Prodrift Rnd 2 Fermoy 2011 Afterthoughts

[MCNSPORT.com]

Come on back dmac. You will need your 800hp sky to keep up lol :P

not long to wait now Jimmy........

[DaveZigen]

I've literally only recovered now Great Weekend!

Had 20mins (If even) sleep before hitting the mic on Saturday due to finishing a set in Dublin late but the talent and commitment of the driving from the amatuer and semi-pro guys woke me right up!

Delighted that my Bro's MX5 finally worked (and didn't blow up)
And delighted that Eoin O'Sullivan is where he belongs, in Prodrift!
Proud of Sean Manning and Pat Masterson finally getting the rewards they deserve for the effort they have put in and the talent they have behind the wheel.

To all the rest of the competitors on Saturday, you all gave me plenty to talk about and showed the future of drifting in this country is in great hands

Considering I was booked for a hotel in Mallow and ended up sleeping in a hostel in Cork City (6 of us in a 4 bed) the head was ok on Sunday.

I thought the team drift was awesome and as Richie the Marshall said "it was like letting new-born calves into a field for the first time" Lunatics!

As for the pro class, excellent driving on a very technical track and it really goes to show you can throw any combination at these guys and they nail it by the end of the weekend.

Delighted for Chris Brady, deserved a podium, and congrats to Mike Deane on the win!
James Deane, as always, incredible!

I tried my best to build the atmosphere to the point of losing my voice but I understand that it is a long 6 hour event each day, there were a lot of hangovers and it was bitterly cold on Sunday.

All in all another awesome round.
Huge thanks to my partners in crime, Mike Fitzgerald and Darren McNamara for joining me on commentary, had such a laugh
And to all crew and staff for all the help

See you all at Round 3 (Which looks like, because of the long track layout, that it could be absolutely epic!)

[MikeFitz]

I've literally only recovered now Great Weekend!

Had 20mins (If even) sleep before hitting the mic on Saturday due to finishing a set in Dublin late but the talent and commitment of the driving from the amatuer and semi-pro guys woke me right up!

Delighted that my Bro's MX5 finally worked (and didn't blow up)
And delighted that Eoin O'Sullivan is where he belongs, in Prodrift!
Proud of Sean Manning and Pat Masterson finally getting the rewards they deserve for the effort they have put in and the talent they have behind the wheel.

To all the rest of the competitors on Saturday, you all gave me plenty to talk about and showed the future of drifting in this country is in great hands

Considering I was booked for a hotel in Mallow and ended up sleeping in a hostel in Cork City (6 of us in a 4 bed) the head was ok on Sunday.

I thought the team drift was awesome and as Richie the Marshall said "it was like letting new-born calves into a field for the first time" Lunatics!

As for the pro class, excellent driving on a very technical track and it really goes to show you can throw any combination at these guys and they nail it by the end of the weekend.

Delighted for Chris Brady, deserved a podium, and congrats to Mike Deane on the win!
James Deane, as always, incredible!

I tried my best to build the atmosphere to the point of losing my voice but I understand that it is a long 6 hour event each day, there were a lot of hangovers and it was bitterly cold on Sunday.

All in all another awesome round.
Huge thanks to my partners in crime, Mike Fitzgerald and Darren McNamara for joining me on commentary, had such a laugh
And to all crew and staff for all the help

See you all at Round 3 (Which looks like, because of the long track layout, that it could be absolutely epic!)

Great job as always Dave, it was a pleasure. I dunno how you do it and still keep it interesting for the length of time you do, probably the hardest job of the weekend I reckon!

[MCNSPORT.com]

Great job as always Dave, it was a pleasure. I dunno how you do it and still keep it interesting for the length of time you do, probably the hardest job of the weekend I reckon!

you looking for another discho mike?????

[Mabbit]

Wat a weekend...some serious drivin out of mark willis and eoin o sullivan for there 1st event..and the team drift was some laugh wit drift ireland tinkin there cars were bumper cars fair play 2 them..pity i didn get 2 hav a run wit my turbo goin during pratice but at least i got 2 run the wall and wreck me bumper during practice...cant wait for rd3...hope i get a turbo in time and get out....

[danmoorhead]

right thanks 2 all for the words of reasureance over the weekend as sat just wasen't happening for me!!! went out on sunday feelin a bit better but nerves wer still killing me!! but it came together for qualifing!! and was really happy with superlap!! was all dwn 2 dave as i was listing 2 my into on the line and started laughing wen i heard the dancin dan moorhead bit!!! myself and sean on da line were breakin our bollox laughing!!

as always great crack with barry in pratice!!

chucky was so made up ta see ya on the sunday!! and would ave given anyting 2 ave been der for no man can come inside another bit!! made alot of chat over da weekend!!

sean and pat were on fukin fire!!! really well desirved !!

chris burnet lad ya were well on it!!! gota love the the sound outa ur machine!! and well able 2 steer er!! you would ave easyily qualified on sunday if ya were in er!!

larry love was well on it!!! really tight battles!!

carpo flyin as always!!! ave em dwn as one of my top 3 for championship!!

chris brady aggrisive as always was raging for em when i heard his tyres given out!!!

james as always just awsome!!! and love the lbd car!!!

but massive congrats 2 mike!!! really wanted the win and despite the slap with james he just seemed 2 ave awsome grip!! first car i seen pullin up 2 james just seemed to be playing with the trottle!!

a great weekend and thanks 2 all involved!!! and to mark gaffney who pulled out all the stops with shirts and keyrings was great!!
looked in2 da crowd at one point and seen so may peeps wearing em!! was a great buzz!!!!

