The team:

 

 

Here follows a brief automotive resume for the key members of Team Ireland, as you will see from the words beneath, Team Ireland is a crew of ordinary people intent in achieving the extraordinary…what binds them as a team is their mutual want to chase dreams and to never give up on their dreams… Team Ireland.

Paul Cullen

Paul is a well known within automotive circles and a two time veteran of the, Shasta Snow Trip Endurance Rally. Paul has travelled the world in pursuit of his passion, most recently Paul crewed with RNJ Motorsport in the 2008 VWDRC Drag Racing Championship, Paul is known for his automotive journalism and currently freelances for UltraVW Magazine. Paul was one of the first people to Drag race Aircooled VW’s in Ireland, and the last vehicle he built was featured in multiple international automotive magazines, a calendar and also in the BBC 1 series petrolheads. Paul works as a project manager for Glover Site Investigations Ltd and is co-owner of the North Coast Hot Rod Shop. He lives alone outside Dervock with his two pets Chaos and Carnage.

Britt Grannis

 

Britt, the Californian connection to Team Ireland, Britt lives in California with his wife Chris and their children.  Britt is a long time Veteran of the Shasta Snow Trip Endurance rally and is well known worldwide for his journeys and automotive adventures. Britt regularly commutes from California to his second home on the North Coast of Ireland. Britt works as a water engineer through the week and is also a co-owner of North Coast Hot Rod Shop. Britt  grew up working for a Ferrari and Porsche Dealership in Los Gatos Ca, through his time there he drove and looked after some of the rarest vehicles on the planet. As Britt was growing up his family were heavily involved with the Porsche Club of America, through this connection Britt learnt from a very young age how to maintain and care for these expensive and rare vehicles. Britt will be personally restoring and building both of the Team Ireland vehicles

Most recently Britt crewed for the 36hp challenge at Bonneville in 2008, he attended both Speed Week and World of Speed in 2008, some of Britt’s pictures from Bonneville are featured in the Bonneville 2008 section of the site.

Damien Doherty

Damien Doherty, or “Speedy” as he is affectionately known in the Formula Vee racing circles is one of the worlds leading Formula Vee engine builders. Damien’s involvement with Team Ireland is as our engine builder, Damien will strip, and completely re-build the two 36hp engines the team has sourced, coupled with ancillaries being prepared by Ed Fall ( The current Bonneville 36hp Record Holder). The engines, once built and tested will be shipped to the U.S. and then set up on Art Thraen’s Dyno in Salt Lake City prior to being run on the salt. Damien is based in Northern Ireland and works as an engine builder and owner of Damien Doherty Motorsport. His engines are race proven and vehicles running DD engines have claimed multiple championship wins.

Rob Judge

 

Rob Judge is the Team Ireland Mechanic who will be travelling with the Team to Bonneville. Rob owns and runs RNJ Motorsport in Northampton where he builds and tunes Drag race cars, he also restores vintage vehicles and builds engines. Rob is a highly experienced mechanic who is well known at Santa Pod Raceway where he can usually be found working in the pits. Rob also campaigns his own race car in sprint championships and hill climbs. A former motorbike racer and custom painter Robs skills are all encompassing in the world of motorsport, Robs own race car has been featured in several international magazines and most recently a calendar.

 

Kevo Metcalfe

 

Kevo ( aka Kevo Thunder) is a well known drag racer, having campaigned his flat 4 powered rail in the VWDRC championship and also having circuit raced in the Legends series over the last number of years.  Kevo works at Raceshack in England as a fabricator, and was one of the stars of the recent Beetle Crisis show on Discovery Real time. Kevo will be joining us in the capacity of mechanical support alongside Rob.

 

Nick Grant

Nick Grant is one of the media team who will be attending Bonneville to document Team Ireland’s journey. Nick is famed for his automotive photography. His work has been featured in many magazines and his latest work ”A New York Minute”  has received great acclaim. Nick will be documenting the journey from the start with the aim of the shots being used in the book “Chasing Dreams – Bonneville or Bust” currently being written by Paul Cullen. Nick lives in London  with his wife and works for an International Bank as well as a freelance photographer.

Stuart Cullen

 

Stuart is travelling with the team as a cinematographer, again to document the journey, Stuart lives and works in Northern Ireland as the owner of Strand Media Group and also works as a lecturer in media. Stuarts experience ranges from documentary film making for Channel 4 and BBC to filming and editing adverts for Cinema screening, Stuart films for Miss Northern Ireland every year and has worked on an extreme surfing documentary ”Driven” and also on a Skateboarding documentary for 5-Boro skate team from New York. Stuart won student film director of the year at the London Film Festival, he has been A prize winner in The Shell Live wire Entrepreneur awards and also placed in the Kodak Extreme Film Festival. His work is well known throughout the industry and he can often be found camera in hand at events across Ireland and the UK. Stuart lives on his own on the North Coast of Ireland.

Peter Moore

Peter Moore is the second documentary photographer in Team Ireland, Peter is an upcoming photographer based in Belfast. His work has been featured in Multiple magazines throughout the UK and Ireland. His photography ranges from commercial work to that of automotive magazine features, fashion features and more recently photography of bands touring Ireland, Peters last two shoots were for Max Power Magazine and one with “The Script” when they played in Belfast (xmas 2008) Peter is also a full trained mechanic who has worked for the Honda Touring Car team, Peter owns Civic Sports Club web forum and Project|Horizon digital imaging. Peter lives on his own in Belfast.

Simon Pollock

A long time car enthusiast, Simon is one of the UK’s leading pinstriping artists. Simons work has been featured again in multiple magazines and some of the top prize winning cars, motorbikes & hot rods in the UK have been painted by Simon. Simon has travelled the world working on vehicles and motorbikes and recently he pinstriped a Triumph Motorbike built for Charlie Boreman ( long way round / long way down) Simon will be travelling with the team to signwrite and pinstripe both of the vehicles. Simon works as a web designer Monday through Friday and is responsible for some of the largest and most successful automotive websites in the world.  Simon lives in Farnborough with his wife and children,

 

Steven Hall

Stevie has grown up in the field of motorsport and has raced both Minis and Mark II Escorts in the past, Steven has built many vehicles, his latest build is taking the VW scene by storm with magazines patiently queuing up to feature it upon its completion. Stevies driving skills were honed whilst serving in the army where he was trained to a exceptional level in driving and related skills. Instrumental since the teams inception, Stevie has played a key roll in the challenge so far, helping the sourcing of parts and services. Stevie is a fireman who lives in Antrim with his wife and children,