While it is commonplace to see the RTR team slaying tires stateside in the Mustang RTR drifters, it is not quite as common down under. That will change in 2025 as Vaughn Gittin Jr. and his merry band of Funhavers teamed up with a like-minded Australian and a local distributor to create a satellite RTR drift team to spread the word about the brand by shredding some tires in the Drift Allstars series.
“I am so pumped that we have teamed up with Jordan Sanderson and our RTR vehicles Australian distributor, Mustang Motorsport, to campaign a Mustang RTR Spec 5-FD in Australia! Together with Sanderson Motorsport, they will complete the build from a rolling chassis that was built at the RTR Lab and plan to compete and enjoy some fun-having all over Australia. Jordan is one of us: hardworking, a true Fun-Haver, and quite the wheelman. I am excited he has decided to step out of his famous Ute and step into a Mustang RTR as his weapon of choice,” Vaughn enthused. “New Mustang RTRs and parts are now available through Australia’s Mustang experts, Mustang Motorsport, and collectively, we have a lot of dreams to make happen down under, and I look forward to the fun that will follow — including me — making a bucket list trip down under at some point.”
RTR built a Mustang Spec 5-D that Jordan Sanderson will drive in Australia’s Allstar Drift Series with support from RTR Vehicles distributor Mustang Motorsport. This satellite team will be run independently of the RTR team, but it will have access to advice and technology to aid in its success. (Photo Credit: RTR Vehicles)
What began as a simple direct message by a friend blossomed into a full-blown collaboration, wherein RTR did something out of the ordinary. The shop built a Spec-5D for someone outside the main team. It might sound simple, but a lot of factors led to these two coming together like this, and Vaughn is the type of person who follows his instincts.
“And I wanna be clear. It takes a whole lot more than an Instagram message to make something like this happen, but timing was perfect, and you all hear me talk about the universe and how it shows you things,” Vaughn added. “We’re extremely successful in New Zealand, and Australia has been a market that we have been just kind of dabbling in. And this was the year when we are wanting to focus more on Australia.”
This new Mustang RTR Spec 5-D, which is built to the rules of the series Down Under, will head across the ocean on a cargo ship to Australia, where the Sanderson Motorsport team will prep it for competition.
The result is a Spec 5-D that’s built to the Australian rules, and Jordan is confident that a better car will make him more competitive in his series.
“I’ve got like pinch myself because I’ve got these two Mustang shells, and we would have built them ourselves, and they would have never been this. They would have been like a cool looking,” Jordan told Vaughn. “Then obviously (we) get some support and some inside information on how we can make these cars handle a bit better…”
It looks to be an exciting year for Sanderson Motorsport, and it sounds like he might even get a visit from the man himself, as Vaughn has never been to Australia, and he is itching to go down under.
