Aussie grabs Ken Block’s Ford Focus Gymkhana car at auction

UPDATED Ken Block has revealed that the buyer of the Ford Focus RS RX Gymkhana car at auction over the weekend actually lives in Australia.

Few other cars are as widely loved on the internet as one of Ken Block’s Gymkhana creations, so for Block to offer his 2016 Ford Focus RS RX to the general public is a big deal.

Block announced in an Instagram post that the Aussie winning bidder paid US$200,000 (AU$280,000) – a relative bargain if you ask us – which will be donated to the Team Rubicon charity that provides relief in the wake of natural disasters.

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Block goes on to note the irony in the fact the car will head Down Under after all, after having been turned down to film Gymkhana 9 in Sydney.

Of course, no clues are given regarding the buyer's identity other than the fact that the buyer is Australian.

We can only hope that Focus RS RX's new owner won't let it sit idly in a garage, and will use it for what it was built for - huge skids.

The Ford Performance-fettled Focus RS RX skidded onto the auction block as lot 3000 on October 22 at the Barrett Jackson 2020 Fall Auction, joining numerous other exotic cars including a Lexus LFA, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 and two Ford GTs.

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Ken Block steered the Focus RS RX toward internet stardom in late 2016 in the Gymkhana 9 film, in which it tore up an industrial park in the city of Buffalo, New York.

Some of the most daring stunts to date were performed in that video, including a jump in front of a freight train, a donut by water’s edge and skids on top of a vertical lift bridge.

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In fact, Buffalo was a fall-back location after the Hoonigan producers were denied access to shoot on local soil in Sydney.

Designed by Ford Performance in the US and built by M-Sport in the UK, the Focus RS RX was commissioned for Block’s FIA World Rallycross Championship entry.

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It features a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine outputting 484kW to all four wheels, a reinforced chassis with Reiger rally suspension, a five-speed Sadev sequential transmission, full roll cage, Cosworth engine management and carbon fibre composite bodywork.

Mindbendingly, a zero to 100km/h sprint takes a little over two seconds.

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It’s not the first time that a Gymkhana car has been sold off to the public after Block listed the Ford Fiesta HFHV (that toured Australia in 2011) for sale at a pricey $500,000 a few years ago.

While it’s sad to see off a staple of the Gymkhana series, we’re excited about the prospect of another fire-breathing, tyre-shredding rally monster taking its place.