Some of the stuff over the last two decades to come out of Japan has left far more of an impact than others. For instance the s13 itself has had such a powerful following pretty much anywhere around the globe that people could get their hands on one. I’ve always been a massive fan of the late 90’s early 00’s drift style, personally I felt that drift car style peaked around this era.. big wheels, over fenders and the perfect stance, if you don’t believe me Google the BN s13 or the 326 power FC that Haraguchi drove or even the works 9 auto salon 13, or even take a look at any of the old D1 option videos on you tube from the turn of the millennium The BN Defend kit was one of those ideas that to quite a few, didn’t sound good on paper, but somehow it ended up being easily one of the best wide body kits for any of the Drift super star cars we know today.
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.
Ah, where to begin…. if you didn’t know this by know, Ireland has a very very impressive AE86 following, when the flood gates from Japan opened back around 00, we pretty much imported any type of AE86 we could get our hands on and this continued for about eight years, right up until the country’s economy shat itself. Any proper day like the one that is somewhat annually held at Mondello brings some of the most awesome pieces of Japanese steel from around the country and this was as good as it gets.
Just before round three of Prodrift this year I got a phone call, now if you are from Ireland you know the deal with the weather, It has been easily the worst summer in History, you can probably count the summer days we have had on one hand, on the other end of the phone was Dean Kearney, he had been asked to do a Demo down in the south of Portagul at one of their biggest car events. This was not the first time the Irish had gone down to do this type of demo, it had been on going year after year but this time around I was asked to document it. A small look out the window and I was already convinced to pack my bags and get in the van.
It’s obvious to many just how strong the AE86 following is here in Ireland, there was such a ridiculous amount of these cars brought into our little country over the last ten years. Nicky’s 86 was one of these cars; it came in as a slag from Japan, with a collection of desirable goodies. Somehow he managed to build on what many would have called an already awesome car. I have to admit, like many who have seen this car in the flesh, it just makes you smile, it could easily be one of the best looking Trueno’s this little green isle has ever seen.
I almost forgot these pictures were on the harddrive… I was asked to come shoot a video for the Bavaria in the city, so it would have been a shame not to bring the picture camera also to get some snaps. The day itself had massive potential, its just this Quality Irish summer which made it somewhat of a misery. Julian Smiths Mac tools 34 was over for the weekend for a drift display which was going to be happening on the streets of Dublin, a very rare opportunity for the Prodrift guys.
Punchestown 2012 in video…
Click here if it does not work in your country, make sure to watch in HD. Cheers!
The second round of Prodrift took place at Punchestown. This year all of the elements were very un-Irish. The track was long and fast as hell, and the heat was definitely borrowed from Spain or somewhere warm for the weekend. Getting scorched in the unfamiliar sun was something you couldn’t really complain about as cars did one or two laps of a set of tires. It was a nice sight to behold indeed.
After a somewhat silent winter it was nice to see the crowds and drivers arrive at Ennis. We all know what the recession is doing to the car scene, every Evo, skybus and Silvia has been replaced by TDI power, which in ways has brought some interesting stuff as people explore new car platforms but the fuel prices and Tax has and loss of jobs has crippled pretty much a mega chunk of the Irish scene. This is why I have to give the utmost respect to any driver competing this year….