In the bag of tricks that car-builders can deploy to bolster performance, few are as useful as lightweighting – or, the purposeful omission of equipment and use of lightweight materials to reduce overall vehicle weight.
As you’ll discover in the video above, to get Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s competition-spec Ford Mustang RTR to perform its best in Formula Drift, no effort was spared in getting the car to weigh as little as possible.
While upgrading individual components – brakes, engine, suspension, etc. – can impact perhaps one or two areas of performance, lightweighting can improve every performance characteristic “in one fell swoop,” as Vaughn Gittin Jr. says. To that end, the drifting pro’s Ford Mustang RTR features carbon fiber body panels to reduce weight compared to the factory steel body. Many of the Ford Mustang’s original, steel mechanical components have also been replaced with aluminum, and the team even went so far as cutting each and every bolt to ensure that there’s only as much thread as they absolutely needed.
The end result is a Ford Mustang drifting machine weighing in at under 3,000 pounds, compared to the regular Ford Mustang GT’s 3,700 pounds or so. When coupled with a 900+ horsepower Roush-Yates racing motor, the car is capable of some truly stunning feats.
Watch the video above for more info.
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