Ken Block? Marketing missile or Rally Supremo?

[Zak33]

I have to say... apart from some stunning coreography on U Tube, Ken Block has never shown far up on my radar....

He's not.... well, he's not the late Colin or Rich is he?

Nor is he, by any means at all Loeb.. not at all.

Now... Dirt2 has his name on it, in some way shape or form, according to country.... and while he's done some good work in a car, far surpassing your's truly having prolly never collected so many tyres at Goodwood with his car, is this just master-marketing at it's best?

I mean... the US market don't really know where Kielder is do they?

Am I being unfair to him...? Is he really as "God Like" at the past masters, The Vatman, Blomqvist, McRae or Burns...?

[finlay666]

Most southerners don't know where Kielder is, despite it having the largest man made forest and biggest man made lake (capacity) in the uk

[matty-hodgson]

I was marshalling a rally in Kielder forest when Colin died .

And yes.. Block is just one big marketing stunt. He's gonna be a total failure up against the big boys.

[Guy]

I can see this from both sides here.

He's not a pure bred, live, sleep, eat, breathe rally kinda character. He's only been doing it for 5/6? Years. So I would say its a little unfair to put him up next to the likes of McRae, Burns, Loeb etc.
He's giving it a go, so we will see how he fairs in the WRC.

Marketing missle, well I'm inclined to agree with you, but as the founder of DC shoes, I can't say I blame him for any of it, hey wouldn't you if you were in his position?

[Zak33]

I can see this from both sides here.

He's not a pure bred, live, sleep, eat, breathe rally kinda character. He's only been doing it for 5/6? Years. So I would say its a little unfair to put him up next to the likes of McRae, Burns, Loeb etc.
He's giving it a go, so we will see how he fairs in the WRC.

Marketing missle, well I'm inclined to agree with you, but as the founder of DC shoes, I can't say I blame him for any of it, hey wouldn't you if you were in his position?

Oh I don't blame him for the DC shoes thing, no not at all. Fair play to him. I'm thinking more that he's kinda self created his persona in motorsport, the the way that Green Stuff brake pads have... ie pretend motorsport. But when it comes to it... greenstuff don't work in rallying.... will Block?

[kalniel]

Who is Ken Block? I've never heard of him before.

[Andy3536]

Who is Ken Block? I've never heard of him before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFF2bkiHNVQ

Kind of Rally stunt type showoff person...thing... Well, he's done some US rallys, and some stunt driving vids for facetube.....

I don't really know the official title for him.

All i know is i bet a guy at work he'd finish outside the top 10, and he binned it completely. So i'm happy
But no, no going to match it with the big boys.

[digit]

Ken Block Mexico Rally Crash

I personally really like Ken Block, saw him live at Trax 09 at Silverstone doing his stunt driving which is amazing to witness. He's at the massive disadvantage in WRC where he doesn't know any of the circuits, a year or two in and I believe he will be able to challenge the other drivers

[[GSV]Trig]

As a driver who chereographs what he does he's good, some of the video's floating around youtube are really good, but can he do it straight out of the bag on a stage, no, i dont think so..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq6LVeZJxKs

[Knoxville]

I don't think you're being unfair to him at all, he's got some great videos up on youtube but out on real rally stages he's still a largely unproven force in my opinion. Travis Pastrana's in a similar position, he's got a background in freestyle motorcross (an impressive one at that) and seems to want to get in to rallying but other than his publicity stunt/world record attempt for the longest jump in a rally car I've seen very little of him recently.

I have no doubt that they're both good drivers but they're not the next Sainz or Mäkinen, not yet anyway. I'd rather see them compete in the S2000 class to be fair, seems like a good fit for them. Having said that, S2000 cars are taking over from the WRC cars we know now soon anway aren't they?

[Andy3536]

Ken Block Mexico Rally Crash

I personally really like Ken Block, saw him live at Trax 09 at Silverstone doing his stunt driving which is amazing to witness. He's at the massive disadvantage in WRC where he doesn't know any of the circuits, a year or two in and I believe he will be able to challenge the other drivers

Mexico hasn't been on the WRC trail for a few years. But yeah we should give him time before we judge, WRC is going to be a big step.
Next year will most likely be the time when he really needs to show his speed.

It's obvious when looking at a driver like Kimi (who's someone we should all recognise) who's dabbled in rally events often before and is struggling in WRC that it's no easy thing.

[this_is_gav]

There's usually a big difference between driving well and driving with style.

Look at Jean Alesi... he still had fans queuing miles long though (points at avatar).

Even in decent online sims (such as GPL) there's a wide variety of styles. I personally prefer to do everything with a bit of flair - powersliding out of corners, overtaking around the outside and such. Then there are those who just go out there to win, regardless of how boring they make it look, and generally they're the ones who walk off with the virtual trophy.

It's like Arsenal in football. In terms of results, in the past few years they've been very lacking, but if you listen to Wenger he seems to feel that morally they're ahead of everyone else.

Nothing wrong with a bit of showboating and outlandish flair so long as you and your sponsors are happy that it seldom leads to statistical success of any note.