This video shows the Pro class at the second round of the Prodrift Championship. Well done to Mike Deane on taking the win, and also to Chris Brady who within two events has made a final of Prodrift in his all new SR20 powered MCNSPORT AE86 for this year.

Prodrift Round 2 Fermoy 2011 from Daniel O’Shea on Vimeo.

Ennis proved to be a great opening round for the 2011 Prodrift Championship, with sun, smoke and the sound of drift cars on full throttle running the walls. For 2011 I decided to give video a go, after getting a loan of a Canon 550D for the final round of Prodrift 2010 and getting hooked. But still can’t get away from taking still photos so expect a few photos of the event from me as well.

Video taken with a KISS X4 (keeping it JDM!) along with a 70-200mm F2.8.

Sunday saw the final round of the 2010 Prodrift Championship take place for the Pro seeded class at Fermoy. This was also the venue for the season opener back in April. To give a view of the track we go on board with James Deane, the winner of the Opening round.

The venue is actually a Cattle Mart, but a few weekends a year it plays host to motorsport events and car shows. And for Prodrift fans provides an action packed track for the drivers to show off their skills.

The days action begin with Top 16 qualifying, Dan Moorhead in his wine 180SX took first place in qualifying after an amazing run, Dan ran the wall at every chance, and even returned to the pit with the back bumper loose from rubbing the wall. Qualifying also brought some disappointment for Mike Deane, last year’s Champion. Mike qualified for the Top 16 battles in his first run, but on his second run, the turbo blow and ended his chances of making the Top 3 in this year’s championship.

After qualifying, Superlap took place. This is a single run of the course for the 16 drivers that have qualified for the twin battles. The run is judged and better performance equals championship points and also determines the order of the top 16 battles. This lap allows drivers to push for the perfect lap without the fear of not qualifying. Damien Mulvey in his onevia took the superlap win and also a instant pass to the top 8, as Mike Deane had retired.

Hankook Driver Alan Lenihan faced Nexen’s James Deane in the Top 16. Alan however could not match the aggressive driving style of James who progressed to the Great 8.

After finished 2nd in the Final round of the Pro unseeded championship the day before, Paul McCarthy and his opponent in the Top 16 Brendan Stone had both climbed the ranks from unseeded pro to take there place in the Pro seeded Top 16. A spin from Paul gives the battle to Brendan.

Another top 4 finisher from Saturday Larry Love in his S14A was paired against Chris Brady in his RB25 powered S14. Two aggressive drivers, two action packed runs, but only one winner, and that was Chris Brady.

Christy in the 1JZ S15 was against number 1 qualifier Dan Moorhead. Christy aggressive driving style plus the large power of the car allowed him to close in on Dan and power his way into the Great 8.

Alan Sinnott in the Hankook SR20 Powered AE86 and Nigel colfer in his 1JZ 180SX rounded off the top 16. Despite a great performance by Alan, Nigel moved on to the top 8, to meet Christy Carpenter. Christy battling style become more aggressive and inching closer and closer to the leading Nigel, gave him the advantage and his place in the semi final.

Next up was Brendan stone and Damien Mulvey. A large straighten by Mulvey on the first run, gave Brendan the advantage going into the second run. There was little Mulvey could do to win the battle, but from the moment they left the line, Mulvey followed Brendan’s every moved, and overtook exiting the first sweeping bend. However the judges gave advantage overall to Brendan and in his first round of the year had made it to both the Unseeded and seeded Pro semi finals.

Also making it through to semi finals were James Deane after his battle with Shane O’Sullvian and also Damien Shortt who was against Chris Brady in the great 8.

The first Semi Final was an all Nexen Battle between James Deane and Christy Carpenter. Christy following on from his earlier battle applied push when following James, but James when following mirrored Christy exactly in what was the best battle of the day. There was nothing separating the Drivers, and the Judges and the crowd wanted to see them “one more time!”. In the rerun, Christy as he did all day started to edge closer and closer to the leading car, but got a little too close and hit the back of James’ car and as a result hand the place in the final to James. In the second semi final, Damien Shortt progressed after a tire came off a wheel on Brendan Stones car during a run, giving Damien the advantage.

In the third and fourth battle, as can be seen from the photo above, Christy dominated the battle and took third place.

In the final, James who has many many times being in a Prodrift final was against Damien Shortt who for the fist time had make it through the Pro top 16 to the final. After a close battle, the win was given to James Deane, who along with the final round win had also taken the Championship win for the second time.

