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| The Zenkai Motorsports STI was once a purpose built Time Attack car but now looks to attack the gymkhana course. Drift, autocross, stunt driving, and a bit of drag racing all rolled into one. |
Two heavy hitters at the event were Ken Block with his purpose built Gymkhana AWD Ford Fiesta and Tanner Foust in his similarly prepped AWD Rockstar Energy Ford Fiesta Rally car. The level of preparation on these cars is well beyond what even many pro drift teams can afford. Tanner’s car seemed to have come straight off the WRC circuit with the inlet restrictor still in place on the turbo. Tanner’s team manager confirmed that the car was recently converted from rally spec to gymkhana spec just for this inaugural Gymkhana event. Both Ken and Tanner’s car showed us mortals what real antilag sounds like on a rally car with each car making a series of super loud bangs as they shifted. From the media stand you could actually feel the pressure wave of the bang as they accelerated away from you.
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| Tanner Foust was unstoppable. No matter what the pressure, nothing could shake his nerves as his driving was near perfect round after round. He walked away with the win and the fastest time of the day. The teams had to make several changes throughout the event to dial in the best gymkhana setup. Here the Rockstar Energy Ford Fiesta undergoes some alignment changes between rounds. |
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| Mr. Gymkhana himself, Ken Block drove his heart out but just couldn’t shake the Golden Child in the final matchup. |
Every once in a while we get to see a regular Joe do the impossible and almost go the distance and this weekend Jordan Lippman was our hero. Jordan showed up to the event with his daily driven Subaru STI complete with spare tire, full interior, and over 140K miles on the odometer. The semi final match was between Lippman and Foust in a true to life David vs. Goliath battle. As Lippman’s stock looking STI with zero decals and sponsors lined up against Tanner’s professionally prepped Ford Fiesta it was enough to get the crowd going and cheering in support for both drivers.
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| David vs. Goliath. Goliath won but nevertheless our hats go off to privateer Jordan Lippman who gave it his best. |
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| Formula D and Redline Time Attack pro Kyle The Menace Mohan was driving well all weekend in the Mazdatrix Nexen tire FC. |
One of the most versatile and hardest working guys in the industry is none other than the Flying Frenchman Stephan Verdier. Although he is known as a Formula D pro drifter, not many people know that he is an accomplished road racer and rally driver. His Formula D drift Subaru STI was recently converted back to AWD for this event and thrown together using a hodgepodge of whatever OEM parts were on hand. Despite being outgunned by the WRC level cars of Ken Block and Tanner Foust, Stephan Verdier put up a good fight and finished 3rd. Verdier was struggling with a broken center diff that engaged the front drive wheels at random and his car was either AWD or RWD depending on how hot the center diff was during the run.
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| Stephan Verdier had to adjust his driving style and keep a very safe distance away from the barrels during the 360 spins in case his center diff decided to engage the front drive wheels and turn the STI back into an AWD vehicle. |
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| Matt Powers getting really into the driver’s introduction. |
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| Formula D, Rally and Rallycross star Andrew Picard or ACP as he is known fragged his clutch in a spectacular manor as he crossed the finish line in the semi’s sending chunks of burning metal everywhere. Fortunately no one was hurt. |
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| After Ross Petty got eliminated, he had to satisfy himself by riding this bike around the pits! |
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| Alex Pfeiffer |
