I would urge everyone to take part, all participants are welcome and sponsorship cards are available for download right here 

If you cannot participate then please consider donating to another member as in today’s times of recession every cent raised can help.

See you on the 4th of May,

Paddy

We hope you have a great Christmas and New Year 2012…

Take Care out on the Roads, and be Safe, See You in 2012…

I’m very pleased to announce that GRP4 Fabrications Ireland’s leading manufacturer of competition components has joined AE86irl as a site trader. GRP4 specialise in a range of parts for MK1 and 2 Escorts as well as some other models but have recently begun to produce a range for the AE86.

I would like to thank them for coming on board and supporting our site and hope that their expertise will be a help to AE86 owners not just in Ireland but the world over.

You can keep up to date by visiting their section here -> http://www.ae86irl.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?70-GRP4-Fabrications

Paddy

CleanCar.ie also supply the world renouned carcoon storage system which is perfect for keeping your car in top condition while it is not in use.

Check them out at www.cleancar.ie or click here to view their section on the forum

-Paddy

“SQ Engineering is a buisness dedicated to 4age conversions including parts such as 20V RWD cooling kits, adapter plates to suit individual coils on both 16 and 20V engines, trumpets and other parts of which the range is increasing quickly. It stands by all it’s parts with warrantys and install support where needed.”

Further technical details are a bit vague but we do know that it will be powered by a N/A 2.0 subaru derived boxer and it will be mated to a proper 6 speed manual gearbox with no flappy paddle crap! Toyota have also said “the mechanicals have been kept as low as possible in the car, as well as between the front and rear axles, to help maximise the car’s agility and sporty responses”

Production will start late this year – no indication of an Irish price has been released yet but we are looking at a sub £25k price for the uk market.

Paddy

No final details have been released about the powertrain but as the concept has been developed in conjunction with Subaru it is likely that it will feature a revvy N/A boxer engine positioned to give optimum balance with hotter versions available down the line.

European release is set to be Mid 2012 with those pesky Japanese getting it a bit earlier. I don’t think it will ever recapture the magic of the hachiroku, but Toyota taking a break from electric ecoboxes and delivering an affordable RWD sports car is something to definately be excited about.

So who is going to be first on the waiting list ???

Rumour’s are that it will feature a 2.0 n/a Subaru Boxer engine (boo!) and a RWD layout (win!) … If they can recapture any of the magic that made the AE86 so special then they are onto a winner. By the looks of things all will be revealed soon…..

-Paddy

But as is typical things didn’t go smoothly, in the week previous to the meet we were greeted with this:

…nice for pictures… but for over 100 tail happy 86′s trying to make their way to Portlaoise… not so much.

But after much debate over whether or not to cancel things we got further proof that the weather gods have a thing for rusty old Toyotas and for the weekend of the meet the snow decided to go back to wherever it came from, leaving us almost perfect conditions!

My AE86 weekend started on Saturday with Willie (williep12)  and Kyle (twincamdill) setting things up for the day ahead  – after much debate and bouts of frostbite! – we decided to set up both a small drift course and a freestyle/diffing area… and of course we made fully sure to test the facilities before leaving the scene set for the following days mayhem.

Sunday started out cold and icey but thankfully it was dry. It’s only fair that after all of his help WillieP who was one of the first to arrive on Sun morning gets the first picture. After having the pleasure of driving this machine the previous evening I am in complete awe – Has to be the best n/a 16v 4age in the country. I was tempted to post an engine bay pic but this is a family website !

It wasn’t long until the live action started and mondo aka ‘that jammy bastard’ seemed to be having a good time in his 4age kp.

Speaking of starlets this machine was a real eyecatcher and is exactly how a paddy-spec KP should be done.

Despite the cold weather there was plenty of nice arses to look at….

And the front ends didn’t disappoint either…..

Crowd favourite retro head was on hand to provide plenty of entertainment on our drift course. We got good feedback but complaints of lots of sore arms … so maybe a little wider next time.

On the other side of the live action area it was business as usual and the smell of dying nangkangs could be got for miles around.

Fitting magnets to the wings didn’t go well…

After hearing the roar of 4ages and the masses of tyre smoke my granny decided to pop over for a look.

And someones granny even came all the way up from Cork to show off her starlet more-door – has to be said though seeing these two together was a cool sight and in a country filled with 2door KP’s its nice to see something different.

But it doesn’t get much cooler than seeing these 3 together … all in different states of tune – seeing the 3 of them out putting on a show together has to be a first in this country.

Another favourite was this Supra which drew crowds all day…

As did this TE71 which looked plain evil!

Back to twincams… although I normally don’t like kitted 86′s this car works for me and the wheels were immense.

Keeping with JDM theme site member TRD Girl’s trueno looked really neat sitting pretty on P1′s with a midnight purple paint job.

Luckily this battle scarred R/O/B Levin managed to escape a more serious injury.

At the other end of the spectrum it was my first time to see the famous MCL since it’s restoration and sure enough it didn’t disappoint…

MCL also convinced its buddy SRO to make an appearance.

The spot the difference competition went down well….. And seeing these two made me fall in love with black UK’s all over again.

…. But then again there is always early spec R/O/B’s !

And if engine bays are your thing there were plenty on show … None better that site member Apex Diff’s, each time I see this car I notice something different.. Top job !

So there you have it a great day out and has to be up there with the very best AE86irl meets we have had to date. Recession or not this small Island has some of the very best 86′s and retro Toyota’s this side of Japan and it was great to see them out in force. I’d like to thank everybody who made the day a success, in particular the owner of the yard, Martin and all of his staff and all going well we will have an announcement on our next meet very soon. 2010 went out with a bang for AE86irl and have no doubt 2011 will be our best year yet.

-Paddy

pics: Various site members

As far as the site goes we ended 2010 on a big high so we are looking forward to carrying that into the new year and if everything goes as planned 2011 will be marked down as ‘Year of the twincam’ in Irish history !!

So to keep it short stay safe over the holidays especially on the roads and on a personal note I would like to appeal to all members not to forget that there are some who are less fortunate this Christmas ………………………………………..

So please find it in your heart to donate a part to your nearest Toyota in need…

Paddy