Top 3 Drivers in Championship
James Deane
Nigel Colfer
Alan Sinnott

After an action packed days drifting at Fermoy, two of the Prodrift Championships have been decided. In his first year of competition Jay Rockett took the amateur championship in his red 180SX pictured above. Jay’s car was sporting a good few drifted.com and also driftireland.com stickers, well done Jay for the win.

The unseeded Pro championship was also decided, and Barry Leonard took the win in his Blue S14A. Barry managed to take the win even though he didn’t make the first round, but wins in the 2nd and 3rd round aswell as consistent qualifying gave him the overall Championship win today.

Damien Mulvey, two time Prodrift Champion, took the win in unseeded Pro in this the final round of the championship, and will also be a contender for the Pro class tomorrow. Maybe he can cause an upset to the Championship leaders!

Attention now turns to the Pro championship final which will take place tomorrow. Can James Deane join Damien Mulvey as two time champion, or will Nigel Colfer be able to take his first championship? Both drivers smoked out the venue in practise today, but who will take the win tomorrow?

Mondello Park was the venue for the fourth round of the Irish Prodrift Series, the main event was also part of the live action for Mondello Park’s annual Japfest and Eurostyle show. Round 4 saw the return of two former PD champions to the competition, Eric O’Sullivan made his return in his rebuilt AE86 (above).

The car now sports a Trueno front, but still features the same screaming Honda S2000 engine that helped Eric become the 2007 Prodrift Champion. This is also the car that Eric competed in at the Redbull World Drift Championship in Longbeach.

Two time Prodrift Champion Damien Mulvey also made his return after a break from the sport. His familiar Onevia is now powered by a high power SR20, in place of the RB26 that used to lurk under the bonnet.

Heavy rainfall on Saturday made Qualifying difficult, with Pro seeded practise taking place in the wet and qualifying on a fast dying track. This allowed three Pro unseeded drivers to move up to the Top 16 battles, Damien Mulvey, Martin O’Meara and Francis O’Shea.

Superlap on Sunday however took place in the dry, and this allowed for a longer run in to the first bend and so much higher speeds. James Deane in his Nexen SR20 powered RX-7 was recorded at 122km/hr drifting through the first bend. This was the highest speed in Superlap but didn’t give James the Superlap win, but second place to Eric O’Sullivan.

To give a better view of track, we go on board with Martin O’Meara for his Superlap run.

Superlap Results
1 Eric O’Sullivan
2 James Deane
3 Mike Deane
4 Gavin Lenihan
5 JP McCarthy
6 Nigle Colfer
7 Damien Shortt
8 Mike Fitz
9 Martin O’Meara
10 Christy Carpenter
11 Dan Moorhead
12 Damien Mulvey
13 Alan Sinnott
14 Francis O’Shea
15 Steven Bolger
16 Chris Brady

The first battle was between number 1 in Superlap Eric O’Sullivan and Chris Brady in his RB25 powered S14. Chris made a good attempt at following the former champion, but when Eric was following he was able to drift side by side with Chris and this ultimately gave him the win.

The second battle saw the Unseed Pro winner of Round 4 Martin O’Meara take on Mike Fitz. Nothing separated the two drivers, and the judges called a “One more time”, and a slight straighten by Martin on the transition between corner one and two, gave the battle to Mike in his Bridgestone 180SX.

Another exciting top 16 battle was between the returning Damien Mulvey and John Paul McCarthy in his deafening 4 door E36 M3. High speed entries, huge angles and door to door drifting was guaranteed and these two drivers didn’t disappoint the capacity crowd.

Nothing separated the two drivers after their runs and once again the judges need to see them run one more time, as did all the spectators! In the second run, despite the amount of smoke pouring out of the back arches of Mulvey’s car, John Paul was able to close in on him and this aggressive driving helped him advance to the great 8.

In the battle between Damien Shortt and Christy Carpenter, Damien lead into the first bend, Christy was carrying too much speed while following and couldn’t avoid making contact with the back of Damien’s car. After the incident when lining up for the second run, Damien’s car suffered mechanical failure and he was out of the competition. The mechanical issues were not related to the collision, and as a result Christy progressed to the top 8 where he would face team mate James Deane, who won his top 16 battle against Steven Bolger, see photo below.

In the Great 8, Alan Sinnott in his Hankook SR86 meet Dan Moorhead who was driving a new car, a 180sx in place of his S14.5 Silvia. Dan’s 180SX was built up to Pro spec in a few weeks just prior to the event, however Alan’s smoke machine was to go through to the top 4.

