Ken Block to step away from next Gymkhana video, passes torch to Travis Pastrana



If you’re anything like us, then it’s likely that the Gymkhana videos were a huge part of your teenage/early-adulthood years. And the man synonymous with the videos? Ken Block. Block started the phenomenon twelve years ago, and over the years he’s managed to rack up hundreds of thousands of views across 10 instalments of the series – and that’s not counting the other spinoffs.

Moving forward though, we’ll be seeing a new face starring in the next video of the series – Travis Pastrana. Hoonigan has announced that Ken Block will be stepping away from Gymkhana 11, passing the torch over to his former Rally America teammate.

The news came following Ken Block’s Gymkhana Grid: Stay At Home Edition video, where he filmed an entire Gymkhana video with his family within the compounds of the Hoonigan Race Shop. At the end of the video, Block challenged Pastrana to do the same.

During a live conference call broadcasted on Hoonigan’s social media pages, Block broke the news to Pastrana: “I’d love to see your take on a real Gymkhana now we’ve seen what you do with a Can-Am. It’s time to see a full Gymkhana video from Travis. I will give you my entire crew, I will give you my entire editing … everything. “

Hoonigan co-founder and chief creative officer, who was also in the call, added: “We’re going to send you the rulebook. You’ll have to read it, you’ve got to sign off on it, but that’s it. Gymkhana for 2020 is yours. You’re officially taking over Gymkhana.”

According to Dirt Fish, the plan has been in the works for a while now, between Ken Block’s Hoonigan Racing Division, Subaru, and its factory racing partner Vermont SportsCar – Pastrana intentionally kept out of the loop.

The location for the upcoming Gymkhana 11 has yet to be set, but Subaru has already started working on a specialist vehicle to take on the challenge. Yes, you read that right – Gymkhana is about to feature a Subie again, for the first time since Gymkhana 2.

Pastrana has been featured as a guest on previous Gymkhana videos, too – he made an appearance in Gymkhana Five with his dirt bike, and later again as a cameo in the credits scene of Gymkhana 10, where he was passed the keys to the Hoonitruck by Ken Block, foreshadowing this move.

In the announcement call, Ken Block also hinted that he’s not completely pulling out of the Gymkhana series. After all, Block only recently showed-off his new “Hoonifox” Fox-bodied Mustang. But just for all time’s sake, here are some of our favourite videos from the series.