The first time I came across Tom’s Zenki S14 was when he was drifting at last year’s STL event at Driftland. At the time, it wore its factory bumpers with pride and, aesthetically at least, was as clean and simple as they come. It was probably a good thing, as Tom’s super aggressive driving would have quickly put paid to any fibreglass loosely attached to his car. This time though, he’s decided to mix things up a little.
The visual change that instantly stood out to me was the M Sports front bumper. Back in the early 2000s M Sports kitted cars were by far some of the coolest on the grid at Japanese drift events, although the company’s aero parts (be they genuine or replicas) are only seldom seen on cars nowadays. The bumper was accentuated by a set of aggressive under canards.
I didn’t ask at the time but I believe that both the side skirts and rear bumper are also M Sports items too.
A pair of super strong 17″ VS-KFs currently sit up front. I believe Tom has a pair for the rear too but, seeing as I took the photos as he had just left the track and headed to get some lunch, the pictured CST Hyper Zeros on the rear had been handling tyre smoking duties.
Tom’s driving at the Rockingham Meihan event that these photos were taken at was brave and ambitious to say the least. Every time I stood on the makeshift Meihan wall, Tom was to be found trying a new line or initiation technique, varying his speed and the size of his flick with each run. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but that’s the joy of a relatively quiet open pitlane setup.
Tom and his S14 are next due out on track at Driftland for next week’s STL event and I can’t wait to see how his driving will shape up there.