Mike Deane progressed after a tough battle with John Paul McCarthy, and would meet his younger brother James in the semi final following an all Nexen top 8 battle with Christy Carpenter. Eric O’Sullivan faced the Bridgestone 180sx of Mike Fitz, but a spin by Fitz handed the win to Eric.

Mike versus James Deane, these two have meet a good few times like this recently either in the semi final or the final, with more wins going James’ way and this time was no different, James yet again made the final and with this stretches his lead in the championship.

In the second semi final, it was an all Hankook battle with Eric O’Sullivan and Alan Sinnott. Both driving AE86′s with engine swaps, Alan with forced induction in the form of a high power SR20 and Eric with a screaming naturally aspirated F20c. Eric once again showed why he is a professional Drifter, and booked his place in the final along with James Deane.

A very close final took place in front of the crowd as the weather looked set to break. Nothing separated them after the first run, the the judges and indeed all of Mondello shouting for One more time. However disaster struck, James Deane’s car was unable to drive, the RB25 gearbox had enough. Eric O’Sullivan on his return to Irish drifting had taken first in superlap and also the overall win.

In the third and fourth playoff Mike Deane took third place with Alan Sinnott rounding off the top 4. The final result for the top 3 drivers on the day matched their Superlap positions.

The final round of the Prodrift Championship takes place on the 25th and 26th of September in Fermoy the venue of round 1 and is sure to be an epic event.

One final clip from the event, from Christy Carpenter’s Nexen 1JZ S15

After a little break in the drifting calender in Ireland, drifting made a return in the form of one of Mondello Park’s drift practice days. These drift practice days attract large numbers of participants from a wide range of levels, from the Pro class of Prodrift down to first time drifters with a mix of road and track cars.

Mondello Park will also hold the next round of the Prodrift Series, albeit the track layout more than likely will differ with the track usually run in reverse for the competition. A few Prodrift competitors were in attendance, including Team Hankook Drivers, Alan Lenihan and also Alan Sinnott.

Kenneth Murphy was testing his Blue 180sx. Since this car’s last day out in Citywest a few modifications were carried out under the bonnet. A Greddy TD06 top mount was fitted in conjunction with larger injectors to feed the engine and the car was also mapped for the new parts. I will have a short feature of this car up soon.

Diarmuid O’Connell’s AE86 above, has a freshly rebuilt 16v 4-AGE using high compression pistons, 20v ITBs and also OMEX standalone management. More than powerful enough for drifting Mondello in the dry.

This GT inspired Altezza has something rather interesting lurking under the bonnet. A 6 cylinder turbo, but not what would have been expected in a Toyota. Instead of a 1JZ or 2JZ engine swap, an RB26 with a single turbo is fitted. A nice change in the Irish drift scene, introducing a bit of variety over the S body domination.

This Vauxhall Senator Taxi was one of the best entertainers of the day, throwing the car around the bends, and also fishtailing the straights, and rubbing the pit lane wall.

Dennis Healy is not one to back off, even after a little incident earlier in the day. Continuing to use every inch of the track in his road going SR20 powered AE86.

This AE86 is one the loudest cars I have ever heard, its running a F20C engine from a Honda S2000. An absolute screamer of an engine. We mounted up a GoPro to show what a fantastic track Mondello is to drive, check out the video below -

The first two bends in the video, are generally used as the track for the Prodrift Round at Mondello. This gives a high speed blind entry to the first bend, and makes for interesting battle even when cars have a large power difference.

Prodrift Round 4 takes place on the 4th and 5th of September.

Prodrift returned to the famous Punchestown venue for the second round of the 2010 championship. This is a crowd favorite street course, with outside clipping points along a steel barrier that has claimed many bumpers and quarter panels in its last running.

Jay Rockett (pictured above), an admin over on driftireland.com, scooped 1st place in the amateur class. He also progressed to the unseeded pro class on his first day competing. The top 32 of the unseeded pros was full of action and excellent driving, with a lot of wall rubbing. The eventual winner of the class was Barry Leonard in his S14A Silvia pictured below.

The first bend of the track was a high speed 90 degree , with a large bump if you follow the inside line. A speed camera was used to aid judging as the cars would appear at high speed mid bend to the judges and spectators. Speeds of upto 120km/hr were recorded. The pic below shows Martin O’Meara’s Entry into the first bend. The stands were the perfect place to take a few elevated photos.

John Paul McCarthy returned to Punchestown in his reshelled E36 M3, after a major collision with a wall in round 1. This did not effect his confidence and was back putting in a great performance in what is one of the loudest drift cars around, and also a crowd favorite.

