Gymkhana 10's 1977 F-150 Hoonitruck

 

If you have even an ounce of gasoline in your veins, no matter your brand affiliation, you’ve no doubt heard of Ken Block. Block, an accomplished racer in several racing series, really became a household name when he launched his wild stunt-filled Gymkhana video series via his Hoonigan Racing [www.hoonigan.com]. Early videos were produced when he still drove for Subaru, but growing up in a Ford family he finally landed sponsorship from Ford in 2010 and began racing Ford Focus and Fiesta models in his various racing endeavors. Naturally this meant using Ford products for his Gymkhana videos as well and Gymkhana 3 debuted with Block hooning around in his Ford Fiesta rally car.

 

Subsequent Gymkhana videos featured his Fiesta in its current race livery for that season—that is until Gymkhana 7—when Block debuted the custom build Hoonicorn 1965 Mustang. The Hoonicorn (in its first iteration) featured an ASD Motorsports tubular chassis fitted with an 845 hp Roush Yates Ford small-block displacing 410ci and coupled to a sequential six-speed gearbox and an AWD system where Block could control the transfer of power via switches on the dash. You can read more about the Hoonicorn HERE [www.mustang-360.com/news/ken-blocks-gymkhana-seven-mustang] and see it in action HERE [www.mustang-360.com/news/official-ken-block-gymkhana-7-video].

For Gymkhana 8 and 9 Block returned to his Fiesta and Focus rally car roots as the Hoonicorn went back under the knife for “V2,” its now famous conversion to twin turbos and a positively scary 1,400 AWD horsepower thanks to the Ultimate Fun Haver (AKA Vaughn Gittin Jr., who designed the Hoonicorn in the first place). However, change is afoot for Gymkhana Ten, as Block debuted the latest AWD Ford at the 2018 SEMA show with partner Toyo Tires [www.toyotires.com].

The latest build, dubbed the Hoonitruck, is based off of a 1977 F-150 pickup truck, something near and dear to Block, as his late father owned the same model year truck and is what Block learned to drive in as a teenager. Unlike the Hoonicorn’s big-inch Windsor-based Roush/Yates V-8, the Hoonitruck is powered by a 3.5L EcoBoost V-6 with twin turbos right out of the Ford GT supercar’s Le Mans winning development program. Making a searing 914 hp at 7,400 rpm and 702 lb-ft of torque at 6,450 rpm, the engine is certainly something you just have to hear at full song! Just like the Hoonicorn, the Hoonitruck uses a Sadev six-speed sequential transmission and AWD unit to power all four wheels (wrapped in Toyo’s Proxes ST tires). The intake was even created via additive manufacturing (3D printing) by Ford Performance [www.fordperformance.com]!

Gymkhana Ten debuts early on December 7th on Amazon Prime, while the rest of the world can catch it on December 17th. In the interim enjoy these killer studio shots of the Hoonitruck that Hoonigan provided us and go behind the scenes with the video below where Ken Block discusses the build in detail.

SOURCE: HOT ROD