ken block is no stranger to shenanigans behind the wheel of a rally car. and while in recent years those activities involved a vehicle with a ford badge, block has returned to his roots for 2021. the hoonigan star currently finds himself campaigning a vermont sportscar–prepped subaru wrx sti in america rally association events, something he hadn't done since 2009. now though, we have a chance to watch block pit his subaru against his other off-road racing machine: an 1100-hp trophy truck built for baja.
the battle of the race cars took place at the team o'neil rally school in new hampshire. block and his crew were at the school for some test days ahead of the new england forest rally, which took place at the end of july. the race itself was marred by a retirement from block, as the wrx sti suffered a gearbox failure. as unfortunate as that is for the team's season, that trouble didn't come until after this sweet showdown was filmed.
the video follows a simple premise: block and crew lapped both machines around the practice stage several times to see which was quicker. the subaru was clearly favored going into the event, as the wrx sti race car was designed for this very activity. that said, the geiser bros.–built trophy truck is a serious machine in its own right. it's powered by a 7.7-liter big-block v-8 built by dougans, which produces 1100 hp. the truck also packs a crazy suspension of its own, designed to cope with high-speed jumps in the mexican desert. of course the trophy truck is also about double the weight of the wrx sti and significantly wider. in fact, the truck struggled to fit down the stage in a few instances.
in what is the least shocking outcome possible, the subaru managed to be the quicker machine. the wrx sti posted a time of two minutes, 32 seconds, while the truck managed a best lap of two minutes, 55 seconds. the gap is pretty steep, especially considering the short length of the stage in question. block did note that he is far more familiar behind the wheel of the subaru at this point, perhaps suggesting the truck has some time to give yet. either way, i think we can all agree that trophy truck rally racing should become a real series.
from: road & track