Ken Block teaming up with Ford to join WRC

[SVT666]

Ken Block teaming up with Ford to join WRC
10/15/2009, 4:53 PMBY MARK KLEIS


The widely known driver and internet phenom Ken Block is stepping out of his Subaru and into a Ford to start a career in the World Rally Championship. This partnership will provide an opportunity for the WRC to tap into a fan base practically non-existent in America.

Ken Block is best known for his YouTube sensation series, ?Gymkhana,? performing outrageous stunts complete with explosions and test dummies in his Subaru Impreza.

Unfortunately for Subaru?s marketing department, Subaru will not being competing in the WRC ? forcing Block to find a new sponsor. It appears as if the Ford and Monster Energy WRC team will play host to not only Block, but another former Subaru driver Chris Atkinson.

What many YouTubers may not know is that Ken Block has also been racing in the Rally America series, which suffers from a small fan base and minimal exposure. Block will need every bit of experience he has accumulated in the Rally America series as he steps up to the world stage with the WRC, but more importantly, Block and the WRC can only hope that his presence will help to bring WRC into more TV sets across America. It is this opportunity that just might make this the single most important signing in WRC history.

At this time both Block and Atkinson are expected to begin their rookie season in WRC racing in a 2009-spec Ford Focus, with a possibility for a shift into a WRC Fiesta in the near future. Given the success of the rally style Fiesta at the X-games, this move could be another great publicity opportunity for the Fiesta as it too will be selling on the world stage as Ford?s most recent, and arguably most important attempt at a true world car.

[the Teuton]

Dear Subaru,



With love,
Teuton

[Eye of the Tiger]

Where's my fucking sponser? Assholes.

[S204STi]

This is a good move for WRC and for Ford.   Maybe additional exposure to the Focus will help them to bring hotter versions back to our shores again, such as the ST220 or the Cosworth.

[SVT666]

This is a good move for WRC and for Ford.   Maybe additional exposure to the Focus will help them to bring hotter versions back to our shores again, such as the ST220 or the Cosworth.

RS
[/thread]

[the Teuton]

This is a good move for WRC and for Ford.   Maybe additional exposure to the Focus will help them to bring hotter versions back to our shores again, such as the ST220 or the Cosworth.

That's an excellent point. If anyone can make Americans interested in WRC, it's him. Subaru needs to recruit Carrey Hart or something now, and they need to get back into WRC. Same with Mitsu.

[NomisR]

That's an excellent point. If anyone can make Americans interested in WRC, it's him. Subaru needs to recruit Carrey Hart or something now, and they need to get back into WRC. Same with Mitsu.

With the new Toyobaru car.. and was Mitsu thinking about using the Colt to compete since the Lancer is too big and heavy for competition.. what would Subaru do?  They don't really have anything smaller than the Imprezza..

[Eye of the Tiger]

With the new Toyobaru car.. and was Mitsu thinking about using the Colt to compete since the Lancer is too big and heavy for competition.. what would Subaru do?  They don't really have anything smaller than the Imprezza..

What about the 2012 Subaru Justy? It's basically a Scion xA with a turbo boxer-2 and the beauty of AWD.

[NomisR]

What about the 2012 Subaru Justy? It's basically a Scion xA with a turbo boxer-2 and the beauty of AWD.

Ohh, that my work.. Subaru Justy WRX STi...  hmm.. maybe not.. Mitsubishi Colt Evolution? 

[Eye of the Tiger]

Ohh, that my work.. Subaru Justy WRX STi...  hmm.. maybe not.. Mitsubishi Colt Evolution? 

Chevy Aveo SS?

[NomisR]

Chevy Aveo SS?

Don't they already make one? 

[Eye of the Tiger]

Don't they already make one? 

wat

[NomisR]

wat

Guess not.. for a while, they seem to slap SS badges on everything with only cosmetic touches so I figured they would've made one.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Guess not.. for a while, they seem to slap SS badges on everything with only cosmetic touches so I figured they would've made one.

Like the Sunfire SS? Sun and Sound, in that case. STupid Sunfire is more like it.

[SVT666]

Like the Sunfire SS? Sun and Sound, in that case. STupid Sunfire is more like it.

Sunfire SS = Sunfire Shit and Smoke

[Eye of the Tiger]

Sunfire SS = Sunfire Shit and Smoke

What are you talking about?

[SVT666]

What are you talking about?

What are you talking about?

[Eye of the Tiger]

What are you talking about?

That's what I thought.

[MX793]

That's an excellent point. If anyone can make Americans interested in WRC, it's him. Subaru needs to recruit Carrey Hart or something now, and they need to get back into WRC. Same with Mitsu.

