[Aika Car Shopping Guide Original]
Ken Block, an American rally driver, has never won international competitions such as the WRC, but there is always a legend of him. Because the surname Block can be translated as "brick", Chinese car fans affectionately call him "Uncle Brick". This year, as soon as Ken Block announced his breakup with Ford, who has been working with him for decades, Subaru and Audi lined up to play with him. Why is the 53-year-old boy so popular with car companies? Let's walk into his legendary life together.
Ford (import) Fiesta ST
Ken Block worked as an architectural draftsman in his early years, but he quickly got bored with it, "I like architecture because it's an art, but I hate its actual business, it takes a lot of money or 30-40 years of experience to climb to the top." Soon, Ken Block discovered himself as an "adrenaline junkie" whose passion for extreme sports was beyond imagination. With start-up capital borrowed from his parents, Ken Block and his friends founded the DC Shoes brand, dedicated to professional skateboarding and skiing equipment.
Ken Block's rally start was high, but since then his results have not been qualitatively broken, after all, not everyone can become Loeb and Ogier. Ken Block's best time in the American Rally has always been second, and it wasn't until 2010 that he scored points for the first time at the WRC.
A chance encounter brought Ken Block into contact with Gymkhana, a racing sport that only requires a piece of open space and a pile to plan countless running methods, and similar to rally racing, Gymkhana also involves a lot of tail-flicking and cross-skiing operations, Ken Block is very successful. In 2008, ken block commissioned Crowford Performance to build a WRX STi race car to participate in a local Gymkhana event in California. Although the event was cancelled for some reason, the creative video recorded by Ken Block driving the car allowed him to start a whole new chapter in his life.
In "Gymkhana 2", Ken Block's cool expression contrasts with the thrilling footage of pulling the handbrake and drifting around the corner, which makes the audience addicted. The four-wheel drive itself has more restrictions on sliding, and it takes a lot of speed to float on the paved road, so Ken Block spends a lot of money to modify the car to make it have a powerful explosive power.
Ken Block丨 Get involved in a rally
Ken Block is a racing talent, but also a business genius, he is very good at using crossover to package himself. In 2009, his image appeared in the racing game Colin McRae: Dust 2, and he can also be seen in "Dust 3" and "Dust: Showdown" since then.
Ken Block intends to package the "Gymkhana" series into the much-anticipated "Circle Spring Festival Gala", and since then he and his team have paid more attention to the production level of the video, with a full sense of atmosphere, impeccable multi-camera photography, flowing editing and a variety of creative gameplay so that fans can experience speed and passion at any time.
Meanwhile, with the support of long-term sponsor Claw Energy, Ken Block set out to build his own team, monster Energy World Rally Team. In 2013, the team changed its name to Hoonigan Racing Division, and the term Hoonigan evolved from hoon, which means "rampage driver" in Australian English slang.
It is worth mentioning that the person who interacted with Ken Block on a motorcycle in "Gymkhana 5" is Travis Pastrana, a young man born in Annapolis who will appear twice later in the article.
Maybe "Gymkhana 9" is not as amazing as before, but it still perfectly shows ken block's driving skills, in order to let fans feel the beauty of drifting up close, Ford made a VR version of the video, and those who have VR headsets should steal the fun.
"Gymkhana 10" is a phased summary of Ken Block's "Gymkhana" series, in addition to the model and location, the video's cast has also been expanded, Oliver Solberg (only 16 years old when the video was released), Travis Pastrana, Rob Dyrdek, Aaron Kaufman all appeared on the scene, together to present a visual feast.
Ken Block said: "I like anything that can run fast, and electric cars can do that. "What kind of spark will those performance beasts with ultra-low center of gravity collide with "Uncle Brick"? We should keep looking forward to it.
Editor's comments: In 2018 and 2019, Ken Block visited China twice, the first time was to create a publicity campaign for the new Fox, and the second time was to challenge the 99th bend of Tianmen Mountain, and the mass foundation gradually solidified. When Ken Block first came to China, my colleague was very lucky to sit in the co-driver for a few minutes, and you can click on the article below to review his journey. Nowadays, "Uncle Brick" is more than half a hundred years old, but he is still active in the automotive industry and the Internet, and from time to time he sends some Show off videos to try to shock everyone's jaw, this kind of old-age spirit will inspire the next generation of car fans, as before.
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