Ford Performance, XDubai and Hoonigan proudly present Ken Block Gymkhana EIGHT: Ultimate Exotic Playground. Dubai. When we thought he can’t impress us anymore with his gymkhana videos, the American racing driver came up with part 8 of his now famous video saga.
This time, the action was recorded in Dubai, where Block decided to drift and powerslide his 600bhp and 664lb ft of torque urbocharged 2.0-litre Fiesta Ecoboost through a variety of impressive scenarios and around the city’s landmarks.
What makes the footage even more impressive is the presence of the Dubai Police Force and its outrageous fleet of supercars. In fact, the whole video is packed full of “Easter eggs”, featuring stunt-man Terry Grant two-wheeling a Ford F-150 Raptor, Block doing a backflip from out of the Crown Prince of Dubai’s personal helicopter, and even drag racing a Bugatti Veyron (among other supercars); he's more than up to it, since his Fiesta ST RX43 is 0.5 seconds faster from 0 to 100 km/h than the almighty 1001 PS hypercar. If Ken Block knows anything, it’s his audience. As a pro skater, he launched DC Shoes with Danny Way. As his interests, er, drifted toward rallying, he assumed that the kids would want to see examples of ridiculous car control. As his Gymkhana series grew into the bated-breath juggernaut it’s become, Block has worked to make the situations more outrageous. And what’s more outrageous than taking over the streets of Dubai?
Take Houston, Las Vegas, and New York City, roll them together, bake under a scorching Gulf sun, and you might begin to approximate the UAE’s most populous city. It also happens to be one of the car-nutsiest towns in the world. Block takes advantage of the modern, wide boulevards to blow smoke at the city’s famous exotic police cars from behind the wheel of his humble Ford Fiesta, he pirouettes around an F-150 Raptor careening down the road on two wheels, and eventually finds himself on a runway, dodging the landing gear of a 747 that’s being pulled by an aircraft tug. If it’s not quite as eye-popping as the Hoonicorn’s pas de deux with a hopping lowrider or that ridiculous sideways leap in the San Francisco installment, there’s still plenty of stuntin’ madness, this time paired with a load of eye candy for fans of automotive exotica.
