Better known for it’s field sports, the world re-knowned Wembley Stadium played host to the fourth and penultimate round of the 2010 JDM Allstars series. The entry list was vastly improved upon when compared to previous rounds with only the exceptions of Phil Morrisson and Martin Ffrench being the big absentees. The event was a two day affair, but due to other commitments I could only make the final day of the event. As to be expected from the JDM Allstars crew, the event went without a hitch with only the weather interrupting proceedings for a few minutes during the day. The full gallery can be found after the jump …

for Speedhunters.com by Paddy McGrath

It has been a pretty hectic nine days here at PMCGPHOTOs. From Donington to Brands Hatch in one weekend to Paul Ricard the next. I’m going to try and catch up in the next few days with all the images from each event I covered, along with my first interior design shoot which was a nice change of pace. These shots are from the second round of the 2010 JDM Allstars series which took place on Saturday 26th of July at the Donington Park Alpine Course. The event was won by Driftworks driver Dan Chapman who defeated his teammate Phil Morrisson (pictured above) in the final. More images after the jump …

for Speedhunters.com by Paddy McGrath

Just a quick snap from a shoot this weekend gone on Christy Carpenters Nexen 1JZ S15. Keep an eye out for the full feature coming soon …

Just returning from the UK after shooting JDM Allstars for Speedhunters.com. Have loads of news and pictures to share, but for now Alan McCord shall have to entertain you in his LS1 powered S15 Silvia.

Let me know your comments, good or bad !

More after the break

Just uploading the shots from yesterday’s event to my flickr, full gallery and walkthrough coming soon !

This week gone, I got the pleasure of tackling Dean ‘Karnages’ Kearney Maxxis endorsed Nissan Onevia. The shoot turned into an eventful one, first it rained and then rained some more. It was also the first time I got to grips with my new rig, albeit in its shortest configuration as the rest hadn’t been completed in time by my fabricator. The best of the shoot after the jump …

Canon EOS 1D MKII N, 50mm, f/2.8, 1/15, ISO200

We rocked up to a private estate that we had pretty much free reign of. Thankfully we were able to get out of the rain and indoors to an abandoned warehouse. I dread shooting black cars as obtaining a good exposure can be very challenging. This was the first shoot in a long time where I returned to using three strobes having shot with two for the last few months.

Canon EOS 1D MKII N, 28mm, f/4, 1/50, ISO400

For the rear shots we just turned the ’studio’ around and shot at the other end of the warehouse. With two strobes camera left & right being shot into two bounce brollies, I taped a 430EX to a cage in the background to create the flair above the car.

Canon EOS 1D MKII N, 47mm, f/4, 20s, ISO400

Whilst we had the car backed into the corner, I tried some light painting with the flash on my phone. Achieving a proper white balance was a major issue here !

Canon EOS 1D MKII N, 50mm, f/1.4, 1/80, ISO800

I’m making an effort to shoot as many ’strobist’ shots as natural light ones. I’m really falling in love with how noise forms at high ISOs on the 1D, it appears as more of a film grain than the traditional digital noise.

Canon EOS 1D MKII N, 50mm, f/1.4, 1/125, ISO800

Prodrift ran with this image as the lead flash tile on their site. It’s my own B&W conversion method with some minor dodging to the arms and face.

Canon EOS 1D MKII N, 47mm, f/11, 1/60, ISO250

I usually treat the interior shots as standard ‘page filler’ images, especially with drift cars as they are so minimal inside. This was shot with a SB800 fired bare in through the opened passenger door.

Canon EOS 40D, 10mm, f/8, 1s, ISO100

Rig shots seem to be classed as the ‘money’ shots today so it was important to test out the new rig. It’s nearly an inch larger in outer diameter compared to my old one. My old rig was 2 x 1 meter lengths, the new one is based on 1 x 2 meter length that attached to the car and up to 5 x 1 meter lengths that can be attached to the 2 meter ‘base’ length as required. For this shoot I only had the base and one extension tube so it was approximately three meters in length. The tubing was attached to the roof above the driver side A pillar, running diagonally to the passenger side C pillar and then another meter off the car.

