Ken Block
Ken Block (Kenneth Block) is an American professional rally driver and sports person. He drives rallies with the Hoonigan Racing Division, formerly known as the Monster World Rally Team. Apart from racing he has also competed in many action sports events like skateboarding, snowboarding, and motocross.
He is also one of the co-founders of DC Shoes, whom ownership he has since sold. He has shifted his business focus to Hoonigan Industries, an apparel brand for auto enthusiasts. He is currently the co-owner and “Head Hoonigan In Charge” at the company (Hoonigan Industries).
He joined Vermont SportsCar team in 2005 to begin his national rallying career. He competed with a 2005 Subaru WRX STi in his first ever rallying event, the Sno*Drift in Michigan. In this race, he managed a seventh place overall finish and a fifth-place finish in the Group N class.
He went on to secure five top-five finishes in the 2005 rally season and placed an overall third place in the Group A class and fourth overall in the Rally America National Championship, which earned him the Rally America Rookie of the Year award. He has since participated in many other events.
Ken Block Age
Block was born on 21st November 1967. He is 51 years as of 2019.
Ken Block Net Worth
Block has an estimated net worth of $200 million.
Ken Block Wife | Lucy Block
Block got married to his wife Lucy Block in 2005. Lucy is further known to be a rally racing enthusiast, as she has reportedly participated in more than 7 different races. Because of this, her husband gifted her with a fully restored and modified 1974 Ford Bronco and a Ford Fiesta R2 rally car. Not much information is known about her or their children. He has managed to keep it extremely low key.
Ken Block Mustang | Ken Block Gymkhana | Ford Mustang Ken Block | Ken Block Hoonicorn
Mention the name Block anywhere in LA and anxiety about Mustang arises! In 2014, the team at Hoonigan Racing took to the streets of Los Angles for the latest Gymkhana show, and the masses could not wait to catch glimpse of the all-new Ken Block Mustang.
With unrivaled ingenuity and creativity, a crack team of engineers transformed an ordinary 1965 Ford Mustang into the ultimate, high-performance machine.
Technically, it was still the body of a 1965 Mustang, but the addition of the Custom, ASD Motorsports-designed tubular chassis, the roll cage, the door bars, and underbody protection made the Hoonicorn look like something that was straight out of a science fiction thriller.
As if the exterior modifications were not enough, the stack of throttle bodies protruding roughly a foot out of the hood certainly drew a few double takes. Speaking of the engine compartment, the real draw of the Hoonicorn Mustang took place under the hood.
If you were anywhere near the greater Los Angeles area on the day of Gymkhana SEVEN, you could have heard the roar of the Roush Yates 410 cubic inch engine. The instant torque delivery enabled the Mustang Hoonicorn V1 to put down a whopping 845 hp and 720 lb-ft of torque at 6500 rpm.
The near- instant torque delivery combined with the innovative six-speed, all-wheel drive transmission allowed the Hoonicorn to burn rubber like there was no tomorrow! Elsewhere on the build, the inaugural Ken Block Mustang featured custom front and rear suspension mounts, a hydraulic handbrake to assist in heavy cornering situations, and Recaro seats for the ultimate racing experience.
Even if you did not hear the engine growl at Gymkhana VII, you might have seen the smoke from the tires. The Hoonicorn sat pretty on a quartet of custom, gold 18” x 10.5” wheels with a set of 295/30/18 tires that absolutely tore up the streets of L.A.
Ken Block Cars | Ken Block Ford Focus | Ken Block Ford Fiesta | Ken Block Ford | Ken Block Ford Focus Rs | Ken Block Raptor
Ken Block Drift | Ken Block Videos
We will update these details soon. Keep checking.
Ken Block Interview
Q: Ken, can you explain to us what on earth Terrakhana actually is?
Ken Block: It’s basically taking that driving style that I do in the Gymkhana videos and applying it in other unique situations. This new one (‘Terra’ meaning earth)… we’re doing it in a unique dirt-type situation. I’ve always wanted to take that driving style and do different things with it.
Q: Is Terrakhana a result of Gymkhana being hugely successful, and the need to branch off?
Ken Block: Well, I get to take these race cars out of race situations and have fun with them. I grew up skateboarding and snowboarding, riding dirt bikes… most of the time I was doing this I wasn’t competing, but it’s the opposite with race cars. These videos let me go out and have fun with rally type cars, and I’m not so concerned with trying to win a race. For me, it’s just about getting to go out and play with these amazing toys.
Q: Fair point. How long did it take to film Terrakhana?
Ken Block: The shoot took two days. It’s down in a part of the Southern Utah desert, sectioned off by the government to be a recreational area where you can drive dirt bikes, quads, ATVs… There’s a lot of beautiful desert in Southern Utah, loads of national parks. This particular area called Swing Arm City was made specifically for people to go down and enjoy off-road vehicles.
Q: Was it straightforward, or were there any hairy moments?
Ken Block: Most of the shoot was fairly straightforward. I was driving my Fiesta rally car, so it’s familiar terrain of finding jumps, climbing up turns, various big rocks and lots of obstacles. There’s one hill that we call ‘knife edge’ that, if I were to go off the back side, it would be a 100ft drop to my death. It was fun to do it in a rally-style way – you don’t normally see a car up there.
Q: Sounds… scary. Does it ever frighten you?
Ken Block: Every once in a while! It’s all about understanding risk. Unfortunately for us nowadays, with the Internet, if something doesn’t look death-defying it doesn’t get much attention! I put myself in a couple of situations that were potentially pretty dangerous, but I do so with all the best safety precautions I can put in place. The suspension and tyre setup was what I’d typically use for this car on a gravel car; long travel suspension, gravel rally tyres.
Q: So, erm, no chance for the Hoonicorn to go off-piste in Terrakhana?
Ken Block: The Hoonicorn would have been terrible here! The suspension isn’t long enough, and with the twin-turbo setup and no air filters, it would have sucked in a lot of dust, and the engine would not have lasted at all.
Q: Speaking of the Hoonicorn, what’s next?
Ken Block: I’ll continue doing demos and videos with the Hoonicorn, but I don’t have any distinct plans for it yet. That car is one of the craziest I’ve ever driven in my entire life, but when we added two turbos to it, it produced 1,400bhp. So now it’s the most frightening car I’ve ever driven in my entire life. It just melts tyres in such a way, it kind of makes it behave in ways I’m not used to. So it’s still quite fun, just fun in a much more… frightening way.
Q: Last time we spoke, you mentioned Gymkhana 5 as your personal favourite. Is that still the case, or is the film you did with TG TV now up there?
Ken Block: [Laughs] Well I never got into as much trouble doing a video as the one I did for Top Gear! I really enjoyed doing that one, but Gymkhana 5 is still my favourite. The funny thing is, we’ve done videos all over the world, but never have I seen or dealt with the paparazzi that you have there in England. That was something… to experience.
Q: Quite. You ever get bored of going sideways?
Ken Block: No. At some point it’ll get old, but right now it still puts a big smile on my face.
Q: So when do you reckon you’ll hang up the sideways boots?
Ken Block: I’ll keep doing this as long as the fans still enjoy what I’m doing, and as long as I can still be competitive and make the best stuff, at the highest level. If I get too old, and it’s not competitive or it gets boring, then I’ll quit. I don’t want to look bad! But, I am one of the luckiest race car drivers in the world – I appreciate that – and I’ll try and hold on to that unique position as long as I can.
Q: Superb. Thanks for your time Ken!
Ken Block: Seeya.