Back to more drifting. The Sky turned up at Wall New Jersey with a wider stance but you would have to look twice to notice it but by the end of the event i think everyone knew we had made changes. With what we learned in Atlanta the car took its biggest development leap forward yet. With the almost telepathic understanding between myself and my crew chief Ian Stewart (owner of ASD and general car genius) we made all the right changes and it resulted in an unbeatable car at Wall
And thanks t a stroke of genius all 3 Falken cars built by ASD with the same crew chief finished first, second and third. Will this ever be done again? What an amazing achievement. This cemented Falken Tire as a real force to be reckoned with
My headwear also seemed to be attracting a lot of attention in New Jersey and after the win it hangs in the Falken rig as one of my "lucky charms" so to speak
It was nice to see Ian the Kiwi mastermind getting into the Irish swing of thinks aswell. Maybe ther is some Irish in him as he burns very badly in direct sunlight
Meanwhile back at MCNSPORT, my growing love for the Rotary engine led me to build or first rotary motor which im happy to say runs like clockwork. Doing the rotors is quiet time consuming
But so worth it for the finished product. This is one of the coolest things ive done i think
And just to add to our global ae86 reputation we decided to stick it into our N2 ae86 thus converting it to our RE86
And here she is, Irelands possibly Europes first Turbo Rotary ae86 to add to our sr86 which was another MCNSPORT first and is Europes most successful drift car. RE86 is for sale now she will be missed. I think we have done everything ae86 now time to move on to other interesting cars.....
It wasnt all good news in 2009 though. This is one of only a few shots from Las Vegas as we blew the engine in practice which was really upsetting. I was so excited about giving the new look car a good result to add to our 28 point championship lead. I mentioned the Sky went from mild to wild in 09 and the carbon doors, front splitter, rear wing and black rims really made a difference
I was left to take out my frustration on our rental for the week
A BMW M6 convertable. Nice car, a little slow compared to the Sky
Back in Ireland MCNSPORT were attending a hillclimb that Prodrift champion Mike Deane was competing in. From left to right is mechanic "Happy Darren" as apparently im "Grumpy Darren" and of course Peden. This was something we were thinking of getting into and still may but it has taken a bit of a back seat for a while
I love this picture of Mike (papa) Deane Senior. This is pure Ireland Green grass, cows and a bubble arch'd Mk1 Escort RS1600
Across the Atlantic again to Monroe Washington. A nice shot of me and Rod who i became quiet friendly with in 09 through Need For Speed Shift and Speedhunters.com. My loss in Monroe to Chris Forsberg and poor result in Sonoma (A track i dislike so much im not gonna even put up a photo from there) gave him an advantage in the championship i never clawed back
I arrived to Falken HQ in Fontana California to see the final development addition to the Sky and prepare for finale at Irwindale Speedway.......
An aerodynamic change to a larger rear wing from APR, looks much better.
Unfortunately i crashed heavily in Irwindale for the second year in a row in practice and bowed out in the top16 to team mate Dai Yoshihara
Final pic is of my buddy James Deane floating around the Falken pit area at Irwindale, while Freddy Aasbo invaded our space welding in his seat braket, good old Falken Hospitality
Believe it our not thats a brief look behind the scenes in 2009. Whats 2010 going to hold?
I have a feeling its going to be a good one!
D-Mac























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