03 November 2009 - 10:00
Video: Block on Ice
It might seem like we're a bit obsessed with Ken ‘Gymkhana' Block here at TopGear.com.
But we're not. It's just that he keeps doing insanely cool things that we keep finding it necessary to tell you about.
Like turning a Subaru Impreza STI into the world's fastest snow cat. See? We'd be frankly irresponsible if we didn't report that.
Ken's Scooby snow cat packs 400bhp and features four cat tracks in the place of wheels, making it pretty much the ultimate vehicle to hoon around Utah's wintry backcountry in search of, like, powder stashes and pillow lines and that kind of stuff.
"The TRAX STI combines two of my favourite things in life: driving a rally car in the snow and snowboarding in the backcountry," says Block.
He leads a tough life, our Ken. Oversteering snow cats, oversteering rally cars, scaring the bejesus out of James May - how's he going to find time to take on Seb Loeb in the WRC next year?
Just for the record: not obsessed. Oh no...
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Okay, so this is the guy who is aiming to be one of the few Americans ever to compete in the WRC (albeit in a private team)... I suspect that the biggest problem he faces will be taking him seriously as a competitor if he keeps on doing daft stunts like this.
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I'm getting sick of Ken Block. A 10-minute segment on a programme watched by over 8 million people in Britain was sufficient -- we all saw it; we don't need to see a diary of his YouTube escapades at least once a week on here as well.
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What!? This is brilliant light hearted fun! Keep showing it!
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Rusty - if they're going to keep showing the exploits of some bored millionaire stunt enthusiast, why not broadcast half of the crap Richard Branson gets up to? It's on YouTube for us to see -- if we wanted to see it, we'd go there. We know Ken Block well enough now to know where he broadcasts his videos. Stick to car news or better yet, have a Ken Block section.
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this stuff is more in the fantasy race car zone than wrc zone. and i like it. @monk man this is happy fun stuff in an happy fun site, if you want suspension angles and valve timing just go for the proper magazine
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@ top gear staff when we'll have the fantasy race car poll result?, just to know how much we have to wait to see ludicrous petrol heads designs.
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Funnily enough I do go for the magazine and I find it in there as well, which makes reading it on here to be all the more tedious. I think there comes a point when you can no longer milk a cow. Fun is one thing (like the crushed Hyundai video) but Ken Block is just some internet flavour of the month.
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That is truly an incredible machine.
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This would be a great ride to scare SUV drivers who can't park to save their lives. And I for one don't mind getting plenty of this flavour of the month... If you're getting sick of it stop eating. :p
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i want those tracks on the previous impezza. the 1 that was shaped like a brick. not one shaped like a sodding vauxhall astra.
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What is Ken Bl(c)ock doing all hes days? this? OK, man will always remain bit childish, but this guy havent even heard about growing up and do something with thing called sence on it!
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awesome idea.kimi raikkonen should race one of these!how about a renault twingo cup with snow tracks!!!
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thats pretty sweet, it is a lot slower then i expected tho, coming around that bend i was hoping to see 15 foot snow rooster tails, and gnarly scream from a boxer 4! but personally i find nothing wrong with all this Ken Block stuff. id much rather watch a skrewey mad automotive video in true Top Gear fashion, then listen to an F1 driver talk about the many problems he was having with his car.
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I think this is a brilliant idea! It made my day, quite how it's like "Snowboarding in the Backcountry", I'm not so sure, but Rally 'Cat racing would be a brilliant sport! Doesn't he realise though that Scooby is a dog and not a (snow) cat?
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@Monk, he's not exactly on here once a week, is he? Besides, there's plenty of his stuff that's not made it to TopGear. Also, there was once a section for mad stuff and a section for dry industry stuff, but tg.com has combined them. "Car News" is a mix of the two. The reason there hasn't been much seriousness recently is probably just because there's not been much news of that nature lately.
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You know, I'd actually put my money on him being mentioned several times each week whether directly or indirectly on here. He's a shoe maker with a keen interest in amateur rallying - it's hardly a warrant for godlike status, is it? Also, you don't have to justify this site to me - I come here for the same reason as you come here - because I bloody enjoy cars, I bloody enjoy talking about them, and I bloody enjoy seeing articles about people behaving madly in them... but Ken Block is a guy who can be forgotten. He's irrelevant in the world of motoring, even in the 1/2 mad and "ker-razy" world of TopGear.com
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You English are awfully whiny bunch. I don't complain when I see Hamilton or Button's face on the Top Gear site every single day. But you guys start getting all whiny when an American starts popping up some. Top Gear is all about cool stunts and goofiness. The editors and producers seem to like Ken Block. Keep your toys in the pram.
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that was sssssssssssssssoooooooooooooooooooooo cccccccccccccccccccccooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
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Isnt virginiablend saying that us British are whiny and I do not keep my toys in a pram.if he is American than answer this which country was the birth place of the last TWO F1 World Champions. sorry virginiablend but I feel prode to be British
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VirginiaBlend - for you to compare some shoe salesman to two of the best drivers Britain has ever produced (no less two of the best in the world at the minute) - it's ridiculous; your aspirations are pathetic. You see Hamilton and Button's face on this site most of the time because, a) as British viewers on a British website we support British sports personalities, and b) it just so happens that two of the best drivers in the world at the minute are British, ergo it only makes sense for them to be plastered on a British website about driving and motoring, you cretin. I am "whining" not because Block is American but because in the world of motoring he is completely irrelevant and insignificant in every single way.
