Ford DRIF6 Confirmed for Competition (AU)

Press Release

Ford Performance Vehicles has today confirmed it will support the competitive debut of its DRIF6 concept car in the opening round of the Drift Australia national championship at South Australia’s Mallala circuit on May 27-28.

The DRIF6 concept car will make its official competition debut with one of Australia’s leading Drift drivers, 23-year-old Victorian Adam Newton.

“Ford Performance Vehicles stirred up a hornet’s nest when it revealed the DRIF6 concept car at the FPV Open Day earlier this year,” Newton said.

“It has generated a lot of interest and lifted the profile of the sport to unprecedented levels – and that was before it even hit the track.

“The car has all the right ingredients for success, and I am excited to have been given the opportunity to debut the FPV DRIF6 in the Drift Australia series.

“I will be giving it everything I have to put on a great show for the crowds, and we will see where we end up at the end of the weekend.”

Newton has been involved in Drifting in Australia for more than four years, both as a competitor and event organiser, and is credited as one of the driving forces in raising the profile and professionalism of the sport.

Drifting is a spectacular new form of motor racing with a knockout system of two-car battles in which drivers perform a routine of rally-style slides through a series of turns on a race track. Points are awarded for speed, the angle of the slide and the car’s ability to produce tyre smoke.

FPV’s DRIF6 was built by a team of dedicated engineers and technicians at FPV’s Campbellfield facility with the assistance and support of a number of key suppliers, including Prodrive, Castrol EDGE, Bilstein, Autotek, HIS Hoses, Robinson Racing Developments, Revolution Racegear and Dunlop.

At the heart of the DRIF6 project is an upgraded 4.0-litre turbo-charged in line six cylinder engine with modifications made to increase the efficiency of the turbo system and to boost power and torque. These include a significantly larger intercooler with a revised induction system that features a ram air box taking air from where the fog light is normally located on the production car, a hand made plenum manifold replacing the individual inlet runners, a unique engine management system calibration and three-inch straight through exhaust system with side outlet.

The transmission has an upgraded Tremec T-56 close-ratio six-speed gearbox and AP racing twin-plate clutch driving the rear wheels through a locked differential.

Bilstein, one of the world’s leading suspension manufacturers, will support the DRIF6 project with a hand-built suspension system including fully-adjustable coil over dampers and stiffer anti-roll bars.

The braking system includes the optional Brembo brakes available on the F6 Typhoon with 355mm front and 330mm rear cross-drilled and pillar ventilated rotors and six-piston monoblock front calliper and four-piston rear calliper. It has been modified especially for Drifting with high quality braided hoses, a brake proportioning valve and a WRC-style hydraulic handbrake.

The cockpit of DRIF6 has been stripped and replaced with world-class MOMO racing seats and racing harnesses, MOMO steering wheel, MOMO gearknob and a variety of ancillary gauges by VDO and Autron. These include a monster VDO tacho on the dash located in line with the twin-pod sport gauges that display oil temperature and turbo boost pressure, A-pillar mounted gauges to display volts and cabin temperature and Autron’s latest high-tech tyre-press monitoring system located at the base of the Interior Command Centre. The cockpit also has a racing-style roll cage.