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24 Comments November 11, 2008

Hoon of the Year

VIDEO: Subaru Rally USA Racer Ken Block’s dissertation on hoonage and general automotive tomfoolery… He calls it Gymkhana.

We know Ken Block well. He’s that guy who jumps things in rally cars. After his 171-foot leap of insanity and his snow antics down under, we made him well aware that it would be hard to impress us from this point forward without adding fire…lots of fire. So upon watching this new clip, where Ken rips around El Toro airfield in his Gymkhana car (featured in 0-60 Spring 2008), we were at first disappointed to see all this smoke, but no fire. Then we noticed the guy on the Segway, and while Segways themselves are rather lame, the possiblity of crushing someone riding one is actually a lot cooler than fire. So once again KB, we applaud your efforts and nominate you for Hoon of the year.

Read below for what our man Block had to say about his display and make sure to not only check the video here, but the rest of what Ken has on his site.

1) What was the inspiration behind the concept of the video?

I built this amazing Subaru STI specifically for gymkhana events, but I rarely get time to drive it. So, I had a few spare days in September and decided to rent the El Toro Airfield (in So. Cal) and do some practice and further testing and setup of the car. I brought along the guys from Mad Media (they film at our Rally America races for Subaru) to make a video clip of what I did with the car over those two days. Basically, I set up a fun gymkhana-like course around the airfield and we shot it all to make a video clip for DC.

2) First let’s talk about your car. What have you done to this STI to allow you to drive it like you do?

The major mods are engine performance (tuned by Crawford Performance) and tires/suspension. The car puts out 530WHP and runs on BFG tires and Tein suspension. The setup is really keyâ€¦the power delivery needs to be powerful yet smooth and the suspension and tire combo needs to be well balanced and not too stiff to let the car move around and be a bit looser than your typical tarmac track setup.

3) Your driving style seems to be a mixture of rally, gymkhana and drifting, explain the difference and similarities between the three and there unique use.

The reason I love gymkhana type courses is that it takes a mix of driving styles to get thru them. I love tarmac rallies, but I rarely get to race them (I have only raced 1 in my whole rally career) and I am always looking to get more seat time and practice in this type of driving. A course like this requires that a driver use the best of their tarmac driving skills (a mix of rally and drifting skills) to get the best lap time.

4) How long did it take to film this segment?

It took two days. There was some down time for shot setups, tire rotation and remounting, plus some time for repairs (I hit a few things).

5) What inspired the use of the Segway?

Doing â€œdonutsâ€ in a car has been around for a long time. AWD cars can do them very wellâ€¦like a spinning-top. But, thatâ€™s a bit basicâ€”as far as driving skills goâ€”so I wanted to try and test my donut skills by using a moving object. So, the best thing I could come up with was a filmer on a drivable barstool. But, we couldnâ€™t find one of those barstools in time so we resorted to the Segway.

6) Were there any Segway casualties?

No! We had a couple of close calls, but nothing serious. And, it only took a few takes to get that one great shot thatâ€™s in the clip. Thanks to Josh Martelli (Segway driver and Director of the clip) for stepping up and getting on that thing, and letting me attempt to scrape my front bumper on the side of a moving Segway!

7) So what’s next, when will you add jumps into this spectacular hoon display?

No jumpsâ€¦well, not yet! But, I would love to do a whole set-up competition (gymkhana on steroids) like this someday. This type of driving and course was really fun and could make a great way to test a group of driverâ€™s skills against each other.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 2:58 pm and is filed under ** Highlight **, Features, Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

24 Responses to “Hoon of the Year”

11.12.08 at 11:56 am

Crenshaw says:
The turn before the Segway segment is sick.

11.12.08 at 12:16 pm

YuenglingMike says:
damn…. some sick driving

11.12.08 at 2:17 pm

AK Mongo says:
Holy S*HIT. I’m speechless. Thats bananas.

11.12.08 at 3:27 pm

Dave. says:
Damn… Now that is some wicked car porn! More More!

11.12.08 at 3:57 pm

TBrumm says:
I want to be him.

11.12.08 at 4:04 pm

Ben says:
i want to try that, looks like it could be fun.

11.12.08 at 5:55 pm

Tim says:
One of the best videos ever made!

11.12.08 at 8:44 pm

Jon says:
OMFG!!!! That movie is sick. You guys are awesome, keep it up!!

11.13.08 at 1:06 am

selective says:
Speechless! The car, the noise, the obstacles, and the DRIVING…Mad skills..Keep it up..

11.13.08 at 6:00 am

Steve says:
Stunning video, made all the better by the fact they haven’t drown out the engine noise with a rubbish soundtrack. Can we have a HD download please!

11.13.08 at 3:40 pm

Chan says:
This video shits on drifting…

11.13.08 at 6:44 pm

Ben says:
hell yeah Chan, thems is girlies compared to that shit.

11.13.08 at 6:55 pm

Mark says:
epic…..bows down. is KB gonna be in the big Red Bull Drift event
that’s coming up? Someones gotta step up to Tanner Faust.

11.13.08 at 8:31 pm

TBrumm says:
This is proof that off-road rally drivers are some of the most skilled/best drivers in the world all around.

11.13.08 at 9:07 pm

Call2arms says:
Dude, either he must have a modified DCCD, or a really insane Rear Diff to pull that off! Good shizznat!

11.18.08 at 2:18 pm

BIG CHRIS V.-ELSINORE says:
HOLY SHIT THAT IS SOME TALENTED DRIVING SKILLS. KEN IF I EVER WAS TO ROB A BANK I WOULD HIRE YOU AS THE GET AWAY DRIVER, I THINK YOU COULD SHAKE THE POLICE NO SWEAT

12.29.08 at 2:45 am

hklatte says:
Rally drivers are not only fast but also skilled, and they don’t need a super muscle car to do it well.

02.10.09 at 2:27 pm

0-60mag.com » Blog Archive » Pastranified says:
[...] Subaru and Travis Pastrana work in cahoots to build a limited Subie. Everyone already knows Pastrana and Subaru have a really good relationship. Him and Ken Block have essentially made Subaru appeal to a whole new generation of fans. They also do crazy ass stunts, which doesn’t hurt: as seen here and here. [...]

02.15.09 at 4:48 pm

RR says:
it has been filmed in 2 days. as said, lots of stops, tires changed, try and try, practice and practice. of course KB is a real pro and no doubt (has been doing this for years and years), but the clip is over estimated and type of Hollywood movie…

02.22.09 at 10:52 pm

finch says:
Dude, how can you say overestimated. It’s amazing that only driving the course for 2 days he can pull off one run like this. Don’t hate on the guy. His driving is absolutely sick. To control a car like that is nuts. Haven’t seen anything close to this since Rhys went up against Imamura at the original GT Live in Fontana.

04.2.09 at 9:42 am

Brennon Tubaugh says:
This video blew me away. it was the most amazing thing i ever saw. the best part was either the segway or the fact that he is in a all wheel drive car drift just as good as a pro drifter… Ken Block rules.

05.14.09 at 10:31 am

0-60mag.com » Blog Archive » He’s Back says:
[...] Car, New Location, New Surprises. We broke the original Ken Block Gymkhana video, 5 million views and counting on YouTube, so when Ken contacted us to let [...]

08.5.09 at 7:38 am

LenaShopogolik says:
You think everything sounds like existentialism.

09.6.09 at 7:23 am

Kiel says:
What Kind Of Rims Are Off The 06 STI In Gymkhana 1 Video those Are Sick

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