Dean Martin - Get My Drift...

Having watched him put on a spectacular display during the recent Retromania event at Mondello Park I thought it would a good idea to catch up with Dean as he prepares for the next event in his 2019 season. Round 4 of the Drift Games Extreme Championship takes place this weekend at the Irish Motorsport Festival in Punchestown and Dean will be competing in his faithful E36 BMW M3.

This is his 5th season competing in the drifting, having spent the first 2 competing in the NI Drift AMA Championship. He is full of praise for the organisers and fellow competitors who gave him a great grounding in the sport with plenty of advice and support to allow him to continually improve his skills.

After talking to him for 5 minutes it's quite obvious that he is totally committed to the sport with every spare hour and cent spent on having the car running as smoothly as possible for the high-speed blasts around the very demanding courses. He acknowledges that it wouldn't be possible for him to compete at the highest level in Ireland without the support and help of his family, friends and sponsors

He started competing with a BMW 323 ( Type E36 ) in 2014 in fairly bog-standard spec. The first big change to the car was when the engine was replaced with an M3 Evolution unit. He made various changes to that car over the next 2 years before he made the decision to reshell it into a 1997 M3 shell.

26/05/19 - Malahide Classic & Vintage Motor Show

The Grand Hotel in Malahide once again played host to the Malahide Classic & Vintage Motor Show that was organised by the Malahide Lions Club.
The show was a fundraiser for DEBRA Ireland and was sponsored by AXA Ireland.

12/05/19 - MLVW Show

My second trip to Kilbeggan in as many weeks was well worth the journey for the MLVW show, which was sponsored by J & A Commercials. It was held on the same site as the American V8 show a few weeks back. 
There was some drop dead gorgeous vehicles turned out for the show. 

2018 North East Modified IRL Paul Walker Tribute Meet

I see that the North East Modified IRL group have revealed plans for this years event in September, so here's my photos from last year's event.

06/05/19 - JPCCNI Cars And Coffee

The JPCCNI (Japanese Performance Car Club of Northern Ireland , I think ) are very active on the club scene. I'd been thinking about going up to their regular Cars And Coffee event in Lisburn on the first Monday of each month for the past while. I missed out on the Cars And Coffee event at the weekend, so I decided to go up the JPCCNI event and I was disappointed. Disappointed that I'd left it for so long! Wow, some absolutely stunning machinery there and the lads were saying that there would normally be more cars but the club had run the Loughgall show on Saturday and the owners probably took a break. I will have to go back another night so .....

28/04/19 - All American Car, Truck & Bike Show

Some photos from the amazing show in Kilbeggan , Co. Westmeath today. The organisers were very lucky with the weather and had a great turnout of cars and visitors to the 19th running of the show.

22/04/19 - Carrickmacross Vintage Run

The sun was out and it helped ensure there would be a good turnout for the run. 
As usual there was a great variety on display.

1994 Circuit Of Ireland Rally

Stephen Finlay and Dessie Wilson took victory in their Michelin Pilot Escort Cosworth, which still has to be one of the best liveries ever for a rally car.

07/04/19 - Dubshed X

I'd never been to Dubshed, which is now it's 10th year, before and didn't know what to expect but needless to say it was well worth the trip.

07/04/19 - Cars And Coffee North East

It was another jam packed event for Cars And Coffee at DKIT in Dundalk. I've given up thinking that it can't get any better because it continues to go from strength to strength. There was some concern during the week that it might suffer with Dubshed and the Swords Show on on the same day but that fear was blown out of the water.

This made my day, it was on an absolute stunning S1000RR . If it has to be explained, there is no point

30/03/19 - North East Modified Irl visits Carrickmacross

There was a good turnout for the event that was held in Carrick last night.
It was great to see the night passing without needing any Garda attendance.

10/03/19 - Cars And Coffee North East Video

This is something that I've wanted to do for ages. 
It took a lot of trial and error, mostly error to get to this stage.
I love the variety of cars that turn out each month for the Cars And Coffee North East meet.
All of the footage was shot with a DJI Osmo Pocket and edited with Da Vinci Resolve 15.

Click here to see the video - Cars And Coffee North East Video

Click here to see the photos - 10/03/19 - Cars And Coffee North East

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1994 West Cork Rally

We enjoyed some great trips down to West Cork in the early 90s for the West Cork  Rally. Here's my photos with from the 1994 event. It's hard to believe they are 25 years old.
Many thanks to Kevin O'Driscoll for scanning the films for me a few years ago.

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There was a very famous local 00 driver that weekend, none other than Billy Coleman.

09/03/19 - Terry Cassidy Memorial Run

There was a great turnout of top quality motors for the Terry Cassidy Memorial Run in Carrickmacross.
Large crowds turned up to support the event with long queues in place for a spin in one of the supercars/
The event was in aid of the CRY Ireland charity - Cry Ireland

Terry's family with his Ferrari F430

05/03/19 - O'Flahertys Classic Mercedes Collection - 1911 Benz 8/18

There's an exciting prospect for classic and vintage car lovers in Ireland this year with the news that the O'Flaherty Classic Mercedes Collection will go on display over the course of the year at the premises of MSL Ballsbridge. 
The first car to go on display is a stunning 1911 Benz 8/18, which was fitted with a 1950cc 4 cylinder engine that produced 18bhp at 1800 rpm. Maybe it's a good thing that it wasn't so powerful, because it was only fitted with brakes to the rear wheels and they were applied by a leather belt being pressed against the transmission.
This car has been owned by some of Ireland's best known automotive collectors down through the years and is believed to be the only one in existence now. It was owned by the late Phil Monahan from 1988 to 1993 before he sold it to a UK collector who undertook an extensive and sympathetic restoration. It was bought at auction in the UK by Denis Dowdall on behalf of MDL in 2001.

24/02/19 - Cars And Coffee - Driven NI

We took a spin up to Dundonald this morning for the Driven NI Cars And Coffee meet that was held at Ceramitech Ireland. It was well worth the 3 hour round trip with a vast selection of top quality cars on display and a few WTF ones as well.

03/2/19 - Cars And Coffee North East - 2nd Anniversary

It's hard to believe that 2 years have passed since the first Cars And Coffee North East meet at DKIT. Keep an eye out for the next issue of Retro Classics magazine as there will be more pictures and a report published in it.

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03/02/19 - 1000bhp 1969 Camaro Z28 at Cars & Coffee North east

I recorded a short video of the car as it was being fired up and leaving the event, it can be found here - 

1000bhp 1969 Z28 Camaro Video

It was shot on a DJI OSMO Pocket, as supplied by Mahers Photo in Drogheda.

I have to say, the sight and sound of this 1969 Camaro was incredible.

Fair play to everyone who ventured out on a fairly wintery morning.

It wasn't the only treat for us today though, as the organisers were handing out lovely Cars & Coffee North East mugs.


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23/01/19 - 1987 Phoenix Park Races

A few shots from 1 of my first attempts at motorsport photography, in fact I'd only got the camera a few months beforehand was still getting to grips with it. The Phoenix Park races afforded us the opportunity to see the racing up close.
Apologies for the poor colour quality, the negatives have degraded a lot over time.

The late Enda Nolan . RIP

06/01/19 - Cars And Coffee North East

That was a very long month since the last meetup at DKIT and there is no doubt that it was worth every minute of the wait for this event. 
It probably was one of the largest turnouts for the event, but it was great to see such quality. The exotica generated plenty of attention as expected but there was also plenty of stunning machines of a more standard nature around the place. 
My only thought when we were driving away today, how are they going to beat that turnout?

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