Ken Block’s Wildly Modded ’65 Mustang Puts Out a Nonsensical 845 HP

Ken Block's next Gymkhana video will star a wonderfully modified '65 Mustang. Hoonigan Racing Division

Ken Block's next Gymkhana video will star a wonderfully modified '65 Mustang.

Hoonigan Racing Division

Ken Block and his team found the 1965 Mustang on eBay. Hoonigan Racing Division

Ken Block and his team found the 1965 Mustang on eBay.

Hoonigan Racing Division

The car had to be outfitted with a custom all-wheel-drive system to accommodate Block's rally driving style.

The car had to be outfitted with a custom all-wheel-drive system to accommodate Block's rally driving style.

The side fender flares give the car a wider stance, which translates to better handling at speed. Hoonigan Racing Division

The side fender flares give the car a wider stance, which translates to better handling at speed.

Hoonigan Racing Division

The 6.7-liter Ford V-8 poking out produces 845 horsepower. Hoonigan Racing Division

The 6.7-liter Ford V-8 poking out produces 845 horsepower.

Hoonigan Racing Division

The car has been outfitted with a race-ready rollcage and carbon fiber body panels. Hoonigan Racing Division

The car has been outfitted with a race-ready rollcage and carbon fiber body panels.

Hoonigan Racing Division

The huge engine is set far back in the hood to accommodate the drivetrain.

The huge engine is set far back in the hood to accommodate the drivetrain.

If you haven’t lost a few hours to watching Ken Block’s gymkhana video series, you probably should start now. Without spoiling the spectacle, the episodes follow Block as he uses overpowered cars to terrorize racetracks and public roads by drifting within inches of barriers and occasionally humans.

The star of Block’s next video, “Gymkhana 7,” is a heavily modified 1965 notchback Mustang with 6.7-liter Ford V8 overflowing from the hood. Also known as the Hoonicorn, it produces a nonsensical 845 horsepower. That’s like tying 845 adult horses to a car, and have them all start running at the same time. The best part is, it’s in the hands of a guy who can handle all that power.

“I’ve always been a Mustang fan,” says Block, “but especially the old Mustangs. It’s the original muscle car.” He wanted to find a car that would even appeal to kids, like a big Hot Wheels car. Out of respect for the vehicle, Block turned to eBay for a banged up model to work with. “I didn’t want to take a nice restored one,” he says, “so we worked had to find one that was beat up.”

The huge engine is set far back in the hood to accommodate the drivetrain. HOONIGAN RACING DIVISION

That was the start of two years of work by Block’s team Hoonigan, ASD Motorsports in Charlotte, North Carolina, and with RTR, a Michigan-based company that specializes in tuning Mustangs. Underneath the classic body, the tubular chassis, roll cage, and three-piece wheels are all custom. The tires are specially-made Pirelli Trofeo Rs. The body panels are carbon fiber. The side fender flares give the car a wider stance, which translates to better handling at speed. A six-speed transmission sends the motor’s 845 horsepower to an all-wheel-drive system.

One of the biggest challenges was adding the all-wheel-drive system to a car with such a big engine. “No one’s really put an AWD system in this sort of car,” Block says. The huge engine is set far back in the hood to accommodate the drivetrain. The team also made sure to make the suspension is nice and soft. By being able to compress the shocks and send all the weight to the front of the car, Block can easily get the rear wheels loose and drift as needed (which is a lot).

The video series in which the Mustang will make its debut started in 2008. Block, a pro rally driver and co-founder of DC Shoes (which sponsored the videos) went viral, driving around industrial sites with trains and cranes for obstacles to dodge, making the tires scream through turns. Our personal favorite is “Gymkhana 6,” in which Block takes a blown-out Ford Fiesta through a desolate San Francisco, laying rubber around streetcars and catching air over intersections.

But given the glory of this Mustang, we’re thinking Gymkhana 7, whenever it comes out, could top even that.

Super-Practical Electric Scooter Has a Removable Battery You Charge Indoors

It provides 30 miles of range, and its battery can be removed and plugged in inside. Alex Washburn/WIRED

It provides 30 miles of range, and its battery can be removed and plugged in inside.

Alex Washburn/WIRED

Alex Washburn/WIRED

Alex Washburn/WIRED

The top speed is just 30 mph, which cuts it a bit close for riding on big city streets. Alex Washburn/WIRED

The top speed is just 30 mph, which cuts it a bit close for riding on big city streets.

