Born and raised in Ireland, Eric O’Sullivan has been recognized as a “European drifting pioneer”. O’Sullivan brought his drifting skills to America, teaming up with Dynamic Autosports, Hankook and Rockstar Energy Drink to compete in the full Formula Drift season.

The team at Mishimoto is looking forward to the upcoming event in Sonoma, California where Eric O’Sullivan will be running a new setup, including the Mishimoto Performance Aluminum Radiator and M Line Front-Mount Intercooler. For more information visit www.Mishimoto.com.

26/3/09 – Dublin, Ireland

ERIC O SULLIVAN TO COMPETE IN FORMULA DRIFT SERIES WITH ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINKS AND HANKOOK TIRES
Former Prodrift Series Champion and current JDM Allstars Triple Crown Series Champion Eric O Sullivan has announced plans to compete in Formula Drift series in the United States for the 2009 season. Eric will be joining Robbie Nishida at the Dynamic Autosports/Gruppe S Team in a 2007 Subaru Impreza STI for the 7-round series, which commences April 11th-12th on the Streets of Long Beach, California.
 
After witnessing a monumental performance at the World Drift Championship event in Long Beach last November, Eric’s title sponsors Rockstar Energy Drink and Hankook Tires will be helping him to achieve his goal of challenging some of the best drifting talent in the World for the championship. O’Sullivan earned his bid to the invite-only World Championships through his 2007 series championship in the Irish Pro Drift series, Prodrift European Series 3rd place overall and added a JDM All Stars Triple Crown championship to his resume in 2008. O’Sullivan drove his Honda F20-powered AE86 Corolla in the competition, and was able to claim a respectable 15th-place qualification despite being the lowest-powered car in the field.

When asked about Eric joining the Hankook Tires team for 2009, Director of Marketing Paul Jho replied ”We are happy and excited to have the Prodrift Champion here with us in America and we are confident that Dynamic Autosports will build a winning car for Eric to achieve his goal. Eric O’Sullivan gave an outstanding performance at the World Championship event in Long Beach and Formula Drift is excited that Eric will be competing in US Professional Series with Hankook Tire”.
 
For Eric and his team in Ireland, this has been a long journey to get to this stage. Many months of negotiations and meetings have led to this opportunity to progress his professional driving career. Eric is delighted with this opportunity to compete in Formula D and said ” I attended the final round of Formula D back in 2006 and knew there and then that was where I wanted to be. I have been working towards this for over 2 years now and, after being so close on a number of occasions, I am delighted to finally get my chance. Rockstar Energy Drink and Hankook Tires have been instrumental to my success in Europe, and I am confident with their continued support, I can achieve the same in Formula D ”

More details of sponsors and car configuration will be announced shortly in the lead up to the first round on the Streets of Long Beach. Be sure you keep up to date with Eric’s progress throughout the season by checking out www.ericosullivan.com.

For more information on:

Eric O Sullivan: www.ericosullivan.com/wordpress/

Rockstar Energy Drinks: www.rockstar69.com

Hankook Tires USA: www.hankooktireusa.com

Dynamic Autosport/Gruppe S: www.gruppe-s.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

16/3/09 – DUBLIN, IRELAND. 

O SULLIVAN TO JOIN WORKS BELL’S LINE UP OF TOP DRIFTERS

Top European drifter Eric O Sullivan is set to join a long line of the Worlds top drivers in representing Japanese performance manufacturer Works Bell on the Drift circuit. Following in the steps of such drivers as Team Orange’s Nobushige Kumamubo, Kazuhiro Tanaka and fellow World renowned AE86 Corolla drifter Toshiki Yoshioka. O Sullivan will be the first European driver to be supported by Works Bell and is very proud to be representing the Japanese brand in Drift competitions around the World.

When asked about what this means to him Eric replied, ” Works Bell has long been associated with some of the best drift teams in the world and I am honored to be chosen as their representative within the European drift community. The quality of the RapFix Ⅱ system is astonishing and will be a very welcome addition to my car for the ‘09 season “.

