For the last decade and a half this has been a story to savor writing. The last of the day, done with a cookie, a coffee and a whole heap of volume.
Fall. Gymkhana time. The wait is done. The drop.
And didn’t we have it good… Ken flew us through the streets of San Fran, did the desert in Dubai and then it was 10 and Luleå, Detroit, Guanajuato, Shamrock.
Sweden, Michigan, México, Texas.
Ford Fiesta WRC, Mustang RR Hoonicorn V2, Focus RS RX, Escort Cosworth, F-150 Hoonitruck.
Thousands of horsepower smoking hundreds of tires. What a way to end the day. Nineteen minutes became 38 minutes, became 57. And so it went on.
And then the pleasure of writing about what I’d seen. About the creative genius of folk like Ron Zaras, Brian Scotto’s outrageous ability as a director, Derek Dauncey bringing it all together and, of course, KB in the car.
Wednesday was different.
I knew this one was coming, but it didn’t make it any easier. It was the end of the day, again. But this time it was the end of the day because I kept finding other stuff to do.
Electrikhana Two: The Mexico City Sessions brings Block’s Gymkhana story to an end.
What good could watching it do? It could and would only serve to remind us what we lost on January 2.
But how could you not watch it?
Audi Sport’s finest brains had fiddled with the S1 Hoonitron since Ken showed Las Vegas what four-wheeled entertainment could be really about last year.
Sending it out of Plaza de Toros, the world’s biggest bullring – and courtesy of programmable levels of wheel speed from each electric motor – Block had a digital gearbox (of sorts) to work with. Opposite-driven wheels allowed for standing burnouts and the ability to switch into reverse at any speed delivered the smiles and killed the tires.
It was classic Ken.
And the cameras caught every expression. Inch-perfect or an inch out, the Hoonitron mashed a camera on a long drifty and dreamy right-hander, but the classic came later as the Audi exits a building, rounds a Beetle and heads for an urban bush. Backwards.
Right foot buried, Block shuts his eyes and braces for impact. Physics and four Toyos do their thing, hauling the Hoonitron out of trouble.
The end is as memorable as it is poignant. It’s a quick trip back through the last 15 years followed by a burst of that unforgettable Block laugh.
Didn’t we have it good.
Deciding to run this film couldn’t have been easy. To the family, to those who made it happen, thank you.
It is indeed a fitting end to a legendary tale and an outrageous journey.
