In July 2010, we had the chance to shoot the Sil-V8 at Northern Ireland’s best kept secret -The Ulster Aviation Society

We already used a set of the photos for Chubby’s Banzai feature but could never show these ones before as there were restrictions on photography at the Maze prison site and we wanted to respect the society’s wishes to not show them.

After last weekend’s Festival of Speed and the Maze site being open to the public, we feel that the time has come to show these few remaining photos. We always really liked the guard tower and prison wall in the background.

Now at this point, it’d be rude not to show some of the originals too

This time it was the turn of Mid Ulster pop-punk band Little Sausage Disorder (LSD) to step in front of the lens. We thought we were prepared for the shoot but these lads proved to be a real handful, and a whole heap of brilliant craziness!

LSD are: Bob Hutchinson, Jourdan Steadman, Jarlath Cowan and Johnny Ryan.

We’d met the lads a few weeks before the shoot and got an idea of what sort of images they wanted. These were to be promo pics for the release of their new EP ‘You’re Drunk – Go Home’ so their personalities really had to shine through.

The photo below is a favourite of Mrs SleepyCats’. She was seen lying on the ground, camera in hand, looking up at the lads and shouting at one of them to ‘Put the leg over me!’ …….all in the name of getting them positioned nice and evenly for this shot!

(Jarlath was man enough to follow orders!)

Poor wee Johnny was all tuckered out from this posing caper and needed a bit of a lift to get him through a few more photos!

There were plenty of giggles throughout the evening, this all seemed too much fun to be work for the band or photogapher!

Bob turned into a bit of an animal half way through the shoot and bared his teeth (A bit more than teeth were bared at other stages throughout the evening, but thats a whole different story!)

After much pleading by us for the lads to strike some sensible poses we got a couple!

…..but then it went a bit silly again and as they came over all ‘Saturday Night Fever’ in shadow form, so we took that as our cue to wrap it up!

Thanks lads, it was such a laugh!

If you want to know more about LSD you can check them out on Twitter, Facebook and at www.littlesausagedisorder.com

‘You’re Drunk – Go Home’ is pretty splendid and is available through their site too!

Following on from last weeks post, I captured Venus and the star cluster Pleiades on tuesday evening. Pleiades is also known as the Seven Sisters and is among the closest clusters to the earth.

The Moon and Venus, the two brightest celestial objects after the Sun, appear paired up, but in reality Venus is 260 times farther away. It’s at a distance of 6 light-minutes from Earth, compared to the Moon’s distance of 1.3 light-seconds. Jupiter, looking on from below, is currently 48 light-minutes from Earth.

Now I’m definitly not a night sky photographer, but have a keen interest in astronmy, so didn’t want to miss the chance to capture this.

This next shot was taken in the early evening with them clearly visible.

When full darkness and a beautifully clear sky arrived, Venus, Jupiter and the Moon all were visible.

This is my favourite shot, even though with a longer exposure, the objects aren’t just quite as sharp. But it helps show the brightness and the shadow on the moon.

For those out there who’ve never heard of the Sil-V8, shame on you!

The Sil-V8 was once a lowly automatic non turbo Nissan S15 cruising the streets of Japan, then it got shoved onto a boat and shipped to Alan ‘Chubby’ McCord in Northern Ireland. He turned it over the crew at Powermax Engineering to create him the 800bhp V8 monster it is today. That V8 is a Chevrolet 5.7l with a supercharger and Link engine management sytem.

Wanna hear what she sounds like? Turn up your speakers and press ‘Play’

But wait……

Its not just the same Sil-V8 that is returning to competition in this year’s British Drift Championship.

A large parcel has just arrived from Scoggin Dickey Car Parts in Lubbock, Texas in the good old US of A.

Filled with lots of new strengthened internals, including the following…..

CNC Ported Cylinder Heads

Comp Cams Rocker Arms

Comp Cams Camshaft

Manley Flat Top Forged Pistons

The package also included bearings, gaskets, pushrods, valves, everything needed to drastically improve the performance.

