Video | Ken Block and Audi: journey to Electrikhana

The Audi S1 Hoonitron is the star of Electrikhana: Ken Block's latest Gymkhana video

What happens when you bring two motorsport legends together on a quest to create the ultimate electric performance video? Something truly special…

If there’s one thing guaranteed to light up the automotive internet, it’s a Ken Block Gymkhana video.

Since 2008, the excitable American rally ace has showcased his tyre-shredding antics with a series of ever-more-impressive videos that have pulled in 550 million views combined.

Now, Block is sparking debate and delight among fans once again, going all-in on all-electric with his latest film: cleverly titled 'Electrikhana' and featuring the jaw-dropping Audi S1 Hoonitron prototype tearing it up on the streets of Las Vegas. Check it out below.

But this is only the latest step in a long journey for Audi and Block. Since first announcing their partnership, Block – a genuinely passionate Audi petrolhead – has been getting a taste of every element of Audi’s quattro heritage and its electrified e-tron philosophy. We’ve followed every step of that journey.

So, to commemorate the arrival of Block's latest tyre-squealing epic, let’s take an in-depth look back at his road to Electrikhana.

*Learn more about **how Audi e-tron is changing the game for electric excitement**.*

*Sep 21, 2021: Ken Block joins the Audi family*

Late summer, and car fans around the world wake to the exciting news that Audi and Ken Block have joined forces for a top-secret sideways twist to the next film in the Gymkhana franchise – intriguingly teased ‘Electrikhana’.

Given that Block’s thrilling drift videos have (until now) been powered almost exclusively by petrol and soundtracked by the pap-pap-pap of a turbo bouncing off the rev limiter, the concept of the power-sliding mastermind going all-electric is certainly intriguing. As a genuinely passionate petrolhead, though – with a real depth of love and knowledge for the history of iconic road, race and rally cars – the idea of Block working with Audi makes perfect sense.

“This partnership is a dream that has been decades in the making,” says Block. “I’ve been an Audi fan since I was a teenager. It’s the brand that ignited my passion for motorsport. Audi’s World Rally Championship efforts with their Group B cars and their wins at Pike’s Peak in the 1980s are what led me to becoming a rally driver.

“Audi’s quattro system pioneered the all-wheel drive revolution and forever changed the sport of rallying. Now I’m part of their next leap with electric performance. It’s an honour, and humbling, to consider myself part of a team that I have respected for so long. The vehicle that Audi is building for Electrikhana is going to be insane.”

During the launch of Block’s Audi partnership, he gets to sample a range of Audi’s legendary quattro race and rally machines, including Walter Rohrl’s Monte Carlo Rally-winning Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 Group B machine, Hans Stuck’s title-winning Audi V8 DTM touring car and the top-secret never-raced-or-rallied Audi Group S Prototype, which boasts a mind-boggling 1000bhp from its mid-mounted engine.

“The Audi Sport Quattro is the car that made me love Audi and rallying,” Block says. “Getting this chance to drive it is real dream-come-true type stuff. Equally, the DTM is one of my favourite race series – on the car design alone. They’re production-based cars, but basically an F1 car underneath.”

Block also got to sample some cars that offer a compelling taste of Audi’s electric future. First, the Audi e-tron Vision GT – a car built digitally for the racing game Gran Turismo, now brought to life by Audi’s in-house team – then the all-new Audi GT e-tron RS that is spearheading Audi’s fast-growing line-up of all-electric road cars.

Despite his passion for petrol power, Block is clearly intrigued by the potential that all-electric performance offers. “Why the switch to electric?” he posits. “For me, it’s simple: it’s new. It’s high-level performance. It’s the future. Plus, new technology and forward-thinking – all of the things that Audi is great at – can be used to have even more fun with cars. And I’m all about that.

“I’m absolutely stoked to be joining Audi in this era – celebrating the past but embracing some of the coolest new electric tech in the world. The historic stuff is very near and dear to my heart. And the electric technology and the future of horsepower is right here. I’m a happy man.”

*Dec 15, 2021: A first glimpse of the Audi Hoonitron*

In the run-up to Christmas, Ken Block travels to the Audi Design centre in Ingolstadt in Germany for a very special early present: a first chance to see the unique one-of-a-kind Audi S1 Hoonitron that he will use in the next film in his Gymkhana series: Electrikhana.

