Tuesday 10th November 2009

Ken Block Takes His Subaru Skiing

Rally nutter Ken Block is back, and this time he's going further off piste than ever before

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The Trax STi: car, tank or snowmobile?

US Subaru rally driver and general all-round mentalist Ken Block is back, this time with what is possibly the ultimate snow vehicle - a very much winter-ready WRX STi.

It's called the Trax STi and it started life as one of Block's open-class WRX STi rally machines, but with the power of the 2.5-litre turbocharged boxer motor tweaked to 400bhp courtesy of a tweaked Motec ECU. The suspension also got treated to Group N-spec dampers. Oh, and the wheels and tyres were replaced cat tracks...

"The Trax STi is a very fun project for me," says Block. "It combines two of my favourite things in life: driving a rally car in the snow and snowboarding in the powder in the backcountry. Having a house in Utah, I get to enjoy lots of sliding around on the snow, but this project takes that to a whole new level as I can now hit up the backcountry in the fastest snow cat ever."

The result, as you'll be able to see by clicking on the video below, is pretty special. We particularly like the snowy drift around 30 seconds in where Block is playing with understeer and oversteer almost simultaneously...

[ScottishSamurai]

Am I going to have to say it?

R!!

Awesome none the less

[Oddball RS]

Doesn't look any faster than a regular cat to me? - in fact it looks quite a bit slower, is this to prove a concept or something?

[alexmckie]

Add to xmas list....
1. Subaru Sti
2. 1 set of tracks.
3. Move country. (Should be at top of list)
4. Make bigger garage..... (Should be no2)
5. Have an absolute blast with a big grin on my face and annoy the neighbours...

Brilliant....

[WMP]

I have now seen it all.

I wonder if he went on any Block Runs in his Snowbaru?

Sorry!

Edited by WMP on Tuesday 10th November 10:27

[sprinter1050]

I suppose it's a bit different.

[GKP]

Welcome to the early 1960s...

[Ralf Rockefeller]

5 posts in and no one has mentioned, along the lines of:

"Kenny Block is sh!t and is not a fast Schumi around a track or Loeb on the WRC."

"I can do that, he can only do that because he is rich, and you CAN see the practice lines"

Come on people, PH is slipping.

[_dobbo_]

400 bhp just from an ECU - are these cars really that easy to tune?

[Snoggledog]

He obviously wants to be the next 'Taxi' driver.

[LukeBird]

Ken Block carrying on his mentalist ways!

[Scho]

looks a bit wk?

I'm suprised he didn't get smoked by someone on telemarks at the lights.

[thewheelman]

Never has a guy called Ken been so cool,legend!

[FLD_WILLIS]

That's st, Ken Block's st, Ken Block's overrated. I'm bored of Ken Block.

Snow is st, Skiing is st, Subaru's are st, Pistonheads is st...














Of course I don't mean any of that, Block's clearly mental and I want a Snobaru!!!

Edited by FLD_WILLIS on Tuesday 10th November 11:08

[Ricky944s2]

Sht, my mates remapped 335d can do that quicker!!!

(it has been a while !! And also Ken Block is a tosser!!)

[bobbylondonuk]

Why the hatred???

Ken Block is a rich dude who has petrol in his veins like all of us. He does crazy st...so what? Atleast we can all look at it and enjoy it for what it is...crazy rich dude doing st that we all would love to do.

[thewheelman]

This has to be one of the best Ken Block videos,hope the link works....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av0VsTxJd78

[dougk]

Nice vid

I see Ken Block has secured a drive with the Ford WRC team next season

[posterboy]

Boring

[fivehitsweak]

As an avid skier, lover of powder and general backcountry freak I can safely say that If i do not one day own one of those then I will consider my life to be incomplete. So what if it is "not fast" how many other cars do you know of that can climb a mountain, in 3 feet of fresh snow at 30 miles per hour?

[Mr Gear]

fivehitsweak said:

As an avid skier, lover of powder and general backcountry freak I can safely say that If i do not one day own one of those then I will consider my life to be incomplete. So what if it is "not fast" how many other cars do you know of that can climb a mountain, in 3 feet of fresh snow at 30 miles per hour?

The trouble with this as a concept is that you need to have an allocated driver to get you to your backcountry runs, otherwise when you snowboard down to the bottom your car is stuck back up the top. If it comes with a free driver who can't ski, it's ideal.