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Ken Block has started a renaissance of our time with racing. DC was a building block to give him the power to do all these great things. I'm proud to be in a good age group to watch this happen and eventually be more then a fan. Good Luck Ken!
Hmmm, I would love to read all of this interview but for osme reason it wont go past the shot of Travis jumping over the bay on New Years Eve. Does it work for everyone else?
@Nathan: it should be working fine. Works on my end.
So the events are basically auto-x, in front of a grandstand, with subjectivity.... Do we really need another subjective motorsport? On the course layout shown, cars will hit what, maybe 60mph? Not exactly fast or thrilling by any means. I say subjective, based on what i read... Is it based on time or not? But they'll force cars to drift certain sections or have judges determine if the driver had 'wow' factor...? Don't get me wrong, I love his videos! Ken has mad skills, that is for sure.
I wanna play!!
I just viewed it with IE 8 and it works fine, google chrome must just have a glitch or something.
jobu, don't watch it then
i think you need to make sure there is plenty of danger involved if it is going to grab big audiences and fans. thats the pull of rallying. jumps, walls and maybe some water. nothing more exhilarating than a big jump where people think will they or wont they make it.
@Jobu It's timed, not subjective.
Unfortunatly, I (and others) would like to do gymkhana's with Ken, but there's no way. Ken, keep doing what you do. He may not be the greatest driver in the world but keep's learning. I've organized a training day in portugal for him and the Ford Msport Rally Team and seen that. But he is someone that brings the light to this motorsport with this videos... Keep learning and keep doing it... Best regards
>>> Brian>>> The press releases and course design, would lead one to believe it is solely based on time. However, Ken, in this interview, mentions "wow" factor, after the interviewer brings the subject up of basically "the fastest line is not necessarily exciting"... And Ken says they'll have to deal with that. You can even see the course design, based on the directional arrows and width of the "line", that they intend the vehicles to drift. Drifting is not the fastest way to get through a corner. Which is why I asked... Is this timed, or subjective? If you introduce subjectivity, this is no longer a sport, but purely entertainment and "a show". We already have drifting, monster truck racing and ice skating. We don't need another subjective sport. I don't expect Ken to reply to these posts, but surely the author can provide some insight? Knowing how large Toyota/Irwindwale Speedway is (or isn't, really....), looking at the course, and putting together an educated guess, the cars are NOT going to hit very high top speeds.. My guess: 60-70mph. Is that exciting? For those of you who believe his crazy 100+mph slides as seen in the videos are going to be duplicated at either of these first two events, you are sadly mistaken. So they'll get thousands of people to show up based solely on Ken's name and the videos they've all seen, and then they'll have thousands of upset/dissatisfied customers who believe they were misled.
Jobu ----> I believe you may be underestimating just how much of a following Ken has created. It's not built on his name, its not built on his rally accomplishments, its not built on his personality. Its built on the Gymkhana videos. Plain and simple. You say we don't need another sport of this type, your logic seems backwards, at least to me. How many autosports do we have that are based on fastest time, speed and control ? IRL, FIA, American Lemans, Nascar, F1, Cart etc . . . Now how many series are based on things like, pushing the limits of a car and drivers control ? You can argue drifting, but even drifting doesn't have the same fan following as even the first gymkhana video. I won't even entertain your example of Monster Trucks (really ? whats the target demographic for that "sport" lol), Mr. Block is simply giving everyone what they want, more gymkhana. I dont care about top speed in these videos, rally cars are hardly ever running wide open long enough to reach their top speed anyway. I want to see a series which tests the limits of control behind the wheel. Thanks Ken for trying to give us that.
@jobu I realize I am replying to this MONTHS later, sorry, but figured I would state this for anyone else reading here. I actually work for Ken Block. I run the marketing for the Monster World Rally Team, so I am actually as close as you will get to Ken himself answering questions. (Ironically, I am also the founding editor of 0-60). That said, this event will be times. What makes drifting subjective is that it is scored. No drivers will be receiving scores at GRID. Instead there will be section they will be required to drift. If they do not drift, they will be penalized, as if they hit a cone.