So with a month to go, there’s lots of hard work ahead but we’ll be bringing you updates on progress on the build regularly till she’s ready to do battle once more

Colin has always fancied the idea of a freehanded tattoo…… so that’s just what he got!

Eddie got out the Sharpie markers and in no time this was on Colins’ arm.

There’s no messing about with Eddie and he got to work on the outline.

Outline done and we could really see just how beautiful this was going to be.

The shading was next, this softened the edges of the tattoo and, of course leaves a great way of blending into a nice sleeve (Good thinking there Eddie!)

Colin wanted his Koi in shades of blue, so what the birthday boy wanted, he got!

Eddie used loads of different shades of blue to add depth to the tattoo.

Two hours, plenty of banter and a lot of ink later Eddie was finished and, as usual he had created a masterpiece.

A couple of weeks later, it’s all healed and looking brilliant. The Koi in blue was a brilliant choice by Colin.

Just as Eddie was finishing up, he got a visitor, his beautiful granddaughter. Never happier than when he’s with his family this is a photo that just had to be taken!

Thanks Eddie, once again you’ve come up with the goods and created another masterpiece!

Joe Doyle is one very lucky boy. Not only does he own this stunning Nissan Skyline R33 but his day job has him working on the ultimate sideways weapon.  For Joe works with Camillus Bradley, building the most spectacular selection of Ford Escort Mark 2 Rally cars seen on this island.

Engine Bay

RB25 lump

Motec M4 (ECU)

Polished and ported head

TOMEI cams and pulleys

Greddy inlet manifold

Greddy fuel rail

Bosch 720cc injectors

Q45 throttle body

T67 Turbo kit

4 core intercooler

SMD custom intercooler piping

SMD cold air box

SMD vented headlights

SMD induction kit

Engine damper

Carbing twin bar strut brace

Splitfire coil packs

Sard racing radiator

Sard fuel pressure regulator

C. Bradley oil catch tank

SMD brake stopper

Underside

XYD drift coilovers

Nismo front camber arms

Cusco caster bars

Tein tie rod ends

Endless brake discs all round

Carbotech brake pads

GAB anti roll bars all round

Driftworks rear camber arms

Cusco lock out kit

Nismo diff

OS Giken triple plate clutch

Tomei quick shift

4” stainless steel exhaust

Boot

1 x HKS in tank fuel pump

2 x Bosch 979 external fuel pumps

2lt swirl pot

Earls fuel filters

All – 6 fuel lines

Bodywork

Jun bodykit

GT wing

Ganapor Mirrors

SMD bumper winglets (Carbon Fibre)

Carbon bonnet (GTR)

Wheels

18 x 9.5 Hyper Zero One

Federal tyres

Interior

Sparco Evo seats

Sparco steering wheel

TRS 6 point harnesses

Life line fire eater

C. Bradley gear knob

HKS Fuel pressure gauge

HKS exhaust temperature gage

HKS boost gauge

Comp brake hydraulic handbrake

SMD carbon door cards

SMD carbon panel trims

SMD carbon floor tray

Magee Motorsport carbon roof vent

SMD firewall

My drift year began with 2 back to back shoots over Valentine’s weekend. Saturday saw the turn of Damian McBride’s gorgeous Toyota JZX90. I’d been waiting nearly a year to shoot this car for Drift Bloggers and it was well worth the wait. Damian had found us a brilliant location at late notice and it was a real pleasure to spend some time with him and the car.

Sunday morning arrived and it was time to do a photoshoot that had been first mentioned at a rather drunken party the previous October.

Paul Conlan had asked us to get him a bit of coverage at home as most of his press is based around the EDC Drift series in England, and we were only too happy to oblige.

We got permission sorted to use a local underground carpark and Paul brought his 1JZ powered Nissan S15 along for its debut on Irish soil in its new darker colours. Paul had new sponsorship for 2011 from BC Racing and was just home from the Autosport Show.

