In most houses, teenage brothers would be fighting over getting the most time on the Xbox or PS4, who gets to use the bathroom first or which TV channel is selected – but in the Shanahan house in Killavullen, the two brothers are busy building drift cars to compete against drivers twice their age and more.
Jack Shanahan, who is now 16 and is going into fifth year in Davis College in Mallow, first came into the limelight when he was 13 and he was quickly labeled as one to watch in the drifting scene.
He had the honour of being the youngest drifter to go pro, won the British Drift Championship in 2015 and just recently, he beat his mentor James Deane for the first time and won the Global Warfare IDC vs Drift Allstars event in Mondello.
His younger brother Conor, who is now 13, and is going into first year in Davis College in Mallow has also entered the world of drifting and is busy raising smoke as his car goes sideways down the track at speeds that would make most confident adult drivers pale at the very thought of.
“The minute you’re on the start line and you put on the helmet, the other person you’re up against could be 120, it doesn’t matter, you are both just drifters fighting for the win,” these were the sobering and mature words from Jack when The Avondhu visited the Shanahan garage.
Jack made a name for himself at a young age in Europe and is currently leading the way at the British Drift Championship (BDC), but he said that securing sponsorship is notoriously difficult and he could send out up to 400 emails and could get less than five positive replies.
Full report and pictures on this week’s Print & Digital Edition
