MODIFICATIONS AND MISCONCEPTIONS
LISA CONNOLLY
Modifications And Misconceptions explores youth culture and the community of boyracers within car subcultures in rural Ireland. Boyracers express one facet of their personalities through the modified car. When they meet up they mess, they perform and they take part in rituals that confirm their identities as members of this tribe, which not everyone understands.
‘‘Car meets are not about causing trouble. They are about people with the same interests coming together and enjoying that interest.’’ - J.M.
‘‘It’s like a drug, an obsession. You just can’t get enough of it.’’ - D.B.
‘‘A lot of us struggle to express ourselves. A lot of us bottle everything up. But we show what we have with cars.’’ - S.M.
‘‘This subculture awoke a passion inside me that I didn’t know I had. The loud cars, smell of petrol. I got hooked.’’ - J.D.
I think it was about two or three years ago that I got involved in the car culture. It was the idea of drifting/diffing that got me first interested. I will never forget my first drive in my friends Nissan 180. It was heaven on earth. I think for me it’s the adrenalin that what got me hooked. But it’s also amazing to gather together with others who share the same passion as me, it’s rare, especially for girls. I found it hard to find girls with this interest in my local town, it was going to my first meets and the rallies that I realised there are a lot more girls involved than you would think. There is so much negativity around our love and our passion. For most people outside of our little community, loud cars are annoying and a sign of danger. They don’t realise that it can mean everything to that person driving. I really wish there was more of an understanding because people think it’s just a stupid thing, a car going round and round in circles. But they don’t understand. And I don’t think these people ever will. - J.
I became part of the car culture when a friend introduced me, in I think it was 2010. I’ve never looked back. It just awoke a passion inside me that I didn’t know I had. The loud cars, the smell of petrol. I got hooked almost immediately. I love the meets, all the rallies, and the messing at night time up in the windmills, far away from everybody and everything. It’s cool, it’s kind of like a sub culture. You would be very surprised the different types of people that are interested in it too, they come from all over Ireland just for a one day event. Its madness of the best sort. This scene is very misunderstood. I think it’s a huge community in Ireland and I love it. The negative light is definitely there, but I don’t try change it, it’s like asking for world peace, impossible. I think a lot of us are well used of the negativity from other road users and the guards, even our own families. But we stay going. We just love it. - M.
From the outside looking in, it’s very easy judge these individuals by the noise of their cars, the modification involved, and the tracks they leave behind them. Many of us are guilty of prejudgement. Before I started this series, I was always curious why there was such a fascination to the car and its modifications. I wanted to understand it, and understand them. Doing this series, and getting involved with this culture, involved strenuous effort, they were hesistant to let me in. After sometime, through track days, meets, rallies, and midnight ‘messing’, I was finally somewhat part, of the culture. Photographing these individuals and what they do was breathtaking. I witnessed the smiles, the adrenalin and the love and fascination that this culture brought to it’s individuals. They thrive on adrenalin, they express through the modified, and they ignore the misconceptions.