Vaughn Gittin Jr. is a self-described “professional fun-haver” and championship-winning drift and off-road driver. The good news is that he likes to share his adventures. Gittin has teamed up with Ford Motor Co. to create what the partners are describing as the new, “competition-inspired” Bronco RTR. Headlight.News has more.
A 2027 Bronco RTR shows its stuff in Johnson Valley.
More and more American drivers seem to be heading off-road these days, whether to camp, go trail-crawling or to push things to even greater extremes. For those who fall into the latter category, Ford has pulled the wraps off the new Bronco RTR.
It’s the latest product to emerge from a growing partnership between the automaker and Vaughn Gittin Jr. With a long list of trophies racked up racing off-road and in the Formula Drift Series, Gittin has been offering buyers with deep pockets the ability to customize their Broncos. With the 2027 Bronco RTR, however, Gittin has lent his expertise to Ford to turn out a new factory version of the rugged SUV that “checks all the boxes” even while coming in at what he promises will be a “massively lower” price tag.
“It’s unapologetically cool,” Gittin said during a private preview at Ford’s new world headquarters near Detroit earlier this week.
Gittins and Ford team up
Gittin has been delivering one-off custom Broncos. The new project lends his expertise to a new factory package.
Gittin’s RTR Vehicles has served as a custom shop, turning out not only his own Mustang and Bronco race cars but heavily customized versions of those two Ford models for buyers who aren’t worried about their budgets.
Now he’s ready to deliver power to the people, so to speak, teaming up with Ford to lend his expertise to the development of special factory-edition products. That began last year with the launch of the drift-focused Mustang RTR. Now comes the Bronco RTR which was developed to take on the sort of high-speed adventures offered at places like California’s Johnson Valley’s Off-Highway Vehicle Park, home of the legendary King of the Hammers race.
“Our mission was to develop the hottest performance version of Bronco ever,” said Ed Krenz, Bronco’s chief program engineer.
Raptor-lite
Much of the development work was done in Johnson Valley, home of the King of the Hammers race.
Think of the Bronco RTR as Ford’s Raptor-lite, slotting in just below that ultimate version of the rugged SUV. While there’ll still be plenty of available options – such as an off-road light bar and front winch – the new package pretty much checks all the boxes customers ask for when they take a factory-spec Bronco to Gittin’s RTR for customization.
By rolling it off the assembly line like the rest of the Bronco family, the racer explained, it not only slashes the price tag but keeps everything covered by a Ford factory warranty.
The “base” version of the RTR gets an extensive array of modifications, including a wider track, a standard high-clearance suspension and 33-inch rugged-terrain tires – the first time that combination has been offered on a factory-built Bronco.
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Taking things to the next level
Optional Fox shocks on the Bronco RTR Sasquatch Package.
You’d likely expect Gittin to push things to extreme. And he and Ford have come up with an option for those who think the RTR doesn’t go far enough.
The optional Sasquatch package trades out that 33-inch rubber for35-inch Goodyear rugged-terrain tires and the HOSS 3.0 system with Fox internal bypass shocks. First offered on the original F-150 Raptor, the HOSS shocks were, until now, only available on Bronco Badlands.
Whichever package you opt for, “Bronco RTR is built to dominate the dirt, whether you’re in Johnson Valley or on a backwoods trail,” said Gittin. “We gave it the suspension tech to handle the hits, but we also sweat the details that matter to drivers. We reinforced the steering, added anti-lag turbo tech and share high-power cooling fan hardware from the Bronco Raptor to help keep Bronco RTR cool during extended trail time and playing in sand.”
From Johnson Valley to Baja Mode
Baja Mode ensures you don’t lose peak turbo boost if you briefly lift off the throttle.
Like all versions of the Bronco, the RTR features a Terrain Response system that lets a driver set up a wide range of vehicle settings with little more than a turn of the dial. That includes the engine electronics, transmission shifting, steering and more.
With RTR, however, there’s a unique Baja Mode that takes things a step further. The goal is to ensure maximum output of the Bronco’s 2.3-liter turbo-4 is ready for your right foot at all times. The challenge was to avoid spinning down the turbos when you briefly lift off the throttle in a corner or when attacking a particularly rough piece of terrain. When in Baja Mode the turbos continue spinning for up to about five seconds to avoid dreaded turbo lag.
“Access to power is critical” when off-road racing, said Krenz. The Baja Mode fix keeps things “at the limits when you need it,” quickly added Gittin.
Other updates
The 2027 Bronco RTR gets a number of other updates that should make it easy to spot, whether on track or in a parking lot. That includes the topographical maps of Johnson Valley that are appliqued to the SUV’s hood and sides, as well as its distinctive Hyper Lime accents, including the 17-inch beadlock-capable RTR Evo 6 wheels.
The RTR package not only gets higher ground clearance, but it’s also been widened – though not as much as the Bronco Raptor, Krenz noted.
Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait for the final specs but one can expect it to match, if not exceed, the 300 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque made by the Bronco Badlands package – which requires premium fuel, it should be noted.
More to come
Hyper-Lime accents on the Bronco RTR.
We’ll also have to wait for pricing, though Ford and Gittin noted the RTR package will come in somewhere between the Badlands package, which starts at $51,580, and the $81,990 Raptor. Expect all those details to start coming out by mid-year, with first deliveries expected by autumn.
As the second package to emerge from his new partnership with the Detroit automaker, Gittin told Headlight.News “It was always my dream to work with Ford.”
That demanded an obvious follow-up question: might other Ford/RTR projects follow? “Clearly that is a dream of mine (and there could be) an opportunity to do more youthful models throughout the Ford line,” Gittin said – though we’ll have to wait to see what might follow.
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