We are so happy to report that according to Ken Blocks Instagram page the new Gymkhana 9 will be released. Apparently, he will be driving the same Ford Focus RX RS he uses to compete in the current FIA Rallycross series and we couldn’t be more excited about it.
We are huge Fans of Ken Block because he’s one of those guys where almost everything he puts his name on is going to be badass. We just recently did a throwback to his RaptorTrax and how impressive that was, we’ve talked about his ridiculous 850hp AWD 1965 Mustang he calls the “Hoonicorn“. Then of course, his Gymkhana videos that display driving skills in a way never before seen that have hundreds of millions of views.
Photo: hooniganracing
He released his Gymkhana 8 video roughly 6 months ago on February 29th, 2016 and as of this writing, it already has 19.7 million views. That was shot in Dubai using a specially made Ford Fiesta ST RX43 that had a sick wrap that first appeared to be black, but depending on which angle you looked at it revealed a brilliant color changing design. It also featured a ridiculously tuned engine producing 650hp sent to all four wheels to provide epic slo-mo smokey burnouts.
Photo: nocarnofun
Photo: gentside
At the end of that video, they showed a teaser of the new upcoming Focus RS RX that Block and his extremely talented young teammate, Andreas Bakkerud, would be using for the 2016 FIA Rallycross season.
That season is well underway and with only 4 races remaining Bakkerud currently sits in the fourth spot with only 1 point separating him from fourth place. Block has been plagued with issues that have prevented him from being competitive but that’ll happen to the best of us.
Photo: focusforum
It sounds like he’s decided to put his new Ford Focus RS RX to better use by using it to make one of his almost instantaneously viral Gymkhana videos. This will be the 9th video and apparently it was shot in Buffalo, New York. So from L.A. in his #7, Dubai for #8, and now Buffalo for #9. Seems like a natural progression right?
Photo: hotrod
To remind you the Focus RS RX featured a 2.0L inline 4 cylinder with massive amounts of turbo boost to create a lot of power, like 0-60 in less than two seconds power. The FIA requirements for the Supercar World Rallycross class was set at 600hp, but we know his team has managed to pull at least 650 out of previous four bangers used in previous gymkhana cars.
We have to assume that they will turn the car up a little bit for his runs, I mean why wouldn’t you if you could right? As much as it may pain me, I’ve never driven a 600hp AWD rallycross car. But I would think that especially when out playing, driving a car with 650hp is going to be more fun than driving a car with 600hp right? Either way, it’s a dream of mine that I pray will one day come true. But, until then I’ll remain a Hoonigan fanboy and enjoy the hell out of watching and talking about Block’s many adventures. Set those reminders for September 13th!