The Gymkhana Files 1x3

1. - It's something I've wanted to do for a while.

2. In Gymkhana Three, I—

3. I did donuts until basically the tires were coming apart

4. and there's sparks...

5. because of the steel

6. that's actually woven into the tire itself.

7. And I've always wanted to take that the next step further.

8. That's the thing about Gymkhana 10,

9. is we have all these dumb ideas

10. that we've tried to do years before.

11. Some of these ideas just take a lot of time to develop.

12. This is the second test of this rim idea

13. and we most likely need a third test.

14. Hit the starter.

15. - That's how much effort it takes sometimes

16. to do some of these ideas.

17. And I have to leave tomorrow for France for the race,

18. so this just made the most sense to get this done now.

19. Wow. I just realized I get to do something fun today.

20. - Yeah, yeah. - (laughing)

21. - You want to be in the car so I can shoot?

22. - Uh, I'll probably put Greg in the car.

23. - Yo, that sparks.

24. - Yeah, that sparks just doing that.

25. - Immediately.

26. - Is that half way yet?

27. - No. A little bit more.

28. - We really need a D ring, but we don't have one.

29. - Zip ties.

30. - We might be able to—

31. I like Ken's idea.

32. If we just do it that way.

33. All right, ready?

34. - This side, this side, guys.

35. - The front left wheel stopped spinning.

36. The inside lip is the only one getting the traction.

37. - Oh, yeah.

38. - The outside ones barely have a mark on them.

39. - Hey Brian, why don't I try driving it a bit—

40. - Okay.

41. - And then do the inching forward style.

42. - Okay, yeah that works even better, okay.

43. Alright, Ken.

44. - Three, two, one, action, action.

45. - Whoo! Oh, my God!

46. - Oh, that's going to be famous now!

47. - Yo!

48. That is crazy.

49. - That was fun.

50. - I will admit from the outside

51. it looks a little alarming.

52. It's all the things a car shouldn't be doing.

53. - I just— How do we get more?

54. - That seems like a lot.

55. - Bring all the speed you can in joker, joker.

56. - Rallycross is a sport, started 50 years ago.

57. And it was a made-for-TV sport.

58. I think the feature of rallycross, it's in stadiums,

59. so it basically means the crowd can come

60. and they can see everything in front of them

61. as oppose waiting for one car to go past.

62. - Rallycross is always changing one heat to another.

63. The track is completely different.

64. - You have a lot of adrenaline on the start.

65. You know, it will be very tough,

66. the first corner is crucial,

67. the cars are very powerful, very exciting to drive.

68. - Here for driving, no to bullshitting.

69. - The race is very short, but very intense.

70. - You know that when I try and think back to, like,

71. the beginnings of why I was interested in rally

72. or what it was, I honestly I have no idea.

73. I can't remember back to the first thing.

74. But as I kid I looked at a lot of car magazines.

75. And any sort of car sports on TV,

76. I was interested in watching.

77. As that translated in the 90s with Colin McRae

78. and then Tom Makinen, Petter Solberg,

79. people like that, they raced through the snow,

80. they raced through the deserts of Africa,

81. there were all these unique conditions

82. and not only were they racing through those conditions,

83. they were jumping and sliding and stuff I like to do

84. with my dirt bike,

85. so that's why it just always

86. was something that was of interest to me.

87. Even as I got my own car keys.

88. I lived on these winding roads out in the country.

89. I drove the lines that I thought rally drivers would drive.

90. - After he sold DC and took that break of, like,

91. what am I going to do, he went to rally driving school.

92. And was like, "I'm pretty— pretty good at this."

93. - He doesn't like to do anything unless he's good at it.

94. - I looked at it as this little rally thing's

95. gonna be a little fun thing that he does,

96. a little hobby that he kicks off on.

97. He's gonna go— he's gonna go back,

98. and I would say, like, the moment Gymkhana cracked,

99. it was like, okay, he's never coming back.

