World-famous hoon goes green with electric power

A stuntman and rally driver famous for burning rubber in daring situations has turned over a new leaf, adopting battery-powered cars with spectacular style.

Ken Block's Audi S1 'Hoonitron' drift car.

Global drifting superstar Ken Block has turned over a new leaf, renouncing turbocharged, nitrous-fed, red-blooded V8 power to go green with electric propulsion.

Block, who produces drifting videos attracting millions of views, originally performed stunts for Subaru before burning rubber for the blue oval.

Ken Block's Audi S1 'Hoonitron' drift car.

His Ford machines included V8 Mustangs, a pick-up truck with the Le Mans-winning heart of the Ford GT, and turbocharged Ford Focus and Fiesta hot hatches.

But a new deal with Audi will see Block tear up the tarmac with battery-powered machines.

The first car produced by the duo is a tribute to the Audi S1 Quattro rally car of the 1980s.

Ken Block's Audi S1 'Hoonitron' drift car.

Retro styling capped by outlandish wings at the front and rear pays tribute to the classic coupe, but its five-cylinder petrol engine has been replaced by electric motors.

We don’t know how much power the new Audi S1 Hoonitron has.

But Block says the all-wheel-drive traction and carbon fibre chassis of the new machine is capable of things that we haven’t seen before.

Ken Block attracted thousands of fans to a drift demonstration at Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne.

“Audi gave me the opportunity to test it for a few days in Germany,” Block said.

“I’m familiar with a wide variety of cars using internal combustion engines and transmissions, but there were a lot of new things for me to learn here. Spinning into a doughnut at 150 km/h directly from standstill – just using my right foot – is an all-new experience for me.”

Audi isn’t the first brand to build an electric demonstrator intended to woo hoons over to electric power.

Ford built a wild electric drift car based on the new Mach-E.

Ford made headlines with a muscled-up version of its Mustang Mach 1 electric car capable of high speed stunts in 2020.

Block’s one-of-a-kind “Hoonitron” will feature in an upcoming “Elektrikhana” video next year.

Originally published as World-famous hoon goes green with electric power