SMALL CHILDREN WATCHED from their fathers’ shoulders, fingers jammed in their ears and grinning away, as the smoke rolled down Cork’s South Mall.
On Saturday night, more than 10,000 people filled the street for Red Bull Homerun, a sold-out night of Formula 1 and drifting staged to celebrate local hero Conor Shanahan. For a few hours, one of the city’s main streets belonged to some of the world’s best car-control drivers.
Top billing went to a piece of Formula One history: the Red Bull RB7, the car that took Sebastian Vettel to the 2011 world title, driven by Patrick Friesacher, who raced for Minardi in 2005. Its V8 echoed off the South Mall’s buildings to roars from the barriers.
Afterwards came the drifters: two-time Drift Masters champion Shanahan, his older brother Jack, five-time Formula Drift champion James Deane, and 18-year-old Conor Falvey, all from North Cork, sliding sideways within touching distance of the crowd.
When the RB7 first rolled out onto the street, people tugged at their friends’ sleeves and pointed. Later, an elderly couple stood arm in arm at the barrier as Conor, Jack and James drifted around one another in a cloud of tyre smoke.
“Today was actually the best day of my life,” said Marcel, 18, from Cork. “The F1 car was my absolute dream to see…This was genuinely a dream come true for me.”
Advertisement
Louise Cantillon and Eddie Power pictured at Red Bull Homerun. Simon Lazewski / INPHO
Simon Lazewski / INPHO / INPHO
Another 18-year-old fan, who preferred not to be named, struggled to pick a highlight. “We got to see the car and the drifting and the smoke and the noise of the cars,” she said. “It’s just absolutely insane.”
That closeness is the point, according to Jack Shanahan. “My favourite part is the fact that people are literally within a metre of the noise,” he said before the run. Having watched his brother perform at events like this, he knows what the crowd feels: “You feel the noise and the adrenaline go through your body. I feel that’s probably the most exciting thing: people get to see it up close and personal.”
For Conor Shanahan, the night was about bringing something home that Ireland rarely gets.
“I think Ireland has a huge culture in motorsport, but we don’t have an F1 stop,” he said. “So for them to get the chance to see an F1 car up close… is also quite cool.”
“I’ve travelled the world, but to come home and they put on an event like this to celebrate drifting, celebrate motorsport in my home city is incredibly special.”
Patrick Friesacher pictured at Red Bull Homerun. Sebastian Marko / INPHO
Sebastian Marko / INPHO / INPHO
Driving a 2011 championship-winning car through a city street takes more care than it looks.
Friesacher explained that show-run cars are raised and given extra cooling, because a Formula One car only cools properly at speed. During burnouts and donuts the temperature climbs quickly, and if that water temperature goes above 125 degrees, he said, “it’s quite tricky.” Add cobblestones, wet patches, narrow streets, and no venue the same, and it makes for a wild ride.
The Austrian, who began as Red Bull’s first junior driver in 1994, has taken the car to San Francisco, Miami and the Las Vegas Strip, but Saturday was his first time in Cork. Earlier in the week, he drove the RB7 up Cork’s mountain roads: “It was quite bumpy up there,” he admitted with a grin, “but still the scenery and everything around it, it was epic.”
He says the reaction to the F1 car is the same everywhere he goes. “You just switch on the engine, and the people have a smile on their face,” he said. “It gives them goosebumps, I think.”
The drift cars presented a different kind of noise. Deane, who now competes in a Ford Mustang, enjoyed the mix of machinery on show down in Cork. “I think it’s cool that we have some diversity between the drift cars,” he said. “You have GT86s, the S15 and the Mustang, so it’s a good show.”
Drivers, from left to right, Drift Master Conor Falvey; Three-time Drift Masters Champion and Five-time Formula Drift USA Champion James Deane; Former Formula One Driver and Red Bull Athlete Patrick Friesacher; Red Bull Athlete and two-time Drift Masters Champion Conor Shanahan; and Drift Master Jack Shanahan. Ramsey Cardy / INPHO
Ramsey Cardy / INPHO / INPHO
Behind the spectacle there was serious business. Shanahan has just finished second in the European Drift Masters championship, and later this month he heads to Long Beach, California, for the final round of Formula Drift, needing to win just one heat to claim the American title. Deane is his nearest challenger.
