If you’ve heard someone mention “Hoonigan“, they’re likely referring to the four-wheeled tire-shredding antics of Ken Block. For a few years now, we’ve been treated to something that he calls Gymkhana: hooning various vehicles – including an 800 horsepower, AWD classic Mustang – through an obstacle course that keeps us on the edge of our seats.
When these videos first started appearing, it was an introduction to drifting at a level that many of us may never achieve in the real world. So we’ve resorted to our game consoles to attempt to complete Block’s maneuvers in the digital world.
In this latest video we came across on The Hoonigans YouTube channel, Block hits up an industrial park in Buffalo, New York, and hoons so hard that he pushes his 2016 Ford Focus RS RX to the edge and back. This latest version, Gymkhana 9, brings in elements that prove Block only aims to go bigger, badder, and ballsier. We were told by Marketing Manager Andrew Hilman that the entire process took about 4-6 months of planning to get the video you see here.
This time around he temps a locomotive to a duel, rides the edge on a sheer dropoff, kisses a K-rail, and taunts a Raptor dangling from a skycrane helicopter. This video is eight minutes of the Hoonigan laying rubber from all four wheels in the same FIA World Rallycross Championship car that he races with, and does it all for the Forza Horizon video series. Hilman told us, “The car didn’t take any damage beyond normal wear and tear.” That leaves us to wonder how normal Ken Block’s version of wear and tear is.
Do you want to get your hands on this badass Ford Focus? They tell us that it will be coming soon in Forza Horizon 3 on the X-box game console. We’re not sure if you need to prove you can handle it by building up to it, but we’re pretty sure that your eight minutes will come and go, and easily turn into a few hours if the experience is anything like this.