Japanese Drift Legend Ryota Yuasa Experiences Irish Culture and Scenery
We fly D1 Drift legend Ryota Yuasa to Ireland to see his rebuilt AE86, which he sold over 21 years ago.
We are flying an old D1 legend to Ireland to see and drive his rebuilt AE86, which he sold 20 years ago.
Unlocking the Ultimate dream, drifting my new AE86 in Japan
I’m going to let the photos do most of the talking here. An all-AE86 4AGE event at Meihan was a severe bucket list scenario, and it was incredible to witness this. Taking the chance to stay in Japan for another week to drive my Levin and experience this day was one of the best choices I’ve made in life! It financially did a number on me but being honest I wont look back at that aspect of it in years to come. Please enjoy this sizable gallery from that event, and if you have any questions, drop them in the comments below. Most of you will have seen this episode on our YouTube channel, so these photos are for people like myself who enjoy the slower pace and look at Photos of cool cars at events in Japan. Enjoy.
We head to Meihan for an AE86, 4A-GE-only drift battle cup and collect an R34 GTR from the USS Tokyo auctions.
We visit an AE86-only restoration shop, which rebuilds these cars to an incredible factory fresh finish.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to make it to last year’s AE86 festival. A close friend was getting married, and there was no way out. Instead, our friend Adam Osborne was there to capture the day with Flip and Josh on the video camera. I wish I could’ve been, as it’s probably one of the best days out, and that’s not being biased toward my favourite chassis; it’s just a decent day filled with a very high percentage of good machines. I’ll let Adams Photo Gallery do much of the talking here, as there are plenty of really nice photos for the eyes. We are fortunate to have such a vibrant AE86 scene here in Ireland.
I love unexpected nights like this, this stuff is always going on I just never want to shed too much heat onto lads who are out letting off some steam using their pride and joy. I think I’ve been documenting various lads and groups going night drifting for a long time, it’s well planned out, and low-key, the lads are out there to let off some steam usually on a dead-end road which we have been blessed to call a local area, it’s a quick burst of skids and then its time to go.
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Here is a rather sizable photo dump from AE86 fest back in 2021. This event is one of the best days out in Ireland and attracts much more than the 86 chassis. Every year it grows a little further thanks to the organisers and the overall love for this car in Ireland and beyond, with people making the trip from all over the world as in the last few years. You’ll see what I mean when you scroll through the images.
I plan to make much more trips like this in the future. Ireland is filled with pockets of families and friends who have their stuff going on with car builds. These two brothers live and breathe 86s, and it was a pleasure to showcase a slice of their life on the channel. They have great taste in cars, and between the both of them, they’ve had more 86s than anyone I know.
It was an honour to be part of Paddy’s mission to rebuild the Yuasa AE86 and bring it to his wedding; the determination amongst a group of friends to achieve the dream was utterly infectious. Here are a few behind-the-scenes photos from the few months leading up to the wedding, both at the lad’s workshop and on the big day; as always with these, ill let the photos do most of the talking.
A few photos from our little night drive in the summer of 2021; right after all the misery of covid had lifted, we decided to get together for a meet-up and appreciate the joy these rusty Japanese cars bring. A route was mapped to drive for some spirited driving, but we got some food beforehand. Far too many of our vehicles are sitting in sheds these days, never getting the use they deserve, so it was great to get them out for a blast. Finally, everyone went home smiling, reminding us why we got into these things in the first place. In Ireland, as the years progress, you tend to see fewer and fewer of these cars on the road; they live their lives in the shed as our climate isn’t the best for cheap steel Japanese machines.
Sometimes you have to drop everything when an invitation comes along. I got a message from Conor Browne a few months back, and he asked if I wanted to tour his stash of Toyotas and beyond. I had heard about the collection for years, but he was looking to downsize the load and asked if we could showcase the cars to shed some light on the stuff he had for sale. This worked perfectly for me as I wanted to see this stuff in person, showcase the unexpected treasure hiding in the unassuming Irish countryside and get some excellent content out of it all.