EF Civic
Photography / September 10, 2012

EF Civic

I’ve always had a soft spot for EFs. My first car was white 1990 Civic and I have been mad to get another one since I sold it! This one hasn’t helped the situation at all – I ended up searching Done Deal the second I got home. Most EFs and EGs have been driven to death – it’s nice to see a clean hatch for a change.

 

Daihatsu Charmant – Bosozoku style
Photography / September 07, 2012

Daihatsu Charmant – Bosozoku style

This Daihatsu caught my eye at cars and coffee last weekend for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that it is modified in a Japanese style – Bosozoku (and maybe a little Shakotan) style. Oil cooler on the bumper, massive camber, deep dish wheels, lowered, huge exhaust. The bottom line – the owner took an old Daihatsu and made it something unique. Even more unique considering it’s an Irish car!

 

 

More about the Charmant here: Daihatsu Charmant on Wikipedia

 

 

Some Lip
Photography / September 05, 2012

Some Lip

We saw this spotless ’77 Celica GT at the September Cars and Coffee in Limerick. Absolutely stunning, a very unique car in a unique colour. Just goes to show, the Japanese manufacturers have always been able to make good looking cars.

 

September Cars and Coffee, Limerick
Photography / September 03, 2012

September Cars and Coffee, Limerick

It’s been a quiet few months on the site – my amazing wife Siofra had a baby girl, Neasa. So things have been pretty busy recently. Anyway, Cars and Coffee was on at the Eastway Plaza just off the Ballysimon road in Limerick yesterday. We decided to make a family outing. As usual, there were lots of cars and coffee to be had. Cars and coffee is on the first Sunday of every month between 11am and 1pm – it’s a nice way to spend a Sunday morning, check it out next month!

A MKII Escort leaving the car park.

I didn’t get to look under the bonnet, but if the badge on the boot is anything to go by this is a very tidy Cossie Merc.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of BMW. When I was younger, I never saw the point in an eight. As time passed by, I’ve changed my mind. They have aged beautifully – I’m still not sure what the point is, but I love them!

Little clearance between the caliper and wheel of this Subaru.

Location, location, location. A spotless civic sits with exalted company – a Cossworth Mercedes, a Honda NSX and a Ferrari F355. All comers welcome at Cars and Coffee!

I love the “Save Water” sticker on the back of this Beetle….

…and the cool door pins too!

More to follow soon!

Cars and Coffee Limerick – Pt. 2
Photography / March 05, 2012

Cars and Coffee Limerick – Pt. 2

The remainder of the photos from Cars and Coffee in Limerick on Sunday March 4th 2012.

&copy Denis Hogan  (3)

Possibly my favourite shot from the day – only in Ireland could you have a Cortina and an FD RX7 parked beside each other.

&copy Denis Hogan  (8)

 

&copy Denis Hogan  (9)

I’m not really into modding cars myself – but I have to say this FD looked great.

 

&copy Denis Hogan  (5)

There were two nice 911s in attendence (and a Boxster too, I think).

&copy Denis Hogan  (1)

A big ole Pontiac.

&copy Denis Hogan  (2)

A Ferrari 308 in that unmistakable shade of Red.

&copy Denis Hogan  (6)

And from the same family – one of my fav’s on the day – a spottless Fiat 500.

&copy Denis Hogan  (7)

This BMW has clearly been around Limerick for a few years now!

&copy Denis Hogan  (10)

An Opel GT – lovely looking machine. Apparently it’s running all modern internals, so it’s nice and reliable now.

&copy Denis Hogan  (11)

Some of the crowd, milling around, taking in the sights.

&copy Denis Hogan  (12)

 

&copy Denis Hogan  (13)

This may well be the fastest truck in all of Ireland!

That’s it for the coverage of Cars and Coffee for March. I won’t be able to make the next meet up as it clashes with the first rounds of the Hillclimb and Sprint championship. But I’ll be back to cover more event’s later in the year.