“For Audi to build us an all-electric prototype – a concept car, just for me – I’m dumbfounded,” Block says. “We’ve always built our Gymkhana cars ourselves, or in partnership with a race team. Never before has a manufacturer built a car uniquely for us, directly from the factory. This is the first time we’ve seen it in the flesh. So far, we’ve only seen concept drawings. It’s wild that Audi was able to condense a one-year build process from the drawing boards to reality in only four weeks.”

At this point, performance figures for the Audi S1 Hoonitron are a closely guarded secret. All Audi will say is that the carbon fibre chassis will have two electric motors (front and rear) for all-wheel drive. But, thanks to an iconic silhouette inspired by the legendary Audi Sport Quattro S1 that charged to victory on the summit of the famous Pikes Peak Hill Climb in 1987 at the hands of Walter Röhrl, it’s clear that however Block puts this pioneering car to use, it will be visually thrilling.

“The Pikes Peak car is always an inspiration for us,” says Audi Head of Design Marc Lichte. “It’s an important part of our DNA. That muscular structure on top of all four wheels that denotes quattro. That tight cabin, the super-short wheelbase, the upright A-pillar, the triangular C-pillar and the rear wing being connected directly to the car – one fender, one wing, one surface. With this Audi S1 e-tron quattro Hoonitron, we had the opportunity to develop a car that combines an icon of our brand with the future. It was all about creating a modern all-electric interpretation.”

As Audi’s Head of Exterior Design, Philipp Roemer explains, the Audi S1 Hoonitron was a real passion project for Audi’s already vaunted design team. “Almost every designer wanted to contribute to this car,” Roemer says. “It combines the past and the future. It shows our passion. At Audi, we’re always looking forward, so it was important not to do a retro design, but a progressive interpretation.

“On the Audi S1 Hoonitron, the A-pillar is not quite as upright as the Pikes Peak car. It’s more fluid because it’s a very modern car. But there’s still the strong chop-off rear wing – very pronounced, falling backwards. Then we have the front wing going against it. It’s a good modern translation from the old car.”

Block is certainly pleased with the result. “This collaboration with Audi is very special to me,” he says. “It’s cool that Audi’s designers have been inspired by their past, and uniquely transferred the car’s technologies and appearance into the present. I think they’ve done a great job.

“The design of the Audi S1 Hoonitron combines a lot of what made Audi famous in the 1980s. Back then, you wanted all four wheels to protrude out from the car, because you needed that wider stance for racing. It worked in Audi’s favour, because it created this iconic silhouette that says quattro all-wheel drive.

“With an all-electric car, you can have even more fun as a designer, because you don’t have to worry about having a certain-sized radiator hole for ventilation for the engine. You can be more creative with how the air flows through the car and around it. The spectacular aerodynamics have been translated into a totally modern form.”

*Feb 9, 2022: Chills and thrills as Block goes electric on ice*

Winter. And, for the next leg of his all-electric Audi e-tron journey, Ken Block heads to the GP Ice Race at Zell Am See in Austria. Held on a frozen runway in the heart of the Kitzbühel Alps, cars have been competing at Zell Am See since the 1930s.

This year, Audi brought along the Audi RS Q e-tron rally raid car that helped it make history and set the motorsport trend once again in the 2022 Dakar Rally – boasting a highly innovative electrified powertrain that has revolutionised the sport of long-distance endurance racing, winning four stages of this year’s event.

Blending an advanced high-voltage 50kWh lithium-ion battery with powerful quattro all-wheel-drive electric motors and a 2.0-litre TFSI petrol engine that operates in a narrow ultra-fuel-efficient ultra-low-emissions power band to recharge the battery, it delivers up to 400hp, and can sprint from 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds.

Block was certainly impressed by his first taste of the car. “My laps in the Audi RS Q e-tron were a phenomenal experience, even though the car probably feels more comfortable in the desert than the snow,” he says. “A few minutes behind the wheel were enough to understand the fascination of this car.” Block also sampled the Audi Quattro A2 Group B rally car that competed in the 1983 Rally Finland on Zell Am See’s ice track. “That was an insane moment that I won’t forget in a hurry,” he said.

*Mar 1, 2022: One for the road*

As a side project, Ken Block has hand-styled his own twist on the all-new all-electric Audi RS e-tron GT – creating an extraordinary evolution of an extraordinary car for an everyday run-around. A different kind of sideways. It’s proof that, thanks to Audi quattro all-wheel drive, all-electric performance works in all kinds of environments.

