With a rare glimpse of sunshine after a bleak winter and early spring, an enormous crowd and some of the finest Japanese machines that Ireland is home to, all rolled into one on the last weekend of April.

It’s fair to say that Jap(an)Fest Mondello Park set the bar high for the summer of Irish car culture ahead.

From the moment the event began, it was clear how big the day was set to be. While sunny skies always attract people to Mondello Park on a Sunday afternoon, no one could have expected 16,000 spectators through the gate. Everywhere you turned was a sea of people.

Handily, I managed to get parked right next to the Juicebox stand, which brought together a collection of some of the hardest-styled Japanese cars in Ireland. Every one of the Juicebox team creations would look right at home cruising through Tokyo backstreets under the cover of darkness.

I could have spent the whole day looking over cars like Chris Doogue’s incredible JZX Toyota Chaser or this Datsun Bluebird 510 sitting on air suspension. But sitting close by and with a large crowd constantly milling around it, a certain black AE86 stole my attention.

The car is special; not only in the quality of the build and choice of parts but the incredible backstory that cemented its place as a worthy ‘Car of the Show’ winner. For those unfamiliar, this is the Juicebox AE86 – a car dragged out of a hedge seven-plus years ago.

The rebuilding of this Toyota and the trials and tribulations along the way were documented by Neil Sheehan. It was heartwarming to see how enthusiastically Neil shared stories of the car and the build with strangers throughout the day, and it felt odd seeing faces known only through YouTube popping over for a look.

Some real nuggets presented themselves as I strolled through the vast sea of people in the Mondello Park paddock. Like this EP95 Toyota Starlet Remix. Have you never heard of a Starlet Remix? Well, that makes two of us. It turns out that only 204 examples ever rolled off the production line, with this Remix in 040 White being just one of 23. Fitted with a 4E-FE engine and AWD, this is a proper JDM rarity.

A key attraction of the event was the opening round of the 2024 Irish Drift Championship, a series making strides to rebuild itself to the level it once stood in world drifting.

The 20th season of pro drifting in Ireland was kicked off in style, with Daragh Spencer emerging victorious in his BMW E46.

Interspersed within the day’s competitive action were demo runs from James Deane in his four-rotor FD3S Mazda RX-7 and Darren McNamara in his incredible Group-D Audi. In front of packed Mondello banks, the two Irish drift stalwarts put on one hell of a show.

The harrowing loss of Drift Games‘ headquarters, cars, equipment and merchandise in a massive fire a few weeks back was at the forefront of many people’s minds. Seeing their never-give-up attitude supported by the people who helped build their dreams in the Irish drift and JDM car communities was great.

Dave Egan and Josh Holdsworth, the faces of Drift Games, competed in the IDC opening round, Josh in his Mazda MX-5 and Dave in James Deane’s E92 Eurofighter. The rest of the Drift Games team, armed mostly with borrowed cameras and equipment, scurried around to keep the vlogs going and the dream alive.

I’ll leave you now with a gallery of the immense variety of machines that made Jap(an)Fest Mondello 2024 such an incredible day.

Cian Donnellan
Instagram: Ciandon
Facebook: CianDonPhotography

More stories from Ireland on Speedhunters