Pro drifter Vaughn Gittin Jr. recently went to Germany’s famous Nürburgring racetrack and got nice and sideways in a Ford F-150 Raptor pickup truck. Now he’s back with his regular ride: A 900-horsepower Ford Mustang drift car.
Known as the “Green Hell,” the Nürburgring features scores of corners spread out over 12.9 miles. It’s arguably the most challenging track in racing, and lap times have become a benchmark for automakers developing performance cars. The Lamborghini Aventador SVJ currently holds the record for production cars with a 6:44.97 lap. Gittin’s lap time was not released, but given that his last was more about tire smoke and sideways action than outright speed, it probably wasn’t a record breaker.
Given the length of the track and the amount of smoke pouring off the rear tires, it’s amazing they lasted an entire lap. Gittin even manages to get some air at one point. It’s just too bad that the entire lap wasn’t shown, although there is still plenty of action in the roughly three-minute video.
While based on a 2018 Ford Mustang GT, the drift car is a specially modified one-off. However, Gittin’s RTR company does sell Mustang tuning packages, with more aggressive styling and performance upgrades, yielding close to 700 hp in top Spec 3 guise. RTR is planning tuning packages for the F-150 as well.
Ford is planning its own wild new Mustang. The upcoming Shelby GT500 will have at least 700 hp, the automaker has said, as well as the aerodynamic and chassis upgrades to handle all of that power. The GT500 will be the most powerful street-legal Ford production car ever, topping even the 647-hp GT supercar, as well as the previous, 662-hp GT500 from model years 2013 and 2014. This vicious snake will be let out of its cage in 2019.
When the GT500 is finally revealed, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it end up at the Nürburgring. The Shelby probably won’t be able to outrun the fastest supercars but Ford might try to set a fast lap time to gain bragging rights over the rival Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Or maybe Gittin will return yet again to try to drift the thing.
