To hear the folks at Hoonigan tell it, Gymkhana has been trying to film in Australia for nearly a decade. Well, it finally happened, and as a result, we’ve been blessed with nine sharply edited minutes of Travis Pastrana hooning around the Outback (the place, not the Subaru—but cameo @ 1:45) in the land that brought the entire concept to the automotive lexicon. And if you’re like me, you’re a little disappointed that they didn’t film the whole thing upside-down. But that’s OK. Welcome to Gymkhana: Aussie Shred.
While Pastrana is driving, the star of this show is really the car: a ’78 Subaru Brat that underwent a comprehensive transformation at Vermont Super Cars to become the Subaru Brataroo 9500 Turbo. As has become the norm, this latest installment sets the tone quickly with an over-the-top stunt—this time involving a massive road train and some pretty killer hang time—and it only gets more ridiculous from there.
This jaunt around the continent has everything. There are jumps (both improvised and planned), grinds (seriously, that wharf), hurdles, drifts, j-turns galore, and yes, he’s even out there fording rivers. What is this, The Outback Trail? (No, that’s not a thing.) Pastrana even stops in Broken Hill, New South Wales, to do some donuts around a kangaroo on a Segway. Why not?
If you’re like me, half the enjoyment you get from these videos comes from seeing Pastrana’s facial expressions. It’s clear I’m not alone, because he hams it up even more than usual this time around. Seriously, if you’ve ever wondered what kind of face you might make after thinking, “I’m about to lose five more teeth,” then this video offers about a half-dozen examples.
And if ham’s your thing, at about 3:30, Pastrana tucks the Brataroo sideways into the middle of a V8 Supercars race, challenging one of the cars to a roll race on Mount Panorama’s Conrod Straight—so named because its high top speed encourages drivers to push their engine components to failure. Brataroo only has four cylinders and 2.0 liters to work with, but that boxer is pumping out 670 horses and 680 pound-feet of torque as it screams to 9,500 RPM. It’s no slouch.
In between looks of consternation, we do get a few welcome glimpses of Pastrana actually enjoying what might be the coolest job on Earth. After holding an absolutely impossible line around a city corner at ~6:30, he lets loose a very plain “F*** YEAH!” and fist pump. Fear not if you’re in mixed company: his mic channel wasn’t included in the final mix. And lest that stunt leave you with the impression that Pastrana always displays that level of precision, we cut immediately from that to him, ahem, kissing a planter with the Brataroo’s rear bumper. It only deforms by about six inches. Nothing to see here, folks!
That barely covers half the video, but why do you want to read about it anyway? Watch for yourself; it’s an absolute treat.
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