Images by Andi Gordon & Dan Fegent
I
N 2008, A VIDEO of a man
driving a Subaru Impreza
sideways around an airfield at
insane speeds and with inchperfect precision was uploaded
to YouTube. A few hours later,
Gymkhana was born. The original ‘DC
Shoes: Ken Block Gymkhana Practice’
video grabbed the attention of people
from all corners of the world. Since
then, Ken Block has steadily evolved
into something of an automotive God.
The entrepreneur from Long Beach,
CA, has one hell of an imagination,
and isn’t afraid to turn his wild ideas
into a reality. As one of the original
co-founders of DC Shoes, Block has
been immersed in the action sports
culture for most of his life. You name
it, Block has done it: athlete, brand
owner, event organiser, car builder,
film director, concept creator and
more. With underrated skills in a
range of different sports, heaps of
passion and a solid head for business,
Block is definitely hooning in the right
direction. His latest project brought
him from California to sunny England
and FreestyleXtreme were stoked to
get the chance to catch up with #43
at the Gymkhana GRiD European
Gauntlet 2015 finals.
The Gymkhana GRiD concept was
first put to the test at the 2013
Summer X Games in LA. Since then,
GRiD has firmly established itself as a
legit driving series, with rounds held
all over Europe and more and more
drivers signing up each year. “Monster
Energy have been doing a great
job with the series,” Ken explained
to us from the Santa Pod pits.
“Unfortunately I can’t be over here for
every round, but it’s gone really well
all season. Now we’re here at the final
and there’s a really great crew of guys
here to race with and I’m really looking
forward to it.” u
76 | FreestyleXtreme.com
The
Bloc
Inte
We sit down with the Head