AUTONEWS

Ken Block prepares another madness

There is a road in the mountains of Tianmen, China, which is becoming a “paradise” for drivers and carmakers. It is known as Dragon Road and leads to the "Gate of Heaven". But if this is nothing more than a 131.5 meter high hole in the mountain, accessed after climbing 999 steps at 45º inclination, it is no less true that the route to get there is also nothing celestial: 11.3 km punctuated by 99 curves that, in addition to sometimes describing authentic “hooks”, do so at an altitude of utmost respect. Or fear, because the gap reaches 1100 meters. But if none of this frightened Land Rover and, more recently, Volkswagen, why would Ken Block be left out of the challenge?
The American, who is a kind of "god" in the drift, could only face the twisted course in his own way, that is, to walk most of the time completely aside. But at the limit, just a few millimeters from scraping the track protections or even "caressing" the panda that came his way. The "animal" must have been dizzy with so much pirouette around him, for more, so close to the fur! But this is what is expected of a good drift show and this one goes by the name of "Climbkhana Two".

It's worth watching the video of another Ken Block adventure where he explores all that his “old” 1977 F-150 has to offer. Demoted to the limit and with an aluminum body and chassis developed by Detroit Speed, the so-called Hoonitruck proves (once again) that in the hands of an ace, there is no way to be an asset. Under the hood, it houses a 3.4-liter EcoBoost V6 engine with two turbos, "inherited" from the winning Ford GT at Le Mans. Here's how Block exploits the 927 hp and 950 Nm of four-wheel torque via a Sadev six-speed gearbox. With the help of the parking brake, of course…

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