Step one: Gun it. Step two: Yank up on the handbrake and crank the wheel with your left hand from 2 o’clock down to 7. Step three: Feel the car whip around, bring handbrake down, gun it again. Congratulations, you are drifting in the 2024 Ford Mustang thanks to its new, unique-to-a-production-car electronic drift brake. It couldn’t be easier. You can also do some pretty sick Ace Ventura parking jobs.
I’m hardly a driving novice, but I’m also not one for tail-out histrionics, so my experience in this realm is limited. Specifically, I had never used a hand brake to induce a slide before. Despite this, I nailed using the drift brake on the first go, and by only the third try, had mastered it enough to dab in some opposite lock and keep on gunning it in the other direction. Yay me, but more importantly, yay the incredible piece of equipment that makes you look like a hero … and act like a doofus.
While many parking brakes are integrated within the rear calipers, 2024 Mustangs with the optional Performance Pack add Brembo calipers that are relocated from the rearward-side of the rotor to the forward. The “Performance Electronic Parking Brake,” as it’s officially known, adds a second set of calipers to the rearward side. It’s a key tell that the Mustang in question has the Performance Pack, along with a handbrake handle in place of the standard weeny, little button (pictured below right).
How the drift brake differs from a traditional parking brake, electronic or otherwise, is that it immediately provides a far greater amount of stopping power to lock up the wheels and quickly bring the rear end around. It’s also a far more robust unit than a typical parking brake. Plus, there are some electronic helpers working in the background to keep you in a controlled drift once sideways. Using the car’s stability control system, the auxiliary brake caliper will increase or decrease pressure on the rotor to keep you in the drift — it’ll even apply light pressure to the regular rear brake calipers if necessary to further increase “control.” In other words, I can’t go out to a parking lot right now and do in my ’98 Z3 exactly what I did in the Mustang. The brake wouldn’t lock up quickly enough, none of the electronic aids are present, the grip would almost certainly not be strong enough, and there’s a very good chance I’d end up needing a new parking brake, if not after the first go, then soon enough. Either way, I’d be acting and looking like a doofus.
If you’re surprised I’m reviewing a parking brake while talking about a new edition of one of the most iconic muscle cars in history, you’re not alone. So am I. It’s just that I don’t remember the last time I had that much giggle-inducing fun behind the wheel. The first drive of the 2024 Mustang included a blast up the terrific Glendora Mountain Road as well as a journey up the famed Angeles Crest Highway, and, yet, it was the drift brake that left the lasting impression. It’s the story of the 2024 Mustang. And I should note, my drifting exploits occurred in the four-cylinder EcoBoost model. I can only imagine the lurid, tire-shredding spree that might occur with the GT.
The drift brake is still a parking brake, which is where things get weird. The handle to operate the thing may look like a traditional parking brake, but for the purposes of parking, it’s really just a gigantic version of that weeny little button. Pull up to engage the parking brake – there isn’t the usual button on the end that needs to be pressed – and let it back down. That’s right, it does not remain up, not unlike the old British hand brakes located down at the door sill. To disengage the brake, you simply push down on the brake.
This operation is easy enough to get a hang of, but I have to think it’ll take a long time before those with a manual-equipped GT will get used to exiting their car with the parking brake handle down against the console. That’s muscle memory not easily overcome.
I’m not sure how often I would actually use the drift brake if I bought a 2024 Mustang, but I know it would be more than launch control or line lock, the function that engages the front brakes so you can roast the rear tires. All are goofy, but the drift brake is more than just something to show off with – you could actually use it to hone your skills – ideally not on an active public road – and gradually teach yourself to do some pretty cool things. And yeah, sliding into an epic drift or parking like Elwood Blues is a lot cooler than just a straight-shot launch or sitting still in a cloud of smoke.
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