Ken Block's Ford Escort Cosworth Rally Car Burns Up at NEFR Stage Rally
The New England Forest Rally claims Ken Block's beloved '90s rally car.
In April, Ken Block announced his multi-series racing plan for 2018. He announced that this year he would be competing in the new Americas Rallycross Championship (ARX), World Rallycross (WRX), Gymkhana Grid, and also a few stage rallies stateside.
Sadly, while racing at the New England Forest Rally on Firday, Block lost one of his prized possessions. The internet god's 1991 Ford Escort Cosworth Group A rally car has been featured all over the web and is set to make its debut in the yet to be released Gymkhana 10; however, now, it'll have to make that first appearance posthumously.
Block's Escort met its fiery end during Stage 4 of the rally. He and co-driver Alex Gelsomino were sitting third overall when the disaster happened.
First footage online was courtesy of Block's Instagram story were he is several feet away from the burning car in silence, with the exception of a woman presumably yelling for media to get back, with the text "Well...it was an amazing car..."
"We were running in third overall in the New England Forest Rally (with a gearbox problem), pressing on to finish Stage 4 when I turned into a tighter left corner and downshifted. The box didn’t shift when I wanted it to (because mechanical issue), and when it finally did, it threw me into the inside of a corner and into a big rock," Block said via Instagram. "That rock sent us rolling over twice. We landed on our wheels, and I was ready to get going again because we were shiny side up. Buuuut as you can see, a fire started REALLY quick. Alex and I got out safely, but the car thoroughly burned right there on the stage."
The Drive reached out to Block for comment, but as of now, we have not heard back.
The Hoonigan crew quickly released the in-car footage of the fiery mishap on YouTube where the description reads "D*** broken gearboxes."