He and Jack will also head to Japan to compete in the final round of D1GP, their first time racing there. Conor called it “such a special place in our sport”.
Before the run, Shanahan commented on the event itself, and the enormity of having a show run. “It’s something we’re probably never going to get to do again,” Shanahan said before the run. “And also something we probably never thought that we were going to do as kids.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
‘Best day of my life’: 10,000 pack Cork’s South Mall as Red Bull brings F1 and drifting home
SMALL CHILDREN WATCHED from their fathers’ shoulders, fingers jammed in their ears and grinning away, as the smoke rolled down Cork’s South Mall.
On Saturday night, more than 10,000 people filled the street for Red Bull Homerun, a sold-out night of Formula 1 and drifting staged to celebrate local hero Conor Shanahan. For a few hours, one of the city’s main streets belonged to some of the world’s best car-control drivers.
Top billing went to a piece of Formula One history: the Red Bull RB7, the car that took Sebastian Vettel to the 2011 world title, driven by Patrick Friesacher, who raced for Minardi in 2005. Its V8 echoed off the South Mall’s buildings to roars from the barriers.
Afterwards came the drifters: two-time Drift Masters champion Shanahan, his older brother Jack, five-time Formula Drift champion James Deane, and 18-year-old Conor Falvey, all from North Cork, sliding sideways within touching distance of the crowd.
When the RB7 first rolled out onto the street, people tugged at their friends’ sleeves and pointed. Later, an elderly couple stood arm in arm at the barrier as Conor, Jack and James drifted around one another in a cloud of tyre smoke.
“Today was actually the best day of my life,” said Marcel, 18, from Cork. “The F1 car was my absolute dream to see…This was genuinely a dream come true for me.”
Another 18-year-old fan, who preferred not to be named, struggled to pick a highlight. “We got to see the car and the drifting and the smoke and the noise of the cars,” she said. “It’s just absolutely insane.”
That closeness is the point, according to Jack Shanahan. “My favourite part is the fact that people are literally within a metre of the noise,” he said before the run. Having watched his brother perform at events like this, he knows what the crowd feels: “You feel the noise and the adrenaline go through your body. I feel that’s probably the most exciting thing: people get to see it up close and personal.”
For Conor Shanahan, the night was about bringing something home that Ireland rarely gets.
“I think Ireland has a huge culture in motorsport, but we don’t have an F1 stop,” he said. “So for them to get the chance to see an F1 car up close… is also quite cool.”
“I’ve travelled the world, but to come home and they put on an event like this to celebrate drifting, celebrate motorsport in my home city is incredibly special.”
Driving a 2011 championship-winning car through a city street takes more care than it looks.
Friesacher explained that show-run cars are raised and given extra cooling, because a Formula One car only cools properly at speed. During burnouts and donuts the temperature climbs quickly, and if that water temperature goes above 125 degrees, he said, “it’s quite tricky.” Add cobblestones, wet patches, narrow streets, and no venue the same, and it makes for a wild ride.
The Austrian, who began as Red Bull’s first junior driver in 1994, has taken the car to San Francisco, Miami and the Las Vegas Strip, but Saturday was his first time in Cork. Earlier in the week, he drove the RB7 up Cork’s mountain roads: “It was quite bumpy up there,” he admitted with a grin, “but still the scenery and everything around it, it was epic.”
He says the reaction to the F1 car is the same everywhere he goes. “You just switch on the engine, and the people have a smile on their face,” he said. “It gives them goosebumps, I think.”
The drift cars presented a different kind of noise. Deane, who now competes in a Ford Mustang, enjoyed the mix of machinery on show down in Cork. “I think it’s cool that we have some diversity between the drift cars,” he said. “You have GT86s, the S15 and the Mustang, so it’s a good show.”
Behind the spectacle there was serious business. Shanahan has just finished second in the European Drift Masters championship, and later this month he heads to Long Beach, California, for the final round of Formula Drift, needing to win just one heat to claim the American title. Deane is his nearest challenger.
He and Jack will also head to Japan to compete in the final round of D1GP, their first time racing there. Conor called it “such a special place in our sport”.
Before the run, Shanahan commented on the event itself, and the enormity of having a show run. “It’s something we’re probably never going to get to do again,” Shanahan said before the run. “And also something we probably never thought that we were going to do as kids.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
conor shanahan Cork drifting F1 Red Bull Review south mall