Even though he’s made so many of the things, when Ken Block drops one of his signature ‘Gymkhana’ rallying stunt-spectacular videos on the internet the car community still unanimously drops what it’s doing and pays attention.
One of Block’s more popular Gymkhana videos in recent times was his ninth installment; Raw Industrial Playground. It was a sort of ‘back to his roots’ kind of extravaganza, featuring his 600hp 2.0-litre turbofour FIA World RallyCross Ford Focus RS RX.
It featured plenty of jaw-dropping scenes, from dangling a wheel off the edge of a pier to narrowly avoiding a train. In this part of the world, the short film is probably best remembered for how it had been scheduled to be filmed in Sydney, Australia only for the proposal to be knocked back by local officials. Ironically, the Focus at the centre of what was quite a controversial story at the time is now owned by an Australian.
The Focus RS RX from the film recently went under the hammer at Barrett Jackson auction. With the funds raised going to Team Rubicon (a charity designed to aid people hampered by natural disasters and humanitarian crises), the Focus ended up selling for US$200,000 ($298,500). Not too bad for a car that perhaps cost more than that to build in the first place.
Block later confirmed that the bidder who won the auction was an Australian, and is set to have the car transported across the world to a new home down under. The identity of the buyer hasn’t been confirmed, but one hopes it’s going into the hands of someone likely to give it a public hoon from time to time. On closed roads, of course.
“We raised $200k for Team Rubicon at the Barrett-Jackson auto auction yesterday!” said Block in a social media post. “That $200k will go to help support Team Rubicon’s efforts to aid in disaster and humanitarian needs, including the recent hurricanes and Covid-19 relief. big thanks to everyone, including the new owner of my Ford Focus RS RX, along with Barrett-Jackson for helping support this great cause.”
“Last week’s buyer of my Ford Focus RS RX lives in Australia,” Block added in a subsequent post. “So, it’s ironic to me that the car that was supposed to shoot Gymkhana nine in Australia, which we were turned down for the things we wanted to do in Sydney — is now going to find it’s home down there!”