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If you've been to any of our trackdays, chances are you've seen Martin Tierney's Celica 190 vvtli. This thing has done nearly as many track days as we have! Now on his 19th day, you certainly can't argue that Martin has got value out of the car! With close to 200bhp, a close ratio box and a diff, the Celica's make a great base for a track car with very few mods. However, they have a bad reputation for blowing engines due to oil starvation and as such can be picked up cheaply (for about a grand or thereabouts) and...

As with pretty much all Motorsport events, track days in Ireland have to conform to a pre-defined noise limit. The reason for this is to reduce environmental impact and to help keep Motorsport running. Local Authorities actually have the power to suppress any noise source deemed to be causing a nuisance - in other words, they can shut it down if it's too loud. It's for this reason that all cars have to be noise tested at the track before taking part in a track day, just the same as a race or rally. The noise limit is 105 decibels...

Word association is a fabulous thing, and entirely subjective to personal taste, education or interest. It’s the natural reaction of bringing any number of random thoughts to the forefront of your mind at even the slightest stimulus. It’s a fascinating phenomenon, and its study can tell all manner of things about a person. Play word association as a petrol head and it’s likely to conjure up vivid insights into car culture at large. Say Honda to someone with a lust for all things JDM, and chances are the word Civic will pop up much quicker than something like Prelude or...

You couldn't help but have noticed Philip Gilmartin's Martini liveried Clio at our last trackday at Mondello Park, it's striking to say the least and that colour scheme really just makes an already racy looking car even more purposeful. The main thing you need to know about this Renaultsport Clio is that its had a heart transplant. This 197 has a Megane R26 engine & gearbox conversion. I have to admit this is the first i'd heard of this conversion and it's increased my desire to own one of these Clio's even more. In the UK, seemingly this is quite...

Regulars to our track days will be familiar with the sight of Alan Healy's rapid silver ek Civic. If there was an award for most laps done at a track day I think Alan would be in with a chance of winning every time and the reason for that is that he's always testing out something new - a click on the dampers here, a few psi less in the tyres there, or whatever it may be. Although track days are non-competitive, you always have yourself to compete against and tweaking and adjusting your car to get the most out...