Gymkhana Nine drops overnight, featuring the Focus GRC, a train, and minimal people
Ken Block's 'Gymkhana' videos have never really been my cup of tea. It's hard to quantify as to why that is, given that they underline three of my passionate loves; quick hatchbacks, precision driving, and DC Shoes.
Maybe it's the fact that they're getting a bit samey and ho-hum now. When they first started, the idea of the 'viral video' was still in relative infancy, especially in car culture. However nowadays many companies have followed the Ken Block video model of crafting together slickly edited videos of wild cars and wilder driving to try and peddle product of some kind to the masses.
I guess the idea that these videos are nothing more than branding exercises is why I've never been a great fan. I like this latest one though.
Our overlords at Hoonigan have made mention that Gymkhana Nine was going to take the concept back to its roots, as 'the most pure Gymkhana yet' or whatever. And it kind of has. It's not flash jet planes or intense scenery that's the hero of this video; instead the heroes are the Ford Focus Global RallyCross car and Kenneth Block behind the wheel.
Of course, it wasn't meant to be this way — with reports over the last few days stating that the shoot was meant to take place over the ditch in Sydney. Sadly and also quite ironically, the locals didn't think that Blocks video would be appropriate for their setting (yet Australia remains the capital of the burn-out comp). So instead the team took their cars and cameras to an abandoned set of blocks (ha unintended) in Buffalo, New York.
From here I'll let the video do the talking. It might be a marketing exercise, but it's still a damn cool one.