 

 

Cars and Coffee Limerick – Pt. 1
Photography / March 04, 2012

Cars and Coffee Limerick – Pt. 1

Cars and Coffee was on in Limerick this morning, so I decided to take a spin over and see what was happening. The concept is simple, you drive over to the Eastway Plaza just off the Ballysimon road, park up, get yourself a coffee and wander around looking at cars.

I enjoyed the morning, it was great to see such a diverse selection of machinery in one place. Some beautifully turned out machines – some honest daily drivers. Some old, some new and a bit of everything in between. A good social event that has a bit of something for everyone!

A Jag KX (I believe) and Jack Kingstons beautiful 280SE Merc.

 A Jensen C – you don’t see to many of these around these days.

That stunning 280SE again.

The interior is just as good as the exterior!

All sorts of cars were represented and Cars and Coffee, a relatively new Merc, an MG and a Triumph in the background.

The bright work on the Triumph was in good condition.

The Triumph even had “dickie-seats” in the boot. You’ve got to love the rear wind shield to keep the bugs out of your teeth!

 

An Elise in great condition…

…which is clearly being driven regularly! That’s what I like to see! 🙂

 

Hillclimber, Paul O’Connell, even bought out the single seaters.

Paul finished second in the national championship in 2010 – having taken a year off, he’ll be out on the hills again this season.
See irishhillclimb.com for details on Hillclimbing in Ireland.

Cars and Coffee is on the first Sunday of every month at Eastway Business Plaza (just off the Ballysimon Road), between 11am and 1pm. There are worse ways to spend a Sunday morning, believe me!

Part 2 coming soon – watch this space!

You can find more photos here!

 

 

Easy Rider
Photography / January 06, 2011

Easy Rider

Happy New Year everyone! This shot was taken at the Honda 50 ride-out at Pumpkin Festival in Virginia, Co. Cavan last October. I really like the movement and the colour of the bike. To me it looks like an honest bike – I’d say it’s used very regularly judging by the paint job.

A few recent changes to the site are explained in the new/old blog. Time is short these days with the wedding a little over a month away. But I have lots of photos waiting to be processed – I hope to keep posting over the next few weeks.

354
Photography / November 15, 2010

354

Another from the challenge set by ivansantry – “A car at night”.

A HUGE thank you to Kevin – he answered at least one hundred questions from me while he explained the positioning and power of all four strobes used in this shot.

The car is a BMW E36 M3 as run in the National Hillclimb and Sprint Championship. The post title “354” is a reference to the class that I race in and the position I finished in last year. The 35 stands for Class 3B (unlimited saloons – anything goes power-wise) and the 4 is where I finished in the class in 2009. As it happens, after managing only five rounds of the championship this year, I finished in the same position, so I will be in Car 354 for 2011 again. Fingers crossed I’ll get out for a full season next year and finish a little further up the field.

M Power
Photography / November 11, 2010

M Power

The second in a series of shots from a challenge “A car at night.” set by ivansantry.

The Hot Seat
Photography / November 09, 2010

The Hot Seat

A few weeks back I did a series of shots based on a challenge set by Eyeblinks about “The street where I live” . Shortly aferwards, I was set a new challenge by ivansantry – “A car at night”. It took some time, but I finally got around to taking some shots of a BMW M3 as run in the National Hillclimb and Sprint Championship by my dad and I.

So this is the first in the series of shots, taking in the best (and only) seat in the house. And this is what the action looks like from the seat:
[tube]GFIT9_HfC4g[/tube]

Credits:
– Ivansantry for the challenge.
– There was a lot of learning involved in this one – a huge thanks to Kevin for the instruction and all the strobes, stands, transmitters, etc. Not alone did he provide everything, he also made it interesting, I have a major urge to buy another flash or two now. Damn you and your strobist ways!

2010 Circuit of Munster
Photography / June 08, 2010

2010 Circuit of Munster

After making a major breakthrough with work over the weekend (which earned me a well deserved break), I decided to get out to see a bit of the action at the Circuit of Munster – run by Limerick Motor Club.