100. - (engine revving) - (rock music)

101. - I've been racing full time since 2005,

102. got Rookie of the Year, and I think 4th overall

103. in the championship.

104. - I'm in the middle of the stages.

105. (laughing) I'm gonna turn my home.

106. Things actually progressed faster in my career

107. than for normal drivers, and a lot of that had to do

108. with the marketing that we've been doing

109. with the Gymkhana videos.

110. - Mexico 2010 was the first time I met Ken,

111. and I think the perception from a lot of drivers

112. was he was quite a show boater.

113. You know, he'd come to do sideways on the gravel turns

114. and donuts around the roundabouts,

115. and sometimes he did that.

116. And I remember we followed him on Rally Germany,

117. and there's one big jump, and he just went higher

118. and further than everyone else

119. because he knew there's a huge crowd there,

120. he knew he wasn't gonna win this stage,

121. so he just gunned it, took huge air,

122. and everyone notices it.

123. Then it makes it into the TV program. Man's very smart.

124. - Straight away he was very fast.

125. - He have amazing car control.

126. - His passion for what he's doing is incredible.

127. - He's a good driver, he's calculated,

128. he's not— Usually, he's not being stupid.

129. - Great speed.

130. - So I was never worried about him being hurt.

131. - Oh, shit! - Oh, my!

132. - (engine revving) - (cheering)

133. - (clattering) - (beeping)

134. - Whenever you push yourself,

135. especially in a sport like this, you're gonna crash.

136. You don't learn the limits unless you push the limits.

137. - It was just, oh, great, he crashed, and now it's over,

138. and now they have to go in and get the car,

139. and it use to take him about a week to get over it.

140. He would just sulk.

141. That was probably my biggest concern is that

142. I don't want to deal with him being a baby for a week.

143. - It use to be, like, I would crash,

144. we had to wear these arm bands that were, like—

145. That shows that you've signed in for the rally,

146. and I would wear it until the next event,

147. until I had success,

148. to remind myself every day that, like, I failed.

149. And that's how I kind of punished myself and sometimes

150. the events were months apart,

151. and I had to wear this stupid arm band,

152. but that's just the mentality that I wanted so much,

153. I worked so hard to have success.

154. And that those defeats were just, back then, soul crushing.

155. - Ken has gone through 10 years of racing and championships

156. in always being a bridesmaid and never being the bride.

157. This guy has finished one point off of winning

158. a championship, I think twice now.

159. And that's just been a huge struggle for him.

160. He wants a championship. I mean, every driver does.

161. And look, you know, the reason everyone wants it

162. is because not everyone gets it.

163. - In 2014, I went over and raced

164. two of the world championship races,

165. one in Norway and one in France.

166. I got third overall in my first race over there in Norway,

167. and 4th overall in my second,

168. and actually set the fastest lap time on that track.

169. I knew I could have the potential for success over there.

170. - The thought was, well, these seem like better tracks,

171. it fits my driving style more, like, hey, this could be it.

172. This could be a championship.

173. - Factory driver, factory support,

174. all the factory engineering, engines, and suspension,

175. and testing budgets, this is gonna be amazing.

176. - When I got this factory deal with Ford,

177. it really was the epitome of the right deal at the right time

178. with me at the right level as a driver to really go win

179. a world title.

180. Hey, for the last couple laps, none of you heard me on the radio,

181. like I kind of tried different stuff.

182. - Alright then.

183. - Like cutting that last corner and stuff.

184. - Let's do that.

185. - I'm just saying to look around to see if there's anything

186. that stands out that way.

187. - Lap two was a quarter second slower.

188. - I have some of the best team guys in the world.

189. Some of the best engineers.

190. - We're not far off, but to get to that next stage,

191. all the risk is in the last corner.

192. - How much are you cutting Turn One and Turn Two?

193. - (indistinct) - (laughing)

194. - Hiring Andreas was an amazing second driver

195. to help us both progress,

196. because I had only been a one man team before that.

197. - I'm going to prank Ken Block.

