Devan M
04-04-2007, 11:42 PM
Now this is super cool...
I grabbed this from another site so i can't take all the credit:D
----------------Press Release--------------------
March 31, 2007, El Toro Air Field, Irvine CA
Guest Driver Ken Block runs American Gymkhana
What happens when you combine a professional rally driver, a 600hp Subaru, an abandoned airfield strip, a whole lot of cones and a timing system? We didn’t know either, so we asked Subaru Rally Team USA Driver/DC shoes co-founder, Ken Block, if he wouldn’t mind participating in our Guest Driver program, which would mean him behind the wheel of our 600hp Crawford Time Attack Subaru for the first ever Gymkhana event here in America.
Ken graciously accepted and made some time between WRC Mexico and the first of his New Zealand Rally Championship rounds, to meet up with us at the American Gymkhana event in Irvine CA. It was agreed that this Gymkhana course would not only test his driver skill but would also provide some interesting feedback about how our well or not we engineered the Crawford Time Attack Car.
http://www.crawfordperformance.com/results/images/image_kb_10.jpg
This inaugural American Gymkhana event brought out 78 different competitors from several motorsport disciplines, over 1800 spectators, and several fairly well respected drivers including; Stephan Verdier in his 400hp rear wheel drive Subaru, Chris Forsberg in his Nissan 350 Z w/a Nissan Titan V8 (VK56) motor, Dai Yoshihara in the Rockstar S13 Silvia, and a few drivers just came out to see what all the fuss was about; Tanner Foust, Samuel Hubinette, and Alex Pfeiffer. In any case, it seemed that Ken wasn’t the only one who wanted to test his skill against the clock.
It wasn’t long before the 2006 Rally America National Championship runner-up, Ken Block, was doing e-brake turn-ins, clutch drops and donuts…all the things one would expect from a rally driver at a Gymkhana event. Of course the Crawford Time Attack Car wasn’t designed for such abuse. But hey, what’s the point of creating a mean machine if you can’t have a little fun with it, right? Little did we know how soon we would eat those words.
During the beginning of the second session the car decided to break a rear CV joint. It seems that the combination of 600 All Wheel Drive Horsepower, 285/30/18 BFGoodrich R1’s, the abrasive concrete surface, and Ken’s lead foot was just too much stress and something had to give. Luckily for the Crawford Team it was only CV joint. Unlucky for Ken, we didn’t have a spare. Lucky for us, one quick phone call to Prodrive, one of our fantastic sponsors, and they were on their way to hand deliver not one but two spares.
So, with a little bit of time and a little bit of grease, the Monster Subaru Rally driver extraordinaire was back in the saddle blasting through the slaloms, zipping his way around the course, pirouetting 540 degrees around one obstacle, all the while carving his way through the course, error free, before making the mad dash to the finish line.
http://www.crawfordperformance.com/results/images/image_kb_18.jpg
Ken knew that being a Crawford Guest Driver was all about fun. There wasn’t going to be any trophy for his mantel, any prestigious medal to hang around his neck or even a huge media crowd waiting to interview him at the finish line. None of this mattered to Ken as his fun was driving for another reason, to beat the clock. Thus our question was finally answered:
“What happens when you combine a professional rally driver, a 600hp Subaru, an abandoned airfield strip, a whole lot of cones and a timing system?”
You get one determined Ken Block solely focused on one thing, to be the best he can be… the mark of a true sportsman.
In case you are wondering what Ken Block’s official time(s) were; well, he pushed himself and the Crawford Time Attack Car to the fastest time of the day, a 50.98! The next closest times were a 53.80, 53.95, and a 53.97.
Awesome Driving Ken!
*************HD Video Link***************
http://www.crawfordperformance.com/news/ken_gymkhana.shtml
Team Crawford looks forward to our next Time Attack in Oregon at Portland International Raceway, April 7th, then we are off to Buttonwillow April 14th & 15th for another NASA Event, and we will finish our April Tour at the Red Line Time Attack, April 28th & 29th at Buttonwillow.
Drive safe and talk to you again soon.
TEAM CRAWFORD
Team Crawford Performance would like to acknowledge everyone who has helped and who continues to help support us in our Motorsports adventures. Without such outstanding support, none of this would be possible:
APR Performance
BFGoodrich Tires
Exedy Racing Clutch
I-Speed USA
JE Pistons
Motul
NGK Spark Plugs
Prodrive
Recaro
Subaru
TEIN
Torco Racing Fuels
Turbo by Garrett
Special Thanks: Dan at Prodrive. You saved the day! The entire team thanks you for your help and your support!
More about Ken Block
http://ken-block.com/
More about Gymkhana
Originating in 19th-century India and England, Gymkhana is a display of athletics and equestrian events. However, in the 20th century, the discipline was applied to an automobile sport in which a series of events is planned to test drivers’ skill and demonstrate accurate car handling.
Gymkhana is a very tight course laid out with cones in key points to navigate through and around. The obstacles will often consist of slaloms, 180 degree turns, 360 degree turns, figure 8s, and some time parking boxes. The drivers’ goals are the get through the course in the fastest possible manner with the least amount of mistakes. Such a feat requires strong mental concentration and memorizing of the track, where you have to go and in what order you do it in. A driver must rely on many techniques to effectively navigate through a course. Acceleration, braking, drifting & grip driving are all necessary traits to Master any Gymkhana.
