Browse by Tags
Posted
Nov 07 2009, 01:22 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 25 comment(s)
When I met Darren for his headshots for the DMac retrospective , he had only just put the finishing touches to the latest incarnation of the MCNSport AE86. It's been several months since I last saw the car tucked away at the MCNSport shop; before that it was at an AE86 trackday at Mondello Park. I'd heard a few rumours circulating around for a while that the guys were planning all sorts of different engine conversions for the lightweight Trueno. 20V's and Formula Atlantic 4AGE's were...
More >>>
Posted
Oct 31 2009, 10:53 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 8 comment(s)
There aren't too many drift dynasties around. Let alone one quite as successful as these two brothers. Born and raised in County Cork, in the south of Ireland, James (L) and Mike (R) are the most successful brothers in the European drifting world. To get a better view of this story, we need to go back to 2004, where I first saw Mike competeing in an E30 325 BMW. . Like pretty much all Irish drift stories, this one again begins at the home of Irish drifting, the Rosegreen / Tipperary International...
More >>>
Posted
Oct 22 2009, 09:51 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 13 comment(s)
I have been lucky enough to be involved in Irish drifting from pretty much the beginning. This means that I have been even luckier to watch the rise of some of the best drifters to emerge from this green isle. For drivers month I'm going to be preparing two stories for you all to read. The first of which is the story of a man who surely needs little introduction; Darren McNamara ... Going back to 2004, I got to cover my first ever drift event. Armed with a Fuji 'point & shoot' camera...
More >>>
Posted
Sep 19 2009, 11:00 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 4 comment(s)
Dean “Karnage” Kearney, the 2009 Prodrift Super Series champion, has confirmed he'll be competing in Formula D next month. The final round of the 2009 American drifting championship will be staged at the Toyota Speedway -more popularly known as the “House of Drift”- in Irwindale, California on October 16h & 17th. Dean's ambition to compete in the USA came after witnessing the REDBULL Drifting World Championships in 2008 at the port of Long Beach and he wanted to...
More >>>
Posted
Sep 14 2009, 11:30 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 9 comment(s)
I spotted this car last year whilst at the Swedish round of the Prodrift European Series. It all looks very ordinary, but under the hood lies an S62 4.9L V8 pumping out 400 horsepower. On the flight back I was talking to our guy who works the startline and when the car first rolled up, he thought the car was down a cylinder (not knowing about the V8 conversion) He signalled this to the driver who smiled and replied that it wasn't down one; but up four. - Paddy
More >>>
Posted
Sep 01 2009, 02:45 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 37 comment(s)
Since I started contributing to Speedhunters, my main area of focus has always centred around drifting and with that, predominantly its been about the Prodrift Series. Of course I have no complaints about this area of work, but I often find myself wanting outside of these tight JDM orientated circles. When Rod dropped me the line to say that September was to be BMW Month, I knew, I just knew I had to find an M3. I don't know a whole lot about the history of BMW but I do know what I like. With...
More >>>
Posted
Aug 05 2009, 04:12 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 13 comment(s)
When Rod asked the staff to come up with an '86 related feature for 86 Day, I admit I did have to spend some time considering what to shoot. Ireland has quite an illustrious past with the wee hachi-roku, most commonly refered to as a 'twin-cam' or 'cam' in these parts. My first plan was to roll back the years on some of the most famous '86s that have emerged from this small island. DMac's infamous Falken car and Eric O'Sullivans F20C Rockstar car would obviously be...
More >>>
Posted
Aug 05 2009, 11:24 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 5 comment(s)
This weekend gone saw the third round of the Irish Prodrift Series take place at Mondello Park, the only international race circuit in Ireland. With entry speeds of 100mph and a new line for the drivers to follow, plenty of action was on the cards for those in attendance. Like previous rounds, round three was all about the outside clipping point with only one inside clipping point on the course that was situated on the first corner. The outer clipping points increased the difficulty of the course...
More >>>
Posted
Jul 11 2009, 05:21 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 17 comment(s)
‘The side numbers were usually the first thing that spectators saw of my Escorts.’ These words from motoring legend Ari Vatanen, are for most, what epitomize the story of the Ford Escort. They were always driven the hardest and usually, the most sideways. In their prime, the Escorts won more rallies, races and rallycross events than any other car in the world. They were driven by some of the biggest names in rallying; Timo Makinen, Roger Clark, Hannu Mikola, Bjorn Waldegard, Ari Vatanen...
More >>>
Posted
Jun 29 2009, 08:06 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 10 comment(s)
I spent a while this month trying to come with an Exotics and Luxury feature . I'd know where I could find some well prepared JZX100's but I wanted to find something different, something a little bit more off the wall than the usual. Of course when Ffrench rang me to tell me what he was going to be finishing off the Irish Prodrift series in, 'Four door', 'Brown', 'Nissan' and 'Dished Chromes' were the exact words he used to describe it, I knew my luck had just...
