This story was originally published in the Q2_2024 issue of quattro Magazine. If you would like to receive early access to stories such as this in the form of a subscription to quattro Magazine, click the JOIN button above and join the club!
by: George Achorn, photos by Denis Podmarkov and George Achorn
Over his years with Audi, Dindo Capello has accomplished a lot. He’s won touring car championships, emerged victorious from the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times and has even opened an Audi dealership – Audi Zentrum Alessandria. You could say he’s seen it all, and yet when asked to take Ken Block’s seat in the S1 Hoonitron in order to demonstrate the car, even he found himself inspired by a new facet of automotive passion. Dindo’s currently sitting next to me, and I turn to catch the intent look in his eye just as everything starts spinning.
When the call came in, the offer was hard to ignore. Get yourself to SoCal said a friend from Audi’s PR department, and we’ll get you time with the Hoonitron. No, he didn’t say drive it, but the car was headed to L.A. for the premiere of Electrikhana 2 and Audi of America had rented Willow Springs for a day in order to take advantage of its presence by sharing the magic in a dynamic way. Even being a bump on a tire wall was guaranteed to be unforgettable. So, I booked a ticket and asked Audi if I could borrow a car during my stay.
Years before, when Audi first signed Ken Block, they did so with the intent to turn Gymkhana electric and throw down a gauntlet while doing so. Hoonigan’s tire-shredding YouTube series of films had built a remarkable following of petrolheads by boasting wild displays of tire-shredding might. Yes, with often massive amounts of always immediate torque, electric vehicles (EVs) are likely perfect for shredding rubber, but they’re also electric… and enthusiasts, especially petrolheaded enthusiasts, tend to be skeptical of electric mobility.
Not Ken though. He embraced the change, recognizing the differences and identifying the challenges as he and his team at Hoonigan filmed the first Electrikhana in Las Vegas. They’d learned a lot there, and the resulting Electrikhana film made an impression that was hard to deny.
Ken unexpectedly passed away just weeks after Electrikhana 1 was released, almost a year before I found myself shopping flights to California. His loss hit the automotive enthusiast community with meteoric impact, none harder than his family and his extended circle at Hoonigan. Few knew Block and his team had already filmed the second Electrikhana in Mexico, footage that would be used to share one last fling with the iconic tire-shredding magnate.
Eleven months after Ken passed, the final cut of Electrikhana 2 was complete and it was time for the premiere. The Hoonitron was rolled onto a cargo plane for a quick trip from Germany to America, while Lucy Block and the 43 Institute planned a premiere in Los Angeles.
That’s about the time I got a text from Brian Scotto, co-founder of Ken Block’s Hoonigan brand. The message included information on a low-key premiere event plus an RSVP link, and a reminder not to pass it around because this was Lucy’s show. Point taken. Also, if I needed another reason to book that flight to L.A., it had just arrived by way Scotto’s text.
Part 1: The Premiere
After picking up my Audi SQ8 e-tron Sportback at LAX, I swung by the event space in Santa Clara a bit early. Dave Pecaroro (DP, pp. 58-59) texted me the address. DP currently works for Integrated Engineering and serves as an Audi Club Board Member, though he may be more widely internet famous for being the guy who helped Ken and Lia Block piece together Lia’s first car – a 1985 ur quattro. Dave remains close to the Block family and was helping coordinate with Lucy’s event planners and the German Audi Sport engineer team who move around with the Hoonitron any time it travels.
After a quick dinner with Dave and the Audi Sport guys at the nearby Quattro Caffé (no really… ) we returned to the unnamed location for the main event. Between the Blocks, Hoonigan and the likes of Brian Scotto, the guest list was a gathering of prominent members of the car community and usual suspects you might expect… or have seen on YouTube… plus friends of the family Block. It was both large and intimate at the same time. When the lights came down and the film began, the experience was also incredibly touching.
By the end of the night, Lucy and Lia Block were some of the last people to leave the venue, swinging by Brian Scotto who’s holding court with a few stragglers (including us) by his RWB Porsche 964. They share a hug and say goodbye, driving the point of family home even more so.
Part 2: Hoonitron versus Willow Springs
A day later I’m at a different hotel north of the city, not far from Willow Springs Raceway. Well actually, I’m across the street at another Italian restaurant for dinner with the personnel including those Audi Sport engineers, Dindo Capello, Motor Trend (who’d been driving the Hoonitron earlier in the day) and their film crew. I find myself arguing with Motor Trend’s Jonny Lieberman about simulated gears in EVs and whether that would make an electric car feel more communicative. Jonny says no and we can’t seem to agree while the guy at the table who probably knows best is staying silent. Dindo chooses to focus on enjoying his dinner.
The next morning, I meet up with photographer Denis Podmarkov outside the gates of Willow and we roll in. We find the Audi Sport team prepping the car up by the facility’s drifting ground, a large and open swathe of tarmac on the hill above the circuit.
In the golden light of early morning and sitting there as it was on that tarmac, Ken Block’s Audi S1 Hoonitron looks nothing short of spectacular. And, what lay underneath its carbon fiber skin is worth recounting.
Though it may look production, the S1 Hoonitron is a hand-built racecar using components repurposed from various corners of Audi Sport. It wears a body penned by the Audi design team with costly prototyped parts that give it an effortless and almost production level appearance. Scotto once said the decision was made to go with an homage to the 1987 Pike’s Peak S1 Evo in part due to Ken’s love of rally, but also because of that car’s “apex predator” appearance.
The Hoonitron is driven by two electric motors, specifically the MGU05 motor generator unit Audi Sport first developed for the Formula E racing series. After Ingolstadt pulled the plug on Formula E, they continued to utilize these racing motors for other projects from the RS Q e-tron Dakar rally raid vehicle to the S1 Hoonitron. Each motor weighs 121 lbs. and can spin up to 28,000 rpm in Hoonitron spec, which is about 11,000 rpm faster than they did in Formula E. Combined, they make about 670 hp.
