Since debuting in the Demon Energy D1NZ National Drifting Championship in the 2013–’14 season, Ben Jenkins has always been a stickler for the four-cylinder power plant. However, the youngster might be changing lanes with a new challenge in mind.
When mechanical woes threatened to put Jenkins on the sideline at the last round held at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, the opportunity came to suit up and pilot former two-time D1NZ champion ‘Fanga’ Dan Woolhouse’s Holden Commodore VZ.
Tasked with powering the V8-powered Australian muscle car through competition, the Pro-Sport Series drifter said it was a new experience getting used to the Commodore.
“I’m used to driving little tight Silvia’s with little four-cylinders in it, so it’s a bit of a new lesson for me,” Jenkins said.
“It was a good challenge. We’ve always been talking about me driving in it since he drove my car two or three years ago. The car switches totally different to a little Silvia. It took a while to get used to.”
The chance to drive Woolhouse’s car was a long time coming. When Jenkins debuted in the series at Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon several years ago in the 2013–’14 season Woolhouse faced the prospect of bowing out of competition.
Instead, Jenkins lent Woolhouse his freshly built Nissan Silvia S14. The Whangarei local powered Jenkins’ SR-powered Silvia through to the top-eight, just falling short of a semi-finals berth.
“I’ve known Fanga for a while and I had been crewing for Troy [Jenkins] since 2012. It was the first time he’d taken the VE out, but it broke. He needed a car so I said ‘you know how to drive a Silvia so jump in the thing and have a go’.
“He loved it and ever since we’ve been pit crewing with him. We’ve been helping him out, he stays with us and we change his tyres, we scratch his back he scratches ours.”
Drifting Woolhouse’s car at the last round, Jenkins couldn’t make it through to the top-16 in competition, but was grateful for the opportunity to drive a car with twice the number of cylinders.
“He said to me it’s a hard car to drive and he didn’t expect anyone to be able to try and drive it like that first time out.
“I’m a bit bummed out that I couldn’t do better in my battle, but that’s the way it goes. Getting used to it was a challenge. I think we had it by the end even though I only had 11 laps in it—I’m pretty stoked!”
Jenkins was heavily focused on performing as well as he could in Woolhouse’s Commodore. Despite appearing rather nervous inside Woolhouse’s car, he said he was intently listening to every word Woolhouse had to say.
“I was focused on listening to him and I know its his baby. He’s won a championship in it so I really didn’t want to damage it. If I’d done something wrong in it he would’ve told me.”
Having gotten a taste of the V8, Jenkins isn’t ruling out the possibility of a few changes to his Nissan come next season.
“Getting used to driving a V8 is a bit different to what I’m used to, but I tell you what, after driving that thing for two days I think you’ll see some changes to the Brian Roberts Towing S13 next year.”
The Demon Energy D1NZ National Drifting Championship heads to South Auckland’s Pukekohe Park over April 22-23 for the season’s grand final, visit D1NZ.com for more information.
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