Ken Block Talks His Ford Focus Gymkhana Racer

While filming his Gymkhana / Football mashup video (aka Footkhana), Ken Block spent some time with Evo and walked through all the details around his Ford Fiesta ST RX43. Block shows off all the details of his crazy fast racer, which does 0-to-60 in about 1.4 seconds thanks to the 650hp turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine.

Interestingly, the rallycross team moved the radiator to the back of the car to increase airflow when they’re driving bumper to bumper. The car has slightly different setups for Gymkhana races versus rallycross. In particular, the engine is detuned a bit to provide smoother power across the range and special tires are chosen that are easy to control when they lose their grip and slide consistently until they’re ready to be replaced.

Block also describes how he got into rally racing given that it’s not as big in the U.S. as is NASCAR or drag racing. He found that when he went overseas with the WRC racing he was way behind what other countries were doing with note taking for the course and had a lot of catching up to do. He actually takes a humble view of his place in the world of WRC given the competition at that level.