Traffic.......

I hate being stuck in traffic jams, sitting with the engine off,windows open,the 80's radio station playing some decent music and the seat fully reclined,you get to take in everything going on around you, or maybe not and everyone is having the same thoughts as me........

Prodrift Round 5 at Mondello

Despite my love of travelling to events far away, its good to take in a local 1 too,in this case Round 5 of Prodrift at Mondello Park . The standard in Ireland is improving at almost every event,making it more of a spectacle

Christy Carpenters RB26DETT powered S14 Silvia,very fast with loads of tyresmoke but later fell victim to the dreaded 'RB26 death rattle' with a conrod through the side of the block,not good

Damien Mulvey in the TDP / Bridgestone Nissan OneVia was making full use of his new RB26 engine,with Top 16 qualification on its 1st outing, definatley one to watch

Dean Kearneys very smart Xtreme Autos OneVia,running the more usual SR20DET engine

Alan McCord,better known as Chubby,decides 2 wheels are better than 4 in his Hi Octane Imports Nissan S15 Silvia

Easily driver of the day for me and the most committed (and mad!!) was Johnny Power in the Xtreme Autos Nissan 180SX, seen here battling the eventual winner of the event,Eric O Sullivan

There had to be a runner up and today it was Darren McNamara in his new 4AGE AE86, who put a good fight against Eric's Honda S2000 powered AE86,which overcame Darrens best efforts despite having the windscreen shattered in the previous battle with Johnny Power (look closely in the photo above)

More photos are on my Fotopic site

Weather.......

Snow - In February 2007,for 1 day,then it was gone

Ok I know I live in Ireland where we are known for frequent rain, but Ive seen about 12 days of sun all summer!! Whats going on,or will there be a very pleasant September and October? I went to Scotland for Time Attack and not only was I soaked in the rain but got sunburnt. At least in Japan they have rainy season and summer now where the average is a sweltering 36 degrees,rising to over 40 in some cases! Best here was 26 all summer and even that is very hot by our standards,average is 22, with 45-50% humidity. At least when Im back in Japan next time the weather will be 'normal' to me at least

Time Attack - Round 3,Knockhill

Wow - Knockhill - what a track,the only track Ive been to that comes close to it is Brands Hatch, short,sweet and with loads of gradients

Overall winner on the day was Phil Glew in the Zen Performance Subaru Impreza who set a 57.704 in the wet of the final but earlier had set a 53.450, fastest time of the day

2nd overall despite this high speed trip through the gravel trap was the Roger Clark Motorsport Subaru Impreza WRX driven by Olly Clark

3rd overall and the only driver to get close to Phil Glew during qualifying was the Autosportif / Tein Subaru Impreza driven by rally legend Jimmy McRae, father of Colin (RIP) and Alastair

After a paintshop malfunction,Rob Barnes in the Do-Luck /Sumo Power Evo 8 now sports pink paintwork.....

1 of the best prepared cars in the series is Adrian Smiths Fensport Generation 7 Toyota Celica, which has been converted to 4wd aswell as a 3S-GTE engine transplant

Very narrow and loads of gradient changes,fantastic track and a real challenge,but every driver loved it

The only Irish entrant this round was Phil Burdock in his Burdock Flooring Subaru Impreza

Shane Smith in his nicely presented GTR register R32 GTR

Once again Nadine Geary in her menacing Dodge Viper won the club n/a class

Clive Seddon in the RC Developments Evo 6 looked very strong in the final,until disaster struck...



Fortunatley there were no injuries and the car only sustained minimal damage,it will return

George Orr in the Extreme Motorsport Evo 6 was setting some of the quickest times on the day overall,but the lack of a rollcage for the car led to him competing in and winning the club forced induction class overall

The AG Motorsport Ford Focus Cosworth 4x4 in the pro class,driven by Andy Gallacher, exits with a puff of smoke and some nasty grinding noises on only the 2nd practice lap of the day

The Time Attack final will be at Brands Hatch on September 2nd,all 3 classes (Pro, Club NA and Club FI) are still undecided so it goes to the wire. Should be good!

Time Attack Round 3 - Videos

Moving up to a new PC has slowed things down for me,so heres a quick update with 2 videos from Round 3 of Time Attack at Knockhill,photos soon