All-new 'Hoonipigasus' revealed with 1400hp
Ken Block's latest Porsche-based 'Hoonicorn' is here - only this time there's an actual race to compete in
Had we told you nothing about this vintage 911 (which, now, of course, has precious little to do with a vintage 911), you’d probably guess that it had Ken Block’s fingerprints all over it. And, yes, this is the latest ‘Hoonicorn’, officially a product of Hoonigan Racing Division and adorned in a street artist’s idea of a livery - but actually it is built by BBi Autosport, a California-based outfit with extensive racing credentials. This is significant because the ‘Hoonipigasus’ (it’s an homage to the Porsche 917/20 Pink Pig of seventies fame) isn’t intended merely for creating noise and tyre smoke on film; in fact, it’s been built for an actual real-life motorsport event. Namely, next month's Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Now, you don’t need us to tell you that achieving overall victory at The Race to the Clouds is no mean feat. Bentley tried and failed just last year. It requires a custom-built vehicle of preposterous specifications to stand any chance at all. Hence BBi Autosport’s involvement. Just last year the team entered three cars in different classes and brought back two wins and a podium. In other words, they know how to get it done. Consequently, while it may certainly look like a Hoonigan product, the car underneath is very much theirs, and is said to have spent the best part of ten years in gestation.
“The Hoonipigasus is an absolute dream-come-true type of build,” said the founder of BBi Autosport, Betim Berisha. “It doesn’t get any more mental from a tech, power, aero, and visual standpoint. The original vision of the car came from a longtime friend of mine, Joe Scarbo of Scarbo Performance, nearly a decade ago. We then teamed up with our most talented engineers and designers, threw the book out, and took an unconventional path. We are building the world’s nastiest 911.”
Of course, save for the headlights and the doors and a bit of roofline, the Hoonipigasus is almost entirely bespoke. It features a mid-mounted twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre flat-six, reportedly tuned to produce around 1,400hp. Naturally this power is sent to all four wheels, with a transmission tunnel - known internally as the ‘Chorizo Tunnel’ for some reason - that goes from shoulder height down to the front axle, apparently resulting in a lower centre of gravity. Elsewhere the car gets GPS height-adjustable suspension, which makes use of the previous year’s telemetry data. All of this in a car that weights just 1,000kg.
Block himself is no stranger to Pikes Peak. He actually raced there back in 2005 in a (comparatively) lowly Group N rally car - and returned in 2017 to film ‘Climbkhana’ in his methanol-fuelled 1965 Ford Mustang Hoonicorn RTR V2. That machine was nothing if not memorable, but obviously it was built for show. As a result, this is the Head Hoonigan in Charge’s first go at the upper echelons of the competition - and in the 100th running of the event, for good measure - although plainly the thought has been on his mind for a while.
“The Pikes Peak Hill Climb is why I’m a rally driver,” commented Block. “The list of drivers who have raced and won this hill climb includes many of my heroes: Walter Rohrl, Ari Vatanen, Michèle Mouton, Sébastien Loeb and Rod Millen to name a few. I’ve always wanted the chance to race Pikes Peak and compete for an overall win. With our team and BBi Autosport creating this amazing Porsche, we’ve got a good shot at that win, and with Trevor’s wild livery, inspired by one of the most famous Porsches in history, we’ll be hard to miss. I’m stoked to be a part of this iconic race and totally up for the challenge to add my name to those that have gone the fastest overall in the most technically challenging hill climb on the planet.”
When Loeb was testing the car for his record attempt there were some great vids of the side of the test track.
https://youtu.be/-pkVnDcH-oQ
Any such vids available for this one?
A lot of people like to write him off as a showboater but forget he has the skills to do this challenge well...
A lot of people like to write him off as a showboater but forget he has the skills to do this challenge well...
Maybe PP as its against the clock rather than other cars might be more up his skills street, but my inclination is that it will be yet another KB motorsport failure.
A lot of people like to write him off as a showboater but forget he has the skills to do this challenge well...
Maybe PP as its against the clock rather than other cars might be more up his skills street, but my inclination is that it will be yet another KB motorsport failure.
To score 6 top-10 finishes in WRC from 24 events is pretty good. Likewise he was 9th in the WRX championship with 20 full-time runners.
Posted 20 mins ago
mrclav said:
Will be interesting to see how he does.
A lot of people like to write him off as a showboater but forget he has the skills to do this challenge well...
Exactly like his tenure in WRC...oh wait...
Precisely, totally underwhelming. Also ran.
Not particularly talented gonk given notoriety via social media for tyre smoke, grotesque vehicles and careful editing to remove any embarrassing errors round corners.
Typical more noise than substance
There are places on pike's peak where he'd have time to write his will before he hit the ground, not that I'd wish this on him.
If he makes top ten I'd be surprised.
A lot of people like to write him off as a showboater but forget he has the skills to do this challenge well...
Maybe PP as its against the clock rather than other cars might be more up his skills street, but my inclination is that it will be yet another KB motorsport failure.
He's very, very good at what he does best........but that's not competitive motorsport.
As I said though, PP maybe more up his street, but he doesn't do what he does well without a lot of practice, and that is why his forays into competitive motorsport don't match his 'stunt driving'.
I suspect he's not going to get the time he needs on PP practice to be up there with the top guys.
Time will tell.
Maybe wrong, but I would be surprised if a single component is carried over from "donor porsche"
If I had the money I would do exactly what Ken Block does. Good luck to him.
A lot of people like to write him off as a showboater but forget he has the skills to do this challenge well...
Ken has done more for the car world than 99% of PHers put together.
Not my cup of tea at all but he's had an impact. As for his success in real race series - it's not great but it's not terrible either. He's a good driver whatever you think of how he does it and he seems willing to put his reputation on the line with stuff like this when he could happily just repeat the Gymkhana thing.
he's good fun and his videos are great to watch..To suggest that competitive motorsport is not for him is akin to telling someone that finished second or third place in the BTCC or British Rally Championship that they can't drive.
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