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Shoe salesman and hoon-in-chief Ken Block's "Gymkhana Five" arrived today, and the move to take his sideways driving circus out of empty stadiums and warehouses into the streets of San Francisco was a wise one. This ranks as the most exciting pollution of Frisco's air with tire smoke since Steve McQueen last turned a wheel in anger on "Bullitt." See for yourself below.
Driving a Ford Fiesta boosted to 650 hp, Block rips through downtown, twirls around a few cable cars and gathers enough air on one hill to wonder just how many cars it took to film this. Gymkhanas one through four and their 40-some related videos have generated 135 million views -- and helped Block extend his racing dreams into the World Rally Championship.
There will be haters aplenty who call all of Block's vehicular moves a calculated marketing effort for his DC Shoes firm, and dismiss the Gymkhanas as silly street stunts. That might have been true at the beginning -- and there's a reason the car's covered in logos -- but Block has sharpened his driving skills throughout the videos, and there's several moments in this one that would not work in the hands of a less-talented driver.
Driving a Ford Fiesta boosted to 650 hp, Block rips through downtown, twirls around a few cable cars and gathers enough air on one hill to wonder just how many cars it took to film this. Gymkhanas one through four and their 40-some related videos have generated 135 million views -- and helped Block extend his racing dreams into the World Rally Championship.
There will be haters aplenty who call all of Block's vehicular moves a calculated marketing effort for his DC Shoes firm, and dismiss the Gymkhanas as silly street stunts. That might have been true at the beginning -- and there's a reason the car's covered in logos -- but Block has sharpened his driving skills throughout the videos, and there's several moments in this one that would not work in the hands of a less-talented driver.
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