Shoot done and Paul got featured in Carsport and the Daily Mirror within the same month. The SleepyCat’s deliver the goods once again!

Next up on the calendar was one of Glenda’s crazy notions that normally involve me having to tag along and take pics. Although I suppose it keeps me busy and saves me worrying. And with this one,  I had plenty to worry about!

Glenda and a group of her colleagues from work had decided to abseil down the Obel Tower in Belfast ( Ireland’s tallest building at 279ft ). It wasn’t pure folly though as it was in aid of  the Ulster Cancer Foundation and Save the Children. The four of them from Linden Foods raised £2000 for the 2 causes which was a brilliant achievement.

Next up came a photoshoot with Joe Doyle’s Nissan R33 Skyline.

We’d had many a conversation with Joe about where best suited his car and decided that his workplace would be ideal. But it ain’t no ordinary workplace, as Joe works for Camillus Bradley and gets to spend many a day in the company of those glorious MK2 Escorts.

Joe’s Skyline had some new touches for 2011 and he was particularly proud of his carbon fibre winglets and new alloy wheels.

Unfortunately we were too busy to make it to more Mondello drift practice days than we did, but the best was definitly 1st May.

This day was also our introduction to the MG Crash Repairs boys and their antics.

Especially Mr Paul Murphy! I still maintain that he was using my high vis vest as a target!

Glenda had, by this stage, gone a few weeks without doing something crazy, so it was time to go Hydro-Zorbing.

This time she roped her sister, Dorothy, niece, Kerrie and surrogate niece, Nicole into joining her. First up was a twin dry run.

Followed by the wet run. Cold water, hamster ball, big hill…….no thanks!

Especially when you see them afterwards!

My next drift car shoot was with Jason Dobbins and his Nissan S14.

And not to always be seen as the sensible one, I do occasionally do something a bit crazy too!

But it gave me a slightly different angle to get Jason behind the wheel.

The Monster Energy Hi Octane Drift took over life for the next few months and I’ve covered the story of it on Drift Bloggers.

Click here to read it

http://www.driftbloggers.com/2011/drifting/monster-energy-hi-octane-drift/

As well as the buzz of putting on the event, I had some great personal moments from the various practice days leading up to the drift.

First up was getting to see Ian Robinson’s glorious 1JZ Manta in action on our track. Ian came to our practice day the week before the event and got to grips really quickly with the track. I photographed Ian’s car in 2010 and had never got to see it driven in anger so that day was a memorable moment for me.

The saturday before our event was our final practice day and our good friends from down south had arrived in style. Among them was Danni Murphy, our only female competitor and only driver who competes in the British Drift Campionship.

Having been at the track from the very first day, I was blown away when Brendan Stone took to the track in the MG Crash Repairs Altezza and just absolutely nailed it!

Brendan went on to qualify first on sunday and finish third overall in the event. Definitly one to watch!

Final practice was our first chance to see Paul Murphy’s new drift car and he didn’t disappoint with his impressive smoke display.

And of course, being the SleepyCat Crew, we couldn’t just have drift cars on the day

One week after our event was the final round of Prodrift at Mondello, and having recieved news during the week that top Formula Drift driver Daijiro Yoshihara was coming to take part in the MG Crash Repairs Altezza, we just had to drop everything and get our asses down south. Not only was it great to see such a top driver, but the MG boys had equipped their cars with SleepyCat stickers at our event and we just had to see our logo on a car being driven by my favourite Formula Drift driver.

The final round of Prodrift also saw lots of other top names competing and Frederic Aasbo in his immense Supra was another highlight of the weekend for me.

But to finish this blog off in true style is my favourite photo of the year. It’ll be a very long time before I forget the sight of this car, with that driver and my logo on the side!

2011 is now behind us and who knows what 2012 will bring, but I’m ready for anything now and our ‘weird world’ can only take us onto bigger and brighter things.

Thank you all

Colin

Here is the story of my big year!