Mondello Park will play host to some of the biggest names in the field of drifting as the first European LZ festival of drifting comes to the circuit this weekend (September 3-4).
Drifting's biggest stars
The brainchild of the American drifter and YouTuber Adam LZ (he has more than 3.5 million subscribers, if you're not familiar with his work), the festival brings a rollcall of drifting's brightest talents to Kildare including LZ's own team and American superstars Jimmy Oakes, TJ Hunt, Ryan Meyer and Collette Davis.
Drivers from this side of the Atlantic includes British drivers Baggsy (a.k.a. Steve Biagioni), Becky Evans, the Driftworks team of Phil Morrison, Martin Richards and Tess Whittock, other UK teams including Low Origin and Nightride, Sweden's Axel Hildebrand, Sultan Al-Qassimi from the UAE (best-known for his Aston Martin Vantage drift car) and the Australian, Luke Fink.
Irish interest
Irish eyes, however, will be firmly on the home talent that is well represented by the Mallow brothers, Jack and Conor Shanahan, the latter driving the Red Bull Toyota GT86 he famously drifted over Moll's Gap, another Corkonian Darren McNamara - better-known as D-MAC - and the European Drift Masters champion, James Deane, yet another Corkman, hailing from Castletownroche.
Action around the track includes a Meet & Greet with drivers on the pitlane as well as plenty of drama and tyre smoke on the track itself with the Drift King of Ireland competition seeing 50 cars (judged on aesthetics as much as performance) battling it out for the coveted title.
The paddock will also play host to a static display of show cars, but don't expect much in the way of Morris Minors and Ford Cortinas; think instead gleaming and heavily-modified Nissan Silvias, Skylines, Toyota Corolla Twin-Cams, a Driftworks' GT1-inspired Lamborghini Murcielago and Baggsy's own Nissan Navara pick-up developing around 1,200hp thanks to the powertrain and all-wheel-drive system from a Nissan R35 GT-R.
One of the biggest drifting events ever in Europe
The event, its organisers anticipate, will be one of the biggest drifting events ever staged in Europe.
"It's incredible that Mondello Park and Drift Games will be hosting some of the biggest names from the drifting world from the US, Europe, the Middle East and Australia, the demand is for this event is so high, we will have record attendance this weekend, with over 20,000 people anticipated," said Managing Director of Mondello Park, Roddy Greene.
A limited number of tickets are still available, from Mondello's website with single entry day tickets from €30 for the over-eights, but €10 for children aged seven and under.