Remember when Ken Block’s first Gymkhana video hit the internet and everyone collectively lost their minds? That was in 2008. Since then, Sir Kensington of the Block family has somehow managed to defy logic and physics with a further nine videos; each and every one one-upping its predecessor.
After a decade of defying physics, Kenny of the Block has passed on the baton to arch nemesis and close friend, Travis Pastrana, in the hopes that Pastrana will crank up the Gymkhana series to 11 for its…well, 11th edition.
If you think putting Pastrana in the driver’s seat of one of the web’s most-viral automotive series is going to dull it down, we’ve only got one thing to say… Pastrana has skydived with no parachute before. That’s right, the family-man leaped out of a plane in nothing but shorts and a can of Red Bull before his pals caught him mid-air, strapped themselves to him and pulled their chutes. Check out the video below.
Rest assured, the driving and craziness of the driver has been cranked up to 11 here.
Subaru themselves stepped in for the car with their longtime rally partner Vermont Sportscar handling the build of what we’d label the wildest WRX STI ever built. There’s a 2.3-litre boxer billet block that takes a maximum boost of 3.4-bar.
That equates to 862hp and 900Nm of torque that make quick work of the super-sticky Yokohama Advan A052 rubbers in a 245/40/18 sizing.
Oh, and all that active aero isn’t just to look cool for the cameras. This is very much a case of function translating into cool form.
That rear wing has an active main element that folds up when Pastrana hits a button labelled “Send It” on the steering wheel. The functionality is similar to the Drag Reduction System (DRS) in F1 except here its main purpose is to adjust the cars angle mid-jump for a flat landing after high-jumps… of which there are many.
The video starts with a massive jump over a canal in Pastrana’s hometown of Annapolis, Maryland, in the United States of America. He leaps over the waterway with a racing boat skipping by underneath and we see the active wing element doing its thing and the underbody sponsor stickers. Oh yeah, the new Subaru BRZ makes a cameo as well.
There’s also a plane because Gymkhana. At one point, Pastrana hits 240kph on some backroads as he reaches Pastranaland, his extreme sports playground behind his home, where he parks the car in his garage.