Gymkhana returns to form with 'Vacation Shred'
Thanks to a little help from Travis Pastrana - and a lot from the terrific 862hp Subaru Huckster Wagon
If you’re inclined to think that the Gymkhana concept had run its course roughly around the same time Ken Block drove a bemused James May around Inyokern Airport, you’re not alone. But the 2022 edition has an ace in the hole: the wonderfully bonkers ‘Family Huckster Wagon’, which is loosely based on a 1983 Subaru GL Wagon - in the same way that Cocaine Bear is loosely based on a true story.
You might remember the 862hp Huckster from this year’s Festival of Speed - we do. Its flamboyant run up the hill was the perfect antidote to the (much) quicker EVs that ultimately finished ahead of it in the pecking order. And we’re mainly reminiscing about the sound of the EJ-based 2.3-litre flat-four revved beyond 8,000rpm - factor in the entirely wild active aero and the we're-on-a-mission-to-make-a-mixed-tape styling, and, frankly, you always had the makings of a ready-made fan favourite.
Accordingly, we’d cheerily watch the Huckster be reversed into a parking space at a rest home. But Gymkhana 2022 goes a wee bit further than that. It says much about it that the most exciting high-speed jump is not the one which clears a helicopter’s spinning rotor blades. And of course, you can’t fault Pastrana for edge-of-credulity antics - after all, the man broke his pelvis in a base jump for the film which wasn’t strictly required, narratively speaking (watch it all the way to the end for the bone-crunching outcome). Travis, Huckster, all concerned - consider the PH hat tipped.
It had exhausted its point before the end of its first airing.
Now, if you did a similar idea but with that helicopter, that would be something new and fun! (Though no doubt impossible to get away with)
Traffic light drag: ‘you got nutthin’’… :-))
That bridge jump at 5 minutes??!!
It’s mean to suggest that’s ‘boring’…!!
ICE car hooning around - that’s to be applauded much… :-))
The first one using an all but standard car was very impressive compared to the current mega-machines.
Drifting is a similar kind of challenge for me ...... I love seeing near standard cars being driven hard, but the bespoke stuff for that purpose only is pretty boring.
I thought it was ace, the rail grind was incredible and say what you want about Pastrana, he's got some minerals. I watched the build bio on Hoonigans about the car and the level of effort that went into it is nuts. The dash alone is a work of art.
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