KEN BLOCK GYMKHANA SIX – He’s Done It Again

Unless you have been sleeping under a rock you have probably seen a Ken Block Gymkhana video. For those of you who haven’t, Gymkhana is a style of driving that was developed by ken block and debuted in the original Gymkhana practice video. Gymkhana is best known as being able to drive an all wheel drive vehicle through or around obstacles with a little traction as possible. Starting in what I can only assume was his own DC funded WRX Ken Block has become a well sponsored icon of the Ford racing team and now has backing from sponsors like Need For Speed and GoPro. Ken Block has made a professional driving career that aspired from his original video. He has become a world renounced rally car medalist, almost single handedly gotten rally car racing into the Xgames, and created his own event series GYMKHANA. Ken Block is truly a Cinderella story in the automotive world and has brought rally car driving on to the map in the United States. All this happening while drift car racing was making its huge impact on the american car enthusiasts as well. While neither Ken Block GYMKHANA nor Drifting are my personal styles of driving I do see these styles of driving like art, this type of driving take more patience, tenacity, and know how then most people can start to fathom. Automobiles are built for more then just push the pedal and go, there is a certain feeling you get when its just you and your car pushing the limits.

Gymkhana (Ken Block)

Gymkhana is a type of motorsport practiced in an increasing number of countries. Similar to autocross, gymkhana courses are often very complex and memorizing the course is a significant part of achieving a fast time.

Gymkhana events are time and/or speed events in an automobile. These can feature obstacles such as cones, tires, and barrels. The driver must maneuver through a predetermined "track" performing many different driving techniques. What separates gymkhana from traditional autocross events is that the gymkhana requires drivers to perform reversals, 180 degree spins, 360 degree spins, parking boxes, figure 8s and other advanced skills. Drifting is also encouraged where helpful or necessary. Essentially, a gymkhana is any event featuring a starting point, a finish line and some sort of "obstacle" to get through, around, or by, all within a time limit.

Drivers

The driver's goal is to get through the course as quickly as possible with the fewest number of mistakes. Acceleration, braking, drifting & grip driving are all necessary. Not only does the driver have to hold control over the car, but gymkhana requires strong mental concentration and memorization.

Courses

Gymkhana courses typically involve only the use of first and second gear, where autotesting in the UK and Ireland add the use of reverse gear. A gymkhana course will typically be from 0:45 to 1:30 in length. Like autocross and autotesting, gymkhana courses are laid out with cones representing "obstacles" to navigate through. Unlike autocross, which can be considered to be a small version of a road course, obstacles in gymkhana will often consist of slaloms, 180 degree turns, 360 degree turns, figure eight turns and some times parking boxes. Gymkhana requires strong mental concentration and memorization of the track, as sections of the course frequently must be repeated or navigated backwards and or differently. The driver will use many techniques to effectively navigate a course. Handbrake technique, drifting and sliding and Left-foot braking are all necessary skills for gymkhana.

Like autocross and autotesting, gymkhanas are primarily held in open paved fields or parking lots. In Japan, small road courses and kartingvenues are sometimes used. Japan also has some facilities dedicated to gymkhana which resemble large paved parking lots that sometimes have racetrack curbing and grass/dirt medians and islands.

What’s better than watching Ken Block go sideways in Gymkhana part one, two, and three if you’re a car enthusiast? Probably nothing… until Block decides to do it live for his fans.

Known as the Gymkhana GRID Invitational, the live show will take place December 3 and 4 at the Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, California. But it’s not going to be just Block driving. The Gymkhana Grid is a one-on-one showdown where two drivers attack a mirrored course designed by Block himself.

Competitors include Vaughn Gittin Jr., Tanner Foust, Andrew Comrie-Picard, Dai Yoshihara, Stephan Verdier, Liam Doran, Bucky Lasek and many more – except that (excuse us here we were influenced by the video) p*%$y Travis Pastrana, he’s forgotten how to turn right.

Check out the funny commercial after the jump (Note: Language not safe for work hours).