By now most of us are familiar with Ken Block’s purpose-built, all-wheel drive 845 horsepower ’65 Ford Mustang known as the Hoonicorn.
Powered by a 410ci Roush Yates V8 which sends power to all four corners by way of a Sadev SC90-24 gearbox, the Hoonicorn was the tire-decimating star of Block’s most recent Gymkhana video in which he sets about traversing various Los Angeles locales of note, more often sideways than not.
This time however, the rally star and his monstrous Ford are doing things a bit differently, meeting up with Matt Prior of Autocoar at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England to discuss how drifting came into public consciousness – not as a means of generating cool slow-motion rooster tails, but rather as a function of legendary rear-drive stage rally cars, like those of the banned Group B series.
Block explains that rally technology has changed dramatically since those days, and now the idea is to “keep the car going as straight as possible” because otherwise you’re going slower. “But that takes some of the fun away,” Block confesses, “And that’s why we do the Gymkhana stuff.”
So how does this beastly Mustang do on a road course? The pair set off to find out around the Silverstone track to find out, and it’s a recipe for one of the quickest ways to melt four tires that we’ve ever witnessed. It might not be the cleanest lap we’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely one of the most entertaining. Enjoy.