Spotting: Who’s the Rarest of them all?
This Pheonix Yellow 98 Spec DC2 has been around for a few years now, a daily driven car which has been kept more or less standard. Many of you will know just how incredibly rare a Genuine Yellow DC2 is, and more of you will also know just how rare the yellow Recaro’s from factory in this yellow beauty are. The entire car has remained intact since 1999.
Videos: Shuto Kousoku Trial the series.
If your pondering the internet bored this evening you should sit down grab some food and enjoy this classic snippet of early Japanese street racing. Megalopolis Expressway Trial or Shuto Kousoku is a series of films about illegal street racing on the Shuto Expressway in Japan released between 1988 and 1996.
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Event: Prodrift Finale 2011
Its hard to think that another year of Prodrift has passed us so quickly. To be fair we were off to a fantastic start with Ennis weather wise. The typical Irish early good weather which results in a summer of rain as punishment, this didnt stop competition and even though Juicebox didnt make it to two of the events the finale in Mondello more than made up for it.
Event Japfest PT2
What I love about Japfest is the amount of racing and activities that are on throughout the day as well as the show thats inside the paddock. It can be a somewhat overhwleming task to cover everything as you have time attack, Prodrift, drag racing and track time on all at the same time. There’s something for everyone.
Event: Japfest 2011 PT1
So it has to be openly said this was one of the best events the country had seen in a long time. The most important part was the amount of effort people put in the make it to the show.The recession was winning the battle and probably still is in many minds when it comes to cars. Things were looking very gloomy but I have to admit, heatwave and then Japfest brought a very positive vibe back into the scene.
Event: Japfest Carpark watch 2011
It has to be said that Japfest 2011 was such a good day, not because team need for speed came to town… which don’t get me wrong was a good part of it too, the amount of people and cars that showed up was really something. It just goes to show that the scene is still holding it down regardless of this economic bullshit. Everyone should give themselves a pat on the back for effort. The car park usually has just as much interesting machines as the show your attending, that’s why here at Juicebox we love lurking the car park to see what the people are driving.
Event: Heatwave 2011 PT1
So it has to be said Heatwave 2011 actually turned out a lot better then we had expected. Its no secret that Ireland is filled with nice cars. Properly built clean cars exist and many times over the years going to shows these cars would never be on show, in fact most of the time it would be the exact opposite, with only a handful of cars on display which would make you look twice. Not taking away from the work of some people but the car scene has definitely changed and it was only a matter of time until the shoes would reflect this. It was certainly a different line up of cars compared to lets say 2005!
Web Mining: Cruise Celica
The Celica never get the love it deserved over the years, besides the st205 they scrub up very nicely like this example here. Possibly one of the nicest t200 series Celica’s ever? Maybe….
Meets: Old School Honda Meet
We decided to take a trip to Portlaoise, its usually the best place for everyone to meet as its a pretty central part of Ireland to get people to show up. The biggest problem it seems these days when it comes to car meet’s is a decent turn up. What was good about this meet was even though there wasnt a crazy turnout the quality of some of the cars that showed up was awesome.
Feature: Wolf in wolfs clothing
The R32 is by far one of the most popular cars to come out of Japan. The BNR32GTR is by far one of the best cars ever made; it was almost unbeaten in the N1 category in Japan during its reign of terror. The car really pushed what was possible handling and electronics wise at that time. What is so good about this R32 Skyline is that it started life as an a lower base model, the GTS-T sporting an RB20DET and a Rear wheel drive setup. The lower model R32′s always lived in the shadow of the higher spec GTR model amongst hardcore Skyline Fans, but that didn’t stop anyone’s visions of creating the perfect R32 without having a GTR. This GTS-T was torn down and rebuilt from the ground up.
Web Mining: A Perfect EK
Check this Skunk 2 video on EK owner Loreto Garcia. This is such a good example of a function meets fashion EK. The car has all the shiny parts to look good and still manages to have enough go to put down an 11 second quarter mile. From the wire tuck to the immaculate TE37′s in smoked chrome. It even sitting perfect… Damn you America and your amazing Honda’s.
Feature: Raising DA Standard
Darren’s DA6 needs no introduction at this stage. I’m sure most people throughout the Irish car scene know this car. It’s just one of those cars which goes beyond many people’s expectations of what a DA6 Integra or even a Honda for that matter should look like in Ireland. I have a personal love for cars like this because when Darren was building this car he aimed beyond the standard many people set for themselves here in Ireland which was the same goal with this website. Don’t get me wrong, we have some great cars in this country, but quite a few of the country’s population when it comes to cars are quite reserved, and most usually settle for a clean looking “tidy” example, or something similar rarely venturing outside the box. When Darren was building this car he looked towards the land of opportunity aka the United States. A country where by chasing the JDM style over the years and perfecting their version of what they thought was JDM they essentially created their own off style which is mostly now referred to as USDM by the rest of the world. Now we could get all technical about the term USDM but that would be just sidetracking.
Random Juice: Yellow perfection?
I think many people have that folder on their computer where they have saved cars which jumped out from the computer screen. While looking through my stupidly big stash, this instantly caught my eye and I had to put it on the site. This is pretty much a flawless execution of the EK hatch. Many argue that 16′s are too big for a civic but these Regamasters are absolutely at home under this Yellow EK, which is sitting more then perfect might I ad.
