A field of V8 supercars in a rolling drag race. BMX riders...BMX-ing. Interceptors. Dakar and WRC legends. And even a shoey. Welcome, friends, to the latest Gymkhana video, and as you can tell, it’s set in Australia. A place the late, great Ken Block had wanted to tick off his list.
“We were met with a resounding no, because of the climate of anti-hoon laws at the time,” said Hoonigan co-founder Brian Scotto about shooting ‘Gymkhana Nine’ down under.
“A decade later, when we re-approached the Australian government, we were met with open arms.” Arms so open you could fly a modified Subaru right through them...which is what Scotto and driver Travis Pastrana did for the latest instalment called ‘Aussie Shred.’
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And as you very well know, the star is a modified Subaru Brat—because Australia—featuring a “fire-spitting” 2.0-liter boxer engine turbocharged and modified to produce 670hp and 921Nm of torque, on its way to a 9,500rpm redline.
“Every part of this car was designed to take the abuse we threw at it while making this film, from hanging two tires off a pier to flying 160 feet across a 10-story-deep canyon gap over a road train to skimming across a deep lake and scaring myself every step of the way,” said Pastrana, who’s now on his third Gymkhana project.
All for our amusement and entertainment. And another thing, too: “This combination of the unfinished business we had down under and this being Pastrana’s last film in the series not only makes it very special to me, but also puts the pressure on to push the limits of what we could do both in the car and behind the camera,” said Scotto.
So, for Pastrana’s last film, watch him pay homage to Block’s catalog of Gymkhana brilliance via spectacular backdrops like the Sydney Harbor and the vast Outback, all in the spectacular Subaru Brat.
Watch: ‘Aussie Shred’ featuring Travis Pastrana and the Brataroo
More photos from ‘Aussie Shred’:
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
