Rally America to Rallycross in two minutes

On Sunday, Sept. 23 Ken Block and Alex Gelsomino won Rally America’s Olympus Rally. By Friday, Sept. 28, the Block’s team had the car ready for round five of the Global Rallycross Championship in Las Vegas. That’s not an easy task, even for the ace wrenches at Ford Racing. This video tells the story of what it took to get the work done in time.

On the Monday after the Olympus Rally win, the team was packed up and on their way to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Tuesday’s jobs included stripping the Ford Fiesta H.F.H.V. from its rally configuration, which meant removing the headlights, rally-spec engine and turbo, restrictor plate, gearbox, differentials and pretty much everything else. The techs also replaced the solid rear hatch with a vented unit for Rallycross.

Wednesday saw the team fitting the H.F.H.V. with a Rallycross engine and headlines, bigger restrictor plate, and larger brakes, wheels and tires. The car was tuned up to 600-plus hp for rallycross duty.

By the time Thursday morning rolled around, the team was ready for practice and on Saturday round five of the Global RallyCross Championship. Unfortunately Block and the crew came in seventh in Las Vegas, a disappointing result after a week’s worth of work.

The final Global Rallycross event will be held at the SEMA show at the end of October.

By Jake Lingeman