198. - To add a second driver on means another car, more parts,

199. the coordination of everything and the person has to fit our team,

200. the person has to fit the image of our sponsors,

201. the person has to be someone that we think has personality.

202. - That's 500 balloons right there.

203. - (laughing) - (popping)

204. - It really is a team effort to make sure

205. that whatever we need to do to get done for success

206. is happening.

207. - Everybody had heard of Ken Block

208. because of his social media activity,

209. and to have a Hollywood star, if you like,

210. certainly in terms of social media coming to the racing

211. was really exciting and I think it made everybody stand up,

212. say, okay, actually this sport's going places.

213. I don't know whether it's American roots,

214. but he's just so media friendly,

215. and also fan friendly, too.

216. You know, it's never too much trouble to sign an autograph

217. or support somebody and the kids and the young audience

218. just eat that up and, you know, he becomes their hero.

219. They all want to see Ken Block.

220. - This is the one event that I've had

221. a lot of success at in the past,

222. you know, had the fastest lap here in 2014.

223. It's amazing that we have such an amazing team,

224. and such a good set up.

225. When our car is working and it's on,

226. we can be really competitive.

227. - Hold your line, Ken.

228. Pull over, pull over.

229. Good, good good, slow it down just a wee bit.

230. - Okay, clear by two, clear by three.

231. - You've got a small gap, but you're okay.

232. Andreas is back, he's just there.

233. Come on, Ken, everything, let's go.

234. - (engines revving) - Bring all the speed

235. all the speed, come on.

236. - Ken Block P3, overnight, absolutely storming

237. performance from you in Q2.

238. You must be really happy.

239. - Yeah, absolutely, I really enjoy this track.

240. Stoked to actually have the focus really feel

241. quite confident underneath Andreas and I

242. and looking forward to trying to keep this consistency tomorrow.

243. I'm just leaving it full throttle.

244. It just seems like there's so much grip it just goes.

245. - Feels nice to be back up fighting again.

246. We need an up tick, we both need it.

247. - And your third lap this was pretty good,

248. your fourth lap was a little bit slower.

249. You're fairly consistent.

250. - Well the good thing is this is the strongest...

251. track for our car, and we've got—

252. with the set up dialed in, at least the dry set up.

253. I mean, if we could look at the data

254. from the first qualifiers to see if either one of us

255. did something better than the other,

256. because I would rather just be a bit more full throttle

257. because it seems like the grip is there,

258. not like other places where it spins up.

259. - The one thing that was clear what happened from the start,

260. was obviously Andreas didn't have a good start

261. and he came back at you quite quickly Ken.

262. Each one of those, you know, giddy-up kind of thing moments.

263. - I mean that's why I said that I wanted to make sure

264. we learned from it if I made a mistake

265. or if we could do something better than—

266. - No.

267. - So I'm third, so I'm center?

268. - Yes. - Third or fourth?

269. - You're third, Andreas is fourth.

270. - So you're Position Three, Position Four,

271. but it will be wet in the morning,

272. we definitely believed that.

273. - Okay.

274. Do we think full wet or like drying.

275. - I think it'd be wet. - (sighing)

276. - What we've realized with our car is it works really good

277. when there's long corners with a lot of grip.

278. That's why I knew going into Loheac,

279. we had the possibility for success,

280. but we haven't been able to find

281. the optimum way to get this car grip

282. when it's wet.

283. - Thank you. - Thank you.

284. - Has he got two laps coming out.

285. - So the last thing I sent was this.

286. I mean I really like that. I think it looks pretty.

287. - Yeah, pretty amazing. - Pretty sweet.

288. I'm here in Loheac to see Ken about the Gymkhana 10 cars.

289. It's just quite hard getting any response

290. and Ken's traveling all the time and it's easier

291. to jump in the plane for an hour and a half

292. than to spend three hours e-mailing

293. and chasing Ken around the world.

294. I thought it'd be enough to kind of get something

295. of an idea across.

