Week 9, 2025 - For the kids
Song of the week:
Thoughts
I deliberately wanted to delay this weeks' post because on Sunday I was going to the Spring Bash.
Spring Bash is an annual drift series run by the impressive team at Drift Games. It's a fairly unstructured weekend from a spectator perspective. Lots of drifting, ride-alongs and general on-track chaos. It's great run to soak up the atmosphere of a motorsport weekend and get used to what happens with drifting, though any side-by-side competitions are purely fun.
But as I dragged my two excitable toddlers and brother along for some craic, I noted something impressive about the whole event. It was mixed. Toddlers, young kids, folks with disabilities. Kids and adults of all ages, sizes, colour and creed. It was great to see. And I wondered, perhaps idiotically, what some of those teenagers would be doing if it wasn't for being part of motorsport culture in Ireland.
I'm on the board of Youth Reach in an area that's been through it's fair share of tough times. Plenty of kids go to Youth Reach as an outlet to escape their home, school or just life in general. They struggle with mental health problems. Often with physical problems too. And that's notwithstanding those who are not cis, white or from settled homes.
Motorsport can provide the bandwidth, skill and depth to provide a huge outlet to these kinds of kids. Untapped talent on the track matched with the engineering adaptability required to keep the car on the road. Or the creativity needed to paint or wrap a car in a standout way.
I doubt I'll have the ability to marry my love of motorsport with my past-time passion for helping the community, particularly the youth. But if I manage to do it, I absolutely will. It's such a wonderful thing to be able to share with folks. If they can get exposed to it.
Photo of the week
(via my flickr)