Barrett-Jackson 2009: Vaughn Gittin gettin' groove on in 2010 Falken Drift Mustang
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Falken Drift Mustang
Most of our time at Barrett-Jackson is spent inside the auction tent, but there are plenty of interesting activities going on outside, as well. In recent years, Ford Racing and Falken have brought out their drift Mustang that competes in the Formula Drift series, with Vaughn Gittin Jr. wowing auction spectators with his precise car control and tire-shredding power slides. This year, Falken brought out the 2010 version of the car (now in full Falken livery) that made its debut in Santa Monica alongside the production car back in November. Anyone at the auction could register for a chance to get a ride in the car, and Gittin Jr. gave quite a few white-knuckle rides while we were watching. Most people thoroughly enjoyed it and stepped out of the car with a huge grin, although the expressions on many of the passengers as the car swung sideways within inches of a concrete barrier was nothing short of hilarious.
Photos copyright ©2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jake 1:49PM (1/16/2009)
Drifting kind of a neat trick and all, but to make an entire motorsport out it seems silly.
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Jared 1:56PM (1/16/2009)
Drifting is completely pointless.
Nick 1:57PM (1/16/2009)
completely agree...
Yaroukh 2:13PM (1/16/2009)
+1
Ray 2:17PM (1/16/2009)
it's about as pointless as racing a car in an oval, or going through the same turns 50 times throughout a race, or doing tricks on your skateboard, BMX or Snowboard.
The point of drifting is fun.
Adam 3:03PM (1/16/2009)
And driving arround in circles making continuous left turns is better. Grow a pair, and stop being a bitch. Then drifting will make sense to you automatic tranny, front wheel drive loving pussies.
xpolarx 2:21PM (1/16/2009)
@ Jared
Pointless? I guess you could say that all motorsports are pointless. Drag racing? You just go in a straight line, wasting fuel and rubber in the process. Rallying? You trash a car on average once every six races -- what a waste of resources. F1? Hundreds of millions of dollars spent to run round a track a few times.
I mean, honestly, why would anyone waste their time with all this nonsense? Oh yeah...'cause it's fun. Really fun. And as long as there are people our there that enjoy doing something and there are even more people out there who enjoy watching it...there's nothing pointless about it.
Jake 3:12PM (1/16/2009)
The point of racing is driving a car (the intent for which it was made in the first place) as fast as you can to see who can do it the fastest. It is a contest.
Drifiting is kind of just doing a trick (with a car), look at me, wow! I watched it for about 5 minutes once and saw all there was to see, really. Kind of reminds me of figure skating.
@Adam; grow up and move out of your mommy's house and then come back here and post.
CarbonBlack 3:29PM (1/16/2009)
"Drifting is completely pointless"
Which is why I LOVE it!
I agree with those above me that point to all auto sports as "pointless".
JC06 4:00PM (1/16/2009)
"The point of racing is driving a car (the intent for which it was made in the first place) as fast as you can to see who can do it the fastest. It is a contest.
Drifiting is kind of just doing a trick (with a car), look at me, wow! I watched it for about 5 minutes once and saw all there was to see, really. Kind of reminds me of figure skating.
@Adam; grow up and move out of your mommy's house and then come back here and post."
@Jake: there are many forms competition that don't rely on time or distance in determining victory (look at the olympics, mma). you will eventually realize this when you grow up.
drifting is not a trick. drifting is a skill, and there are tricks within that skill.
if you have no interest in drifting why not just ignore the post? i mean, the title alone clearly states what it's about.
Adam 4:08PM (1/16/2009)
Jake,
As much as I appreciate your arbitrary definition of what a car was made for, drifting is a sport and it doesn't have "racing" affixed to it's name. It's a sport because, like most sports, pussies like you can't do it on a professional level. Believe me Jake, the only growing up I need to do is to stop spending time in comment sections giving a verbal smackdown to losers like you who are unwilling to recognize progress. Drifting is an evolution of motorsports, and I'm glad tiny-dicked bitches like you don't understand it.
revvo 4:13PM (1/16/2009)
awesome post xpolarx.
"Drifiting is kind of just doing a trick (with a car), look at me, wow! I watched it for about 5 minutes once and saw all there was to see, really. Kind of reminds me of figure skating."
Can you do rallying without drifting? Can you get in really tight corners that turn nearly 180 without drifting a bit? Your argument is at most poor. Drifiting takes skills and it might not be very exciting to watch it (way more than nascar), but it's certainly not the easiest thing to do.
Daveman427 8:36PM (1/16/2009)
My rule is if its difficult and I can't do it, I'm hesitant to put it down. Most people who insult NASCAR would crap their pants in a 200 mph traffic jam. Most people who insult drag racing couldn't launch a funny car without wrecking it or crapping their pants. Most people who insult drifting would die if they tried to slide an RX-7 70 mph an inch away from a concrete barrier, shortly after crapping their pants. You may not like the sport, contest, whatever, but the skills of the drivers cannot be denied.
tekd 4:12AM (1/17/2009)
All motorsports, powersports, and probably most hobbies in the world are pretty pointless. But they're fun, and that's the whole point anyway.
When you root for a sports team you're not thinking about whether there's actually a point to what they're doing.
John R 1:53PM (1/16/2009)
Not bad from this angle....
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/barrett-jackson-2009-2010-falken-drift-mustang/1296127/
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Sofa King Fast! 2:04PM (1/16/2009)
I don't get drifting either. I've tried to watch it a few times and I still can't figure out the objective of the race.
To me it's like racing except that being fast is not important...which is the whole point of racing.
Question: do you get disqualified if you take a corner without spinning your wheels?
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Chad 2:07PM (1/16/2009)
Video required for this article.
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elementpb 2:09PM (1/16/2009)
Drifting is cool if you look at it as an artform where the track is your canvas and a highly skilled artist (driver) uses a paintbrush (car) in order to apply swirls of paint (rubber) in a visually appealing manner.
The head to head races are judged on speed and angle, and maintaining the drift throughout the entire course, while the follow car is judged on how close it can hang with the lead car.
Its also cool from a tech standpoint because they build some pretty crazy cars to compete. You see tiny superlight hatchbacks running nitrous going head to head with 800hp vipers and skylines.
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Sofa King Fast! 2:12PM (1/16/2009)
Yeah, that's cool.
So what's the point again? Painting the asphalt?
MajorGeek 2:14PM (1/16/2009)
Great comments, glad to see most agree with me. Its is awesome to watch a skilled driver do it, not sure an entire sport should be dedicated to it. Drifting in the snowbelt where I am is roughly a 4 month a year requirement.
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