Works Bell was established in 1950 and has a long history of manufacturing high quality steering wheel boss kits and quick release systems. World renowned for its Ball Lock System, which allows Race drivers easy access to and from the cockpit of their cars. Eric will be using the RapFix Ⅱ system for his Vtec powered Corolla for the coming season. Works Bell has strong distribution in both Japan and United States but now see Europe as a new target market to promote its brand and products.

 Masato Miyashita of Works Bell Japan said “To expand our market, we started distributing our products in Europe. As our first advance, we are proud of having this great opportunity supporting the Irish renowned drift driver, Eric O Sullivan. Our Ball Lock System equipped products, RapFix Ⅱ and Rapfix GTC, are effective not only for giving the driver easy access to his/her car’s cockpit, but also for rescuing activities at the time of emergency at the circuit. At the biggest Japanese endurance race, Super Taikyu, every single car equips Rapfix GTC in 2009 series. We believe people will be impressed and acknowledge our “Made in Japan” quality and technique, and hope that will lift up the recognition of drifting in Europe”.

For more information on works Bell products: www.worksbell.co.jp

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 15/3/09 DUBLIN, IRELAND

MISHIMOTO PERFORMANCE SET TO COOL PRODRIFT CHAMPION

 Mishimoto Automotive Performance is one of America’s leading Radiator and accessories suppliers to the performance market. Established in 2003, Mishimoto have moved to the forefront in cooling technology and is now set to conquer Europe with its superior and stylish looking radiators. Mishimoto Automotive will team up with Prodrift and JDM Allstars Champion Eric O Sullivan for the coming season. The extra horsepower planned for the Corolla will of course create much more unwanted heat and so the cooling system must also be upgraded to handle this. Mishimoto cooling products may not be very well known here in Europe but after looking over some of their products at SEMA back in November Eric is sure this will all begin to change as they launch their extensive range of radiators, fans and electronics into the European tuning market.

Eric said “We are very proud to be part of this product launch and the new Corolla will now be equipped with an all new custom radiator, hose kit, twin electric fans and electronic fan control. One of the fundamental problems with drift cars is that they drive sideways so much of the time the radiator rarely gets good air flow to help it cool. This new larger radiator and twin fan set up from Mishimoto will eliminate any fears I had of overheating my new custom built Honda motor and help my car remain 100% reliable no matter what the competition throws at it”.

When asked about Eric representing Mishimoto in Europe, Hannah Robbins Public Relations Manager with Mishimoto said “We are very excited to be expanding our motorsports teams into the European market and are proud to have Eric and his crew on our team.”

For more information on Mishimoto : www.mishimoto.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

15/3/09 – DUBLIN, IRELAND

CARBONETIC CLUTCHES UK PARTNER O SULLIVAN FOR 2009 SEASON

Prodrift  and JDM Allstars Champion Eric O Sullivan and his team are proud to announce its partnership with Carbonetic Clutches Uk for the 2009 Drift Season. After two very successful seasons in the Vtec powered Corolla the time has come to replace and upgrade many of its major components. With an extra 100hp planned for the Honda engine many other parts must be upgraded to cope, the first of which being the clutch assembly.

“I am delighted to have Carbonetic UK on board as a new sponsor to the team and I am confident that with their extensive knowledge of these extraordinary clutches I’ll have many more trouble free and successful seasons in the Corolla” said O Sullivan when asked what this meant to him and the team.

Carbonetic’s line of carbon composite clutch’s and LSD’s are legendary within the drift community and they were the first choice of clutch to use with the new engine. After some questions about the car and Eric’s driving style Gavin Dunphy from Carbonetic UK was able to advise Eric on the product best suited to the now World famous Corolla. A Prospec single disc carbon clutch with 1600kg pressure plate and custom flywheel. This sprung single disc set up will easily handle the abuse and keep the stock transmission in one piece unlike the twin or triple solid disc set up of conventional aftermarket clutches.

Gavin Dunphy from Carbonetic Uk commented “Carbonetic are proud to sponsor and support such a great talent. We hope this is the start to a long standing relationship between Eric and Carbonetic. We cannot think of a better way to demonstrate our products to the public. Good luck for 2009”

For more information on Carbonetic products: www.carbonetic.co.uk