Martin Cunningham Photography

Saturday, October 13th 2012, a date which will live in infamy, saw drifting return to the hallowed ground of Rosegreen and the Tipperary Motor Speedway. While not a fully fledged return to what we were used to, it was still a great feeling to be back there.

Due to the legal issue drifting as we know it is not allowed there. The loop hole that has allowed drifting to return in its current form is a simple one. It has to be racing with a clearly defined start point, finish point, winner and loser. The event was timed. There were 3 classes, rear wheel drive, front wheel drive and four wheel drive. Rear wheel drive had to race sideways.

Now that I’ve explained a little on how the event worked I’ll shut up and stick up a few images.

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Here are a few shots from Japfest. What a great event!

This was my first Drift Allstars event this year. These events are not easy for me to get to, I end up going through 3 countries to get there. Not to mention the risk of the event not going ahead, not enough cars turning up if it did, getting hurt when I get there, having the cops shut it down. Basically the event was at risk from the riots in the UK during the week. While going for food during the day the windows and doors of the shop next to where we ate were all smashed. This was less than half a mile from the track.

Needless to say the event went ahead, enough cars did turn up, I didn’t get hurt (much) and the cops only flew over a few times.

This weekend was all about the big entry. Flat in 4th, big clutch kick entry to a tight right handed hair pin to a wide left hander up a hill. Mondello running clockwise was always going to be spectacular. The 2 downsides were the weather and the media access. It was raining, but as its Ireland that’s no surprise at all really. The track was slippery and for an entry speed of 130kpm getting to the right speed for the hair pin wasn’t all too easy. There was a few off’s but nothing like I was expecting. The media access was simply down to the track layout. The photos may not be the best or the most dynamic you might expect but for anyone that was there the track layout more than made up for it.

Just check out the sticker on the boot lid of Michael Swans car! That kind of sums up the whole weekend.