------------------------------------END-----------------------------------
I grabbed this from another site so i can't take all the credit:D
----------------Press Release--------------------
March 31, 2007, El Toro Air Field, Irvine CA
Guest Driver Ken Block runs American Gymkhana
What happens when you combine a professional rally driver, a 600hp Subaru, an abandoned airfield strip, a whole lot of cones and a timing system? We didn’t know either, so we asked Subaru Rally Team USA Driver/DC shoes co-founder, Ken Block, if he wouldn’t mind participating in our Guest Driver program, which would mean him behind the wheel of our 600hp Crawford Time Attack Subaru for the first ever Gymkhana event here in America.
Ken graciously accepted and made some time between WRC Mexico and the first of his New Zealand Rally Championship rounds, to meet up with us at the American Gymkhana event in Irvine CA. It was agreed that this Gymkhana course would not only test his driver skill but would also provide some interesting feedback about how our well or not we engineered the Crawford Time Attack Car.
http://www.crawfordperformance.com/results/images/image_kb_10.jpg
This inaugural American Gymkhana event brought out 78 different competitors from several motorsport disciplines, over 1800 spectators, and several fairly well respected drivers including; Stephan Verdier in his 400hp rear wheel drive Subaru, Chris Forsberg in his Nissan 350 Z w/a Nissan Titan V8 (VK56) motor, Dai Yoshihara in the Rockstar S13 Silvia, and a few drivers just came out to see what all the fuss was about; Tanner Foust, Samuel Hubinette, and Alex Pfeiffer. In any case, it seemed that Ken wasn’t the only one who wanted to test his skill against the clock.
It wasn’t long before the 2006 Rally America National Championship runner-up, Ken Block, was doing e-brake turn-ins, clutch drops and donuts…all the things one would expect from a rally driver at a Gymkhana event. Of course the Crawford Time Attack Car wasn’t designed for such abuse. But hey, what’s the point of creating a mean machine if you can’t have a little fun with it, right? Little did we know how soon we would eat those words.
During the beginning of the second session the car decided to break a rear CV joint. It seems that the combination of 600 All Wheel Drive Horsepower, 285/30/18 BFGoodrich R1’s, the abrasive concrete surface, and Ken’s lead foot was just too much stress and something had to give. Luckily for the Crawford Team it was only CV joint. Unlucky for Ken, we didn’t have a spare. Lucky for us, one quick phone call to Prodrive, one of our fantastic sponsors, and they were on their way to hand deliver not one but two spares.
So, with a little bit of time and a little bit of grease, the Monster Subaru Rally driver extraordinaire was back in the saddle blasting through the slaloms, zipping his way around the course, pirouetting 540 degrees around one obstacle, all the while carving his way through the course, error free, before making the mad dash to the finish line.
http://www.crawfordperformance.com/results/images/image_kb_18.jpg
Ken knew that being a Crawford Guest Driver was all about fun. There wasn’t going to be any trophy for his mantel, any prestigious medal to hang around his neck or even a huge media crowd waiting to interview him at the finish line. None of this mattered to Ken as his fun was driving for another reason, to beat the clock. Thus our question was finally answered:
“What happens when you combine a professional rally driver, a 600hp Subaru, an abandoned airfield strip, a whole lot of cones and a timing system?”
You get one determined Ken Block solely focused on one thing, to be the best he can be… the mark of a true sportsman.
In case you are wondering what Ken Block’s official time(s) were; well, he pushed himself and the Crawford Time Attack Car to the fastest time of the day, a 50.98! The next closest times were a 53.80, 53.95, and a 53.97.
Awesome Driving Ken!
*************HD Video Link***************
http://www.crawfordperformance.com/news/ken_gymkhana.shtml
Team Crawford looks forward to our next Time Attack in Oregon at Portland International Raceway, April 7th, then we are off to Buttonwillow April 14th & 15th for another NASA Event, and we will finish our April Tour at the Red Line Time Attack, April 28th & 29th at Buttonwillow.
Drive safe and talk to you again soon.
TEAM CRAWFORD
Team Crawford Performance would like to acknowledge everyone who has helped and who continues to help support us in our Motorsports adventures. Without such outstanding support, none of this would be possible:
APR Performance
BFGoodrich Tires
Exedy Racing Clutch
I-Speed USA
JE Pistons
Motul
NGK Spark Plugs
Prodrive
Recaro
Subaru
TEIN
Torco Racing Fuels
Turbo by Garrett
Special Thanks: Dan at Prodrive. You saved the day! The entire team thanks you for your help and your support!
More about Ken Block
http://ken-block.com/
More about Gymkhana
Originating in 19th-century India and England, Gymkhana is a display of athletics and equestrian events. However, in the 20th century, the discipline was applied to an automobile sport in which a series of events is planned to test drivers’ skill and demonstrate accurate car handling.
Gymkhana is a very tight course laid out with cones in key points to navigate through and around. The obstacles will often consist of slaloms, 180 degree turns, 360 degree turns, figure 8s, and some time parking boxes. The drivers’ goals are the get through the course in the fastest possible manner with the least amount of mistakes. Such a feat requires strong mental concentration and memorizing of the track, where you have to go and in what order you do it in. A driver must rely on many techniques to effectively navigate through a course. Acceleration, braking, drifting & grip driving are all necessary traits to Master any Gymkhana.
------------------------------------END-----------------------------------