It’s the early hours of Sunday morning – 4am to be more precise – and I’m about to set off on a three and half hour journey to attend the Irish Motor Festival at Punchestown Racecourse.
I was excited for this show as it was the first car show I was actively involved in for a few years now (if you exclude my photography work etc). Another reason I was hyped and slightly apprehensive, was because as I was going to be on the Speedhunters stand with around fifty other impressive cars. I packed my camera gear and car cleaning kit in my GT86, picked up my friend and we hit the road.
Unfortunately, the weather was not car show friendly but it wouldn’t dampen our spirits. We cranked up the radio and set the sat-nav for Kildare and although the roads were very wet, the journey was fairly enjoyable as it was so early in the morning – there were hardly any other cars on the road.
After a quick breakfast stop at a Dublin service station we pushed on towards Punchestown and arrived ahead of our 8.30am target. When we arrived at the exhibition hall we received a warm welcome from none other than Speedhunters Editor-in-chief, Paddy McGrath. We parked up and began the arduous task of cleaning off the dirt and debris that you pick up when driving on wet, mucky Irish roads.
Once my car was shined and polished I began to really take in my surroundings. I was immediately impressed with the diverse range of cars on show. Whilst the majority of cars were of Japanese origin, every so often there was a little gem from elsewhere, thrown in to keep things interesting – Toyota, Nissan Ford, Honda, Mercedes, Toyota, Mini, Mazda, VW and so on. Every marque was there.
Not only was the show diverse but the standard of the cars on display was extremely high – there really was something for everyone. Outside of the main exhibition centre there were more cars on show, a small supercar paddock, and of course the Irish Drift Championship drivers were battling it out all day in the unpredictable Irish weather. Hats off to hardcore IDC fans, rain or shine they always show up in droves to enjoy and support the action.
Overall, I had a fantastic day at the Irish Motor Festival. Everyone I spoke to was warm and friendly, adding to the great atmosphere, and lot of people approached me to talk more about my car and the subtle changes I’ve made to it. I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in cars or the drift scene. A big thanks to Paddy and Speedhunters for hosting us and I hope there are more events like this in the future.
Head over to our Facebook page for our full image gallery and stay tuned for our video coverage from the event coming soon.
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