Alex Washburn/WIRED

The GenZe electric scooter is designed to be a practical vehicle for getting around a city. Alex Washburn/WIRED

The GenZe electric scooter is designed to be a practical vehicle for getting around a city.

Alex Washburn/WIRED

Alex Washburn/WIRED

Alex Washburn/WIRED

Alex Washburn/WIRED

Alex Washburn/WIRED

As a rule, being two blocks from a baseball stadium hosting a World Series game is a bad place to test a vehicle. The traffic is crazy, pedestrians are spilling off the sidewalk, and the joyous mayhem is generally inconvenient for those just passing through. In this case, though, it wasn’t a problem. Riding through the alleys and main thoroughfares of San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood, around the corner from AT&T Park less than an hour before game time, I easily snaked between cars crowding together for the chance to pay $80 to park for a few hours, twisting the throttle to pop through small openings.

My ride for the afternoon was the GenZe, an all-electric scooter designed to make American youngsters swoon. As far as two-wheelers go, the GenZe isn’t about being stylish: It’s got no flash, nothing to make anyone look twice. Its focus is relentless practicality, something it does well.

The scooter is made in Michigan, but its roots are in India. GenZe is a new, American subsidiary of the Mahindra Group, the Mumbai-based conglomerate with its hands in the auto, aerospace, agriculture, construction, energy, IT, hospitality, finance, and real estate industries (to name a few). It’s never had much presence in the US, and the new branch is tasked with breaking into the American scooter market, which, compared to markets in Europe and Asia, is wide open.

“We wanted to bring a development, an innovation to a market that’s never really seen anything quite like this,” says Alex Boyce, GenZe’s brand manager. The target is the city-loving millenial who doesn’t want to deal with maintaining and parking a car, especially one with an internal combustion engine that makes the planet sick.

There are other electric scooters for sale in the US, but the options aren’t terrific, and it’s hard to find a good balance of capability, practicality, and affordability. From what GenZe has shown us so far, it could provide fill that gap. Its scooter will go for $2,999 (and there’s financing available). That’s more expensive than other options, but within reach of many young adults and college students (or their generous parents).

Its 1.6-kWh lithium-ion battery provides 30 miles of range, which is plenty for a vehicle designed strictly for tooling around town. To charge the 25-pound battery, you pop it out of the scooter, schlep it inside, and plug it into a standard 110-volt outlet. It’ll be fully loaded in about three and a half hours. Like all lithium-ion batteries, it degrades with time: GenZe estimates 800 charge cycles will reduce it to 80 percent of its initial capacity. GenZe could equip the bike for fast charging, Boyce says, but it doesn’t seem necessary, and would take away from the focus on simplicity and cost-efficiency.

The GenZe benefits from the instant torque provided by its motor, and it takes less than eight seconds to reach top speed. Problem is, that top speed is just 30 mph. For city riders who want to keep up with traffic on major streets, that’s cutting it close. It’d be better to be able to get up to 35 or 40 mph, so drivers don’t feel encouraged to pass you, which is intimidating. GenZe has good reason to limit the speed, however: at a Vmax of 30 mph, people in most states won’t need a special license to ride it. California buyers will need an M2 moped license.

The seven-inch touchscreen displays all the standard info (speed, charge level, range), and lets you unlock the scooter with a PIN instead of a key. That can be convenient for everyone, but it’s especially useful for fleet purposes, which GenZe sees as a market in addition to the youths.

For inexperienced riders, the GenZe is a good place to start. It has an Easy mode that seriously tones down the power and disables the throttle when the front brake is applied—since both controls are operated by the right hand, accelerating while trying to stop is a standard rookie mistake. There’s also Sport mode for those who want to a bit more hustle, and an Eco mode that splits the difference. Thanks to an aluminum frame, the scooter weighs about 215 pounds, which makes it easy to keep upright at low speeds and on tight turns. If you forget to pop up the kick stand before hitting the throttle, the bike won’t go at all.

The scooter can only seat one (we imagine anyone who reaches its 275-pound maximum won’t get the full performance benefits), but it’s got room for plenty of cargo. Rather than the standard storage box, there’s a large bin behind the rider. A smaller storage compartment up front could easily hold a purse, and GenZe plans to add a phone charger. Again, it’s all about practicality: No one will drool over the GenZe or take a photo as it rolls by. But owners will likely find it does what they expect and need.

