Video: Ken Block’s Hoonicorn drifting up Pikes Peak

Last week we showed you Ken Block’s new toy: Hoonicorn V2. For those of you who missed it – where were you? – V2 is an upgraded version of his ballistic four-wheel-drive 1965 Ford Mustang.

See, Ken thought 845bhp from the 6.7-litre Roush Yates V8 was simply not enough. So he decided to drill two substantial holes in the bonnet and fill them with massive turbos. Then, instead of topping it up with petrol, he filled it with highly-explosive methanol. Net result? Twenty-one lb of boost and 1,400bhp, which, in the words of Hoonigan Racing, will ‘vaporise Block’s Toyo tyres instantly’.

An act perfectly demonstrated in the video above. It’s a sneak peek at where Ken and his crew are steering the Gymkhana series next. In order to keep the internet’s insatiable commenters at bay, Ken and his crew have decided to take his epic skid show in a new direction. And step it up a notch in the process.

It’s called ‘Climbkhana’. Which, if you haven’t guessed, is a portmanteau of ‘Hill Climb’ and ‘Gymkhana’. And the Hoonigan team haven’t started small, as they’ve attacked one of the most magical hill climbs on planet Earth: Pikes Peak.

Pikes Peak, for the uninitiated, is an annual hill climb up a public road that scales the side of a mountain in Colorado. A 12.42-mile, 156-turn, 4,720-foot ascent to the clouds.

It also was the set for one of the greatest car movies of all time: Climb Dance. If you’ve not seen it, we implore you to go and marvel at Ari Vatanen’s record-breaking run at the 1988 Pikes Peak Hill Climb in a bewinged four-wheel drive, four-wheel steer Peugeot 405 Turbo 16 GR.

He scythes through hairpins, skims the edge of sheer cliffs at 14,000 feet, and nonchalantly blocks the sun from his eyes with one hand while sideways at insane speed. It’s truly fantastic. And something Ken has put his 21st Century sideways spin on above.

“Climbkana is the next generation of the Gymkhana series,” says Block. “I’ve long wanted to extend Gymkhana beyond the backdrops it has been living in. Climbkhana gives me an outlet to let it all hang out and run it sideways, plus add some additional obstacles along the way.”

And hang it out he does. Taking a 1,400bhp wild Mustang on a road with no guard rails is scary enough. But doing pirouettes on the way up, while shooting fire skywards out of the central stack exhausts is just plain crazy. Most people would hand Ken a strait jacket at this point. But we want to give him a medal.

Remember, this is just a teaser to whet your appetite. So keep your eyes peeled for the full video sometime in the near future. Anyone else excited for this? Because we sure are.