Ford Mustang engineer suggests replacing Mother’s Day brunch with a little adventure

Mother’s Day means flowers or brunch or a day that starts in church for many people.

But Laurie Transou, chief engineer of the Mustang program, wants moms to think outside the box.

So she and her daughter, Claire Wojan, of Northville, videotaped a message to moms everywhere: Try something new. Try something different. Try a little adventure. Put on a helmet, get on a track and drift.

To many people, drifting is what happens when a driver’s attention wanes and the car move slowly from one lane to the next. Or when wind blows heaps of snow from the front lawn to bury the driveway.

Smoke tires

But Transou knows drifting as a popular sport using fast cars (read: Ford Mustang) where drivers intentionally oversteer to make a controlled skid sideways through a turn and smoke tires.

She put a helmet on her daughter and taught her what to do so other mothers and daughters might try it, too.

The 2024 Mustang has a new feature that allows drivers to drift. It’s so easy that, well, anyone can do it.

Formula Drift champion Vaughn Gittin Jr., (along with pro driver Chelsea DeNofa) worked with Ford to design what’s called a performance electronic drift brake for regular people, but meant for track use only.

In the video message created by Ford at the Virginia International Raceway in Alton on April 24, Gittin and his mom, Dawn, join the Transou women for a day of drifting. Dawn Gittin knew her son as an IT guy who gave information technology up to follow a dream. Now he’s a superstar who drives a Formula Drift Ford Mustang RTR with sponsors including Monster Energy, Pennzoil and Nitto Tire. (Note: RTR stands for “Ready to Rock,” a performance package line founded in 2009 and designed and developed by Gittin with Ford.)

‘We didn’t know’

The mid-April day of drifting on the track was set up as a mystery, Wojan told the Detroit Free Press on Thursday. “I thought I was going to go with my mom and be able to see a race or take a loop around the track with someone. I didn’t realize that we were actually going to be in the presence of Vaughn and his team.”

While drifting wasn’t a foreign concept to Wojan, a daughter and granddaughter of Ford engineers, this was her first time. She took cues from her mom and Gittin. And the video turned out to be a light-hearted, high-action “How To” for viewers of YouTube.

Anxiety, adrenaline, power

“It was a surreal experience. I felt connected to a vehicle in a way I hadn’t felt before driving car,” said Wojan, who works in finance at Ford. “When I first stepped foot in the vehicle, I felt a surge of anxiety. I’m the type of person who likes to have her ducks in a row and feel in control. But I felt it was easy for a beginner. My anxiety dissipated and I felt a thrill. I felt a rush of adrenaline and immense joy and relief at the same time. I felt capable, like the power was in my hands.”

As for other mothers and daughters, Wojan said, “I hope people take this experience as a lesson, that they’re able to get behind the wheel and feel connected to the raceway.”

The 3:30-minute Mother’s Day video message shows a cool mom on the track teaching her daughter how to drift, and Gittin giving pointers to his mom on how to do a controlled power slide.