86fest 2026

This week, is one of the busiest and most important weeks on the Japanese modified car calendar here in Ireland. I am, of course, talking about 86Fest week. One of the largest gatherings of AE86s outside of Japan, its an annual event which has been running since 2015 and its success is down to quite a number of notable '86 heads' from across the island, including my good pal Nikki.

86Fest has developed into somewhat of a Toyota-fest in recent years which, I think given the popularity of older Toyotas here, is something that's been welcomed by most. With a day full of alternating drift and grip sessions and my desire to make 'track day' run and gun videos at an all time low, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to once again show Cian Heffernan the arse end of my beautiful 2K red XLi.

As I've alluded to before, my Corolla is a perfectly capable track machine. Yes, 75hp doesn't get you going anywhere quick but theres plenty of fun to be had around Mondello's lengthy international circuit, especially with coilovers and some brake upgrades. I've still got nowhere near extracting its full potential and I've got some goals for this video that I'd like to reach in order to begin to understand the limits of my glorious saloon car.

Going into the week, I had one aesthetic upgrade and some maintenance in mind.Fitting a touring car style wing was something I'd been toying with the idea of forever. It just settles the rear-end visually and makes it feel more finished. Thankfully, this one came free of charge from friend of the channel Anto, thanks again man! This was more of an aesthetically minded addition but you'll probably know that's how I make a lot of my decisions at this stage.

The car didn’t need major surgery. It needed a few small jobs finished off and a couple of details cleaned up. I also got around to servicing the car and sorting the front lip, which had been bothering me for a while because it wasn’t looking nearly as good as I wanted it to. Other people might not even notice, but once you know it’s wrong, it sticks in your head every time you walk past the car. I think I'll change this lip out in the future but it does the job for now.

That’s really where the car is at now. Apart from a few cosmetic tweaks, it’s pretty much where I want it. I love how it drives. I love how it turns in, its stance, and how connected it feels when you’re behind the wheel. So at this point, it’s not about changing the car. It’s about improving the person controlling it.

Last time out, I came home with Best Looking Corolla, which I was genuinely delighted with. There’s always a bit of satisfaction in that, especially when you’ve put the effort in and yours peers recognise it. But the lap times told a different story. I was roughly six or seven seconds away from where I wanted to be, and in a car with this little power, that gap doesn’t really point to a mechanical problem. It points right back at the idiot with the helmet on.

The 4E-FE is healthy. The C160 gearbox does its job. Even without an LSD, the car is capable enough for what I’m trying to do, especially on a set of new Uniroyal Rainsport 5s. What it really needs is more commitment from me. More confidence on the brakes. More speed carried through the bends. And what I've now learnt is called 'overdriving' the car, especially in low-speed corners. That’s what the focus of this outing is.

I’ve spent a fair bit of time watching onboard laps online, trying to piece together the cleanest way around Mondello, especially on the International Loop. It’s a long circuit, and that means there are loads of places where time can be gained without doing anything dramatic. In a faster car, those small gains don’t always feel like much. In something with such little power, they matter a lot more.

My best lap so far is a 2:30.98. And I know that number will make some people laugh. There’ll always be someone ready with the same tired line about a Yaris, bald tyres, or some ridiculous comparison designed to make themselves feel faster than they are. Truthfully, I couldn’t care less. If your nan’s dog can do a quicker lap after a full breakfast, fair play to him. That still isn’t the point.

The point is taking something ordinary and trying to get a proper sense of satisfaction out of it. The point is learning how to drive better in a car that gives you very little to work with and asks you to be precise if you want anything back in return. That’s the appeal for me. Not every bit of driving has to be dramatic to be enjoyable. Sometimes the fun is in the repetition. In the chase. In slowly pulling the same lap time down by being a little sharper every time you go out. And that’s what I wanted from 86Fest.

Not a miracle. Not a headline time. Just a cleaner, more complete day, and a chance to keep chipping away at consistently lapping sub-2:30.

A few parts fitted. A few jobs finished. A lot of time spent thinking about where the time might come from and how ballsy I was going to get in pursuit of my goal. And then eventually, the day itself. Mondello always has a way of exposing the truth fairly quickly. You can watch all the onboard footage you want, you can convince yourself you’ve found the answer, but once the helmet goes on and the visor comes down, the circuit tends to sort the fiction from the fact pretty quickly.

The real test was going to be getting a better understanding of the car, how the car felt, how I felt. Whether the changes I’d made before the event translated into anything meaningful once I was actually out there. And just as importantly, whether I could finally start making progress towards consistently lapping under 2:30.

I didn't want one decent lap, or one time that sounds better when I'm chatting to the rocketship that is Paddy Donnelly. I wanted consistency, a repeatable pace and something I can build upon. The day started as it always does with a huge amount of nerves and butterflies, like it was my first time out all over again.

The first session is always a hectic one so I went out with the goal of checking over the car, making sure we had no leaks and the brakes did their very important but only job. Once I got the all clear, I got out of the madness after a few laps and came. The second session looked about equally as crazy and knowing the weather was good and the track was only going to get quicker as the day went on, I decided to throw Dave & Adam the keys and let them loose on the track.

The lads had been working hard getting all the show cars parked that morning so its cool to watch back and see how much fun they had. Although, I'm not sure I'll ever get the pink glove, cowprint jacket combo out of my head now.

We had one more session before lunch and I had promised Emlyn a couple of passenger laps. Thankfully hes fairly well versed in the dark arts of navigating Mondello Park and other race tracks so he was quite willing to guide me round and help me understand where I can gain time and more importantly where I'm losing it.

After parading 15 or so of our excellent machines around the track and partaking in the parade lap, it was time to try and put my research and learnings into practice. I had 3 sessions to get my shit together and do some consistent laps, so lets get into it....

Thanks for watchin'

Mind Yourself.