Friday, August 29, 2008

D-MAC HITS DENMARK

After Seattle it was straight off the airplane in Ireland and back onto another heading for the official launch of the SD Series (Scandinavian Drift Series - http://www.sdseries.eu/en/drift-at-padborg-park-08/) in Denmark.

I had been invited to attend and show my skills along with Peden. I was driving a 600HP ex-D1 Nissan S15 and Peden was driving a brand new 6L Corvette - Some video of this soon!!

D-MAC

FormulaD Great 8 in the Saturn Sky - Seattle

After missing Las Vegas, due to unforeseen issues I was determined to show Seattle how drifting is done on an oval....... IN THE RAIN!!

The Falken Tire Saturn Sky has now had a lot more development time and felt a lot better than previous events!

After qualifying 6th overall it was time for Top16 where.

I faced Tony Angelo in his RX8: Final Score 14-9 = D-MAC goes through!!

I then faced Rhys Millen in the Great 8, in his Solstice - It was so close that we had to RUN EM AGAIN, first two battles ended 9-7 /7-9
On to RUN EM AGAIN and this time we were even faster in the very wet conditions!! By the closest of margins, Rhys went though to overall victory with a final score of: 18-15

It was a great event and now sets the tone for SONOMA, Ca. With this result at Seattle I am now up to 8th overall in the Championship, which is great considering that we are still developing a brand new car and missing one round all together didn't help either!!

Stay tuned peepz!!

D-MAC

“D-MAC” Victories again!!

“Darren “D-MAC” McNamara continues Dominating European Drifting”

Round two of the European Championship, held at the high impact track of “Teeside” in Northern England. With a fresh engine and sporting Falken “Azensis RT-615” Tires, the infamous MCNSPORT.com SR86 was ready for action!

The first evening of official practice was spent on the back track simply clocking up miles onto the new engine; with a short practice session shortly before qualification it was time to perform! During the practice session (of which D-MAC had only 3 runs, Ever) he noticed the new engine over-boosting, this meant that extreme caution was needed – Needless to say, not easy whilst drifting!

There were however a few elements on his side; the KW suspension saw the car glide effortlessly throughout the fast corners of the main track at Teeside.

After qualifying comfortably, D-Mac’s Drift Battle opponents were:

Top16: Dan Chapman:

One of the UK’s most promising new talents.

Top 8: Eric O’Sullivan:

Last years ProDrift IRL Champion and winner of JDM-AllStars, held at same venue 2 months previous.

Top 4: Phil Morrisson:

Rated by many as the UK’s number driver.

Final: James Deane:

Irelands bright new 16 year old hope, coming off a victory, 2 weeks previous in the ProDrift IRL series.

D-Mac now has an Overwhelming lead after just 2 events, however the next round (ProDrift Round 3, Sturup Raceway; Sweden) will see his competition get one up on him as it is conflicting with Round 3 of the US FormulaD series (Held in New Jersey, USA)

In his victory speech Darren extended his thanks to all his supporters; MCNSPORT.com – Falken Tires – JapaneseUsedCars.com – KW Suspension – Gumball3000 & Drift2Motorsport.

General Manager at MCNSPORT, Peter Nielsen said:

"After taking a year out of European drifting to concentrate on driving for Falken Tire Corporation, in the FormulaD Championship in America. Two rounds in, Darren has already come head to head with nearly all of Europe’a Top runners and rained victorious on all occasions - cementing his place as Europe’s undisputed Number 1 Professional drifter; and sees Darren “D-MAC” McNamara continue Dominating European Drifting."

D-MAC and Falken Tire lead the way in Europe.. OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

After FormulaD, Long Beach - USA; The weekend after saw the first round of the Irish and European ProDrift Series dawn on the Mondello International circuit near Dublin, Ireland.

After D-MAC's very successful year in the Falken SR86 Corolla, 2007; It was time for it to return home to once again frighten the local and international competition.

