Ford Performance off-road racer Vaughn Gittin Jr. is known for his builds that are somewhat off-the-charts, thanks in part to his company, RTR Vehicles. He recently joined up with YouTuber Cleetus McFarland to take part in Cleetkhana, a tribute to (and parody of) Ken Block’s famous Gymkhana series, putting the Ford Mustang RTR to the test on the just-for-fun course.
McFarland – who managed to get himself in trouble with NASCAR earlier this year – brings along a Chevy Corvette to the challenge. While on the surface, the Cleetkhana video seems silly, there’s actually quite a bit of thought going into its choreography. This involves hooking the Ford Mustang RTR to the Corvette with a chain, “towing” it around the course – at least until McFarland manages to tear the anchor off the front of the Mustang.
While the Mustang is in the shop for repairs, Gittin and McFarland discuss the finer points of the chain stunt. The Corvette shows the way, leaving Gittin to simply “drive off the chain,” meaning he can only go where the chain tells him to. Keeping consistent tension on the thing is a pain, but it’s clear that both drivers are having fun doing it.
The problem is, the chain just wasn’t the right length – if it had been a little shorter, they wouldn’t have had as much trouble as they did with it. Unfortunately, the gets wrapped around the control arm of the Ford Mustang RTR and deals some serious damage to the vehicle’s front end in the process.
“Like it wrapped Cleetus’s ankle at the beginning of the shoot, it wrapped my Mustang’s ankle,” Gittin explains.
For all the work and headache that went into the shoot, the final product is sure to be a winner, according to Gittin and McFarland. While they’re poking fun at Block’s Gymkhana, it’s a fitting tribute to the late racer, a spiritual successor to the series that made him and Gittin famous.
Comment
After spending a lifetime fixing broken stuff, it is really hard to appreciate guys who destroy perfectly good cars for views.