Canon EOS 40D, 11mm, f/4.5, 1s, ISO100

This shot was a little trickier as the base tube was mounted under the spoiler, from the back windo to the boot lid and then straight off the back of the car. Same length of tubing as the other shot but allowed a more interesting composition as the it was mounted further back. Hopefully I’ll be able to test the full length during the week.

As usual, Full gallery can be found on My Flickr

PMCGPHOTOS.com is proud to unveil the 2009 Wexican Motorsport SX-20, a two-litre, turbocharged, Nissan powered, Toyota Altezza for road and promotional purposes. PMCGPHOTOS.com has worked very closely with Wexican Motorsport to design a custom livery to help show off this astounding custom built car.

The car is powered by a Nissan SR-20 DET engine, outputting 400 horsepower. The widearch kit was custom designed and built by Wexican Motorsport to house the traditional WM baby-blue 18″ Work wheels. The rear of the car is framed with an Origin Europe GT Wing and Wexican Motorsport undercar diffuser with a full underbody tray.

The car boasts a full interior, including a CD-player and air conditioning. To protect the driver and passengers during demonstration runs and trackdays, the car has been fitted out with a full roll cage and Takata green harnesses.

Martin Ffrench, owner of Wexican Motorsport said that he ‘is delighted with how the car has turned out. We have created a vehicle that looks as good as it goes. It’s awesome’

The car is part of a three car team. This the SX-20 has been built for road and light track use, whilst the eagerly anticipated SX-22 track car is about to under-go a full Kevlar rebuild courtesy of Carbon Fusion, with a target weight of sub-900kg and 450 horsepower. The SX-22 will make its debut in late 2009.

Wexican Motorsport would like to thank their sponsors for all their kind help and support; Titan Autoworks, Carbon Fusion, Origin Europe, Plastics 4 Performance, Japanese Performance & HSD Ireland, Gorbachov Music, Kiltorcan Raceway, WKD Imports, Dragon Performance, Touge Heroes, Speedhunters and PMCGPHOTOS.com.

After much swearing and minute adjustments, the latest Wexican Motorsport video is online. The footage features more on-board, more out-board and more action than before. The music is by Waterford band, Gorbachov and the song is titled ‘Come & Get It’ from their debut album ‘Can’t Start the Machine’

Enjoy !

Since the site has been inactive for so many months, I thought I’d fill you in on my 2009 so far. It all started with an AE86 owners day at Mondello Park …

The track day was organised by the staff & members of www.ae86irl.com, an Irish based owners club of all things Toyota which primarily concerns itself with the AE86. The above Kp61 is owned by Mark Walsh, a Dublin guy with a lust for retro Toyota. The car has been rebuilt with a TRD speclist as long as my arm.

Prodrift regular Dennis Healy was on hand to thrash the life out of his BEAMs engined coupe.

Current Formula Drift championship leader Darren McNamara debuted his spectacular carbon clad Trueno.

This red Levin is a daily driver and is currently apart being rebuilt with a 20v 4-AGE by D.K. Developments.

The ‘86 day was followed by an epic road trip across to the U.K. for the first round of the 2009 JDM Allstars series with Martin Ffrench from Wexican Motorsport.

We sailed into Fishguard before driving south to Devon, to collect the infamous Dragon Performance RX7. Then it was northbound to Newcastle.

The Dragon and Wexican crew taking a well earned rest stop en route to the event.

The Angel of the North let us know that our destination wasn’t too far away.

Ffrench was on fire all weekend, despatching the opposition seemingly at ease. It wasn’t until his Top 4 battle against Driftworks driver Dan Chapman where the car ran out of fuel that he would be stopped.

The first round of JDM also allowed me to shoot my first ever FMX shots. The riders looked awesome against the blue sky.

Newcastle City as a backdrop was simply spectacular. Perhaps the best backdrop I’ve seen for a drift event.



In Part II, I’ll show you through another epic roadtrip and the wettest event I’ve ever covered. For anyone interested in more on the above, I covered them for Speedhunters, here are the links !

AE86 Ireland Trackday Here

The Road To Newcastle, JDM Allstars Part I, Part II & Part III