D-MAC went into the weekend on a high, after his successful debut in the Falken/Sears Auto Center Saturn Sky. Finishing 9th overall after an amazing 2nd place during qualifying, D-MAC had impressed Everyone in this as-yet undeveloped torque monster.

The weekend began as late as Friday afternoon as the SR86 Corolla had only just cleared customs that afternoon, as the car arrived at the circuit there was an amazing sense of amazement from the flocking crowds.. and a distinct smell of Fear from the other drivers as "The Beast" had arrived home again. As the car was started for the first time there were several issues from the word go, the car itself was bent as D-MAC had a nasty meet with the notorious Irwindale concrete wall last time out. As well as this the engine was struggling under the pressure from not having stretched its legs for nearly 6months! "at first the turbo wouldn't even spool" said Darren, only after several hours work into the night was she running again.

In true form, D-MAC as if he never left went out and impressed all by taking the runner-up position in the Irish Championship and after qualifying first for the European event, he now leads the European Championship for Falken Tire, MCNSPORT.com

D-MAC as always grateful to all his sponsors say a very personal thanks to all of his sponsors:
-MCNSPORT.com
-Falken Tire
-JapaneseUsedCars.com
-Gumball3000
-KW Suspension
-Drift2Motorsport

/Peden
General Manager
MCNSPORT.com

OK............. back on track!!

Okay okay okay I know I haven't been the best at updating the blog!!!

Between running the business and flying out to some different part of the world every week (nearly at this stage!!) ..not much has happened on the blog -
Which I suppose is silly when its been the most interesting few months EVER!!

Let me try and fill you guys in on whats happened in the life of D-MAC the past few months.....

Let's start where it finished.. LONG BEACH ARRIVAL! Arrived in Sunny L.A. and went straight to the track where the Brand New FALKEN Tire / Sears Autocenter, Saturn Sky was parked and ready for testing! It had only just been completed the day before and its only drive was onto the trailer! The Ske didn't have any stickers on, virgin white it was for the first session on the oval!
After taking a few laps of the oval to get use to the massive 6.7L V8 (740HP - 680NM!!) it was time for some sideways testing! The Sky was at that point still in need of a lot of aftermarket parts, infact the cars suspension was from a different model, no adjustment posobility of camber, toe, caster... the car didn't even have an antiroll bar OR EXTRA LOCK!!!

The next day the Saturn Sky was fully wrapped in its company colors after Mickey had stayed back to do it personally. The Street of Long Beach drift track it tricky enough as it is sourounded by concrete airbags...

The car was very "nervous" to say the least during practice, however I managed to qualify 2nd which was a great result considering...

A good day out at the track all season was all we were aiming for, so to get 2nd qualifyer and get into Top 16 was fantastic! Unfortunately we hit the boundary limites of the Sky when in the battle for a great 8 spot was lost due to a spin.. The brakes weren't doing their job and the lack of extra angle meant that we had to gracefully bow out.

Have a look at the Sky...

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Just arrived in Long Beach, California

Whats up peeps!?

I just arrived in Long Beach in preparation for pre-season testing of my new ride for the 2008 FormulaD Drift championship!

This years car is the Team Falken, Saturn SKY!! It's been built up from top to bottom my Falken and it's even Paddy Spec (Right-hand drive).

Looking forward to taking her out for a spin very soon! So keep posted for full spec of the car, a long with Pics and Video!

Catch ya laterz!!
D-MAC

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

JapaneseUsedCars.com Sponsorship renewal!

Hi Guys!

Got my Sponsorship deal with JapaneseUsedCars.com signed for this year!

JapaneseUsedCars.com have been great partners since first signing with them in 2006, they were also the import company who got me the MCNSPORT AE86 "N2" which was used in the Irish series last year for a few rounds.

Just want to say THANKS to JapaneseUsedCars.com for their continued support!

Catch ya laterz!!
D-MAC