Stephanie: I'm out here in New Jersey at Wall Stadium.
I'm going to cheer on Vaughn Gittin Jr. in his S550 Mustang.
Vaughn: Six to ten-inch wheelies on the corner.
[00:00:09] [silence]
[00:00:26]
Stephanie: I'm out here in New Jersey at Wall Stadium for the fourth event in the Formula
DRIFT Season.
Now, this place is known as a "Gauntlet."
Guys, take a look at the track behind me and you'll see why.
There's a crazy bank on this track here today.
Now, we're out here this weekend to cheer on Vaughn Gittin Jr. in his S550 Mustang.
He's one of the only guys out here repping a Mustang.
This place is mostly dominated by imports, so it's great to see someone out here in a
Mustang.
We're going to be chatting with him a little bit later on.
[00:00:50] ♪ [music] ♪
[00:00:59]
Stephanie: [inaudible 00:00:59] Vaughn Gittin Jr., himself, in his very own pits.
We are standing in front of your car.
You're now running an S550 in Formula DRIFT.
You were running an S197 for the longest time before.
How do you feel about this car?
Vaughn: Going over to the IRS from a live axle, it obviously was a change.
But from my perspective and the team's perspective, a change for the better.
We have a lot more adjustment in the rear end, suspension geometry, alignment-type things.
We're pulling 6 to 10-inch wheelies on the corners.
Even though it's bigger and slightly heavier than our previous car, because of how strong
the unibody is, the car is still very nimble and still a lot of fun to drive.
A thousand horsepower, Ford Performance, Roush Yates motor under the hood helps it [all.]
Stephanie.
As far as this car and what you have for your sub, do you think you have everything pretty
much dialed in at this point?
Or are there still some things you're trying to work out?
Vaughn: So right now, I'd say we're about 80% of the way there.
Stephanie: Okay.
Vaughn: We had a four-hour practice yesterday.
Stephanie: Right.
Vaughn: We're about to go out right now for two hours just before qualifying.
So we have a strategy of the things we're going to focus on, which is all part of getting
as ready for qualifying, and getting as ready to battle and ideally win, come competition
day.
Stephanie: All right.
So for those of you guys out there that aren't as familiar with Formula DRIFT, I'm going
to break down some things for you in the most basic terms.
So each run is going to be judged by three judges.
The three judges are looking for three different things from each driver.
They're looking for line, they're looking for angle, and they're looking for style.
So line is the line that the drivers are supposed to take around the track, and that's outlined
for them and it's different for each course.
The line around this track is a little bit complicated and it's a little bit tricky,
hence why it's called the "Gauntlet."
The line is outlined by the yellow line that you see around the track, but more so outlined
by what's called "clipping points."
There are inner and outer clipping points, and those are going to be the cones that you
guys see on the track.
The drivers need to hit those inner and outer clipping points.
But at the same time, they don't want to cross the line.
Because that's known as "going out," and they'll have points deducted if they're too far out
or over the line.
The judges are also going to be looking for angle.
Of course, you want a ton of angle when you're drifting.
Not only do you want a ton of angle at all times, but you want a smooth, fluid angle
at the same time.
So drifting is all about being fluid, being smooth, and having as few corrections as possible
throughout your run.
So drivers are striving to get a ton of angle on the correct line.
Now, the last thing is style.
Now, this one is a little bit more complicated than the other two.
But basically, there's a ton of areas where an individual driver can put their own style
into their drifting.
One of the big areas is on the initiation.
So when the drivers are initiating and going into the first turn on the bank up there,
they want to initiate as soon as possible.
They want as much angle as possible, as fast as possible, once again, with as little correction
as possible all throughout the entire course.
[00:03:43] [silence]
[00:04:04]
Stephanie: It's slightly hard to tell at this point with all this smoke that Vaughn just
created.
We've got to wait and see what the judges say, though.
They're watching the replay now.
They're going to give him a score.
You ended up with a 90.
I know there are a little bit of weird things going on out there right now.
So could you explain it to us a little bit?
Vaughn: Sure.
Yeah.
The judges, they tell us exactly what they want in the drivers' meetings.
