[HOONIGAN] Chris Harris on Ken Block's Gymkhana SEVEN AWD 1965 Mustang (The Hoonicorn!)

hi this is Ken Block I'm here with a new project of mine the unicorn RTR because I am a much better racecar driver than technical talker I've brought someone special and to do that technical talking for me mr. Chris Harris now as a seasoned motoring journalist I rarely get on an aircraft to not drive a car but I'll make an exception for this remarkable creature here what you see here is a visual representation a physical one of the inside of Ken and his hooligan team's head now in trying to define this vague and understand it you should really listen to the people that created it it was described to me earlier by one of the hooligans hemas 25% DTM 25% Trans Am 50% Hot Wheels so it's fantasy meets the idea of creating the ultimate car give you some numbers we have some numbers don't we 850 horsepower from for the first time a normally aspirated engine of v8 6.7 liters revs to about 8,000 rpm I've heard it you waiting you hear it it's extraordinary it's basically a NASCAR engine but despite the fact that it has this very defined aesthetic it really is very much a case of form following function because we've got this v8 placed so far back in the chassis it's effectively front mid-engine like a like a Ferrari f12 really that allows the half staff to sit ahead and the differential ahead of the engine so this is a v8 850 horsepower rally car because ken wanted that four-wheel drive that's what defines the Gymkhana videos before wheel drive all four wheels launching him at ridiculous speeds and ridiculous angles I need you to come and look at this now so here we go look engine a long way back that is front mid-engine the axle line is there okay we've got this completely bespoke frame so it is kind of a space frame and down in the front look at this this is just pornographic fully inboard suspension on push rods infinite adjustment massively strong huge great big double wishbones it's double wishbones all round now I know it looks lovely in retro with these high stacks on it and you expect to see some carburetors and I know that these v8 sometimes don't seem to be the most modern things around but this is pretty trick this thing so you've got individual throttle bodies on the top here which are utterly gorgeous have a look at this now you can see them moving and then you've got motek management running the whole thing it's a very very slick operation I'm also told reliably that the reason for the signature slightly shrieking v8 noise is a firing order situation so you need the perfect sounding engine for the car that goes perfectly sideways this thing is internet gold so what's remaining of the Mustang and the answer is not much you've got an a pillar that's an a pillar you've got a B pillar and you've got a roof and when I asked the guys that made it what beyond that was from a 65 Mustang they all sort of scratch their chins and looked at the ceiling because the rest of it is just completely bespoke and utterly gorgeous okay let's go around to the cabin now I hate to say this but we're doing this when Ken's not here this is kind of his seat and he doesn't allow anyone in here but I'm gonna do it anyway this is so cool inside we have the most beautiful bespoke carbon dashboard and reliably informed 500 man hours have gone into the creation of that alone I mean this is just utterly gorgeous analogue hoonigan bespoke gauges and then of course we have the signature hoonigan hand brake lever here which is connected to a clutch which so cleverly when you yank it disconnects the front powertrain and just gives you locking rear wheels that can use this to rather dramatic effect as we know transmission here it's a sad day of gearbox now unless you're really into rallying you won't have heard of them but they're a French company that makes the Mac Daddy Oh transmissions and the one in this is their biggest strongest unit that's actually found in dakar rally car so it's massively massively strong one thing you need to know also is the driving position is comfortable but it's low and the velocity stacks obviously are thing of joy and wonder to behold but they're right in the way so this is quite a wide car as well physically bigger than the Fiesta that he's used before I don't think it's that easy a car to place so watching him drift within inches of stuff it's all the more impressive because you really can't see much sitting here of course it's littered with GoPros cause this is about filming so it's a mobile studio everywhere you look is a GoPro covering a movement now I'm no great knowledge on the 1965 for Mustang but I don't think the original had a toggle that said don't the weight by the way is around 3,000 pounds which in European cash is about thirteen hundred and sixty kilograms which is an ample power-to-weight ratio let's talk rubber the biggest tire ever to feature on a hoonigan car Gymkhana car here we have two nine five thirty Zr 18s but they