I’m fortunate enough to live close to some of the stages, so after a short lie in, I made my way to a tight hairpin on SS2.

Photography Bit:
The weather was generally good, but massive clouds were racing across the sky – which made shooting an absolute PITA.  Fantastic Sun one minute, relative darkness the next – so you’ll notice the exposures below vary massively. I also got to grips with  my Circular Polarizer… not so easy to use on moving objects though.  You get rid of a certain amount of reflections, but because the cars are moving and they all have different lines for the bends, you get will get reflections in different places every time.

The Photos:
As usual, click to enlarge.


My token B&W shot for the day – Shadows of the spectators in the early morning Sun.


Kevin Barrett corrects a little too early as he attempts to exit the hairpin. He very nearly clipped the ditch on the exit, but got away without doing any damage at all.


Local man, Paul Purtill only knows one way – flat out. Drivers side mirror alreay knocked flat into the body – after a brush with a hedge no doubt.


John Danaher in his beautifully prepared S14 powered Compact. John was kind enough to let my dad and I have a good look at the car last year. Something else! Nice to see him going well.


Pat Price returning to the hairpin after he overshot.


Mike O’Connor sideways in his MKII.


No. 136 after missing the hairpin.


Marshals, Media and Spectators enjoy Sean Kennedy’s sideways antics in his AE86 Corolla. I’m not a Twin Cam fan, but there were two out in the Munster this year – both were flying and really entertaining to watch.


Benny Kennedy must have a great sense of humour with a bumper sticker like that on his Civic (click the image to enlarge).

After SS2, the weather looked to be improving and I really couldn’t face going back to work, so I decided to make my way over to Knocklong and on down to SS6. I found a great spot thanks to the Marshals! Nice.


Derek McGarrity on SS6.


A local kid watches McGarrity exit the junction.


I hope Liam Higgins’ sponsors “EasyFix” can sort out that rear wing for him.


Another local man, Ed Synan carrying some speed through the corner.


Yet another local man and regular Hillclimb competitor, Peter Cummins  in his beautiful Darrian T90. Nice to see Peter in action – normally I’m worrying about him on the time sheets. 😉 I have another shot of Peter on my old site: Click Here.


Eddy Kennelly in his spotless Escort.


As I said earlier, the Twin Cams were entertaining today. Mike Neligan gets it sideways to the delight of the Marshals.


Jack O’Shea in his bright red Mini.


Junior entrant, Chris Butler was the subject of an attempt at a pan/zoom shot. I kinda like it – because it’s different!

Prints:
Feel free to contact me if you are interested in prints.

Coming Soon…
Motoring/Photography / May 08, 2010

Coming Soon…

My dad and I recently pulled the Avenger out of storage to get it ready for a few HRCA races this year. I went to see my parents yesterday evening and noticed the door of the garage was up – of course the Avenger caught my eye and I couldn’t resist taking a few photos.

When processing, I got to thinking of all the time spent in and around this car. My dad first started racing in it in the early ninties. It was always a competitive car – he upgraded to the current engine in the mid-ninties – a Chrysler BRM 1600cc Twin Cam 16v. An incredible spec considering it is nearly thirty years old. And it’s a very rare engine. Since the early ninties, he has been bringing the family (whoever was available at the time) to Hillclimbs, Sprints and Races all over the country. And I’ve been dragging my friends along to the same events for about as long.

The Blue Avenger, as it is referred to, has a long history here in Ireland – including a very successful hillclimb career. It’s a car that lots of people want to drive, but very few are allowed to.

This is much more than a car – I’d go so far as to say it is more like a family member. It may sound strange thing to say, but this particular car has brought family and friends together for twenty years now. I suppose the fact that it gets to sit on Carpet in the garage says a lot!

Given that the Blue Avenger has had such a big impact on me over the years, I’m hoping to do a Photo Story Board of the car over the next few months. Watch this space.