Throughout qualifying, there's patterns of things they reward for at each particular
track.
So my first run, I went out, focused on hitting the line, being relatively aggressive, and
really having good angle and good style.
I didn't get the score I wanted, and my spotter let me know, "They're really rewarding drivers
for aggressive driving and crazy driving."
Stephanie: Right.
Vaughn: So the second run, I went out and did just that.
I was pretty much flat out the whole run on the chip, and just hitting the rev limiter.
Hit all the marks, as well, and still hit my line, but ended up with a 90.
There were about seven dudes that did it better than me today.
Stephanie: Oh, no.
Vaughn: Which it's all good, though.
You get in the show.
This places you and puts you into your position in the bracket.
Stephanie: Right.
Vaughn: So the real day doesn't really start for us until tomorrow.
[00:05:08] ♪ [music] ♪
[00:05:22]
Stephanie: [inaudible 00:05:23] had a big change.
Right?
You now have a teammate, who's also running an S550 Mustang, Chelsea.
Vaughn: The last couple years, I've been thinking that it would be awesome to run another Mustang,
and Chelsea has become a really integral part of the team.
Him and I have similar styles, but we like a slightly different car.
For being a mentor and helping a younger driver get up to speed and take him to the next level
has been a lot of fun to me, personally, and rewarding.
[00:05:49] [silence]
[00:06:10]
Stephanie: Most definitely worth clapping [inaudible 00:06:11] when they ripped that
rear bumper off on the bank up there.
That was definitely a solid run.
Chelsea is always a really aggressive driver, and he totally proved that just now.
Talk about a smoke show.
You qualified in first place, which means that you get a buy for the Top 32.
So while you did have a little "love tap," as I call it in practice, you don't quite
have to worry about it as much, because you have a couple hours to get the car right before
you go out for Top 16.
Right?
Chelsea: Yeah.
The team will have to do a five-minute fix.
It'll be, they'll take their time, make sure everything is perfect, and we'll drive the
same car we were driving before the accident.
So we knew we wanted to go hard in practice, and this stuff happens every once in a while.
So [it's how it is.]
Stephanie: What happened in practice?
Chelsea: Yeah.
So we were coming out of the first turn, and I threw a bunch of angle into Inner Clip #1
and basically I was 90 degrees sideways.
A little bit too much, but I was bringing it back to save it and the driver behind me
was trying to close the gap at the same time, and just T-boned me.
It was probably like a 25 or 30-mile per hour difference in speed.
Stephanie: For the longest time, you were actually running an import in this series.
What made you make the switch into a Mustang?
Chelsea: So I've always kind of been a closet fan of Mustangs, more of like Fox Body stuff
and what not.
But the newer Mustangs are so good, it's crazy.
The handling is amazing.
The motor, like the Coyote motor, is so sick.
Stephanie: Can you tell me a little bit about this car here?
I know it's similar to Vaughn's.
But Vaughn was saying that you like a different car than what he likes.
Chelsea: So the actual, physical car is the exact same, the motor, the transmission, the
rear end, the body panels.
We just tune our suspension a little bit different.
Alignment is a little bit different.
I like a car that's a little bit more gripped up that I can give full throttle kind of all
the time, and he's got more of a finessing driving style that is unreal good.
I'm still picking up some of that too.
So hopefully, we can kind of find the best of both worlds.
[00:07:55] ♪ [music] ♪
[00:08:04]
Stephanie: All right, guys.
So here it is, the 2018 Mustang.
I have to admit, this is my first time seeing this car in person.
Obviously, I saw it a lot online and I've seen a ton of pictures of this thing.
But it's not quite like seeing it in person.
I have to say that I don't know if I was really in love with all the cosmetic changes that
Ford made to this car from seeing it online.
But seeing it in person is totally different.
I actually really dig it, and I don't really like the look of many stock cars.
But I can't wait to see what the aftermarket world is going to do for this car.
I think this thing is going to look bad ass.
What do you personally think about the 2018, and do you guys have anything RTR-related
with the 2018 Mustang coming up?
Vaughn: I really like it.
I really like what they've done.
