Immediately after 18 decades in the experienced ranks of Components D, Vaughn Gittin, Jr. stepped absent from the collection in 2022. He instructed Racer in 2021 he needed to “re-assess and just emphasis on a couple other points for a minimal though. My state of mind is proper now that I will be again in Formula Drift in a couple years to contend at the time once more. Regardless of whether that is just a few rounds a calendar year or a complete championship effort.” Turns out “a couple of years” meant just just one. For this year’s 20th anniversary of Formula D, Gittin returns in the similar car he applied to earn championships in 2010 and 2020, the Ford Mustang. Or, alternatively, a opposition-spec drifter dependent on Ford’s 2024 pony motor vehicle. Referred to as the Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD, it will test to put just one of the 4 motorists in Gittin’s RTR Motor vehicles group back on the throne as king of slip angle.
The 1,300-horsepower Spec 5-FD will also be the archetype for prospective buyers of the avenue-legal 2024 Mustang to emulate: Ford worked with Gittin and RTR team driver Chelsea DeNofa to establish a level of competition-ready electronic drift brake potential buyers can option for the retail auto. We you should not have much for nitty gritty still on how it all will work. We know that the system operates in monitor manner in the new Mustang, pulling a deal with that’s like a mashup of drift lever and previous-fashioned mechanical parking brake activates the rear-wheel drift motion. Ford claims pulling the take care of “emulates with electronics the hydraulic drift brake in RTR’s Formula Drift Mustang, with extra than 3 occasions the braking power of a conventional mechanical parking brake program.”
The selection is called the Mustang Overall performance Electronic Parking Brake offered in conjunction with the Performance Pack. It can be additional to either motor, the 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder or the 5.-liter Coyote V8, and either transmission, the 10-velocity automatic or six-velocity guide. Checking the configurator, the Electrical Hand-Operated Parking Brake will come with the $3,475 Substantial General performance Deal provided for the EcoBoost motor, or the $4,995 GT Functionality Package deal supplied on the V8. The brake comes conventional on the Dark Horse trim.
It’s been developed with various skill concentrations in mind, adjustable settings stated to allow novices to find out how to toss the back again out “and later on change system settings to use in observe-only competitors.”
As for Gittin, he’ll drive in 4 of this year’s 8 Method Drift rounds, sharing the driver’s seat with group member Adam LZ. We visualize that when he is not in the vehicle, he’ll be prepping the start of RTR’s line of elements for the S650 Mustang, some of which are shared with the Spec 5-FD racer.