Ken Blockrally driver, entrepreneur and founder of DC Shoes and The Hoonigans brand, Youtube and social media star, inventor of performance of the GYMKHANA series, passed away yesterday, January 2, victim of a snowmobile accident.
(Credit photo: Marie Farina – DPPI)
In fact, according to the reconstruction by the Wasatch county sheriff in Utah, it seems that while tackling a particularly steep slope, the pilot’s snowmobile overturned, hitting him and crushing him under its own weight. Although they intervened more than promptly, the rescuers could not help but ascertain his death, which occurred around 14:00 local time on 2 January. The family also announced it on the official profile of the company of Ken Block:
Lots of condolences from all over the world published on social media, starting with the pilot, his friend and colleague, Travis Pastrana:
Also Jim FarleyPresident and CEO of Ford Motor Company, recalled the long collaboration of Ken Block with Ford Performancethe racing department of the house of the Blue Oval.
Also Richard Rawlingsowner and founder of the well-known Gas Monkey Garagewanted to express his condolences:
Ken Block: pilot, entrepreneur, Youtube star, video producer.
Eclectic like few others, Ken Block he was never content to stay behind the wheel. Sure, it was one of the things he did best and that most passionate about him, but it wasn’t enough for him.
DC Shoes
In the early 90s, he founded a company specializing in footwear and clothing for extreme sports, including skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX, motocross, rallying and surfing and in whose catalog we can find shoeboards street stylesnowboards, t-shirts, jeans, hats and jackets.
It’s the very famous one DC Shoesfounded by Ken Block and Damon Way in 1994 and bought by Quicksilver (another well-known brand and manufacturer of technical clothing) in 2004.
Hoonigan
Just like its owner and founder, the company is also very eclectic: it deals with clothing, racing and motorsport, the design, preparation and organization of experiential events for international brands and the production and distribution of video content , with (obviously) a strong specialization in the filming of high-speed scenes. Among the main partners of the Company there is precisely the DC Shoes. In English and automotive slang, “Hoonigan” means “one who drives by bullyi.e. a person who uses a motor vehicle aggressively and unorthodoxly, i.e. who drives in driftingwhich does burnouts and Donuts continuously and who engages in acts of automotive aviation, or that makes the vehicle perform decidedly out of the ordinary jumps and flights”. Do you know perhaps more apt definition for a pilot like Ken Block?
Hoonigan Racing Division
The true passion of Ken Block however, they are the engines, and in January 2013 the new headquarters for the Hoonigan Racing Division, which took over two years to design, plan and build. Located in Park City, Utah, the facility includes the very best in a racing shop. Once again, the team can count on highly respected sponsors: Monster Energy, Ford Racing, DC Shoes, GoPro, Pirelli and all the other big brands that have always supported Ken. To build the new headquarters, 17 recycled containers were used, obviously together with traditional construction elements (and where possible, made with recycled, reused and sustainable materials). This choice allows the Company to be able to add other infrastructures if necessary but above all the possibility of loading the entire structure on trucks should they decide to move elsewhere.
The Hoonicorn Project (and Hoonitruck)
Designed and built to be the protagonists of the seventh episode of the GYMKHANA series, the two vehicles have become two absolute icons, just like their owner and driver.
There hoonicorn comes from a 1965 Mustang reinvented from ASD Motorsports, which in its first version boasts 845 HP and which reaches 1,400 HP in the second and latest version.
L’ Hoonitruck instead it derives from a 1977 Ford F-150 pick with 914 hp.
Both were then protagonists of various other adventures conceived, designed and performed by Ken Block, such as the variant uphill run of the format GYMKHANAbaptised CLIMBKHANA. There hoonicorn was the protagonist of the famous ascent of Pikes Peak (USA) in CLIMBKHANA ONEwhile theHoonitruck climbed the 99 hairpin bends of the famous and terrifying Tianmen Mountain Highway (China) in CLIMBKHANA TWO.
