Ever Heard of a Ford Mustang Touge Battle? Well, Here's Episode Two: Night Shift

What is a touge battle beforehand? Traditional Japanese touge racing is basically the birthplace of drifting – classic driving of feisty vehicles on twisty mountain roads. That's drifting through narrow curves in the mountains, bringing Initial D to reality. Of course, doing that on the street is illegal – hence the many drifting competitions organized on secured roads or circuits around the world.

Interestingly, thanks to racing series like Formula Drift and social media superstars like Ken Block, drifting has also caught a steady cult following in the United States, too. And we recently heard – thanks to the recent release of a teaser trailer by the Hoonigan family – that before his passing, Ken Block filmed one last Gymkhana-style showcase called Electrikhana TWO.

It will launch in December, featuring Audi Sport's total implication, as this was his final automotive partnership before his untimely demise. However, if you want some drift action right now, let us steer your thoughts to RTR Vehicles – the brainchild of Vaughn Gittin Jr., a racing driver and socialite who needs no additional introductions.

Just like the regretted Ken Block, he knows how to surround himself with great folks, including Chelsea DeNofa, his teammate and current reigning champion of the 2023 Formula Drift Pro Championship. Since Vaughn and his RTR Vehicles are all about Fords and the Blue Oval company has a new Mustang up for grabs, they set out to play in the Great Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina with a couple of their 2024 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5-Ds!

The result is astonishing, of course – since they had an entire team to back them up: this isn't your traditional "I'll carry my own cam in the left hand and drive with the right" footage we see from so many socialites that strive to make us believe they're doing everything on their own. Nope, these men are cerebral enough to reveal what's going on behind the scenes to make the magic possible. Thus, we quickly find out what really went on with the Mustang Touge Battle (Episode 2).

After they successfully released episode one (also embedded below for your viewing pleasure), the second installment "had to eclipse that – it needed to be bolder, more thrilling, and more visually impactful. We needed to create something that's never been done before." As such, they did it for hours and hours until "Vaughn and Chelsea became (…) maestros of a symphony. The dramatic transitions from the vibrant daytime to the tranquility of night mirrored our ambition to raise the bar, not just from the previous Mustang Touge but for what an automotive video could be."

And, of course, they had lots and lots of help – they closed scenic roads at Fontana Dam for two days and nights, utilized cinema-grade anamorphic lenses to capture the Mustangs, the novel camera angles were achieved thanks to chase cars such as the 2024 Mustang RTR Spec 2 and Mustang Mach-E RTR. And that's not all - FPV (first-person view) drones joined regular drones in capturing both the action and the Great Smoky Mountains, while car-mounted rigs were also used "on the inside and outside of the RTR Mustangs to capture how raw and visceral they are to drive." Now, let's enjoy the action, shall we?