296. - Ken Block is a fantastic driver. Right?

297. Put it the other way around, you couldn't get Petter Solberg

298. or Tommi Makinen or Sebastien Loeb to make a skate round.

299. And that's when you understand how good Ken is.

300. Because if you put it the other way around,

301. it's never happened.

302. - Alright, so that's the last thing I sent,

303. this is the monochrome ones, I mean the Hoonicorn,

304. like you said before, only that's not black,

305. it just doesn't kind of suit the car.

306. - Do we want to run one concept for all of them

307. or do we want to let them be a little individualized?

308. It's sunny out, but it's really—

309. It was raining out here, right?

310. - Yeah.

311. - Why are you looking angry? - You know, I was—

312. The rain, trying to see what was going on out there.

313. - I just want some type of unique terrain,

314. like a little bump jump or something like that

315. that's just different than,

316. you know, a regular intersection.

317. We found a couple locations, but they're all very similar

318. in a certain fashion, which means that the driving

319. is going to be somewhat similar.

320. And that's the thing is we want to be able to create

321. different driving moments, so it's like trying to find...

322. that little something that's really unique.

323. Unfortunately Texas is really, really flat,

324. so trying to find that may be an issue.

325. That's the other place they were talking about it.

326. This is all really narrow here.

327. - Yeah going through here is gonna be real difficult.

328. What's so special about this project is the fact

329. that normally you start with a board and an idea

330. and then you go find the location,

331. and this is the exact opposite.

332. You're really looking for that idea to uncover

333. and that's what Brian is so good at.

334. - I think this is probably gonna be too narrow

335. to really do anything through that's gonna be what we want.

336. - Okay.

337. - But what I kind of like is if Ken was coming down this way—

338. And he just kind of blasts through,

339. and cuts the section here—

340. But then slide halfway off the curb here

341. and into the intersection.

342. - So just a go through?

343. - If we just kind of shoot around using this

344. - as sort of a backdrop for it. - Okay.

345. - I think it'd work really well.

346. - You know it's just beautiful driving with him

347. because you're driving and he say, "Oh!"

348. - Look at that.

349. - "I just saw something!" Where? - So rad.

350. - So you're making a U-turn, you're coming back,

351. and you're going to see that thing that he saw.

352. - Hey, look at those doors.

353. - That's how his creative processes work.

354. - Right here's good.

355. - And that's what makes this project so much fun.

356. - Do you find that challenging?

357. - Super challenging. (chuckling)

358. It's the opposite to anything you've learned.

359. - So hello, bienvenue,

360. and welcome to Loheac, as you can see,

361. rain doesn't stop qualifying in rallycross.

362. So it's the last chance for these guys because, of course,

363. Qualifying Four decides who makes it through

364. to the semifinals,

365. the top 12 go through, the rest go home.

366. That's them cleaning their tires on the start line.

367. Let's have a look over here.

368. Let's see if we can grab a word with anyone.

369. If you follow me, Bob.

370. - A lot of the drivers are quite shy.

371. They really don't like the interviewing stuff,

372. they just want to get in their car, put the helmet on,

373. and go as flat out as they can,

374. until they either win or crash.

375. So all the interviewing stuff, it's just a nuisance

376. and it gets in the way and sometimes that comes across.

377. They don't like it.

378. - Just swing this way and say hello to Mr. Ken Block. Hello, Ken.

379. - Aren't you that guy that hit me really hard

380. in the last race? (laughing)

381. - What's the problem?

382. - Oh, you want to fight? Alright.

383. - One of the problems with the WRC is

384. one guy gets through a stage and they interview him in the— at the end,

385. he's like "Yeah, great stage, I won it, perfect."

386. Everyone else that comes after him,

387. the car was under-steering or there was dust or whatever,

388. so it always sounds like complaining,

389. and that really clicked in my head and I actually

390. worked on that direction of, you know, really talking about

391. maybe I had a bad stage and maybe I got a punisher,

392. but that stage was really fun.