Or they could just field Pastrana since he already is racing Subarus in US Rally (and is a multi-time champion) and is probably better known than Carrey Hart.

[2o6]

Guess not.. for a while, they seem to slap SS badges on everything with only cosmetic touches so I figured they would've made one.

The Impala SS and Cobalt SS were very fast cars.

What about the 2012 Subaru Justy? It's basically a Scion xA with a turbo boxer-2 and the beauty of AWD.

There's a Justy. It is underneath a Daihatsu Sirion, and AWD is available. No boxer engine, though.

The Daihatsu Boon (Sirion) X4 is a 1.0L Turbo 4cyl making 133 HP and AWD.




Here's the latest Justy.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Yeah, well it looks like like a Scion Xa

[Submariner]

The Impala SS and Cobalt SS were very fast cars.

Too bad the Impala was (is) rubbish.

The Cobalt, on the other hand, was a fun little car.  Too bad about the mediocrity on the insode. 

[MX793]

The Impala SS and Cobalt SS were very fast cars.

There was also a naturally aspirated version of the Cobalt SS that wasn't all that quick (on par with a Mazda3s or Golf/Jetta 2.5).  And the Impala/Monte Carlo SS wasn't anything to write home about until they dropped the V8 under the hood in '06.

[NomisR]

There was also a naturally aspirated version of the Cobalt SS that wasn't all that quick (on par with a Mazda3s or Golf/Jetta 2.5).  And the Impala/Monte Carlo SS wasn't anything to write home about until they dropped the V8 under the hood in '06.

Yeah, they really diluted the badge by making mediocre versions of them.

[Sigma Projects]

I think until Sebastian Loeb retires, everyone just feel it's a fight for 2nd place. And none of the manufacturers really need an AWD version (which confuses me) they can grab any car and work it into a rally machine. The main issue from what I remember is not the length of the car as so much how long the front end of the car is. Sure they all would like to be in tiny hatchbacks, but they don't need to be. And the Subarus are still in the P-WRC which is less known but actually matters more to how a manufacturer builds their machine because I believe for the most part in P-WRC you can't change anything to the vehicle, I mean after all the P stands for Production. There's a much greater connection to the cars people drive and cars that are raced in the PWRC. In the WRC it's almost anything goes....

So that being said I'm pretty sure Subies are still running around quite well in the P-WRC, not sure why they wouldn't do well in the WRC given the right driver.

[nickdrinkwater]

I saw a Justy today...not a good looking car.

[S204STi]

I think until Sebastian Loeb retires, everyone just feel it's a fight for 2nd place. And none of the manufacturers really need an AWD version (which confuses me) they can grab any car and work it into a rally machine. The main issue from what I remember is not the length of the car as so much how long the front end of the car is. Sure they all would like to be in tiny hatchbacks, but they don't need to be. And the Subarus are still in the P-WRC which is less known but actually matters more to how a manufacturer builds their machine because I believe for the most part in P-WRC you can't change anything to the vehicle, I mean after all the P stands for Production. There's a much greater connection to the cars people drive and cars that are raced in the PWRC. In the WRC it's almost anything goes....

So that being said I'm pretty sure Subies are still running around quite well in the P-WRC, not sure why they wouldn't do well in the WRC given the right driver.

Subarus have always been dynamically flawed due to having the engine hanging over the front axle.  Their greatest success was with the GC Impreza in the 90s, and with the early GD when they were allowed to use electronically controlled differentials.  When that was taken away they had no way to cope with that.  The new car was supposedly designed with WRC in mind, but other than their first outing it never finished that well.  I'm not sure how much of that had to do with drivers; Solberg wasn't doing that well but Atkinson had some podium finishes, but just some bad bad luck IIRC.  That said, part of the problem was also that Loeb was so stinking good, and the Focus makes any driver look like hell on wheels.  The competition was just too good to keep up with a compromised platform.

But like you said, P-WRC is much more restrictive.  I wonder how they're doing in that class?  I've been too depressed to check lately.

[the Teuton]

That, and Subaru never used the new rear suspension in the WRC car. They were planning on implementing it for this season, but they pulled the plug on the program. The 2008 cars had the the rear suspension from the '07 WRC cars.

[Speed_Racer]

I saw a Justy today...not a good looking car.

My dad had one as a commuter about 15 years ago. Thankfully you don't need more than 10 horsepower to navigate Dallas traffic.

[the Teuton]

Have I mentioned lately that I want an AWD stick Justy? I really do.