ICYMI: Ken Block proves the electric future doesn’t have to be boring | Video

https://www.youtube.com/embed/SO2Li9BMQp8

Some bemoan the electric car for being too sterile and too boring–but does that hold true for every EV ever made?

Ken Block says no in the latest installment of the Gymkhana series by blasting through the streets of Las Vegas–often sideways–behind the wheel of the all-electric Audi S1 Hoonitron.

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Okay that was awesome. Might be my favorite one. The noises the car made reminds me of some cyberpunk sense of nostalgia lol. And I need to research the AudiS1

Best Audi commercial ever!

I assume that is his wheel speed being displayed.

id be curious how many tires he went through to make the video. 

You think that was all done on one full battery worth of power?

yupididit said:

You think that was all done on one full battery worth of power?

It actually runs four production Audi SUV battery packs. They said they never ran out of power during shooting, that usually in the normal length of time that they would shoot for, it would only get as low as 30%. That was Hoonigan's stipulation on using an EV was that it couldn't run low on power and cause more downtime than they normally have (to reset the scenes and all) while waiting for it to charge.

In reply to yupididit :

It's not like any of the others were done in one take, on one set of tires and one tank of gas. That was likely shot over a few nights, because they sure didn't block off all those roads at the same time.

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to yupididit :

It's not like any of the others were done in one take, on one set of tires and one tank of gas. That was likely shot over a few nights, because they sure didn't block off all those roads at the same time.

That was my impression. Not that Ken or an EV couldn't do it, but it would be way too hard to shut down everything to normal traffic, vehicular and pedestrian. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Oh I know the ICE werent done in a single tank of gas. My question wasn't to compare the two. I was just curious about the battery usage with pure hooning. Never get to see that kind of fun with an electric vehicle 

Very antiseptic. Without the ICE sounds, it was very 2 dimensional to me. The cinematography was not near as good as some of his others. While I'm sure the vehicle is impressive, it was kind of like watching my toaster make really fast, smoky, toast.

Too bad he wasn't driving a Group B Quattro. 

 (double post, forum is being weird)

Toyman! said:

Very antiseptic. Without the ICE sounds, it was very 2 dimensional to me. The cinematography was not near as good as some of his others. While I'm sure the vehicle is impressive, it was kind of like watching my toaster make really fast, smoky, toast.

Too bad he wasn't driving a Group B Quattro. 

I expect we'll see a fan edit with ICE sounds overdubbed before the weekend. The one thing EVs have taught us is that the thing we value most from engines is noise. Everything else is secondary ;) 

I've always found his videos to be antiseptic overall, probably because I spent too much time watching folks like McRae and Loeb do it in real time and against the clock. It's impressive stuff but it's not engaging to me, no matter what the soundtrack.

Was that a Tom Kristensen cameo I spotted?

2x as long as it should have been , but still pretty cool....

and I liked the Vintage Audi race cars.....

That is sick.  Given Audi dropped the hilarious amount of money on it, they got a great commercial out of it.

I always wonder long it takes to set up these things and do practice runs. Are they filmed in parts then edited together?

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Agreed. Any of the rally guys are insanely impressive. They all must clank when they walk.

Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) said:

I always wonder long it takes to set up these things and do practice runs. Are they filmed in parts then edited together?

Definitely, if only due to the logistics of having to close various major streets piece by piece. Don't take it as cinema verite, just engage your internal 10-year-old and watch the cool car do crazy stuff.

In reply to TJL (Forum Supporter) :

I watch a trailer video about the car recently - said they went through 100 tires shooting this; more than twice what he normally does because the wheel speeds are much higher, since the electric drivetrain is essentially in high gear all the time. It's not like spinning in first or second gear....

In reply to TJL (Forum Supporter) :

I watch a trailer video about the car recently - said they went through 100 tires shooting this; more than twice what he normally does because the wheel speeds are much higher, since the electric drivetrain is essentially in high gear all the time. It's not like spinning in first or second gear....

I read somewhere that they went through 100 sets of tires to shoot the video. I'd believe it--this thing seems to absolutely murder them.

Iirc there was a good documentary on Amazon about the making of a Gymkhana a few years back. Pretty much every shot has a dozen attempts and hours of setup. 

Wow - I'm sold on electric cars.

Fast yes. Fun or interesting? Meh. Not just the sound. He just did the same three moves over and over. Vegas is basically flat so kinda boring. Good cinematography and big plus for the Dead Kennedys soundtrack. But no jumps, no other players? Boring. Probably can't jump that 8,000 lb battery without explosion on return to earth. Might be time to retire the whole gymkhana thing Ken. 

Keith Tanner said:

Toyman! said:

Very antiseptic. Without the ICE sounds, it was very 2 dimensional to me. The cinematography was not near as good as some of his others. While I'm sure the vehicle is impressive, it was kind of like watching my toaster make really fast, smoky, toast.

Too bad he wasn't driving a Group B Quattro. 

I expect we'll see a fan edit with ICE sounds overdubbed before the weekend. The one thing EVs have taught us is that the thing we value most from engines is noise. Everything else is secondary ;)

To be fair, the only real redeeming quality the Group B Audis had was the engine noise

Just watched the video.  I would not be surprised to learn that ALL sounds in the video are foleyed.  There is a distinct lack of ambient noises, and other sounds are at implausible levels.  (Like you're going to be able to hear three cars idling over the sound of something doing a four wheeled burnout)

I don't know about foleyed, but there's some very careful mixing from multiple sources at least.

The post, it was double.