GenZe is now taking pre-orders for the scooter, with deliveries planned for the spring. It will start with sales in California, Portland, Oregon, and Michigan (where its manufacturing facility is based), to make sure it can deliver spare parts and maintenance when necessary. After whatever early bugs pop up have been dealt with, it will look into expansion, possibly beyond the US. “We want to get this model right,” says Yesim Erez, GenZe’s head of marketing.

Ford Police Cruisers Now Tattle When Cops Drive Like Jerks

Ford

Everyone’s seen a cop driving like a jerk: Double parking and blocking traffic. Cruising down the highway way beyond the speed limit, with no suspect to run down. Blatantly texting while driving. Pulling the old turn-on-the-siren-just-long-enough-to-run-the-red-light trick. And for anyone who’s fantasized about making a citizen’s arrest of one of their city’s finest, police departments soon will be able to track how their cops are driving, and when they’re behaving badly.

Ford has created a way for law enforcement bosses to see where their subordinates go and track how they’re driving. Fifty Los Angeles Police Department cruisers have been outfitted with transmitters that send officers’ driving information to their supervisors, and can even tell if the boys in blue are wearing seat belts. The system is a joint effort by Ford and California software firm Telogis, and designed for the Police Interceptor models of the Explorer and Taurus. The idea is that accountability will lead to better and safer driving behavior. Auto insurance companies have been doing the same thing for years.

“From a business standpoint, these are expensive vehicles with expensive employees driving them,” says Bryan Vila, a professor and researcher at Washington State University. He also spent 17 years as an officer, including nine with the LA County sheriff. “When they crash, they’re also more likely to kill bystanders and civilians, so there’s a public safety side. I’ve been looking forward to seeing the LAPD implementing this.”

Police organizations have been ramping up education about the risks of driving fast, but Vila, having spent time with a badge and gun, understands the urge to ignore those lessons. “If you’re a young cop and someone gives you a fast car to drive, there’s a lot of temptation to do it,” Vila says. “Whether its safe, or not, and whether it’s legal, or not.”

Ford Telematics for Law Enforcement lets police departments see if their officers are giving in to those temptations. The system knows if the light bar is turned on, and measures the speed of the car against the limit. It looks for hard braking and sudden acceleration. It sees when the car spins and when the anti-lock braking system is engaged. Unlike conventional black boxes for cars, it can transmit data in real-time. And if the airbags deploy, dispatchers will see it and know to send backup immediately.

Ford

There are safety advantages for cops, too. Car crashes kill dozens of officers annually, but most California police don’t wear seat belts, according to a recent study. That may be because they find it uncomfortable while wearing other gear, they think it can prevent them from reaching their gun, or they may find it annoying given how often they get into and out of their cars. If the higher-ups want to enforce the use of seat belts, having info on who’s buckled up is a big help.

“With officers, you’re talking about a culture,” says Detective Meghan Aguilar, who’s been at the LAPD for 18 years, and whose title makes her one of the aforementioned higher-ups. “When I started it was much more common for police to not wear their seatbelt. You’re fighting a misperception that [wearing a seat belt] slows you down exiting the vehicle, pursuing a suspect.”

This type of monitoring uses technology to give supervisors eyes where they couldn’t see before. The basic principle is that being watched will prompt officers to follow the rules. “If there’s equipment that allows me to monitor that, without having to be in front of every vehicle,” Aguilar says, “there’s a good chance that behavior is going to be modified.”

That doesn’t mean every cop likes the idea of being watched over. “There’s a distinction between encouraging and active real-time monitoring that’s going to your supervisor,” says Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations. “It almost sounds like they’re trolling for violations.”

Professor Vila says this type of monitoring, used along side education about the consequences of driving irresponsibly, will be effective, and for that reason, a moral imperative. “How do you say, ‘No, I don’t want to be safer,’” he says. “There isn’t a responsible way to defend that.”

Ford hasn’t announced what the factory-installed system costs, but it should be available next year. It’s an advantage for the company, which, three years after discontinuing the Crown Victoria, competes with Chrysler and GM to provide vehicles to the nation’s police departments. If Ford can link its name to an exclusive technology like this, it could have an edge. Depending on how the LAPD’s test goes, Ford’s tech could end up in more of the 1,800 police vehicles driven by the city’s 10,000-strong police force.