Ryota Yuasa Drives his AE86 at Mondello at 86fest 2024
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.
Remember our EK4 Civic? We give it a quick makeover and take it to an epic Honda only day at Mondello Circuit.
We hit the racetrack in the K11 daily driver March and go for another run in the Civic. The guys at Trackdays.ie were nice enough to invite us to another day out so we couldn’t resist. Barry calls down to finish Adrians Carina and we sort some coils for the 4A-GE.
We shoot a stunning Blacktop 4A-GE AE111 Levin, a somewhat forgotten chassis and the guys go drifting their Datsuns at Mondello Park.
Trueno on the streets | Juicebox – Unboxed #9
We take the AE86 out onto public roads to grab some food in its current condition, later that weekend we take the Trueno to Japfest, Irelands biggest annual Japanese car show and we explode fifth gear along the way. A little treat for Christmas Day.
As much as I enjoy seeing a stationary Honda, it’s hard to beat the sound of a B-series screaming around a track.
So a fresh year is upon us with the Irish automotive calendar. We decided to check out what was happening and modified live. IDC was in full swing and as we discussed before, the event gets more than its share of coverage so it’s unnecessary for us to be giving it full coverage.
Events in Ireland really do bring out the gems, it gives people an excuse to get their pride and joy out for the day. With all the heat being on the IDC event we took a cruise through the paddock to see what was about.
Another year another Japfest, the time when anything can come out of the woodwork to say hello.
We decided to try and make it to the first event on the car calendar this year… round one of the IDC and Modified Live… Mondello’s own idea of a car show that to say the least looked like a bare version of Japfest… Even saying that a few unusual beasts made an appearance that more or less made the trip worth it.
Ah, another AE86 track day. Anyone who follows this blog will know how much we enjoy this chassis. Anytime there is a track day for the 86 movement it always brings a very interesting selection of cars.
Ireland has to have one of the most solid loves for the AE86 in the world. We literally stole thousands of them from Japan. On top of buying these out of Japan we have all the goodies and people around the country manage to build some incredible examples time and time again. No other movement inside the car scene seems to be as good.
Its amazing just how good the older generation of Toyota’s have aged, with everything being so mass produced these days and designed by a team or panel, the older more humble econo cars of the eighties with their simplistic designs for some reason get better with age. Who would have thought a Corolla wagon would have this much of a presence thirty two years later with the addition of a few bits and pieces?
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