More >>>
Posted
Jun 08 2009, 05:02 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 12 comment(s)
I felt some sympathy for Lihnbergh and the rest of the Speedhunters team in Jersey this weekend gone, as The Wall turned into The Pool . It's a scene I'm all too familiar with, but for one weekend in May, Ireland swapped weather systems and the sun unleashed its unrelenting heat on the Prodrift Punchestown course. We spoke about the rear clipping zone in Part II and this shot of Martin Ffrench displays the difference between non-seeded pro and seeded pro class, not only do you need to get...
More >>>
Posted
Jun 08 2009, 08:19 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 7 comment(s)
Saturday morning saw the UK drivers arrive to Punchestown andit also saw the start to what was one of the hottest days in recent memory for the emerald isle.Punchestown is traditionally known as one of the worlds most famous horse racing courses. But for one weekend a year, a different kinds of horsepower takes over the Kildare countryside venue. It's not very often we see blue skies here so you'll be seeing plenty of them in this post. Team Japspeed's four car lineup along with the SkylineParts...
More >>>
Posted
Jun 07 2009, 09:20 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 5 comment(s)
One of these days, I'm going to write a report where there was no hardship involved. Where everything ran according to plan and there were no sleepless nights or tearing hair out moments. But until that day, I'm just going to keep covering them as they happen. This story starts at Wexican Motorsport where Dean 'Karnage' Kearney is just after fitting a new TD06 turbo to his Maxxis endorsed Nissan Onevia. After everything was fitted, the car needed to be mapped on the Wexican rolling...
More >>>
Posted
Apr 30 2009, 02:45 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 27 comment(s)
Most of us are familiar with the infamous Driftworks 2JZ-GTE powered S15 , but some of you may not be aware of the other 'Nisyota' from the Driftworks stable. For 2009, the car will be driven by Ben 'Bon Bon' Broke-Smith, who piloted the Driftworks JZX81 Chaser to EDC glory in 2008. Bon will be competing the R32 in the newly created Prodrift Super Series, with rounds in both the UK & Ireland. The car was imported into the UK by Driftworks co-founder James Robinson in 2004 and...
More >>>
Posted
Apr 29 2009, 08:21 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 6 comment(s)
We got some requests from the Wall Rubbin' post for some more shots of the car, so thought it would be cool to pull Martin and the car aside for a quick spotlight ! The car is Martins T-Car, that is, it's his backup car whilst the Altezza is being completed. It's the same S14 you may remember from last year but with some minor and even major differences. The front bumper is Works 9, matched up with some URAS sideskirts and rear bumper. The rear wing is a custom buit Wexican Motorsport...
More >>>
Posted
Apr 28 2009, 01:21 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 27 comment(s)
The colours you see are more commonly found on a Ford WRC car, or on one of many of Eddie Stobarts haulage trucks. But for 2009, Japspeed, Stobart and Maxxis Tyres have come together to prepare this Silvia S15. The car is driven by Irishman Shane Lynch and will compete in the British Drifting Championship and the Prodrift Super Series. However, what is amazing is that not only have Japspeed prepared this car ... ... But they have prepared it's identical twin which will be piloted by another Japspeed...
More >>>
Posted
Apr 27 2009, 12:31 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 7 comment(s)
Rain and lots of it. That is what greeted the packed out Ennis venue, where the first round of the 2009 Irish Prodrift Series took place. The inaugural round of 2009 saw rain fall on both days but heaviest on the Sunday main event. The Saturday stage of the event now hosts the qualifying session for the Pro Class for the Top 16 battles and in it's place on the Sunday is the all new Prodrift Super Lap. The Top 16 qualifiers from Saturday go through to the PD Superlap on Sunday. In order of 1,...
More >>>
Posted
Apr 25 2009, 02:51 PM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 9 comment(s)
Speedhunters endorsed Martin Ffrench returned to the Irish drifting scene today and nailed a perfect run to earn him number one qualifier going into tomorrows Top 16 battles of the first round of the 2009 Irish Prodrift Series. With runs as tight as this, it's not difficult to see why ! Some more coverage on Driftworks Full event coverage coming soon on Speedhunters.com !
More >>>
Posted
Apr 16 2009, 11:16 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 17 comment(s)
The inaugural round of the Prodrift Super Series, the first inter-Ireland and Great Britain series, was held this weekend gone at Donington Park. The venue which will host the 2010 Great Britain round of the Formula One World Championship, featured a custom built course designed by the Prodrift judges. It featured a high speed run in to the first corner which was the width of the course that lead into two tightening sweepers that finished with two tight hairpins. The morning practice session saw...
More >>>
Posted
Apr 13 2009, 09:46 AM
by
Patrick McGrath
with 3 comment(s)
Young Irish star Dean Kearney has emerged victorious at the first round of the 2009 Irish Prodrift Super Series in his Maxxis sponsored Nissan Onevia. The event which took place at Donnington Park in the UK featured over 30 competitors from both Ireland and the United Kingdom. It is the first series to bridge the water between both countries and if yesterday was anything to go by, we are in a very competitive year ! Full event coverage to follow. - Paddy M
More >>>