High priest of drifting Ken Block in town

Ken Block's Porsche 911: He will be driving the German marque in the East African Safari Rally Classic. [KBlock: Instagram]

One of the world’s best drifters Ken Block is in town!

Block, a professional rally driver with the Hoonigan Racing Division, shared videos on his Instagram status, showing his car (Porsche 911) being offloaded from a flatbed truck, onto the service area.

The master of high-speed slides Block is here alongside Italian co-driver Alex Gelsomino, who will go for testing for the East African Safari Rally Classic set for February 10-18, 2022.

“Tomorrow Alex Gelsomino and I do our first test together (day 1 of 2 of testing) for our final prep for the East African Safari Classic Rally in Kenya! I’ve been wanting to race this historic event for a long time, as it is one of the most epic and classic rally races on the planet. And, I’m really stoked to be racing it in a @TuthillPorsche built and prepared 1984 Porsche 911,” block tweeted.

(1/2) Tomorrow @AlexGelsomino and I do our first test together (day 1 of 2 of testing) for our final prep for the East African Safari Classic Rally in Kenya! I’ve been wanting to race this historic event for a long time, as it is one of the most epic and classic rally races... pic.twitter.com/Z2H0ZJIYRV — Ken Block (@kblock43) February 5, 2022

Who is Ken Block?

Born in November 1967 in Falcon, Colorado, Block is an American driver famed for his drifts, and competing in several action sporting events, including Motorcross and Skateboarding.

He started rallying in 2005, with this being the first time he will be competing in the East African Safari Classic Rally.

He finished seventh in his first-ever event, fifth overall (Sno Drift). He managed top-five finishes five times and placed third overall in the Group A class, fourth overall in the Rally America National Championship.

He has also accumulated five X games medals since the start of his career. He was a silver medalist at the 2013 Global X Games Barcelona Rallycross.

Block is also the founder of Hoonigan. You've seen cars with Hoonigan stickers. Now you know where that comes from.

One on-line resource defines Hoonigas as "a person who operates a motor vehicle in an aggressive and unorthodox manner, consisting of, but not limited to: drifting, burnouts, donuts as well as acts of automotive aeronautics." Now the hooner-in-chief is in town. 

And the Webster dictionary defines drifting as "the act or activity of steering an automobile so that it makes a controlled skid sideways through a turn with the front wheels pointed in a direction opposite to that of the turn."

In as much as this is a useful skill, the Safari will require more from Block. You go flat-out and you break the car meaning, with your bonnet gaping,  you will have the misfortune of watching what you thought were laggards zoom  past.

Switch to chameleon mode and you finish the rally a day later!