Formula Drift racing, or Formula D for short, is an orchestra of smoke, stratospherically high revs, and tire squeal, revealing drivers getting sideways. Still, it’s not just the raucous soundtrack; it’s drivers sliding their purpose-built Nissan 240SXs and BMW E36s often within feet of barriers and each other in intense displays of skill and painstaking practice. However, it’s not always Nissans, BMWs, Infinitis, and Mustangs; two drivers duel in V12-powered supercars that live in opposite lock. Check out these awesome V12 cars of Formula Drift, a modified Ferrari 599 and custom Aston Martin Vantage. 

Even Ferraris can take on the sliding circuit

That’s right; as much fun as it is to watch Drift culture’s favorites take on the track, it’s even more fun to see something ridiculous slide around a corner from time to time. Enter Federico Sceriffo’s Ferrari 599. First, a stock 599 GTB Fiorano is no joke. Specifically, Ferrari built that car with a 6.0L V12 producing 612 horsepower.

That’s enough to smoke many a tire in tail-happy slides. Even better, Ferrari improved the 599 GTB Fiorano by introducing a Handling Gran Turismo Evoluzione pack, or HGTE, which Top Gear says sharpens the handling even more. However, Sceriffo’s car takes it to another level. 

Federico Sceriffo’s Ferrari 599 is a Formula Drift Italian Stallion with over 1,000 horsepower

Sceriffo’s slide-happy 599 started its Formula D life with a supercharger on its 6.0L V12 before heading back under the knife. The second iteration involved natural aspiration and nitrous. However, Sceriffo couldn’t leave it there. Instead, the Ferrari got the turbo treatment, with the nitrous remaining in place.

All the while, the single-turbo supercar maintained the original block, and it will produce 1,125 horsepower at 10 lbs of boost. Additionally, Sceriffo calls the car “Fiorella” and jokes that the turbo piping setup turned his Ferrari into a “unicorn.” If the savage performance wasn’t enough, he elected to endow the car with an F40 Monte Shell livery. Put it all together, and you have the world’s only Ferrari in a professional drift role.  

Ever seen an Aston Martin in Formula Drift? 

The answer to that question is probably no unless you’ve seen Darren Kelly’s twin-supercharged Aston Martin Vantage. The car is immediately recognizable from its stock variation, which was no slouch in factory form. Aston Martin sold some of the most recent Vantages with a 503-horsepower twin-turbo V8, which was already a handful. However, the car that F1 chose as a safety car wasn’t enough for Darren Kelly’s drift purposes. 

Darren Kelly’s twin-supercharged V12 Aston Martin Vantage is a British blacktop-bashing beast

The New Zealand native’s car is an absolute monster and proves that V12s have a home in Formula Drift. He brought his Aston Martin Vantage to compete in the United States, but it’s no ‘ordinary’ Aston Martin. Kelly says the car is a repurposed GT4 racing car, this time with drift domination in its sights. Furthermore, he chose twin superchargers for soundtrack purposes as well as performance. 

Like the 599, Kelly’s Aston Martin sports a 6.0L V12, but he plans on building a 6.8L V12 for it. Of course, the Vantage drift car has custom suspension that Kelly and company engineered, requiring a wider front end than the donor GT4 car to accommodate the steering geometry. The result of this labor of love is a tire-roasting Aston Martin drift car with a brutish V12 soundscape. 

Will there be other V12s in Formula Drift?

After Federico Sceriffo and Darren Kelly brought their V12 weapons to Formula D, we’ll likely see more competitors emerge with 12-cylinder toys of their own. It would be pretty cool to see a McLaren sliding around corners rather than carving them. Scroll down to the following article to read more about fast cars!