Mike Fitz (pictured above) in his Bridgestone sponsered Sil80 suffered gearbox failure during Super Lap, but quick work by his pit crew saw the gearbox replaced for his top 16 battle against Christy Carpenter in his Nexen S15 Silvia. Unfortunately for Mike, Christy was on form and progressed to the great 8.

Christy’s car has now been resprayed purple to match his new sponsor’s colours and also team mate James Deane’s SR-X7. James finished in 4th place over the weekend, and was one of the drivers trying backwards entry’s at turn 1. Something to look forward to at round 3 perhaps!

(Above) James Dean and Gavin Lenihan

Also pictured in the photo above is Gavin Lenihan who progressed to the final after a controversial decision by the judges. Gavin was in the semi final with Alan Sinnott of Team Hankook who is in the photo below with Team mate Alan Lenihan. Alan Sinnott finished third in the event.

(Above) Alan Sinnott and Alan Lenihan

Gavin Lenihan faced Nigel Colfer in the final. Both S15 fronted 180sx’, one SR20 powered (Gavin) and the other 1JZ powered (Nigel). Nigel did one better on his performance in Fermoy to take the win and now leads the championship.

The next round of the Prodrift Championship sees an all new street track at Citywest in Dublin, which will see both rounds 3 and 4 over the same weekend on the 26th and 27th of June.

More photos on my Flickr Photostream

Last year’s Prodrift Championship was won by Mike Deane in his Silverstone tires S13 Silvia, followed in Second place by the 2008 Champ and also Mike’s younger brother James. The 2010 Prodrift Championship began in Fermoy in Cork, which was the venue of the Final round in 2009, which saw James Deane take the inaugural win.

During the off season a number of changes took place to machinery and also to competing teams, most notability to Christy Carpenter’s amazing Blister Kitted S15 Silvia. The car was just ready in time for the event, after undergoing an engine conversion. The car now sports a 620bhp 1JZ mated to a Getrag 6 speed box. Christy is also after joining team Nexen. For round two this car will be sprayed purple to match team mate James Deane’s SR20 powered RX7.

Team Hankook also has a new driver, Alan Sinnott who brings his smoke machine to the team alongside Alan Lenihan in his familiar S13.5 Silvia but now with an extra few horsepower thanks to a newly built engine and larger turbo.

Alan Lenihan

Last year’s Non seeded Pro champion Mike Fitz, changed the colour of his 180sx from yellow to red to match his new sponsor Bridgestone as his sets his target on the 2010 Seeded Pro Championship.

Mike Fitz

This year saw a revised track layout at the Fermoy venue, which increased the length of the track and added a few extra “run the wall” clipping points, which lead to a few incidents. Once such incident happened on Darren McNamara’s (D-Mac)  second qualifying run on Saturday evening. Darren crashed into the wall, and was left with heavy front and rear damage to his rotary powered AE86. However Darren had from his previous run managed to qualify in first position, so had to carry out some late night repairs for Sunday.

Darren McNamara and Donal Garry

However the damage was extensive and although the car could drive it was obvious the car was not easy to drift, and lead to a poor super lap performance. Super lap, which is a single qualifying run over the track by each driver in the top 16 to determine their twin battle positions and it also carries some championship points for the best judged runs. Drivers such as Mike Fitz, Shane O’Sullivan and finally James Deane held the position of top superlap as it progressed with James taking first position and maximum superlap points.

Shane O'Sullivan

The top 16 battles took place in front of a packed Fermoy audience, but there was little surprise with the outcome of the top 16 with most of the higher places qualifiers progressing to the great 8.  Within the great 8, Hankook driver Alan Sinnott eliminated the 2009 Champion Mike Deane after a “one more time” was called.

Mike Deane

However Sinnott’s team mate Alan Lenihan couldn’t make it to the great 8 and was defeated by Nigel Colfer in his 1JZ 180sx. However Alan was happy with his performance, and a great 8 result was impressive as the car was only ready for the event and the engine needed to be ran in. This car will be one to watch in round 2 when running with full power.

Gavin Lenihan

In the final 4, Nigel Colfer faced Alan Sinnott with Nigel progressing to the final. In the second semi final Shane O’Sullivan went against last year’s winner of Fermoy James Deane, and once again James made it to the final at this venue. After a “one more time” and a small bit of contact between Alan Sinnott and Shane O’Sullivan, Alan took third place.

Final Fermoy

After a good effort by Nigel Colfer, the win once again at Fermoy went to James Deane, who with his first place superlap and the event win has claimed maximum championship points moving on to Round 2 in Punchestown(May 28th, 29th & 30th).

More photos on my Flickr Photostream