Shane Lynch Builds a Drift-Spec Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow
- EMP Performance
- Mar 1, 2015
- 5 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
What happens when you take one of Britain's most recognisable luxury cars and decide to turn it into a drift car?
In Shane Lynch's case, you get one of the most unexpected modified cars to come out of the UK scene.
The Boyzone singer and Japspeed drift driver took a 1979 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and embarked on a project to transform the traditional luxury saloon into a machine capable of going sideways.
It was an unusual idea from the beginning — and the finished car certainly delivered.
EMP Performance was involved in the project with one of the details that would help give the finished Rolls its character: a custom exhaust system fabricated in St Albans.
From luxury saloon to drift car
The Silver Shadow was never designed with drifting in mind.
This was a car built around comfort and luxury, rather than tyre smoke, hydraulic handbrakes and sideways action.
But that was precisely what made the project so entertaining.
Shane Lynch, who was competing with Team Japspeed at the time, wanted to create something completely different. The result was a Rolls-Royce that could be taken to the drift circuit while retaining much of the character that made the original Silver Shadow so distinctive.
Japspeed documented the project as part of the Supercar Megabuild television series, where engineers were given the challenge of transforming the prestigious 1979 Rolls-Royce into an all-out drift machine.
A Rolls-Royce with attitude
The finished car certainly didn't look like a standard Silver Shadow.
The traditional chrome exterior was replaced by a much more aggressive matte-black appearance, while the body received widened arches and other modifications to give the car a far more purposeful stance.
The wheels were also modified, with the original wheels reworked to provide substantially greater width.
Inside, the contrast was even more interesting.
Rather than completely abandoning the luxury character of the Rolls-Royce, the build retained elements of the original interior while introducing the equipment needed for its new life as a drift car.
That included racing seats and a hydraulic handbrake, complete with a rather appropriate Rolls-Royce-themed finish.
The custom exhaust by EMP Performance
For a project this unusual, the exhaust needed to be more than an afterthought.
EMP Performance built a custom exhaust for Shane's Rolls-Royce, carrying out the fabrication at its workshop in St Albans.
The exhaust became another part of the car's transformation, helping give the big V8-powered Rolls a much more purposeful soundtrack to match its new role.
Custom exhaust fabrication is particularly useful on unusual builds like this because there isn't necessarily an off-the-shelf system designed for the exact combination of vehicle, modifications and intended use.
Instead, the exhaust can be fabricated around the individual car.
And this was certainly not an ordinary car.
Shane himself publicly thanked EMP Performance for the custom exhaust, providing a first-hand connection between the Silver Shadow and EMP's work on the project.
The Silver Shadow goes sideways
Once the transformation was complete, the Rolls-Royce was put to the ultimate test.
The car made its public appearance at Japfest in Ireland, where it was unveiled to a huge crowd before subsequently appearing in the Irish Drift Championship.
Speedhunters described the project as being built for a television documentary and noted that its first major test would take place in front of the crowd at the Irish Drift Championship season finale.
Considering the size and weight of a Silver Shadow, seeing one being driven sideways was always going to attract attention.
And it did.
The car retained its original 6.75-litre V8, while the automatic transmission was modified to allow the driver greater control over gear selection. Other changes included air suspension and a hydraulic handbrake to help turn the luxury saloon into something capable of proper drift action.
From television project to modified-car icon
The Rolls-Royce featured in Supercar Megabuild, with the programme documenting the challenge of turning Shane's Silver Shadow into a drift car. The episode aired in February 2016 as part of the show's first season.
The project was deliberately unconventional.
It wasn't intended to become a serious championship-winning drift machine. Instead, it was a celebration of doing something completely different with a car that nobody would normally associate with drifting.
That made it particularly memorable.
A Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow was already unusual on a drift circuit. A matte-black, wide-bodied, air-suspended Silver Shadow being driven sideways by a professional drift driver was something else entirely.
A project that attracted attention everywhere
The finished Rolls quickly became a talking point well beyond the UK modified-car scene.
Automotive publications around the world covered the car, while videos of Shane driving it sideways helped give the project an audience far beyond those who had seen it at Japfest.
It was the sort of car that demanded attention.
And judging by the social media reaction, plenty of people appreciated the idea.
The car even caught the attention of Snoop Dogg, who shared images of the Rolls-Royce with his own Instagram audience. The post attracted further reactions from other well-known personalities, demonstrating just how far this unusual build had travelled beyond its original drift-scene audience.
EMP Performance and a very unusual exhaust project
For EMP Performance, the Rolls-Royce was another opportunity to work on something that couldn't simply be approached as a standard exhaust replacement.
The car was unique, the project was unique and the requirements were unique.
That's where custom fabrication comes into its own.
Rather than trying to make a standard system fit, a bespoke exhaust can be designed around the individual vehicle and the way it is being used.
In this case, that meant creating an exhaust for a classic Rolls-Royce that was about to spend its time doing something Rolls-Royces were never intended to do.
Looking back at the Silver Shadow
The Shane Lynch Rolls-Royce remains one of the more memorable projects associated with the UK's modified and drift scene during the 2010s.
It combined a classic luxury car with Japanese-inspired drift culture, television, motorsport and plenty of custom fabrication.
For EMP Performance, it also forms part of the company's history of working on unusual enthusiast projects and creating custom exhaust systems for vehicles that don't necessarily have an off-the-shelf solution.
Today, EMP continues to offer custom exhaust fabrication from its workshop in St Albans, Hertfordshire, alongside servicing, repairs, performance upgrades and other automotive work.
The Silver Shadow might have been built to go sideways, but for EMP it was another opportunity to do what the company has always enjoyed doing, building something different.
Original project coverage
The Silver Shadow was extensively covered by the automotive media during and after its transformation.
For the full story of the drift build, see the original coverage from Speedhunters and Japspeed, with further coverage from Motor Authority and Jalopnik.
Comments