2010 was an amazing season for Formula Drift Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. Driving his supercharged 5.0 Mustang GT in one of the premier drifting events in the world, Gittin was able to make six podium appearances (including several 1^st place finishes) out of the seven race season. He has become the force to be reckoned with in drifting, even outpacing Top Gear America host Tanner Foust for the victory.

But just because he took home the trophy doesn’t mean next year’s win is a guarantee. Mustangs Daily reports that Gittin is ditching the supercharged 5.0 engine in favor of a naturally aspirated 5.4 liter V8. Say what?

Yes, you read that correctly. Vaughn Gittin Jr,’s Mustang will be using a 5.4 liter V8 engine without any kind of forced induction. Superchargers and turbochargers are very common in drifting because they help deliver the power needed to smoke the tires all the way around the track, especially with so many smaller displacement engines competing. The 5.4 liter V8 comes from the Ford Racing catalog and was further enhanced by Huffaker Engineering, who added a Kibler ITB fuel injection system, K&N air intake, and a newly tuned ECU. This engine supposedly makes 700 horsepower at the flywheel.

That’s not bad by any of stretch of the imagination. But having seen the kind of power the supercharged 5.0 engines make, we can’t help but wonder why Gittin is ditchin’ a winning engine. Hopefully the new motor is up to the challenge, because Gittin isn’t exactly easy on the engine, but he has until April to work all the kinks out. To a new motor, and many more wins!