Nine Lives
Ken Block unleashed his ninth Gymkhana video online today
By Steve Turner
Photos courtesy of Ford Performance
If you know the name Ken Block, it might be from his time at DC Shoes or his current racing efforts in FIA World Rallycross. However, it is most likely that you know the Hoonigan for his insane Gymkhana video series, which has seen him flying, sliding and smoking through some truly insane venues and courses. Today the ninth installment of the series hit the Internet.
Leading up to the release of this video, the Hoonigan Racing Division films have attracted over 400 million views on the Hoonigan YouTube channel. Along the way Ken has driven several different vehicles—from his WRC Fiesta to the Mustang-based Hoonicorn. The latest video stars his current WRX ride, the Ford Performance Focus RS RX and has garnered sponsorship from Microsoft’s Forza Horizon XBox videogame series.
“I really wanted to bring Nine back to the core roots of my earlier Gymkhana videos,” Ken said. “The full city takeovers are a ton of fun, but we felt that it was time to get back to the basics, especially with the new Ford Focus RS RX. We really wanted to let it shine and be the star in this video since it has so much useable power and control. We also partnered with Microsoft’s Forza Horizon 3 video game on this one, which allowed us to incorporate some insane tricks that actually pull inspiration from the game itself. It all worked out amazingly and I couldn’t be more stoked on how this video turned out.”
You can watch the latest installment right here…
[video=youtube;_bkX5VkZg8U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bkX5VkZg8U[/video]
Soon you will also be able to immerse yourself in the Gymkhana NINE experience via the Ford VR app...
[video=youtube;TAsh3kQMe6s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAsh3kQMe6s[/video]
“This definitely is the rawest Gymkhana video that I’ve done in a long time,” Ken said. “We really took it back to the basics like in the original Gymkhana video and put the emphasis on my driving and on the car. I’m really excited about this one! It’s got my new racecar, it’s me bringing it back to a more on-the-limit and visceral driving style and with my new partner in Forza Horizon 3, we were able to bring in some inspiration from the game to this video. I think the fans are going to be stoked when this drops on the 13th.”
As you can see, Ken and his team continually try to top themselves with every iteration of the Gymkhana series.
“This is probably common sense, but just so that we’re clear, please, please, please do not attempt to recreate any of the tricks you see me do in his video at home on your own,” Ken said. “Especially trying to outrun a train. Attempting to outrun a train isn’t just stupid, it’s also illegal. So please, don’t do it! I do these in a closed course environment with full safety crews, stunt coordinators and a well thought out plan!”
While video is supported by a video game like Forza Horizon, all the stunts are realt and that made it quite challenging to pull off.
“The moment where I’m hanging the rear of my car off of that shipping pier was definitely stressful,” he added. “But, it’s something that we really wanted to do in real life since previously people have only seen something like that in a CGI-d BMW commercial [Block is referencing a BMW advertisement where a car is drifting around on top of an aircraft carrier deck, something that many casual observers thought to be real when in fact it was all CGI]. That’s the great thing about these videos, everything I do with the car, everything we capture on camera is all real, live action. We may do a few takes to get all of the angles covered or get timing more dialed, but at the end of the day it’s all actual driving, nothing is faked.”
With a new bar set by the latest video adventure, we can’t wait to see what he has in store with number 10.
Today Ken Block’s Hoonigan Racing Division releases the ninth installment of the immensely popular Gymkhana video series. This installment stars his current FIA World Rally Cross chariot—the Ford Performance Focus RS RX—and some pretty crazy obstacles.
