Meet Meath's major car enthusiasts... ‘Cars are our happy place. Our freedom. Our passion.

The man behind a gathering of over 400 car enthusiasts in a Navan carpark two weeks ago that drew negative attention from Gardai and the media is looking to tear down the perceptions of the petrolheads as being troublemakers or lawbreakers

It was labelled an illegal car meet, an unauthorised gathering of high-performance motors driven by boy racers with little regard for the rules of the road or respect for the community around them.

When Gardai said they broke up the four-wheeled assembly that took over Navan Retail Centre carpark on Friday June 27th, they claimed checkpoints around the event had yielded penalties for drivers without insurance or learners driving unaccompanied.

"Events such as these once properly organised with permissions and appropriate security in place can occur but not in public car parks with no organisation taken into account," Gardai stated.

So what did happen on that June Friday evening? Why did 400, and not the 1,000 cars, as Gardai claimed, come together in Meath to show off their custom-painted pride and joys in the first place? On foot of the original Meath Chronicle post on the story, we reached out to participants and organisers who were keen to paint a very different picture to one media outlet’s hi-octane headline that screamed: ‘Thousands meet for deadly late night illegal car meet leading to big arrests.’

The story behind the car meet two weeks ago in Navan actually has its origins over 14,000kms away on the streets of Durban in South Africa.

“I started Boost Nation back in Durban, essentially to get the kids off the road,” says 30-year-old car fanatic Brandon Ames, who has lived in Navan for two years, having moved here from the crime riddled Kwazulu Natal province in 2018 in pursuit of a better life with his wife, Shannon.

“Street racing is a massive thing in South Africa and I tried to get guys off public streets and illegal activity and into car parks and meets where we could showcase the cars in one place and where they could be appreciated.” Before Brandon left South Africa, Boost Nation SA was established in Durban, Capetown and Johannesburg.

Changing Perceptions: Boost Nation video released this week.

“I moved to Ireland over two years ago now and have been involved in going to lots of different car meets and filming and photographing them. I noticed straight away that there was no specific place for these guys to meet up, so I decided I was going to bring Boost Nation to Ireland to replicate what I did in South Africa and bring people together.”

Brandon says he wanted to level the playing field in establishing Boost Nation in Ireland because there can be "a lot of hatred towards different car groups here and that can exist within the car community too, depending on the type of car you drive or the modifications you've had done.

"I wanted Boost Nation to be accepting of all, I don’t care what you drive. If you're older and drive a Ferrari, or younger and drive a Corrolla, it's about the passion behind it that makes the difference for me."

Returning to the car meet in Navan that attracted all the attention, Brandon believes lockdown and travel restrictions meant there was a huge appetite for the car enthusiasts to meet up after so long sheltered away.

Carpocalypse Navan: Boost Nation's video of the Navan meet-up.

An event was created on the Boost Nation Eire Facebook page and shared widely among the enthusiasts. Over 700 people registered interest in attending. In the end approximately 400 cars showed up. Aerial maps of the retail park were posted to show drivers which entrance to use, where to park and which exit to leave. Each post was accompanied with a ‘Strictly No Messing’ punchline.

“We know the area and the (Navan Retail) car park really well, and we decided to put together a little meet and it did become big. It wasn't expected but for the size of the crowd what went on was a miracle and there was no messing around, the respect at our event was amazing. There were families walking around, people of all different ages all looking at the cars, that's what it's all about.

The array of cars which travelled from all parts of the country, included customised vintage Japanese imports to the latest Subaurus and Hondas alongside modified Mercs and BMWs providing quite the spectacle, a flavour of which was captured on video by the Boost Nation team.

Brandon was the driving force behind the event but the South African father-of-one (baby Asher Ames was born last year) says most of the enthusiasts believe it’s just a random Irish guy running the Boost Nation Eire social media accounts and are not familiar his back story. His one regret from the car meet in Navan is that he didn’t have the time to get around and meet every driver there.

"I wanted to meet every single person who was there, I wanted to introduce them to each other. There is so much diversity in Ireland, people from many different local and ethnic backgrounds, Poland, Latvia, South Africa, Nigeria, from everywhere really, and it's just such a great way of bringing all that diversity together.

“It's what I did in South Africa and it's what I wanted to do here. I'm trying to bring a different quality and standard into the scene.

Initially Brandon says he didn’t want to be having any car park meets and had made enquiries (pre-lockdown) about hiring private tracks but the costs involved forced him to abandon those plans.

He still bristles at the portrayal of the event as illegal or an outlet for trouble and is determined to change people’s perception of the car community he loves, for the wider public to see the people behind the tinted glass.

"As soon as people see us holding an event we are immediately labelled as hooligans and troublemakers. We are not that, not at all. It's why, with every single post I put up, I tell people there's to be no messing around.”

On the question of drivers acting irresponsibly at these car meets, Brandon draws a parallel with a Friday night out in Navan town centre.

"You go to the pubs in Navan on a weekend night and tell me there's not going to be a fight outside one of them at closing time. You have no control over that. Are you going to point the finger at the owner and demand for the whole place to be closed down?

“And here's us taking photos of cars, and chatting about the hard work and money we’ve spent on them and we're labelled as hooligans?

“That was not a hooligan show, that was a proper car meet with proper respect shown to each other and anyone else that was around. We were delighted to see gardai at our event and they drove around looking at the cars. We were shocked when they said they ‘broke up’ the car meet.”

“Our cars are our happy place. Our freedom. Our independence. Our devotion. Our passion.

One of the greatest challenges in life, is to find a way to express ourselves. Cars are precisely how we achieve this. Each car is unique and special in its own way, each an expression of its owner.”

For the moment it seems Boost Nation finds itself trying to take off with the hand brake still up. Hold the meets as normal and the organisers risk the wrath of Gardai, local communities and car park owners as well as losing in the court of public opinion.

The alternative is to wheelspin into a world of commerciality, insurance, ticketing and all the associated financial commitments, with costs inevitably passed on to the community they want to nurture.

Brandon knows there are further car meets planned with different groups. Whether Boost Nation will be behind one of them remains to be seen.

“I don’t want to be labelled like that again, I would like it to be done right. It's not about making money of this, we're doing it for the passion of the people involved.

“To us, our cars are not just objects, they are our life. They are our refuge and our escape.

Driving is not about the destination. It’s about the thrill of the ride, the synergy between the owner and their car. It’s what keeps us grounded.

“We are not here to instigate, incite, cause damage nor harm. We simply want to gather, where the passion for cars unites us. A place where we can showcase the time and effort invested into our cars. Call us crazy, yes, we are car crazy!”

Main Photo: Brandon Ames (30) is the driving force behind Boost Nation Eire which organised the recent gathering of car enthusiasts in Navan, pictured with fellow car fanatic, Stella Dukalska, also from Navan.