Let us relive some of the great moments of Ken Block's life, one of the greats that we cry in sorrow for being taken away from us so early, and yet at the same time, we cry in joy for having him for the time we did, for doing things that seem to defy death.
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| Ken Block's STi grinding on a portable rail during a race. // photo by Carolyn Williams |
It is with great sadness that I came back from vacation to find that Ken Block had died the first Sunday of the new year in a snowmobile accident in Utah.
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Ken Block. What, you think
I'm going to feature a
photo of him in Ford gear?
Not a chance. // photo by
Bryan Brenneman |
Block entered the rally scene in 2005, the same year I purchased my Subaru WRX STi, the same car he raced on his rally courses, though modified, obviously. I didn't know him then but was aware by the time he burst onto the YouTube scene in 2008 with his Gymkhana videos, showing him ripping around a drifting playground in his Subaru, racking up millions of views on the young platform.
This man lived his life to the fullest extent, using his skill and talent to thrill rally enthusiasts. His entrepreneurial side pushed him to found DC Shoes then later, Hoonigan, where he explored pushing his car to the limit with a video crew.
Everything he did was without force or coercion. He created something beautiful that left gearheads and speedfreaks in wonder. And he became fabulously wealthy for it. Just as it should have been.
Thank you for everything, Ken. You will live immortally in our hearts.
Gymkhana_one. The original. Just like looking back at the early strips and episodes of Calvin and Hobbes and South Park, this video looks primitive and unrefined. It's Ken and his buddies having fun on an airstrip, in a car that honestly, I looked at and decided I needed to buy the previous year's version. But still left my jaw on the floor. If asked about a favorite, despite all the above, how can I turn my back on my first love?
Gymkhana_two. The Infomercial. In a 2009 Subaru WRX STi. In a hatch, which I understood for rally, but disliked as it seemed to depart from the spirit of the STi. But still. This one added the artistry and sophistication lacking in the first one.
Gymkhana_three. Ultimate Playground. Oh, what a disappointment. Ken Block signed a deal with Ford and moved from the STi to a Fiesta. Not that a Fiesta is a bad car. On the contrary. But it doesn't strike fear or hold the absolute mythology and legend of the STi. The STi and EVO, even in 2011, were still hailed as some of the best cars ever to have been built. The Fiesta will never climb to this status. Plus, the road version of the car is completely different than the version he races. And yet. What a glorious video on a high-speed ring, ending with blowing his tires and rims on violent donuts. Kill. All. Tires.
Gymkhana_four. The Hollywood Megamercial. This one wasn't for me so much. I could have done without that special-effects-laden beginning that seemed to go too long. But drifting a circuit around Universal Studios? How could any kid dislike that? Points for the Bollywood ending.
Gymkhana_five. Ultimate Urban Playground. This is where the choreography started to get really good. And I mean, really good. Further, it was performed in a city I love. Or rather, used to love. Zipping around San Francisco, a city I'm familiar with, made it all the more special. Closing down the Bay Bridge. Using San Francisco streets as natural jumps. Tag-in Travis Pastrana, who would later take over the Gymkhana series for a cameo.
Gymkhana_six. Ultimate Gymkhana Grid Course. It's an interesting concept. Who didn't like running through obstacle courses in their formative years? He also does donuts around some police cars (or Lamborghinis with a vinyl wrap) and segways, I'm not sure if that's some commentary, but I like it.
Gymkhana_seven. Wild in the Streets of Los Angeles. Release the Hoonicorn! I would be lying if I didn't say this is the baddest looking car in the series. Modeled after a 1965 Ford Mustang, this car...really is not a Mustang. As Brian Scotto, the director, noted, almost nothing is an original part of a Mustang. But with 845 horses, later to be expanded to 1400, on AWD, this car is simply a beast. As Ken Block later noted, particularly in the Climbkhana series, this car felt like it was always trying to kill him. He sped around the iconic regions of Los Angeles and highlighted the street culture. Not to mention the LAPD chasing a white Bronco.
Gymkhana_nine. Raw Industrial Playground. I love the industrial theme and how grungy it all feels. It's definitely a new vibe even though the early Gymkhanas were filmed in industrial areas. Plus, he hangs his Ford over the edge of a drydock in the most razor's edge drift until his Pikes Peak Climbkhana video.