393. - You've actually had a very good weekend so far.

394. - Yeah, our car really fits this track

395. and I've enjoyed coming and racing in this very nice circuit

396. the past two times,

397. I've been in the final twice here,

398. haven't been on the podium yet,

399. so trying to get there this weekend.

400. - I would imagine on a daily basis

401. he's faced with this expectation versus reality

402. sort of dichotomy.

403. He knows that he'd love to be winning races,

404. but that's not as easy as everyone thinks it is.

405. What you have to remember is that racer drivers,

406. fundamentally, have just been doing this

407. since they were kids.

408. - Normally people start at eight.

409. - I got my first go-kart for Christmas when I was 13

410. and I started racing the year I became 14,

411. so I was pretty late.

412. - But of course it's more difficult

413. when you start when you're 37,

414. but that is cool thing, you know?

415. It's not many people who have the balls to do that.

416. - If I had started younger I might have been able

417. to take the talent that I had and actually take

418. the right steps to get to the highest level.

419. But it is what it is. I can't change the past.

420. I just have to take what's given to me

421. and get the most out of it.

422. - Okay, Ken, less pads on the grip.

423. - Thanks, guys, I'll do my best.

424. - Hello.

425. back to Solberg, Chris Patterson's teammate

426. and Ken Block, too, mate,

427. Ken Block having a big weekend here.

428. - Make it a big weekend for the final, come on.

429. - Ready to race on it's own.

430. Listen to that engine over the VWs.

431. - Here we go, Semi Final number one. - Launch.

432. Green light, bad start.

433. Solberg great start, Heikinen, Heikinen's done three.

434. - Come on. - Nope.

435. jump into the P3,

436. he gets attacked from the rear, Ken Block hits him.

437. - That wasn't Ken's fault, he closed in on him.

438. - It's beyond wet,

439. my competitors seem to be getting grip

440. but I'm not.

441. - Ease, pulled up, control,

442. and get popping on each side.

443. - Come on Ken, come on.

444. - Block's off on the inside.

445. Heikinen just dropped back a bit.

446. - Oh, no.

447. - Is that a—

448. - No, he's free.

449. - Has he spun? - Yeah.

450. - Oh, well. That's it.

451. - Like the recent Terakhana video,

452. that is the cross on the dirt to get the car back on track.

453. - Damn.

454. - Left one's down.

455. - Just don't get grip, do we?

456. We just don't get.

457. - I end up getting a rear puncture,

458. then I end up spinning.

459. - Ken Block comes to the line

460. after a trip in the gravel trap, but...

461. - So I watched a good finish from the day before

462. go to just a complete mess and a loss.

463. - Oh, half.

464. - Oh, yeah. Rear puncture.

465. - Went from the fastest to reaction to fourth.

466. Instantly, by halfway down the straight, last.

467. - How can you get it to us, you know?

468. - So one of the main things to understand about these cars

469. and how we race is, the cars are 600 horsepower,

470. the tires can't handle that much horsepower.

471. We can spin them most anywhere we want on the track,

472. so for us there's so much development

473. on engine and suspension and chassis,

474. and how we drive and everything,

475. but it's all the manage a spec tire,

476. we all have the same tires, so it's who can get these tires

477. to go around the corner the fastest.

478. Our cars just got no traction.

479. I don't know, are they that much softer

480. or they had that much softer of a throttle?

481. I didn't feel like I made any mistakes,

482. but all of a sudden, you'd be glide and sliding.

483. I just don't know, I just have no idea

484. why it went so wrong.

485. Sometimes as a race car driver

486. you have good and bad seasons.

487. I know I have the talents.

488. I know that the skills, at the age that I have,

489. I'm still one of the fastest reacting guys off the line

490. and that's what you need to get into the first corner with.

491. There were some good and bad to take away

492. from this weekend, but, I mean, I—

493. We shouldn't have it rain and then be so far off the pace

494. and so far off the start, it doesn't make sense to me

495. that we don't have this stuff better figured out.

