Ken Block Goes Wild in Las Vegas as Audi S1 Hoonitron Delivers Maximum Effort at the Strip

Ken Block started his rallying career back in 2005, driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STI. He finished second overall in the Rally America series in both 2006 and 2008 but never got to win a title there. But you could say that he made a breakthrough in November of 2008 when he launched the "Gymkhana Practice" video on YouTube.

Sliding his WRX STI around on an airfield in the United States would set the ball in motion for the California-born driver. To this day, the video has amassed over 16 million views on YouTube, but that pales in comparison to what came next.

For the following 13 years, Ken Block continued to create Gymkhana-style videos, all while building some insane cars down the road. He moved on from the Subaru Impreza WRX STI to several Ford vehicles, including Fiestas, the Hoonicorn Mustang RTR, the F-150 Hoonitruck, the Focus RS RX, and even an Escort RS Cosworth.

From Los Angeles to Paris, back to the USA in San Francisco, then on to Dubai, London, Lulea, and more, his vision has reached hundreds of millions of people across the globe. You'll need about two hours to watch all of the original viral videos, but there's more to see than just that.

Travis Pastrana took over the reins from Block in 2020, with Gymkhana 11, and fans were left wondering when and if the series creator would ever return to the action-packed format.

A year ago the Head Hoonigan in Charge announced a new partnership with Global Car Manufacturer Audi, and we immediately suspected what was going to happen next. Even though he played around with a few of the classic German-built racecars, the goal was obvious: promoting Audi's electrification efforts to a wide audience in an exciting way.

With him driving around in an RS e-tron GT, everyone was left guessing about the car that he would be using for the next project. In December of 2021, we got the first glimpse of the new S1 Hoonitron, a car that would follow in the footsteps of the Hoonicorn and Hoonitruck.

It was made clear that the new project would bear the name "Electrikhana" and more teasing followed. The AWD prototype would be using two electric motors with "power galore", so the only thing left for us to do is wait for the official debut of the new movie.

Finally, the waiting is over. And by the looks of it, what happens in Vegas won't be staying in Vegas this time. Electrikhana will have you glued to your screen for just under 10 minutes, as Ken Block silently unleashes the S1 Hoonitron through some of the most iconic locations in Sin City.

You'll see several other Audi legends inside, but don't expect them to do anything. The action kicks off on the Strip, right in front of the Bellagio, with the master executing one of his signature moves.

You'll see quite a few epic shots of the city and Block smoking up the streets, and we can't help but wonder how many tires were annihilated in the making of this movie. We get to see a different kind of Freemont Street Experience, with an Elvis Presley look-alike performing on the sidewalk right next Hoonitron donut area.

There's plenty of action to see and we wouldn't want to spoil it for you, but it doesn't hurt to know that it all ends in front of the Strat Hotel. By the time Ken Block was done shooting, we imagine that he was quite dizzy with it all. The end credits will provide you with some additional eye candy, and we can only hope that Hoonigan will still be putting out ICE-related content with Audi soon.