Ken Block: 10 Best Gymkhana Vehicles Ever Built

Only a few months have gone by since we've last seen Ken Block going all bonkers in a Gymkhana-style race car on the streets of Las Vegas. And none of us realized that this would be his last project of this scale. As much as some people loved to complain about the Audi S1 Hoonitron from Electrikhana, you have to acknowledge that this was probably the most amazing project Ken Block has ever driven. After all, this wasn't just built in someone's shop, it was developed by Audi from scratch! But just like in our previous story, we will only be focusing on cars that were used in Gymkhana videos.

During his lifetime, Ken Block was the main star of 10 of these, as Travis Pastrana took over in the latest two episodes. As you're probably already aware, five cars were used for Gymkhana Ten. Developing a new car for each video must have been both complicated and expensive, but we'll get to that in a minute.

We've ranked the 10 best Gymkhana vehicles ever built, and it was no easy task. Some cars were used in more than one episode, but we've already seen that Gymkhana Ten was quite generous from this point of view. This list might look different for some of you, depending on your personal preferences. And we'd love to hear your opinion on the topic as well!

10. 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STI

This was the original Gymkhana series car, which Ken Block drove back in 2008. It wasn't quite as fast or spectacular as some of the more modern vehicles in the series, but it did inspire a lot of people to go out and buy one too.

The sound of the boxer engine is something any enthusiast will be happy to hear at full blast, and many folks were ecstatic to see that Gymkhana 2020 also featured an Impreza.

As the team pointed out, this 2005 WRX STI was not a race car and it didn't even have a roll cage. It just so happens that this was previously used for the Gumball 3000 rally when Block drove it from London to Monaco!

9. 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI

Ken Block drove the 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI for Gymkhana Two. This car was built by Crawford Performance, just like the first Subaru, and had a maximum output of 566 whp and 611 lb-ft (828 Nm) of torque. There was more emphasis on the livery of this model, signaling the start of a new era for the American icon.

It's a well-known fact that boxer engines tend to lose that special exhaust note past a certain tuning level, which seems to be the case here. But overall this third-generation model felt better prepared and considerably more nimble for the task at hand.

8. 2011 Ford Fiesta (Oslbergs MSE)

The Gymkhana series jumped to the next level once Ken Block partnered up with Ford in 2010. The 2011 Ford Fiesta used in Gymkhana 3 was prepared by Olsbergs MSE, and it quickly became clear that it was much faster than the previous two Subarus.

The 2.0-liter Olsbergs Duratec engine was good enough for about 650 whp and 660 lb-ft (894 Nm) of torque, and you can tell how mad this thing was just by looking at Block's face when he's pushing it to the limit.

7. 2012 Ford Fiesta HFHV

The 2012 Ford Fiesta HFHV (which is short for High Function Hoon Vehicle) was a two-door model as opposed to the previous car. This was based on M-Sport's WRC rally car and was meant to provide flexibility in achieving three different objectives: stage-rally, Gymkhana, and rallycross. You'll immediately notice the Fifteen52 prototype wheels on the car, which worked great with the Hoonigan livery.

At the time, Ken Block mentioned he was struggling to adapt to the car, as he didn't get as much seat time as he would have wanted to. He would use the same vehicle for Gymkhana Five as well, but with the additional fine-tuning, he felt much more confident driving it around the streets of San Francisco.

6. 2018 Ford Fiesta WRC

Sixth place on our list today goes to the 2018 Ford Fiesta used in Gymkhana Ten. This WRC-spec machine was limited to 380 hp and 332 lb-ft (450 Nm) of torque, which might not sound like much compared to some of the other vehicles we've seen so far.

But then again it was more than enough for the icy layout in Lulea, Sweden, where Ken Block even got into a power-sliding tandem with Oliver Solberg at one point!

5. 2013 Ford Fiesta ST RX43

Ken Block had worked with M-Sport on previous projects, but this time there was a joint effort in developing the newly purposed-built Fiesta ST RX43 Gymkhana car. This vehicle would go on to shred tires in both Gymkhana Six and Eight, with performance levels once again reaching 650 hp and 650 lb-ft (881 Nm) of torque.

Even more effort has been put into developing the livery of the car to provide that visual impact, and for Gymkhana Eight you might have noticed that Block used a golden hand-brake lever too.

4. 2017 Ford Focus RS RX

After so many variations of the Ford Fiesta, seeing the 2017 Ford Focus RS RX was a breath of fresh air for the Gymkhana series. This vehicle was used in both the ninth and tenth episodes of the series, with mostly visual changes done to it in between.

This car was auctioned off during a Barrett-Jackson event, and its new Australian owner paid $200,000 for it. That sounds like a pretty good deal given its history!

3. 1991 Escort RS Cosworth

Gymkhana Ten also brought forth the historic 1991 Ford Escort RS Cosworth, which despite its age didn't look much slower than the competition. Block's idea of bringing more diversity to the Gymkhana series was phenomenal, and this was a great way of engaging with older rally fans as well.

With 645 hp and 527 lb-ft (715 Nm) of tap, this thing had quite an aggressive anti-lag setup and didn't mind taking on a serious amount of abuse during the final episode to feature Ken Block.

2. 1977 Ford F-150 Hoonitruck

Now, all of the Gymkhana cars we've talked about so far were amazing, to say the least. But the team went the extra mile in creating the last two cars on our list today. After all, when was the last time you've seen a 1977 Ford F-150 truck with 914 hp and 702 lb-ft (951 Nm) of torque on tap? But this wasn't just another high-strung pickup truck, it was capable of performing the kind of stunts we've become accustomed to seeing in the Gymkhana series.

After wreaking havoc in Shamrock Texas for Gymkhana Ten, Ken Block shipped it over to China for Climbkhana Two!

1. 1965 Ford Mustang Hoonicorn

Without a doubt, the most iconic Gymkhana vehicle ever built is the 1965 Hoonicorn Ford Mustang. This wild project is like nothing we've ever seen before, featuring AWD and a Roush Yates 410 ci Ford V8 engine. In Gymkhana Seven that setup was good enough for 845 hp and 720 lb-ft (976 Nm) of torque, but twin-turbos came into play later on for Climbkhana and Gymkhana Ten.

So the final output went up to 1,400 hp and 1,250 lb-ft (1,694 Nm) of torque, which was more than enough to obliterate any set of tires that would go on the car. This vehicle was also used in the Hoonicorn vs the World drag racing series, and you might remember that few competitors ever stood a chance against it.

Initially, the codename for the project was "Unicorn" but that later transformed into Hoonicorn, given the Hoonigan brand name involved in the creation of the series.

Ken Block worked with Vaughn Gittin JR to design and build this project, given Vaughn's expertise with Mustangs and V8 setups. What's even more amazing is that Block only got to drive the car for about five minutes before shooting on Gymkhana Seven started, and yet that video topped our 10 Best Gymkhana Films list recently. It's also worth pointing out that Block also had fun with the Hoonicorn in London, with Matt LeBlanc in the passenger seat.