Introducing the world of Gymkhana in which tyre wear is rather less important than, well,
what you wear. And in this world, California's Ken Block and his 650bhp Fiesta are king.
But what's it like to have the car control of Ken Block?
And what's the maestro do at the wheel that makes the difference? We went to the World
Finals of Gymkhana Drift Championships to find out. And I hitched a ride with the maestro
himself along the way.
Ken Block: A lot of people's biggest mistake when they come to these events is they try
and give themselves too much power.
Steve Sutcliffe: Yeah.
Ken: Well then the wheels just spin.
Ken: It's slower when the wheels are just spinning.
Steve: Yeah.
Ken: So it's about control power.
Steve: Are the diffs electronic or are they mechanical?
Ken: No, all mechanical.
Steve: Wow. Okay. Well, you can play with them.
Ken: Yeah, we play with the pressures a bit. We did in the beginning but now we've kind
of figured everything out, what works.
Steve: Now you've just got it sorted and you go. Yeah.
Ken: And I have an electronic paddle shift. But I actually don't like it.
Steve: Really? You prefer-
Ken: Yeah, because it's kind of more intended for like a closed course type racing.
Steve: Yeah?
Ken: So if I'm sliding and moving the car around and I change shift sometimes the electronics
don't like it.
Steve: Wow. Okay.
Ken: It wants something nice and clean and make sure all the tyres are rotating correctly.
I just want to, ah, jam it, you know?
Steve: Yeah. So when you start and you go one, two, three do you then go down to second
for that long-?
Ken: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Steve: So from that point onward, are you circular two, two and one?
Ken: First, yeah. Yeah. All right, we're good.
Steve: Is this guy any good?
Ken: Yes.
Steve: Okay, here we go. Practice run
[Inaudible appreciation and crazed muttering]
Steve: That is insane. That is absolutely bonkers. So how was that? Was that a good
run? A bad run?
Ken: It was an okay run. I actually-
Steve: Where do you think you went- where did you not perfect it? I can't see what's
going on half the time because of all the smoke.
Ken: One of the problems out there is that that particular side of the course some of
the objects are too close together.
Steve: Yeah.
Ken: So I went around a barrel. When I meant to go around this one, I went around this
one.
Steve: Right, okay.
Ken: But they all look the same.
Steve: Yeah.
Ken: So it's a matter of just learning the course and I've only driven that left side
one time before.
Steve: Right, okay.
Ken: So I know the right course perfectly.
Steve: Yeah.
Ken: I just need to do that side a couple more times, so...
Steve: It feels like you just need to get into a rhythm of the momentum of what happens
after that event, what happens in the next event.
Ken: Yeah. So the memorisation of the course is really important because you want to be
able to link the car back and forth, you know, to make each object as perfect as you can.
So, but that run was okay. We should have been a little tighter on one or two things,
but you got the basic gist of it.
Steve: Yeah, yeah. It seems like a combination of you having to be really, really quite gentle
on the handbrake in order to not go to far.
Ken: Yeah.
Steve: And then aggression.
Ken: Yeah.
Steve: There's nothing in between it doesn't feel like. It's like properly aggression and
Ken: Yeah.
Steve: And then kind of calms.
Ken: Yeah.
Steve: It's massively about traction as well I guess, out of those slow-
Ken: Yeah. It's about trying to get around the stuff quick and get straight and then
go.
Steve: So you have to get it straight in order to get the traction.
Ken: Yeah.
Steve: If you're like that-
Ken: Yeah, otherwise it just-
Steve: Yeah. Wow. That was fantastic. So do you enjoy doing this or would you rather have
a bit more space to properly let rip? Is there a kind of similar level of satisfaction out
of doing this than doing a stage on a rally?
Ken: That's a good question. I mean, I can't complain anytime I'm in one of my race cars.
Ken: So I love coming out and doing this.
Steve: Yeah, yeah.
Ken: We made that for Goodwood. You know. Lord March. But I'm a stage rally guy. That's the
basis. That's where I come from. That's what I love.
Steve: Is that what you learned, that's what you did first?
Ken: Yeah.
Steve: Yeah.
Ken: So you know, this is fun, but I mean my entire distance of driving for the next
two days will probably be, you know, one stage of one rally, you know? So, but I love it
though because I truly enjoy stage rally. I truly enjoy, you know, the car and what
we do with the car. And this is just another extension of that.
Steve: Yeah.
Ken: Taking those skills and taking that style of car and doing something, you know, very
fun but just different, you know? You know rally stage when say there's 100 corners,
you can go wide on one and be tight on another and they all kind of even out, you know, as
long as you're driving well. But here I have, you know, seven of them but it's timed. If
I blow one corner completely, well, I'm kind of [bleeped] on time.
Steve: Yeah.
Ken: So the precision here is definitely very, very important. You do some driving too, right?
Steve: A bit, yeah. But nothing like this. Doing that was slow compared-
Ken: Yeah.
Steve: -to what I was doing. It was good fun but you'd end up at
the wrong end of the grid.
Ken: Yeah, yeah.
Steve: But I love doing this sort of stuff if you can.
Ken: Yeah.
Steve: If someone else is paying for the tyres.
Ken: Did you enjoy it?
Steve: I did. Yeah.
Ken: Good.
Steve: I'm normally a really horrendous passenger. But that was cool. It just felt safe.
Ken: Good.
Steve: Well, no, maybe not safe, but yeah. Thanks mate. And good luck.
Ken: Thank you.
Steve: In the end Ken finished second in the outright final and he was beaten by a local
hero, Nani Roma. Maybe because he likes to hoon that little bit too much. Top man though
Ken Block with one of the most fantastic logos you could ever wish to live your life by.