T H E M A N A N D T H E M U S TA N G
IT’S GREAT TO SEE YOU BACK IN
EUROPE SO SOON AFTER GOODWOOD.
WHAT LURED YOU BACK?
“This year I was able to put some deals together with the Ford Performance Crew and
Monster to come over to Europe for a few
events. I did the Goodwood Festival of Speed,
which was just an epic bucket list experience.
Surrounded by some of the most exotic and
prestigious cars from all over the world. I saw
turbo F1 cars, shared the track with Group-B
rally cars, it was just mind blowing. Then we
came out here to the World RX of France in
Lohéac, to put on a drift exhibition. I’m driving my Mustang on a rally course in front of
70,000 screaming French fans. The to top
it off we are heading to Barcelona to put on
another demonstration at the World Rallycross
event there. For me it’s all about sharing drifting
with new fans.”
BACK HOME IN THE US AT FORMULA
DRIFT - YOU ARE THIRD IN THE
CHAMPIONSHIP – HAD TWO WINS –
AND ARE TIED AS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL
DRIVER IN THE SERIES’ HISTORY.
“Formula Drift has been going amazingly
this year so far to be honest. We debuted a
brand new car, which has worked out really well. We’ve had two wins, and been leading for the majority of the season so far. It
was only at the last round that we dropped
down to third place in the points, but there are
two rounds left to go and I’m only 15 points
behind Frederic Aasbo. Our goal is to go and
win the championship, so really to debut a
new car and win the title at the caliber Formu-
la Drift is unheard of, and we are on the cusp
of pulling that off. I don’t feel like I have a lot
of pressure, and I really feel like I’ve found
something in myself. This year I’ve unlocked
some brainpower and it’s coming together.”
DOES THAT MEAN YOU’VE TAKEN A NEW
APPROACH TO YOUR DRIVING TOO?
“When I think about it, the car has literally
re-inspired my driving. This car now allows
me to drive with my style and personality, but
still be successful. Whereas the previous car,
with the grip levels and set ups we were having to run, things kept getting on a knife-edge
to where the risk of going big, like I like to,
was too great. So ultimately I had to tone my
driving down. When you can’t be yourself
behind the wheel of a car especially in drift,
you loose yourself a bit (in a bad way) – you
are doing what the car wants. It shouldn’t be
that way. The new car allows me to be me
on track again, be more aggressive; lurch
onto people’s doors; carrying that speed and
staying committed.”
THE RTR MUSTANG REALLY IS YOUR
CARD – WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT
THE LATEST VERSION?
“We actually built the car at the back end of
last year. It’s an RTR Spec-5 FD. We basically
took the brand new factory Mustang, as it is
available globally, and set it up to suit us for
drift. The way the suspension geometry works
and puts the power down is very different to
a lot of the cars in the series. The team and I
have a little bit of a different theory on how