Power is stored with four batteries pulled from the parts-bin of hybrid road cars like the hybrid Q5 e. Each stores 14.4 kWh of electricity for 57.6 kWh in total. The smaller battery also helps keep the car light. Its 3,696 lbs. with 52:48 weight ratio may not be featherweight by traditional standards, but it’s remarkably low for an EV.
All told, the Hoonitron has roughly half of the battery capacity you’ll find in a SQ8 e-tron like the one I’m driving on this day, but range wasn’t really the purpose of the Hoonitron. Shredding tires is, and the team managing the car shares that it’s got enough storage to shred plenty. And, given it’s got 800 V architecture, it can coincidentally recharge in about the same amount of time it takes to swap the out for a new set of Toyos.
Like many electrics, the Hoonitron has just a single gear. However, new for Electrikhana 2 is software that controls a “transmission” with five different predetermined wheel speeds via paddles mounted on the steering column. First gear is slowest, and each “gear” gets progressively faster. It’s effectively just like the paddles in a modern Audi, and it was a function Block added between the two film shoots as he sought more dynamic control over the car following lessons learned in Vegas.
The car’s suspension is comprised of MacPherson struts all-round, with 8-inches of suspension travel on each corner. Effectively, it’s rally car setup, which helps when doing jumps as Ken Block did most dramatically in the two Electrikhana movies.
Entry and exit is not easy. Those low-slung doors and the necessary cage make it a bit of an exercise in contortion. The driving position is basically laying down, much like an Audi LMP1 Le Mans racer. As a result, visibility is a challenge, particularly knowing exactly where the pointed chin of the S1 is at all times. Ken Block’s ability to place that chin wherever he wanted from such a seemingly blind vantage point speaks to the level of car control he possessed.
Dindo Capello shares that he’s gotten quite familiar with the Hoonitron and has been enjoying learning the art of drifting it. He’s gotten so skilled at it that he often gets the call if the Hoonitron is involved. He mentions that he’d recently done some stunt driving for the film of Michèle Mouton and Lia Block’s meeting that had released just weeks beforehand.
The more time Dindo gets, the more tricks he begins to teach himself. This day, he’s got a few of the “KB spec” Toyo Tires to shred. They’re 245 50 18s, and their compound is specifically designed to drift and smoke just as Ken had wanted.
Alas, I’m not invited to drive it as the Motor Trend guys did the day before. That’s probably for the best. There’s no point in wasting tires on a newb. Watching Dindo execute trick after trick was a much better way to use up the remaining rubber. That was even more apparent when one of the Audi staff asked if I wanted to jump aboard for a ride.
Climbing aboard is a challenge. The S1’s low-slung cockpit, structural cage and horizontal seating position will compel all but the best of us to shed a few pounds and take up yoga. By the time I am seated, the car has received a fresh set of rubber, plenty of charge and Dindo is ready to go.
Capello casually cruises out onto the drift tarmac and then gets down to business. The Hoonitron is brutally fast off the line, leaping forward with impossible ease. Torque is instant, so the forward rotational movement of the tires shifts to burnout immediately on command. When the Italian reaches for the massive Hoonigan handbrake lever, that’s when the magic really begins to occur. Yanking on it, the rear wheels lock and the car rotates almost effortlessly.
Soon the smoke is so thick that it’s hard to see much of anything beyond the windshield. Inside, the fog is thick between Dindo and me even though I’m just a foot or so away from him. This isn’t my first time riding shotgun with a pro driver, so the spinning doesn’t make me queasy. However, the pungent smell of tire smoke thick in the air is more of a challenge. Audi Sport rigged up the same interior ventilation system used in the R8 LMS GT3 in order to help ventilate the cabin but there’s only so much of that to be done. Blowing smoke is still smoke. Beyond the narrow view afforded by the driving position, it’s now obvious just how much talent and fortitude it took for Ken Block to also navigate his way through the dense smoke clouds. Maybe you eventually get a sense of it the more you do it. All I know in this moment is that I have no sense at all.
Before long we hear slapping. That’s the inner wheel well telling us the rubber is shot. Tread has delaminated and it’s time for the Hoonitron to exit the skid pad and for me to contort and climb out.
For Dindo and the Audi Sport engineers, just like it probably was for Ken Block, this is just another day at the office. For me, whether shooting photography or holding on for the ride, it is unforgettable.
Part 3: Cars & Coffee
The weekend wasn’t quite over. Maximizing their time with the Hoonitron, the Audi of America team planned one last Hoonitron adventure to delight brand enthusiasts. Just days before, they announced on social media that they’d be at Orange County Cars & Coffee with the Electrikhana hero car in tow.
As these sorts of gatherings go, O.C. Cars & Coffee already has a large following. Putting out word that the Hoonitron would be there amplified that even further. Audi had planned to let the clubs in early, just as it was setting up the Hoonitron. The Audi Club Southern California and Audi Group Los Angeles rolled in and parked near the S1, and shortly thereafter a diverse and eclectic mix of cars followed suit. Fans came out to see the car, including former Audi designer Freeman Thomas who’s an Orange County local and works nearby at the design studio for his own new venture Meyers Manx.
In so many ways, getting to follow the Hoonitron around Los Angeles was the perfect way to watch the community pay tribute to Ken Block. From the intimate gathering of friends in Costa Mesa, to taking a literal spin at Willow, and culminating in a large diverse gathering of fans in Orange County, it is a vivid reminder of the legacy Block left behind. His presence is missed, but there is no doubt that the enthusiasm he inspired lives on.
