Ford Motor Company has decided to promote pure adolescent behavior by launching an extreme motorsport camp: Octane Academy. Put together by Ford and well-known Ford racing drivers, the Octane Academy will allow qualified fans to experience a weekend of extreme motorsports both on and off the track. The camp is designed to appeal to younger Ford buyers as the Millennial generation market has grown for Ford by 58 percent since 2007.
Starting in November, there will four weekend camps led by a founding member of the Octane Academy. The professional drivers hosting the camps will be rally driver and automotive deviant Ken Block, RallyCross and Off Road truck racer Brian Deegan, and professional drifters Tanner Foust and Vaughn Gittin Jr. Participants will be selected fans who are selected by submission videos they send to Ford. Casting will take place nationwide.
The star of the first camp hosted by Deegan will be the Ford F150 SVT Raptor. Deegan will help prepare the course and put the selected fans through the ringer as he shows them what it takes to be a champion off road racer. “Getting the chance to create my own challenges for the hardcore competitors who want to take on the challenge of Ford Octane Academy is going to be crazy,” said Deegan.
Ken Block’s camp will take place after the first Octane Academy event in November. The Gymkhana star will put participants through their paces behind the wheel of Ford’s Fiesta. Vaughn Gittin Jr., who has won numerous Formula D drifting championships while behind the wheel of a Ford, will take drivers sideways in the new Mustang. The last camp will be hosted by the multi-talented Foust who will use the all-new Focus as his weapon of choice.
