With a uncommon glimpse of sunshine after a bleak winter and early spring, an infinite crowd and among the most interesting Japanese machines that Eire is dwelling to, all rolled into one on the final weekend of April.
It’s truthful to say that Jap(an)Fest Mondello Park set the bar excessive for the summer time of Irish automotive tradition forward.
From the second the occasion started, it was clear how huge the day was set to be. Whereas sunny skies all the time appeal to individuals to Mondello Park on a Sunday afternoon, nobody may have anticipated 16,000 spectators by the gate. In all places you turned was a sea of individuals.
Handily, I managed to get parked proper subsequent to the Juicebox stand, which introduced collectively a group of among the hardest-styled Japanese vehicles in Eire. Each one of many Juicebox workforce creations would look proper at dwelling cruising by Tokyo backstreets underneath the duvet of darkness.
I may have spent the entire day trying over vehicles like Chris Doogue’s unimaginable JZX Toyota Chaser or this Datsun Bluebird 510 sitting on air suspension. However sitting shut by and with a big crowd continuously milling round it, a sure black AE86 stole my consideration.
The automotive is particular; not solely within the high quality of the construct and selection of elements however the unimaginable backstory that cemented its place as a worthy ‘Automotive of the Present’ winner. For these unfamiliar, that is the Juicebox AE86 – a automotive dragged out of a hedge seven-plus years in the past.
The rebuilding of this Toyota and the trials and tribulations alongside the best way have been documented by Neil Sheehan. It was heartwarming to see how enthusiastically Neil shared tales of the automotive and the construct with strangers all through the day, and it felt odd seeing faces recognized solely by YouTube popping over for a glance.
Some actual nuggets introduced themselves as I strolled by the huge sea of individuals within the Mondello Park paddock. Like this EP95 Toyota Starlet Remix. Have you ever by no means heard of a Starlet Remix? Properly, that makes two of us. It seems that solely 204 examples ever rolled off the manufacturing line, with this Remix in 040 White being simply certainly one of 23. Fitted with a 4E-FE engine and AWD, this can be a correct JDM rarity.
A key attraction of the occasion was the opening spherical of the 2024 Irish Drift Championship, a collection making strides to rebuild itself to the extent it as soon as stood in world drifting.
The twentieth season of professional drifting in Eire was kicked off in type, with Daragh Spencer rising victorious in his BMW E46.
Interspersed throughout the day’s aggressive motion have been demo runs from James Deane in his four-rotor FD3S Mazda RX-7 and Darren McNamara in his unimaginable Group-D Audi. In entrance of packed Mondello banks, the 2 Irish drift stalwarts placed on one hell of a present.
The harrowing lack of Drift Video games‘ headquarters, vehicles, gear and merchandise in an enormous fireplace a couple of weeks again was on the forefront of many individuals’s minds. Seeing their never-give-up angle supported by the individuals who helped construct their desires within the Irish drift and JDM automotive communities was nice.
Dave Egan and Josh Holdsworth, the faces of Drift Video games, competed within the IDC opening spherical, Josh in his Mazda MX-5 and Dave in James Deane’s E92 Eurofighter. The remainder of the Drift Video games workforce, armed largely with borrowed cameras and gear, scurried round to maintain the vlogs going and the dream alive.
I’ll go away you now with a gallery of the immense number of machines that made Jap(an)Fest Mondello 2024 such an unimaginable day.
Cian Donnellan
Instagram: Ciandon
Fb: CianDonPhotography
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