These two monsters from cavalry absurd are so well known and iconic among the general public of enthusiasts, that some of the best MOC Builders around the world have created a version in LEGO bricks. We can thus see the creations of Lachlan Cameron, known in the community of LEGO brick enthusiasts with the nickname Loxlegowho made the version in LEGO Technic elements of both the hoonicorn (instructions at this linkfor a fee) that ofHoonitruck (instructions at this linkfor a fee).
Or, to stay more on a LEGO City scale and therefore be able to create a brick version of an episode of the GYMKHANA series to be set in our LEGO Cities, we can contact legotuner33who designed the versions of the della hoonicorn (instructions at this linkfor a fee) that ofHoonitruck (instructions at this linkfor a fee) in LEGO Speed Champions scale.
Ken Block, star of the web
His nine videos Gymkhana (not counting all other edits) have amassed over 500 million views on his channel, garnering multiple accolades, including Ad Age Top 10 Viral Videos and the One Show Interactive Gold Pencil Award in the Online Films category & Video/Long Form – Single, for excellence in an advertising campaign. The series of adventures of his hoonicorn and of his Hoonitruck have been so much appreciated by the public and fans from all over the world, that Amazon Prime Video has decided to create a dedicated series: GYMKHANA_FILES.
New cars, new adventures, new videos
It all started in 2008, with the first GYMKHANA_1 aboard a 2006 530 HP Subaru Impreza WRX STi.
His latest adventure, renamed Electrikhana for the occasion and shot a few months ago in Las Vegas, saw Ken Block driving the electric prototype Audi S1 Hoonitron specially made for him by Audi Sport: a real madness to drift through the streets of city of vice having available (in practice), only the accelerator pedal!
There were many cars that Ken Block made protagonists of his adventures: in addition to Subaru Impreza WRX STi above, one has been used Subaru Impreza WRX STi 2009 (also made by Crawford Performance) with 566 HP for GYMKHANA_2, a 2011 Ford Fiesta made by Olsbergs MSE with 650 HP and all-wheel drive (for GYMKHANA_3 and GYMKHANA_4), another one FordFiesta but from 2012 and made by Pipo Motorsport and always with 650 HP for GYMKHANA_5, yet another Ford Fiesta ST version RX43 from 2013 and always with 650 HP for GYMKHANA_6 and GYMKHANA_8. In the middle, for GYMKHANA_7, Ken Block switch to the highly regarded and iconic hoonicorna 1965 Mustang reinvented by ASD Motorsports, which in its first version boasts 845 HP. The choice to turn GYMKHANA_9 falls on Ford Focus RS RX, with 600 HP. In 2018 and for GYMKHANA_10, the last with the wheel Ken Block (who will then pass the baton to his colleague and friend Travis Pastrana) back to hoonicornwhich has meanwhile been completely reengineered by ASD Motorsports and which is joined by the monstrous Hoonitrucka 1977 Ford F-150 pickup that got the same treatment energizing and aesthetics of the 1965 Mustang.
The new projects, also with Italy
There are many projects that with his sudden departure, Ken Block left incomplete.
For example, let’s talk about Hoonipigasusa styled version Hoonigan Racing of Porsche 911 with 1,400 HP and all-wheel drive specially designed to participate in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Then there is what we Italians, above all, will regret the most, namely what the Lancia Delta Safarista would have seenLancia Delta Safarista of Automobili Amos to star in an episode of the GYMKHANA series.
There rest mod which pays homage to the Rally Safari version of the Lancia Delta and which will be built in only 10 units (thank you to as many Lancia Delta Integrale 16V which will be used as donor car) at the price of 570,000 euros (VAT excluded) each, it should in fact have been the car driven by Ken Block in a new chapter of the Gymkhana sagaas the acrobatic American pilot himself had announced in a post on his Instagram profile.
Rest in peace Ken. You will forever be remembered and never forgotten. I recommend: teach the angels the art of Drift!
