Hoonitron takes on Las Vegas in the first ever Electrikhana
Lunchtime is approaching quickly and courtesy of Ken Block we now know how to spend it. The undisputed master of inner-city shenanigans, the king of tire smoke and overall one of the most skilled drivers ever, brought his entourage to Las Vegas this time. But something was absent - there was no screaming engine, no whistling turbos and no flame-shooting, popping and banging exhaust. All that was replaced with a high-pitched whine of electric motors. Unusual to say the least - grab a cup of coffee, couple of cupcakes and enjoy:
That was a nearly 10 minute display of surgeon-like precision driving, unreal reverse entries at full speed, sideways jumps and smoke. Nice display of classic Audis along the route, with every model that ever took part in any kind of racing. There is no dispute that Audi did contribute greatly to motorsport development.
The dual-motor Hoonitron is based on 800V architecture with undisclosed power output but the torque sits at 3,000 Nm - that’s delivered to each axle. It explains the ease with which the tires light up, in fact it’s quite a surprise they stayed on the rims and weren’t flung off to outer space.
The Hoonitron used four battery packs for the Electrikhana to ensure smooth filming - as you can imagine closing downtown Las Vegas for a shoot like that probably never happened before.
Ken Block can be credited with creating some of the most memorable and groundbreaking cars - the Hoonicorn will go down in history as the most extreme Mustang ever. Hoonitron is the classic S1 Quattro reimagined for the age of electric cars.
As always - Ken Block delivers on entertainment and amazes with his driving skills, the location is spectacular, the stunts were fun to watch. But it is the $12 million electric Hoonitron that steals the show with its insane handling, acceleration and noise. The team behind the development of Hoonitron did an absolutely amazing job - to create a car that lands after a jump without a visible rebound and then goes completely flat sideways at full speed takes a lot of skill and experience.
If you want to know more about Hoonitron, here’s a deep-dive video about it:
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Reader comments
I just don't know how to feel about this. The technology is awesome in every aspect, but this tyre-burning awesomeness is just not the same without the screaming engine sound..
- 27 Oct 2022
- gLC