Ready to rock THE STREETS OF THE WAIKATO ARE NOW A LITTLE WILDER THANKS TO THIS SPEC 5 RTR MUSTANG, ONE OF ONLY TEN IN THE WORLD WORDS: MARCUS GIBSON PHOTOS: ADAM P PHOTOGRAPHER n the mid ’90s, the sport of drifting exploded onto the world stage. Originating in the mountain passes of Japan, the sport soon established itself as a bona fide motorsport in Japan and slowly but surely the word got out to the Western world about this new and exciting sport. The art of oversteer was nothing new, but it now had a name, and a world stage. Despite many thinking it was some kind of silly fad, drifting was here to stay — and spreading like wildfire. While it might have started with Japanese performance models, in the US it wasn’t long before some good old American iron was being thrown sideways in competitions. After all, they too were
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Auto Channel Issue #38 August 2021
rear-wheel-drive platforms and had the power to kill tyres on command. One of the original pioneers for drifting American cars is Vaughn Gittin Jr, who has competed on the world stage in a Ford Mustang — with Ford’s backing — since 2005. No one has pushed Mustang development in drift like the duo of Gittin and Kiwi Ian Stewart. The pair, first under Ian’s ASD Motorsports, began developing and selling parts before forming RTR Vehicles together in 2009 and becoming an official Ford aftermarket seller in 2010. Essentially, what we’re talking about is a modern-day Carroll Shelby story, but with drifting
not GT racing. While the older generation might not give RTR that same level of credit, the similarities are hard to ignore. Twelve years on from the launch of the brand, RTR is a force in the aftermarket Ford world, going head to head with the likes of Roush and Shelby. To celebrate its 10-year milestone in 2019, RTR announced a special anniversary-edition Mustang based on the Halo Spec 5D RTR competition-only machine. Dubbed the ‘Spec 5’, it would be a street version of the competition car, only with a slightly watered-down driveline — if you call 750hp (559kW) watered down. Now, here’s the kicker! Only 10 of these would be offered, and originally only on the North American market. So, how the hell did not one but two of these end up in New Zealand? The answer to that lies with Sam Bakalich of CTB Performance, the New Zealand RTR agent.
