Sports

Vaughn Gittin Jr's Five Favorite Drift Cars

If Vaughn is going to get sideways, he wants to do it in one of these.

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Vaughn Gittin Jr. is a master of making cars go sideways. Last year he won the Formula Drift championship and at one point he managed to keep a drift going for a shocking 6,285 feet. When it comes to driving sideways, he knows what the hell he's doing.

These are Vaughn Gittin Jr.'s five top picks for getting the tail out.

5. Nissan 370Z

The 370Z has a healthy 332 horse engine, a 3,232 lb curb weight, and a nice limited-slip differential all make for a car that is happy to get its butt out. That's the stock version too. A few modifications and some weight savings can make the Fairlady a very spiffy little drift car.

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4. Nissan Skyline

The Nissan Skyline is the poster-child for Japanese tuners. Out of the box it was a decent car, but it was obviously made with tuning in mind. Simple ECU flashes can drastically change the engine output and dynamics and a bajillion other aftermarket parts are available for it. At this point we'd wager no two have all the same parts. A ton of them are set up for drifting though.

3. Nissan 240SX

Yup, Vaughn likes Nissans. He likes them for good reasons too. Nissan has made some great, simple, front engined, rear wheel drive sports cars over the years. That's the thing about a good drift car; tons of electronics often just get in the way. All that's really needed is a simple, powerful, and easy to control sports car.

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2. Toyota Corolla AE86

The AE86 from the 80's was a cheap no-frills thrill-mobile that just screams to be tuned. The drifting community has really collectively fallen in love with the AE86 for its simplicity and modability. As a result, a ton of tuners have cropped up selling aftermarket AE86 parts.

1. Ford Mustang RTR

Not at all surprising is that Vaughn's favorite car to drift is the Ford Mustang RTR that he won the 2010 Formula D championship with. The 'stang is a great car and it ticks all the right boxes for a drifter. It's fairly light, it has a great big 5.0L V8, it's front engined and rear driven, and it's made to be customized. Lucky for us civilians, The supercharged Mustang RTR is available for purchase from a select few Ford dealers.

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