are a Pirelli PZero Trofeo are in a special compound a bit harder for a little less grip because this is not about lap times a little bit more smokiness comes from them but the coolest thing of all that they come out of a mold and they have Ken's name on them I have to say when Pirelli put your name on a tire you kind of arrived haven't you the wheels made by 1552 there are three piece 18-inch wheel and as you can imagine that to be pretty strong because they take an awful lot of abuse let's come down to the side here we have an exhaust amazingly there's the same thing going on on the other side there is I think no silencing here at all the noise this thing makes is absolutely extraordinary for me that's what makes it an even more interesting project than the last ones okay you can make a turbocharged four sound pretty amazing with an T lag and all sorts of things going on but this thing at full noise honestly the crew just stop when the filling is going on because it's extraordinary it's actually violent right come on the back I'd like to say this wing exist for downforce but it doesn't at all it's completely aesthetic it's for no reason other than looking cool Brian's there who's part of this project he's shaking his head but he knows that I'm telling the truth but it's got a look hasn't it what I love about the car is it's hunkered down it's recognizably a Mustang but it just sits on the deck and when you see it moving it looks low but it looks supple so they've taken the suspension and not gone too hard you get some lovely movement and you're in the car that gives the language of speed of load you might see right now that I did in fact sit in it as Ken drove it boy does it feel fast it feels violently fast like it's trying to hurt you the best quote of the day was when we got out the cars was and Ken just looked at me and said this thing just spends most of the day trying to kill me come with me have a look at some gizzards have a look at some stuff inside okay it's amazing and it's not really very original Mustang in here but it's stunning all the same again inboard suspension to give space for this transmission in some respects you can view this vehicle as an engine and a transmission around which they fitted some other stuff that looks a bit like a Mustang amazing suspension so you've got massive great big double wishbones an enormous structure here as well a very small fuel tank because you don't need much fuel on a Gymkhana set and lots of filming equipment now they didn't want me to show that but I think it's really important because this is a car that's working this is mid shoot at the moment of course it's riddled with camera equipment as someone who does a lot of shooting himself I'm amazed at how neat and tired of the installations are you think that isn't that really is this thing carries so many cameras it's incredible no it's a work of art I have to say it really is a work of art okay so why a Mustang well first of all why not a Mustang it's the 50th year of the Mustang let's you've been living on Mars you'd have seen some promotional activity this seemed the perfect time to do it of course it was the first small muscle car as well and it had a v8 so how do you go about doing it well it's a heck of a project so first of all we have Ken's kernel of an idea with his hoonigan team as well and then you need some knowledge well he's best mates with born getting junior who knows as much about turning Mustangs into performance display cars as anyone as we know that he's a two-wheel drive and this needed to be four-wheel drive so then we had this collaborative project whereby they went to RTR which is one company that makes these amazing vehicles and they work together to create this thing behind us and it really is pretty special so it's a stunning set of aesthetics and it's a stunning piece of engineering and it is possibly the coolest Mustang ever built but if you haven't seen it going yet you need to you need to watch this you

Channel: Hoonigan

Views: 4,753,111

Rating: 4.919416 out of 5

Keywords: Ken Block (Organization Leader), Gymkhana, Hoonigan Racing Division (Organization), Four-wheel Drive (Mass Transportation System), Ford, Ford Mustang (Automobile Model), Seven, Gym7, gymkhanaseven, Automobile (TV Genre), Rally, Drift, Chris Harris, Hoonicorn, handbraketheinternet

Id: dKBICDja6Sg

Length: 11min 7sec (667 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 03 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/Clintown]

Gymkhana 7 was far and away the best one to date and The Hoonicorn is 100% why.

[u/GeneralDisorder]

Well... now I'm sick of the word hoonigan.

[u/Dman331]

I've always wondered what hoonigan was, now I'm definitely going to find out. This is incredible. Side note, how is he able to block off so many roads??

[u/Pilchard929]

I love your use of the word "mustang-shaped" which perfectly describes this. There is not much stock mustang left to it. Im stealing this from you now, thanks.