I last worked on Pikes Peak in the summer of 2000. Yeah…for a few months, I was either the guy making donuts in the back, manning a cash register up front, or cleaning up things in the tourist trap on the summit of Pikes Peak. Which meant that twice a day, I got to experience the route that most gearheads know as the famous Pikes Peak International Hillclimb…in a 1990s Dodge Ram Van, before it was all paved, as a passenger. Just picturing some of those moments makes parts of me clinch up tight. It’s easy to make jokes about the route, but paved or not, bicycle or purpose-built monster, that mountain will get your respect, even if it means giving you a crash-course in the laws that Sir Issac Newton wrote out plain as day. It’s no secret that people die trying to make it to the top of the mountain west of Colorado Springs. You can YouTube search for footage of cars sliding off of the roadway during competition.

Which makes for an interesting juxtaposition, seeing Ken Block here. Block’s “Gymkhana” videos are wild, bombastic, and usually highly scripted affairs known for visual artistry, excellent camera work, and very controlled conditions. (Trust us, you don’t put together a shoot like his Los Angeles video without tons of prep work in the background.) And we aren’t knocking the guy’s driving at all…YouTube fame or not, in competition or just having some fun, Block can drive his ass off. So seeing him at Pikes Peak for the “Climbkhana” video is just fine. But seeing the Hoonicorn V2 (the twin-turbocharged, meth-addled version of the psychotic all-wheel-drive Mustang that has become his signature ride) instead of his Fiesta RX rallycross ride or the vintage 1978 Ford Escort Mk.2  at Mile 7 of the road up to the top (the starting line point) really makes us wonder if Block is testing himself.

Then the snowblowers come out.

Click play below to see what we mean by that…