They say a lot can happen in a day – it was definitely the case for Team Japspeed last weekend as we attended not one but two separate events, coming away with silverware on both occasions.

The eagerly anticipated Irish Drift Championship made a triumphant return for the 2016 season on 24-25 April with Japspeed’s ‘dark horse’ Shane ‘Sully’ O’Sullivan on hand to smoke those Maxxis Tyres and run the wall in his bid for a podium place!

Meanwhile teammates Shane Lynch, Matt Carter and Luke Woodham would descend on the home of British Motorsport, Silverstone for the annual JapFest event – a true celebration of Japanese engineering old and new.

As has become tradition for the team at IDC the 2016 series began at Mondello Park who due to the sheer popularity of drifting have introduced new layout purely for the sport. No chance to rely on previous experience for the IDC drivers and a whole new exciting dimension for the gathered crowd. With the winter refresh completed on schedule and the Japspeed RB25 S15 freshly painted Sully was keen to head out on track and settle into things. As it would turn out this wouldn’t take long at all!

Following a recent mapping from the team at TDP.ie both Shane and the S15 were on top form throughout practice and qualifying. Everything looked great for the main event on Sunday – even the sun was shining which meant plenty of Maxxis Tyre smoke!

Having qualified in 9^th place this meant Sully would go straight into the new Sudden Death battles against Chris Brady. Despite the new layout Mondello is a circuit that plays to Sully’s strength which meant he soon found himself in the top 16.

Heading into the top 16 and Sully’s first battle saw him face to face with IDC veteran Mike Fitz. Both drivers pushed hard – so hard in fact that the two drivers collided! With the advantage passing back and forth throughout each run this made for a difficult decision for the judges however votes in Sully’s favour shot him forward to the top 8.

Pitched head to head with Tomas Kiely; it was clear this was going to be a memorable battle for the gathered spectators. Despite minor damage to the steering system on the Japspeed RB25-powered S15 from his previous battle; Sully advanced to the top 4 in a cloud of tyre smoke!

Heading in the semi-finals Shane found himself representing his home nation as he battled international guest driver Forrest Wang who would be piloting Darren ‘Dmac’ McNamara’s 240sx. “These Irish drivers are a force to be reckoned with, that’s for sure” Forrest has said following the event. It’s fair to say both Shane and Forrest put on an incredible show however as the smoke cleared and the judges votes cast it was Shane O’Sullivan who headed through to the finals.

With only the final battle between him and the top spot on the podium Shane headed out onto the Mondello circuit against Duane McKeever. Both drivers evenly matched in skill and experience as well as both opting for RB25 engines this was set to be a final to remember. Shane had been flying all weekend thanks to his persistent, aggressive style. With little between them Duane pushed just that bit further claiming the top spot with Shane so very close and taking the 2^nd spot on the podium.

Back on home soil and Shane Lynch, Matt Carter and Luke Woodham had arrived at Silverstone for the ever-popular JapFest event. Set to take part in the annual Drift Kings competition all three drivers were eager to get out onto the famous circuit and smoke some Maxxis Tyres for the 15,000 strong crowd from all over the country.

The event was open to any driver in the British Drift Championship irrespective of their competition class. Every driver would battle it out to see who would be crowned Drift King 2016 and with it take the £1000 prize fund. At least that’s how things usually go down but this year the driver’s decided to put a different spin on proceedings.

Prior to the event every driver taking part collectively agreed that putting on an awesome show is more important than prize money and what better way to show this than donating the prize fund to charity (later chosen by the event sponsor). This meant the drivers could spend the day consistently attempting to outdo one another with ever greater entry speeds, ridiculous angles and of course drift trains for the gathered spectators.

While they weren’t out on track the fans at JapFest could get up close with the cars and drivers of Team Japspeed in an open pit setup. Between Shane Lynch’s supercharged V8 370z, Matt Carter’s 1.5JZ Skyline and Luke Woodham in the Japspeed IS200 its fair to say the Japspeed pits were extremely popular throughout the day.

However there has to be a winner and in this case newly signed Japspeed driver Matt Carter took the title after wowing the judges and fans with whopping 107mph entry speeds as well as the majority of his runs seeing the car enter the first corner at 90° and beyond!

All in all an incredible weekend and one we won’t soon be forgetting. Everyone at Team Japspeed would like to congratulate Duane McKeever, Shane O’Sullivan and Forrest Wang on their performance at IDC as well as Matt Carter on his performance at JapFest. We’re back in action on 2s-22^nd May for IDC Round 2. We’ll see you there!