496. - There's no quick answer with it,

497. we've been 19 events in, would you say,

498. and we're still struggling with the basics

499. of making the chassis handle.

500. - We have three different teams here working together

501. to try and make this thing.

502. Is this just not working? Is it the engineering,

503. is it the structure?

504. - I think when we had the Fiesta we were a small team

505. and we were very quick to react

506. and we spent our money wisely and we developed

507. what we want to do and we improved the car.

508. - Are we— I mean, what's stopping us

509. from making it competitive?

510. It's 19 events of frustration now for me.

511. I went from being able to win events

512. to being lucky if I'm in the final,

513. so I don't—

514. I don't know where to go with them.

515. I can't go on doing this, it doesn't make sense.

516. Alright, well, there are—

517. I got to make some tough decisions.

518. - Green flag is at the front of the grid.

519. It's raised by the marshal, that will raise the pulses

520. of the drivers, they reach down for the steering wheels,

521. the handbrakes.

522. - Come on Andreas, get it started.

523. - Light is on. - Yes.

524. - There it is, Bakkerud creeping

525. in the background, but gets away with a fantastic start

526. by Sebastien Loeb, Timmy Hansen going to go short,

527. he's locked in.

528. - Good start, yeah kid.

529. - ... nudge there to Bakkerud, but I think gets—

530. - Thank you, Myka. (laughing)

531. - Vote of confidence there.

532. - Yeah.

533. - Loeb went wide as well, so that worked

534. out really well for the Persia guy.

535. - Come on, Andreas, come on.

536. - Then the wiper has to clear it and it can't—

537. - So hard to see right there.

538. - Come on!

539. - Yup, he's got it.

540. - Yup.

541. - He's got it.

542. - Yeah, that's straight up.

543. That was a tie, took four of the eight.

544. That's not bad at all.

545. - If he had stuck with a safe existing rallycross model,

546. got in that car, I think he and Andreas could maybe

547. have been more competitive this year.

548. Again, it's trying to do something new.

549. He's always slightly one step ahead of the curve,

550. and he doesn't always wait long enough for the curve

551. to catch up with him.

552. It's difficult because I think if he took the safe route,

553. then he might have won a title.

554. - The deer right there, nice.

555. - The deers are just hanging out.

556. Don't worry, it's gonna wait until the very last second

557. and then run in front of the car.

558. - That's what it's going to do. - (laughing)

559. Because deer suck.

560. Look, look, there he is, here he is, and he's about

561. to run in front of the car, last minute.

562. - (groaning) - See, see?

563. (laughing) Deer suck.

564. I hate deer.

565. All these buildings are rad, I just wish

566. they were on concrete instead of grass.

567. Oh, this is rad.

568. Stop here.

569. This your collection here?

570. - My dad was an Edsel dealer in '58.

571. - Oh, okay. (laughing)

572. - That's my high school car there,

573. that convertible.

574. I've had these cars for years and years.

575. - If we wanted to borrow some of these cars

576. for some filming,

577. think we could work something out?

578. - Anything you want to do.

579. They're just cars out here.

580. - You know, Ken texted me and said,

581. "Hey, do you have five minutes to chat?"

582. It's not normal for Ken to call me during the middle of an event,

583. he's got Matt and Ron there to handle a lot of that stuff.

584. Yeah, no, I watched part of the live stream.

585. I don't know what to do.

586. Everything that we've worked for,

587. Everything that we've tried, we're coming up short.

588. What did Derek say about it?

589. Where— Where does he stand on this?

590. He called me and he said "Look, I—

591. I just don't know if we should keep doing this."

592. Yeah, I know from my perspective I just don't know

593. if this really makes sense for us.

594. - I'm at the point—

595. - He's like, "I'm just sick of it.

596. "I came here because I wanted to chase a championship."

597. - Unfortunately for me, it's just—

598. - Yeah. No, I get it.

599. - I'm gonna have to tell them that it's time for me to move on.

600. That's— That's where I'm at.