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I have to say i am also now sick of ken block. You introduced me to him, the two videos were class, and i respected him. Now ye've managed to turn me against him with your worship of him. Hes gona get whooped in the WRC next year and i always thought that, only now i really want him to get beaten by loeb and hivornen, so you can see him for the rich boy drifter he really is. All this video shows us is that he isnt seriously preparing for a crack at the WRC next year. Hes just a show off with lots and lots of money. and a camera crew. (those tracks are pretty cleverly engineered though)
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010010011010: Indeed. Ken Block is nothing more than some multimillionaire car enthusiast who offers a low calorie, entry level guide to Rally driving. He is the weight watchers of the driving world. He is a tic tac. Put him in a head to head race around Ouninpohja with Mikko Hirvonen... jesus, man, he wouldn't stand a chance.
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I really wish that block turn out "loeb fast" in the wrc. not because i like it, but because this will increase u.s. people interest in rallying, and help the sport and also that strategy about making the same models for europe an u.s.
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c'mon!! someone please put the cat trax on your beloved veyron, 1000hp on snow, thats something worth while to watch :D
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I do believe a nice old Land Rover would give this poor effort a run for it's money on the snow, just with snow tyres. Handling was terrible! The car is geared wrong and was very slow. Just because he put tracks on people get excited... You all need to get down your local off road club to see what real machines can do!
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VirginiaBlend- don`t you have your own tg site to spout your half-baked opinions on
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thas good blending the agility of an snow cat whit the confort of an nice kosy car whit leather interior and ac to keep you warm while you ride in the snow... nice ideia!!!!!
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Ladies and Gentlemen. There's a reason why Subaru hasn't had a decline in sales and profitability during the recession. I won't under estimate it.
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Can i just say, this is hilarious to watch from the poin t of view of someone who is neither from Britain nor America.
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Who's bothered about sales or nationality??? The point of Top Gear is "Ambitious but Rubbish" that's what most of us agree wid Block being... but he's no ordinary kid wid a toy.. Keep It Up TG!
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The Subaru-on-treads is brilliant, and the envy-mongers in this thread need to lighten up. Block's a millionaire, and films his antics in automobiles for money. Well, guess what? The exact same thing can be said for all three of Top Gear's esteemed hosts. If you have a problem with this vid, you seriously need to find more suitable content. Consumer Reports, perhaps?
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Considering its been modified for the snow, the handling IN THE SNOW looks absolute crap. It was barely doing 20mph around those corners and it was fighting to get round the bend. Cool idea though, good to be creative.
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UGACherokee: I personally am not in the least bit envious of Ken Block, I just don't see the point of the ongoing coverage of his YouTube exploits. In a world where car companies are consistently pushing the envelope of engineering with inhuman times around the Nurburgring, with diesel engines being favoured for their performance and frugality over petrol engines, with technology in the automotive world consistently improving on a nearly hourly basis in the best labs in the world, et al... Ken Block represents a microcosm of relevancy. If some guy in Japan does a drift around a track and has to look out of his side window as he is going forwards, I want to see it, but that's not a warrant for that same Japanese guy to be featured on the website week in, week out. Fun is fun and looking at mad stuff is always fine by me but almost weekly Ken Block news takes the piss.
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C'mon, that's not too bad... it's funny to see, I agree that Ken Block features quite a lot on this website, but it's always worth a look at. It takes two minutes to look, and if you're pissed of him, just look at something else... I don't really understand why you're getting so angry with this nice website... I do miss the "cupholder" part... that was quite funny, and nobody would complain if there were some funny stuff like this vid... As for joining the WRC next year, I'd like to see how it goes... funny guys are not always the worst (Travis Pastrana on his bike, or Tony Hawks on his skateboard are not specially boring and not what you call amateurish...)
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re The Monk, you don't have to watch it. If you don't like Ken Block, don't click on the link, read it, watch the clip and then write like 500 words commenting on it. Might save you a bit of time and hassle.
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Sorry The_Monk, but I think you're talking this all far too seriously. Top Gear is as much about entertainment as it is motoring these days and, I daresay you won't agree, but Ken Block is doing a rather good job of combining the two. Sure, he may not be the "driving god" that a lot of people on the internet proclaim he is, but I for one enjoy reading/watching his exploits because I can tell you, without any hesitation, that if I had the funding, I'd love nothing more than to spend my spare time finding new ways to have fun with an Impreza!
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I just don't think Ken Block deserves half of the coverage he gets -- he's nothing special, just the archetype for every amateur rally enthusiast who can do the same, if not better with a fraction of the funding he gets.
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There are plenty of millionaire morons who get more coverage but we're all happy watching them do stupid things. JC et al for example, who use license fee payers money to further their reputations both in the UK and abroad. They then go on to earn much more via dvd and book sales, interviews and public/event speaking et cetera. For some bizarre reason you think him being the co-founder of DC Shoes is something to be ashamed about. Mr Block is ambitious and, dare I say, has achieved far more success than you or I. In rallying he's won a fair few medals (not your average amateur rally enthusiast at all), at least he's trying to progress in his current profession. He runs the risk of having his backside handed to him next year but that's not going to stop him from trying.
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sorry for my chavvy language but that is absolutely wicked, or however you spell it
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@ The_Monk (3) if you don't like whats on this webstite then go get stuffed because most people like this website, and as TG said, 'we are not osessed with Ken Block' so there, and by the way did you notice that most things that you say start an arguement, I would be careful if I were you.
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Wow! That's awesome and i've got one of those at home :P
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if you're sick of it then why can't you just look away. it's not like they're leaving out the stuff you want to make room for this. give it credit for what it is.
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Not sure if anyone at Top Gear HQ actually checks these comments, but the Irish have now had a go at Gymkhana and made a nice film to accompany it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy73wPYkPr4 (Driver is Kevin Lynch)
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LazyAmerican commented on this article
03 November 2009
I like a good Evo vs Subie debate, but I don't see my Evo doing This.
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