Images Source: Ford Racing

When it comes to the sixth-generation Mustang and the up-and-coming all-new Focus RS – it seems Ben ‘The Sig’ Collins, professional driver and former dressed-in-white mysterious Top Gear star, can’t keep his hands off of the latest and greatest from the blue oval.

It’s also why Ford Racing and Castrol U.S.A. teamed up to create the Castrol EDGE Titanium Strong Virtual Races project. The challenge entails a head-to-head competition between U.S. Formula Drift pro Matt Powers and The Stig himself in a virtual drifting competition of epic proportions.

This trial takes place in Los Angeles, California – where the professional driving duo enters a head-to-head challenge using a pair of virtual-reality headsets, while maintaining composure in a pair of high-performance sixth-gen 5.0 liter Mustangs. The first one to cross the finish line is crowned the winner in this epic virtual-reality battle of the beasts. The Stig describes his experience, saying “I have taken on some extraordinary driving trials in my career, but this was certainly way up there. The hardest part was getting used to the VR world and truly letting myself go – putting my foot down and trusting my instinct over my rational brain. It’s hard when every bone in your body is telling you that what you can see isn’t real, but you know you’re still in control of a real car driving at speed.”

The Castrol EDGE Titanium Trials is a series via Castrol’s YouTube channel. Like the episode above, the series is geared towards pushing the limits of both high-performance vehicles and the enthusiasts driving them – whether in real life or the virtual world.