A1400-HP ELECTRIC FRANKENHORSE

VAUGHN GITTIN JR.'S RTR AND FORD PERFORMANCE CREATED AN EV TRACK SHREDDER

- JONNY LIEBERMAN

Vaughn Gittin Jr. is a great passenger. You might know him better as a superlative driver and à peer to hard-charging, energy-drink-hawking drift kings such as Tanner Foust, Ken Block, and Travis Pastrana. But should you ever find Gittin in your passenger seat, know that he's as cool as a cucumber. I learned this when I spun his seven-motor, 1,400-hp electric mutant version of the Ford Mustang Mach-E on the infield track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 

The turn was a tight left up a crest, and although Gittin had already warned me there was a real possibility of lift-off oversteer, I still spun off the track and onto the lawn. "Don't worry about it," he said, easing my embarrassment. "I did the same thing earlier." That's probably how he knew his monster might do that.

We've covered the Mach-E 1400 prototype online, but for those who stick with print, here's the 10,000foot view: Gittin's Ford tuning house, RTR Vehicles, collaborated with Ford Performance to build an over-the-top, all-purpose hooning machine. Instead of two east/west motors as found in a normal Mustang Mach-E, the Mach-E 1400 has seven: three in front, four in back. Unlike most electric vehicles, the Mustang Mach-E 1400's motors reside on a driveshaft and face north/south.

Why? Turns out if you want to go drifting, you need to run all the power and torque through a differential. Additionally, with a diff, the gear ratios can be swapped out easily. This makes the car more than just a one-trick drift pony. For instance, the track configuration I drove had the rear diff set up with 130-mph gears, while the front diff was at 150 mph. For drifting, Gittin runs only the rear motors through an 85-mph set of gears. Also, the 1400 uses an 800-volt electric architecture versus the 400V system in pedestrian Mach-Es Performance EVs have two big problems. Batteries are heavy, for one.