I really like some of the features that are coming with the car, the increased technology,
the new things that are coming out with the EcoBoost.
I'm not sure if that's been announced yet, or not.
Stephanie: I don't know if it's anything official, but we can discuss it.
Vaughn: [Oh, no, we can't].
Stephanie: Or dance around it.
Vaughn: But there's new things coming with the EcoBoost that weren't available previously
that are very exciting to me.
As far as the overall look of the car, I think they did a great job here.
I know there's a lot of people on the fence with the front end.
I think it's a great progression for our beloved Mustang.
As far as RTR, of course.
You know it.
Stephanie: Of course.
Vaughn: We're already way ahead of the game.
We're just applying our styling and engineering, from our suspension components all the way
to the appearance stuff.
We're extremely excited for that to come out.
We've been working on some other spaces, truck market.
Stephanie: Really?
Vaughn: We should have some exciting things to see come SEMA this year, with regards to
F-150.
Stephanie: Well, thanks, Vaughn, again.
Vaughn: Appreciate it.
Woo!
[00:09:37] [silence]
[00:09:57]
Stephanie: Vaughn is up for his Top 32 run.
Now, he is going to have to put in work here, because he's going up against Dean in the
Viper, who's actually sitting second in the overall point standing for the season right
now.
So guys, hopefully, Vaughn can get something done here and come out with a win.
[00:10:10] [silence]
[00:10:29]
Stephanie: Oh, no.
So we're going to have to wait and see what the judges say about that.
Now, Vaughn was a little bit out there.
He was a little bit too far over that line.
It doesn't necessarily automatically eliminate him, but they usually do deduct points.
I'm not sure who they're going to fault with that.
Obviously, he spun out.
So we're going to see what the judges say.
[00:10:49] [silence]
[00:11:27]
Stephanie: So basically, what's going on now is the judges are trying to determine if there
was contact in Vaughn's first run, or if Vaughn just over-rotated it.
If Vaughn over-rotated, then he's going to be out.
He's going to be eliminated.
Dean is going to win this round.
But if Dean made contact with Vaughn's car, which caused the over-rotation, then Vaughn
is in the clear and things will be judged differently.
So we're waiting right now for the judges to determine.
They're looking at so many different angles, and they're taking a lot of time here.
We're fixing to hang on here and see who won this.
Vaughn won that.
Yeah.
[00:11:56] [silence]
[00:12:14]
Stephanie: [inaudible 00:12:14] stay close.
[00:12:15] [silence]
[00:12:23]
Stephanie: Oh, no.
Ah, man.
Damnit.
Guys, so that's going to be an unfortunate turn of events for Chelsea Denofa.
As you guys saw, what I was talking about yesterday, when you're coming off the bank
here, how important part of the run it is.
Chelsea had a ton of angle.
He was super-close on his chase run.
But he just couldn't hold the angle and he ended up spinning out.
So Chelsea isn't going to advance on the Top 8.
But still, a spectacular performance from Chelsea over this weekend.
[00:12:49] [silence]
[00:13:12]
Stephanie: No.
Oh, man.
Something happened with Vaughn.
I don't know exactly what.
But it looks like he's still going to continue with his lead run.
So fingers crossed, because he could still pull a magic trick out of the hat here.
[00:13:27] [silence]
[00:14:06]
Stephanie: All right, guys.
So that's going to be it for the RTR team here today.
An unfortunate turn of events, but that's the way a competition like this goes.
Vaughn's mistake in his first run, his chase run was greater than Essa's mistakes in his
chase run.
Vaughn had a great lead run.
Either way, it's still great to be out here with these guys and watching them do what
they do.
[00:14:24] [silence]
[00:14:38]
Stephanie: All right, guys.
So that's going to do it for this episode of Hot Lap.
I've got to tell you, we had a great time out here at Formula DRIFT with all the RTR
guys, and both Vaughn and Chelsea.
Obviously, they're nice enough to let me chill in their car for a little bit.
I don't know if they're going to let me take it out.
If you want to see more awesome videos like this one, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube
channel, AmericanMuscle Videos, and for all things Mustang, keep it right here at americanmuscle.com.
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