“With the Audi GT e-tron RS, they’ve done such a good job on the design,” says Block. “It’s absolutely beautiful, with great attention to detail and a perfect finish. In terms of its performance, it’s incredible. At the snap of a finger – or my right foot – it produces 598PS and 612 lb-fit of torque instantly, making it the fastest Audi RS-badged production car on earth. It’s the perfect fit for me, my family and all the snowboard adventures I have in Utah.”

“I’ve done a few things to this car to fit my lifestyle. It’s got a flat white wrap, an Audi roof pod mounted to the carbon fibre roof for my snowboard for when I go up into the mountains. We’ve fitted Rotiform alloy wheels – with aero discs at the front – and all-weather tyres that will work well in the snow.”

*Oct 18, 2022: All charged up and ready to go*

A week before the release of Electrikhana, Ken Block teases the location where he’ll be let loose in the Audi S1 Hoonitron – Las Vegas – and reveals the car’s definitive livery, which is inspired by classic Audi Sport race cars of the 1980s and 1990s.

Under the Audi S1 Hoonitron’s lightweight carbon fibre skin is a chassis designed to full FIA rally safety specs with softer rally-style suspension for more compliance and grip in the jumps, slides and spins that Block will be tackling on his Las Vegas route.

Power comes from four large-capacity lithium-ion batteries adapted from the units used in the Audi Q7 TFSI e plug-in hybrid, driving two powerful 800V motors from Audi’s Formula E single-seater – one on the front axle and one on the rear, for true all-wheel drive. Crucially, there are a wealth of vents and radiators to cool the batteries and electric motors, which will be working flat-out to spin the wheels fast – even when the car is hardly moving and locked in one of Block’s trademark donuts.

A consequence of the packaging of all these elements is the fact that the driver’s seat is more set much further back in the chassis than Block’s usual Gymkhana cars and reclined in a laid-back Formula 1-style position – with Block’s feet elevated on the high-mounted pedal box. “It’s the weirdest seating position I’ve ever had in a car like this,” he admits. “The whole concept of this is wild to me. I would have never expected it. It’s incredible what Audi have put into this design and built so quickly.”

As Block explains of his experiences from testing the Audi S1 Hoonitron and crafting the tricks for Electrikhana, driving an all-electric Gymkhana car takes a little bit of getting used to – especially for a driver bred on decades of petrol power. But it also offers up some intriguing new ideas.

“New technologies mean new ways of doing things,” Block says. “There’s a lot of programming that’s possible with the Audi S1 Hoonitron, so we spent a lot of time testing, trying different electronic maps for the motors and throttle, to learn how to get the car to do what I wanted to accomplish.

“With the instant electric torque, for example, I can just punch it. With no gearing, the motors just go straight up to their top speed. It has actually really opened up the possibilities of what we can do making these Gymkhana films in ways we didn’t necessarily expect.”

*Oct 25, 2022: Spinning those wheels in Las Vegas*

Finally, Electrikhana is unleashed, and there couldn’t be a more thrilling backdrop for the Audi S1 Hoonitron than the neon lights of Las Vegas – with a route around the city’s iconic Strip that takes in many of its famous landmarks.

Celebrating Audi’s electrifying motorsport heritage, the video also features a few of the classic Audi race cars that have inspired Ken Block on his road to Electrikhana – including the 1988 Trans Am title-winning Audi 200, the 1989 IMSA title-winning Audi 90 GTO, and the Audi Sport quattro S1 that Walter Rohrl drove to the 4301m summit of the famed Pikes Peak hillclimb in 1987 in a record-breaking 10m48s.

Look carefully and (alongside a brief cameo from Elvis himself) you’ll also see nine-times Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen, and two of the cars – the Audi R8 LMP, and the Audi R18 e-tron quattro – that he drove to victory.

“With the Audi S1 Hoonitron, we’ve broken entirely new ground at Audi,” said Oliver Hoffmann, Audi Board Member for Technical Development. “Developing a fully electric prototype for the Ken Block was an exciting challenge, to which the whole team rose with flying colours. It’s great to see how ‘Vorsprung Durch Technik’ is presented in an all-new environment.”

*Learn more about **how Audi e-tron is changing the game for electric excitement**.*