Gymkhana_ten. The Ultimate Tire Slaying Tour. In the most ambitious project yet, Block and his team take five builds, including the Hoonicorn v2, to five different locations. I'm just going to focus on one of those locations.
Oh, Detroit. In the Amazon series Gymkhana Files, they talked about how the city of Detroit, as if the council members took lessons of governance from the Kims in North Korea, wanted the Hoonigan crew to only showcase the nice areas of Detroit when considering giving out permits. Of course, for a punk rock car video, you want to Hoon around the industrial areas of Mo Town. Thankfully, they relented and were able to shoot in the areas that actually make artistic sense.
Gymkhana 2020.
Travis Pastrana Takeover. Not Block, but legendary Travis Pastrana taking over for Ken Block in the Gymkhana anthology, back to Subaru, where it all belongs. Ken Block's empire continues with the spirit of his friend and fellow rally car driver. It doesn't look like this series will end any time soon as Pastrana shreds his hometown, starting and ending with his legendary jumps, and later with the
extended cut of 2020 and a
2022 Gymkhana in a classic Subie.
Climbkhana.
Pikes Peak. With hill climbs being significant events, the natural thing to do was Climbkhana! And what other place than Pikes Peak? That turn up at
Evo Corner was one for the ages, in one of the craziest drifts in the series. When Block was talking about it afterward, he revealed that he had actually lost control a bit and relied on the front tires to stay on the pavement to prevent the Hoonicorn from sharing the same fate as the Evo. When first seeing the concept of a Climbkhana, in the back of my mind, I wondered how the hell can you do a Gymkhana on a narrow hill climb route? Leave it up to Ken and the Hoonigan group to pull it off, and another
Climbkhana in China.
This is an early video I saw of him and found out just how much of a badass he was. He jumped his Subaru but the physics were wrong and overshot the landing. As he talked to the people helping him he was calm and in good spirits but said, "I'm okay. I may have broken my back, but..." For me, the words "I'm okay" and "I may have broken my back" would never go in sequence. I also would not be smiling and so calm, but rather screaming in agony. He went to the hospital and it turns out he had cracked vertebrae. What, just a cracked vertebrae? Put a bandaid on it and let me get back onto the rally course!
Hoonicorn vs the World. In what is probably my favorite car ever built, Ken Block took the 1400hp AWD Hoonicorn to an airstrip and launched a series of...drag races, apparently inspired by Forza players. He's never drag-raced before, so...why not. He went up against a whole slew of cars and torched all of them. He started against a McClaren Senna Merlin, one of the greatest production cars built...and laid waste to it. He's raced against an actual
drag car, and still beat him despite bogging his launches. The closest race in the first season was against an 8-second
Audi RS 3 with 1100hp. And basically raced to even, with the Hoonicorn getting the technical win, in the closest race in the first season. While the first season was mostly fun matchups, the second season got serious, with Ken's 14-year-old daughter, Lia, opening with the Hoonicorn against a
4000hp Corvette fit for the apocalypse driven by an NHRA champion, and beat the Vette. Okay, maybe Lia jumped the first race a bit. One of my favorite production cars, the
GT-R, tuned to 2000hp, was the first car to legit beat the Hoonicorn. And because people wouldn't shut up about it, they raced a
Tesla Plaid, and the Hoonicorn won even on the shorter distance that should favor the electrics.
I don't know what it was about this one. I saw this when I still went up to the slopes to board and it was just very zen to me. It made me want to drive up there and carve up the mountain. Both with my board and my car. I was disappointed when there didn't appear to be a follow-up.
After a decade with Ford, Block finally returned home to a Subaru for rally, though it was rather short-lived, preferring a shorter car and signing with Hyundai, of all manufacturers the following season.
Electrickhana. I thought this was going to be lame AF, no matter how badass and cyberpunk the Audi might look. A Gymkhana with no purr of a turbocharged combustion engine? Blech. Well, it didn't really disappoint as much as I thought it would, as the electric whine was pretty pronounced and it kind of sounded like just a constant turbo spool. But no deep purr of the Boxer Four engine, blow-off valve, and antilag sputter. It's not quite the same. But the choreography did not disappoint, though I thought Tokyo may have been a better setting for this one, though Vegas was no slouch. They did make up for the lack of an ICE by doing donuts inside a casino, which never would have been allowed if the car belched out carbon monoxide from methanol fuel.
GO FAST RISK EVERY THANG
#KB43VER
