Climbkhana: Ken Block Tames Pikes Peak in 1,400 HP Hoonicorn Mustang, Survives

Long story short, this is how the DC Shoes owner's Gymkhana series was born. However, we have to be honest - over the years, we've gotten used to the kind of sideways stunts Block kept delivering.

Sure, the steering wheel bearer kept upping the ante, as, for instance, he turned to jump-drifting in San Francisco, but the conclusion above still stands. Aficionados from across the world started pulling low-budget versions of the franchise and even Ford, which has supplied the driver's hardware, has pulled similar stunts in its Romanian factory.

Well, Ken Block has now raised the bar to the sky. And we mean that in a literal sense, since, for his latest adventure, he has decided to tackle the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.

We're looking at a 14,000-feet climb and while racers engaged in the annual International Hill Climb event held at the location strive to get to the top as quickly as possible, Block did the opposite.

The rally driver threw his car all over the place and it's difficult not to think that this could've easily been his last Gymkhana ever. In fact, we should call the stunt the Climbkhana, since the radical nature of the adventure required a new nickname.

Pro drifters are human too (say hello to Captain Obvious) and shooting sessions such as the one we have here sometimes lead to crashes, as we saw when Ryak Tuerck introduced his Ferrari-powered Toyota GT86 to a mountain in Oregon.

Fortunately, though, Ken Block managed to get to the top in one piece, even though there might be one or two extra scratches on his Hoonicorn V2. You know, the reinvented 1965 Mustang that now feeds its AWD system with no less than 1,400 ponies. The flaming turbos protruding through the hood are only normal in such a scenario...