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If it doesn"t look dangerous, it doesn"t get attention!"
Written by Vijay Pattni
Nine Gymkhana videos, a mountain of rubber laid to waste, hours of Internet-friendly oversteer and a smile: Ken Block has gone from being whispered in petrolhead circles to a fully-fledged master of sideways. From powersliding his way around an airfield to taking Matt LeBlanc on a hot ride of London.Today, TopGear.com brings you an exclusive look at the latest salvo in his ongoing War On Tyres: Terrakhana". It"s a spin-off from his regular Gymkhana series, and if you haven"t watched it, then click these fine, upstanding blue words.Before you dive into that, we caught up with the big man to discuss the video, his penchant for danger and the futureTG: Ken, can you explain to us what on earth Terrakhana actually is?KB: 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.TG: Is Terrakhana a result of Gymkhana being hugely successful, and the need to branch off?KB: 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.TG: Fair point. How long did it take to film Terrakhana? KB: 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.TG: Was it straightforward, or were there any hairy moments?KB: 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.TG: Sounds scary. Does it ever frighten you?KB: 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.
Date written: 22 Aug 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 8908
Written by Vijay Pattni
Nine Gymkhana videos, a mountain of rubber laid to waste, hours of Internet-friendly oversteer and a smile: Ken Block has gone from being whispered in petrolhead circles to a fully-fledged master of sideways. From powersliding his way around an airfield to taking Matt LeBlanc on a hot ride of London.Today, TopGear.com brings you an exclusive look at the latest salvo in his ongoing War On Tyres: Terrakhana". It"s a spin-off from his regular Gymkhana series, and if you haven"t watched it, then click these fine, upstanding blue words.Before you dive into that, we caught up with the big man to discuss the video, his penchant for danger and the futureTG: Ken, can you explain to us what on earth Terrakhana actually is?KB: 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.TG: Is Terrakhana a result of Gymkhana being hugely successful, and the need to branch off?KB: 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.TG: Fair point. How long did it take to film Terrakhana? KB: 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.TG: Was it straightforward, or were there any hairy moments?KB: 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.TG: Sounds scary. Does it ever frighten you?KB: 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.
Date written: 22 Aug 2017
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 8908
