Vaughn Gittin Jr is undoubtedly a Ford legend. He’s a two-time Formula Drift world champion, both times behind the wheel of a Mustang. Additionally, he founded RTR Vehicles, a company specializing in performance upgrades and parts for Ford vehicles. Finally, he also drives the insane seven-motor 1,400 horsepower Mustang Mach-E 1400 drift car. Unfortunately, he had a bit of an accident.

The Mach-E mishap happened while filming a special video with Ford Performance

According to Vaughn Gittin Jr’s Twitter account, he binned the Mach-E 1400 into a wall while filming a video with Ford in the Faroe Islands. The Free Rein Faroe Islands project shows Gittin sliding the monstrously powerful EV around mountain roads, a soccer field, through tunnels, and more. As one might expect, the complete video does not include the crash footage.

Fortunately, Gittin Jr isn’t about trying to cover up mistakes getting made. So, the crash footage is included in his personal behind-the-scenes video, which is attached to his tweet.

Filming a video like this requires precise driving and attention to detail. One can only imagine the difficulty level is monumentally multiplied when there is 1,400 horsepower on tap. Unfortunately, things don’t always go to plan. In the footage, it appears that the vehicle didn’t break loose as it was intended to, and the result was the Mach-E 1400 straightening out, pointing it right at a wall. Unfortunately, this left him no time to stop. Though Gittin Jr was OK, the vehicle took a bit of a beating.

Gittin Jr’s Tweet specifies that the crash took place on the second day of filming on a seven-day shoot. Fortunately, based on the complete video, it seems Ford had backup plans in case a situation like this arose.

Gittin explains that the lower control arm broke from the impact by design in the clip. He states that allowing an easily replaceable piece to take the brunt of the impact prevents irreparable damage to the chassis.

The show must go on!

After countless long hours spent by Gittin and the Mach-E 1400 support team, they eventually got the vehicle back together. The crew had to expedite parts to the Faroe Islands for repairs and favors had to be called in. However, everything eventually came back together. The crew finished filming the video, and it came out fantastic!
The visual aspects of this video balancing between the gorgeous landscape of the Faroe Islands and the awesome driving by Vaughn Gittin Jr in this ferocious electric drift vehicle are second to none. It’s absolutely worth taking the time to watch!

Last year, Vaughn Gittin Jr announced that he would be stepping away from Formula Drift, according to Motor Trend. After 20 years behind the wheel of a drift car and two championships, he decided to take some time for himself and focus more on family time. However, he also stated that his primary goal is to upkeep his nickname, “The Fun-Haver.” So, perhaps we’ll be seeing more awesome projects with him behind the wheel in the near future!