Entrepreneur, rally driver, stunt supremo and automotive showman Ken Block was tragically killed on January 2 in a snowmobile accident, near his ranch in Woodland, Utah.
His accomplishments in the car world were many, but his epic series of Gymkhana videos thrust him well beyond things automotive into the heart of popular culture.
Production values and the sheer audacity of the stunts ramped up as new Gymkhana films came along, but for the first in our new series of Car-Vid Classics we thought there was no better way to pay tribute to Block than go back to the very first from 2008: Gymkhana Practice.
By then, Block had been rallying at a national level for three years and won the Rally America Rookie of the Year award. He scored a deal with Subaru in 2006 and expanded his competition resume, entering rounds of the World Rally Championship in 2007, including New Zealand; in fact, you could argue his Gymkhana aspirations started right here that year, when he jumped a Subaru alongside a snowboarder at the Snow Farm in Central Otago.
READ MORE
Gymkhana Practice, filmed in September 2008, features a 2006 Subaru Impreza STI, prepared by Crawford Performance, with 395kW. The video goes into delightfully techy detail about the car and even pauses to explain what a “gymkhana” is. It also serves as a promo for the DC Shoes brand, which Block co-founded in 1994.
But then it’s down to business, flat-out along an airfield until Block throws the car into a massive drift and pretty much stays there for the next three minutes over a varied course. Many of the elements that were later ramped up to 11 are here, including orange markers that come within millimetres of destruction and a moving human obstacle. Enjoy, and RIP Ken Block.
