Ken Block's craziest modified car builds

Millions of people all around the world have been motivated to pursue their passion for the automotive industry while constantly pushing the envelope by Ken Block. And today we'll list the top Gymkhana cars ever constructed by Ken Block.

Ken Block has become well-known to rally enthusiasts. The professional rally driver currently affiliated with Ford's Hoonigan Racing Division, formerly the Monster World Rally Team, began competing with Subaru. Block has participated in a variety of action sports, including snowboarding, motocross, and skateboarding in addition to the World Rally Championships.

In addition to holding the record for the fastest snowcat in the world, a customised Ford Raptor known as Trax STI, Block also served as the fashion symbol in the 2015 Need for Speed video game.

Ken Block is a business genius even though he views himself as an action sportsman. Ken Block, one of the DC Shoes co-founders, has changed his company's focus to Hoonigan Industries, a line of apparel for motorheads.

There's a good chance that the first car you saw being thrown around like physics was on flex time was a Fiesta rather than a WRX. In fact, based on statistics, this is the car you're most likely to have seen. It had six different appearances in the Gymkhana series, five of which were as the star, as opposed to a supporting actor.

The Fiesta (in its different iterations) doesn't tug at that term's leash as much as the other vehicles on this list do, doing everything it can to avoid being limited by a word as basic as "car." But since we're talking about comparisons, if the thought of shooting a 650 horsepower rally-spec Fiesta off San Francisco's dizzying streets doesn't strike you as insane, you should probably keep reading.

For the rest of us, this is the vehicle that caused more craziness than any other and piqued our interest in ever-crazier concepts and technological advancements.
a kind of wild genius's beginning.

V6s are simply less exciting than V8s for whatever reason, therefore. The Hoonitruck's use of such a configuration immediately puts it at a disadvantage.

The Blue Oval's 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 has more than 900 horsepower and 700 lb-ft of torque, just like the Ford GT that won the Le Mans race.
And by actual engine, we mean the one that came straight out of Ford Racing's GT Le Mans programme.

Installed in a typical 1977 F-150, this would typically produce a fantastic, albeit fleeting, game of Which Bit Will Break First.
The Hoonitruck, however, uses a bespoke four-wheel-drive configuration with a Sadev six-speed gearbox to elegantly avoid that entire problem (and a wide variety of others).

What about the actual F-150? It's a Seventies pickup truck, much like you can walk into a store and get a Mustang that won the Daytona 500.

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but Audi is currently on a bit of an electric kick.
Okay, so you've probably noticed that Carlos Sainz's electric-powered sailing across the Dakar Rally's dunes has a bit of an affect.

So you can see how this was conceptualised: remember Audi's earliest days in the mud with the ur-Quattro, look to the future with electric vehicles, and blend both with the flair Ken Block brought to the present.

The Hoonitron was evidence that how wheels are spun matters much less than the fact that wheels are spinning. It had a twin-motor, AWD system (of course), and it made a sound uncannily similar to the Tamiya cars we owned as children.

Yes, the absurd pirouetting happens in Las Vegas, a place so obviously terrible that having the mob there was somehow better, but if anything is going to make that monument to meretriciousness appear decent, it's an Audi S1 rally car that has been modified.

Block's Gymkhana movies frequently downplay how powerful, expert, and performance-focused the machines they use actually are in favour of showing off their pomp and circlework. And names like "Hoonicorn" don't do much to demonstrate that point or the incredible tech that supports each step taken and frame recorded.

Space frame chassis, pushrod suspension, a unique all-wheel-drive system, individual throttle bodies, carbon fibre bodywork—these aren't just features to check off a specification sheet; they were all carefully selected and engineered to work together to provide immediate, reliable, and consistent performance. Of course it is ridiculous as well; after all, it is a Gymkhana video.

An insider's tip on the Hoonicorn: Ken requested that the suspension setup be significantly softer than the first version, so he could load and unload the tyres like he did with his Fiesta RS WRC race car.

A true silhouette race vehicle with livery evoking Porsche's 917/20 "Pink Pig," This alone is more than enough to catch our interest. Then to learn that it is a professionally constructed Time Attack vehicle designed to be legitimately competitive at the world's premier hillclimb competition, well, there's a sentence from Django Unchained that would go well.

Despite not appearing in a Gymkhana video, the Porsche that Block drove up Pikes Peak had competitive specifications: a mid-mounted flat-six from Porsche's GT3R endurance racer, twin-turbocharged to 1,400 horsepower, and driving both axles.
By the way, the front driveshaft runs straight through the cabin, so the armrest with the greatest stakes would probably be the box that houses it.

The amount of research on downforce alone is enough to earn someone a PhD, and that's before anyone takes into account the complex aero calculations needed near the top of the mountain, where the air is exactly as thin as you'd expect it to be at 14,000 feet and the sheer spectacle of the event can misguide you.

Oh, and it took four months to get from paper to the top of Pikes Peak, with the construction beginning over the holiday season and ending in the thick of supply chain problems, which are the misery of every gearhead's existence.

The only probable explanation for why it cedes first position to something else is that it may have slightly destroyed a few engine components at Pikes Peak.

Hoonicorn V2, Add around 43% more craziness to what is arguably the craziest Mustang ever made. You know you've crossed the line of sanity when Ken Block himself considers it "the most frightening thing I've ever driven."

The V2 was completely corrupted by pure power, exchanging the normally aspirated sounds (one of the finest we've heard, actually) for a pair of turbos, methanol injection, and 1,400bhp. The first incarnation of the Hoonicorn had a naturally aspirated V8 developed by Roush Yates. So, we're informed.

A vehicle that may more accurately be described as a "turbo nutter" than any vehicle he has ever driven before or since? Oh, just the dizzying, ego-deflating Pikes Peak, which causes altitude sickness. And after making a few detours along the route, the Hoonicorn eventually reached the top, unlike the stranded pig.
of course, for doughnuts.

When Block isn't competing on skateboard ramps or off-road courses, he is moving through snow. The Ford F-150 Raptor TRAX is what Block refers to as the "perfect back-country snowboard expedition vehicle."

In a film for Monster Energy, the car made its premiere as the fastest snowcat in the world.
Block claims that the RaptorTRAX can ascend and descend snow-covered mountainous terrain. According to Motor 1, the large vehicle is propelled by a 6.2-liter V8 engine that generates 600 horsepower using a six-speed automated transmission.

Ken Block Tribute Video and Update, from the Hoonigans.