[pole drift]

Dan what happened that you ran off with Kruizer to the pits??

[gem-s13]

was a good oul wkend, the extra 15mins made a big diffrance in practice i got to 10 laps insted of the normal 4, made no diffrance thow as i still struggled to get the first clip and on to the wall smoth i dont no how it looked from outside but i felt i was all over the place, qualfied 11th i think was happy enough with that as there was some seriouse driveing going on from everyone, was up against jamwee rocket in the top 32, from what i could see from inside the car on my lead run he would of had te advantage as i went in to deep on the first corner and was way off the first clip on transition, but then he SPUN hahahahahhahhahhahaha ah poor oul jamwee gets awfull stressed out!! then was up against yowdy in top 16 we were haveing the crack on the line and we went out for an oul spin around felt more like we were going out on a practice lap with the banter on the line, we had a good close battle from what i heard but the judges gave it to me was happy out, then next up was the big high STONE wall!! again we were haveing a laugh walking over to get in the cars for our run a big shout over "dont rub off this car i want to give it back as clean as i got it!" haha so we went out i just could not catch up to the pace of that 14 seriouse yoke! i tryed to pull 3rd comeing out of the hairpin but it felt like my clucth started slipping or my tyre were gone off, next run out i just could not get off the line with any speed i thouht i might of grabbed a small bit of a lead there with the lag thats in the 14 but no brendan was stuck to me the cunt!! went at it anyway was a decant enought run i think then i spun just after the scoreing zone and seen this 14 comeing flat out at me and just heard what stone said before out run!! grabbed reverse pulled the gear nob clean off! haha got out of the way of the mint MG s14.5 just in time was happy enough to get into the top 8, so that was me done for sat sat nite was a bit of crack in mallow and then the team karnage on sunday was some laught hitting of jay out of the corner then my clutch started slipping like a cunt drove it on anyway and in the comp had some crack we new we were not going to come anyware we were just out to purely entertain!!

was also delighted for my bro Mark to get to the top8 also in his brand newly built CS-Autos s15 car ran sweet all wkend considering it was built in 3 weeks only mapped on thursday by TDP, and suspension alighment done on friday on the way to cork in WKD, the first time mark had driven the car was friday evening accross the paddok to park it up!!

[Chuck_g]

chucky was so made up ta see ya on the sunday!! and would ave given anyting 2 ave been der for no man can come inside another bit!! made alot of chat over da weekend!!

Thanks lad, ya i was going to say something similar Sunday but you could cut the tension in the Pro Briefing with a knife You were going well all weekend but looked stressed, i just wanted to hug ya

Also Kudos to Dave Egan and Mike Fitz for keeping me and everyone else entertained, i had ye in my ear on all my laps on Sunday. That radio idea is great. Mike you did a good job Judging, for the first time, pity i didnt really get to hear the chat. Darren should be a Judge for Pro's, especially funny was his Mulvey bashing Bon Bon makes me depressed man, cheer up. Julian seems good also, but ive NEVER agreed with Drifters as Judges. All in all Prodrift seem to be stepping it up a notch, and the weekend passes etc defo brought in a good few ppl but needs to be advertised more. Roll on Round 3.

[keith-n]

Saturday was the best days drifting i've attended in a long while.

Early start @ 5am and didn't leave until 7ish. After watching a few practice laps from the start line i headed over to the tiers for a propper look only to get a phone call off chucky "i'm in trouble". Took it handy on the way back over thinking he just wanted wheels changed......... The viscous fan had eaten the loom and the car wouldn't turn over. Weekend would have been over before it started only for nial mac, paul twomey and a helpful few tips from another driver. As i said the minute it was fixed "at least thats the problem out of the way, roll on the rest of the weekend" How right was I

From chuck_g and pat masterson, to the chap in the "daily" AE86, james deanes car with mental front camber, carpo and the team manfoot boys/girl.

Sunday however is where my only criticism lies. Its shit from a spectator point of view. Yes the drifting is better in a sense, but the non seed pro and amatuers are miles more fun to watch. The judges are well dodgy. Fair play mike deane, but only for a questionable "run it again" you were out.

The whole fans vote is bollox, Asking the fans who wants x to win... huge roar, who wants x to win... huge roar, who wants to run it again.... silence. And they ran it again. If your going to just run it again to give one of irelands favourite drifters a second chance after a shit run, don't ask the crowd and go against them.

€20 is far too much to stand on a bank with the only seating a patch of grass with nettles sticking in your hole. Getting the crowd interacting by asking for their vote, and then ignoring it, huge breaks between "events" to make the small amount of action fit until 6pm, no other entertainment while the breaks are on and no trade stands/car stands (bar 5 drift ireland cars which were mint) all make me question paying €20.

I went around the whole site trying to find a tap that worked to get water for the car after we had to drain it, only for them all being turned off, how tight do you have to be to turn off the fucking water?
One poxy tap on site working and not one steward knew one was on, just by chance we found it.

The team drift was mega, I feel for the guy who put it backwards into a pole. What i liked was barrysmotorsport being absolute muck in practice..... and then nailing it with a fine display on both runs in competition. Team manfoot being excellent! comentator giggling everytime he had to say "manfoot".

On the comentator, His background knowledge of ALL drivers, their cars, their build threads, their spec and little nuggets of info like us painting chucky's car with a roller, Respect man.

Highlight of the weekend for me was the battleship rubbing both walls in practice against james deane!


Over-all it was an epic weekend, the level of "go hard or go home" drifting across the board is thrilling to see. Bartering in the pits between crews (we swapped a few cable ties for some water) and the willingness of drivers to help others out all makes for a great weekend.