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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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The NASCAR spec beast that Roscrea legend Nicole will tame this weekend at Mondello
'Roscrea Rocket' Nicole Drought has a very busy weekend ahead.
On Saturday the famous past pupil of Coláiste Phobal in Roscrea and daughter of Owain Drought, well known Roscrea mechanic and himself a passionate racer, visits Snetterton Circuit in Norfolk to defend her MSVR Trackday Trophy Championship lead - before jetting back to Ireland to test out some unique horsepower on home soil.
Nicole and her team mate Justin Roberts have taken three wins already this season and the duo sit at the top of the Championship standings in the EBC Brakes Honda Civic with a nine point gap as the calendar reaches the half way point.
Should she taste the bubbly once again though, there won't be time for celebrations as she will be rushing from the track to fly back to Ireland.
The reason? Nicole will taste NASCAR power next Sunday when she takes the wheel of the iconic 1989 Team Ireland Chevrolet Lumina NASCAR at the Carole Nash Historic Festival at Mondello Park.
The famous Roscrea native has driven a large variety of cars over the last number of years including two F1 cars, a GT3 Porsche and McLaren, a Lancia LC1, and the famous Group C March "Spirit of Miami" car.
Nicole has previously demonstrated the Lola T70-Chevrolet and the Spice-Hart C86 from the Martin Birrane Collection and is excited at the prospect of trying the Team Ireland Chevrolet, which normally resides in the Mondello Park Museum of Motorsport.
The car is powered by a 5.8 litre V8 engine producing around 850bhp and back in the day, would have been capable of reaching 200mph on the US oval circuits.
"I can't wait to get behind the wheel of such an iconic car", said Nicole "I've been lucky enough to have driven many different historic cars but I have seen and heard the Chevrolet before, it looks, and sounds, awesome. I have to thank the Birrane family for once again entrusting me with one of the incredible cars from the Martin Birrane Collection!
"It is always a fantastic event so if you are attending, please come and say hi!" the famous Roscrea racer said to her fans at home in Tipperary and across the country.
The Carole Nash Historic Festival takes place on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, August 10/11 at Mondello Park and tickets are available on mondellopark.ie
Roscrea racer Nicole Drought
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