A few weeks ago I was invited out to X Games 14 by my friend and rally driver Ken Block. He had mentioned he would like me to be an extra set of eyes as well as his technical advisor, not to mention I doubled as his "party sub" since he had to skip out on all the festivities until the weekend was over in order to perform at 110%. Even though I have an already insane schedule this month, how could I resist this opportunity?
Being a spawn of action sports, this was like an invite to my fantasy Disneyland (I would add drifting to the X Games in a real fantasy). Promptly after wrapping up the overall win of the Formula D Team Drift Championship in Portland with my Drift Alliance brothers, I headed down to LA where I met up with Ken and started five exciting days of the X Games up-front, personal, and behind the scenes.
Wednesday we showed up to the track for practice. Ken was driving pretty well, but had to make some changes with regards to line and braking points as he was fourth fastest of the day, just behind Tanner, Pastrana and McShea. I'm no seasoned road racer, but tarmac is obviously where I have the most experience, and these drivers were essentially drifting as fast as possible through the course. Ken and I discussed some things that I noted during practice that I thought would gain some time which included losing some angle on turns. Ken is a drifter at heart; the proof was him coming out of a couple turns almost backwards, but unfortunately there's no style points in rally.
The amazing crew at DC Shoes put me and all the DC Athletes up in "The Standard" hotel in downtown LA that they completely rented out and took over. The hotel is unlike any I have ever stayed at. It like a modern "hip" styled design and a full blown party all day and night which equals good times for sure!! Upon checking in, Ken was given room 911, we joked that it better not be a premonition of events to come over the weekend.
My hotel room was half a living room/ bed, and then half shower/ party room, definitely built for fun. Unfortunately I can't post the pictures of the gym since we want to keep this blog safe for work, but it was absolutely designed for motivation. The cardio machines faced a mirror and the entire wall of naked girls on a beach reflected at you for the entire workout. Wonder Woman and the Incredible Hulk also graced the walls of the weight room. I thought that all was pretty funny. It was definitely a special place to say the least.
Thursday and Friday there was more short sessions of tarmac practice for the drivers. Ken implemented the changes we discussed and his crew made some modifications to the car which put him right on par by the end of Friday's practice. I was able to sneak some pictures of the car for your viewing pleasure.
Check out the size of the shock piston!!!
You can see the control arms are modified to handle the extended travel.
All the essentials incase of emergency!
Both Thursday and Friday night we went to the Staples Center and watched the X Games from the DC Suite. (Yes, that is a fountain of chocolate in the picture.)I witnessed Danny Way's phenomenal display of "mind over body" after he clipped his feet on the super ramp and went back and tried the same trick and nailed it. I would almost bet he is not human if I hadn't met him. I also witnessed Dave Mirra pull off ridiculous video-game-like maneuvers on his bike. The freestyle motocross competition was sick and Pastrana's co-driver attempted the first ever front flip and almost nailed it but ended up breaking a vertebra which put him out for the weekend.
Thursday night Tony Angelo and I went out to Hollywood with the Riceboy TV crew. I will leave this night to the imagination.
Friday afternoon I went and robbed the DC Store on Melrose. Legally robbed of course!!
Friday night got a little nuts on the roof top of The Standard with a ton of action sports celebs and quite a lot of Hollywood fashion victims. My friend Jasper from Rogue Status and his lady friend stopped by till 4AM as we enjoyed the DC Shoe party festivities. I definitely did my job as the "party sub" for Ken while he got his beauty sleep. We definitely make a good team; I lived through him driving all week and he lived through me with regards to the night life.
Saturday was a "do absolutely nothing day." Here was my view for the most part of the day.
Sunday was Game Day! When we arrived, Ken and I walked the track and checked out the leveling of the supercross track, as well as the building of the rally course and huge 70-foot jump. I can't even explain how much of a production this all was.
Once the course was finished it was time for Ken to test the jump. How do you test a 70 foot double with a car? It's an incredibly hard mathematical equation AKA following a dirt bike with a rider that knows how to hit the jump to land properly at steady speed. Sure enough, Ken volunteered to be guinea pig for all of his competitors. He over-jumped a bit the first time slightly damaging his radiator and the second time was perfect. He came in and told all the drivers the speed to hit the jump at which was 46mph and everyone proceeded to line up and take advantage of practice.
Few drivers hit the jump perfect, but they were getting over it fine. Ken was flying and was a second faster then everyone on the full course practice. Tanner, Pastrana and McShea were also still flying. Ken's teammate and BMX rider, Dave Mirra, was impressing everyone by showing he could do more then back flips and 720's on his BMX bike.
Ken was paired up against Matt Johnson for his first head-to-head battle in the finals. Ken's nose hit pretty hard on the jump, however he kept his foot to the floor with a busted radiator and won the battle. He came in and the incredible crew at Vermont Sports Cars thrashed to get the car fixed. The problem was that the radiator he just trashed was his spare. The plan was to just run the car with no radiator.
With only a few minutes to fix the car they bypassed the radiator and planned to go run Pastrana on hopes and dreams that the engine would hold up. When he fired the car up to head to the line you could hear it was low on compression it was, most likely due to a blown headgasket from the way it cranked forever before starting. However, nothing was stopping Ken from trying to run the battle. It just so happened that when Ken went to the line there was a three minute commercial break, so he shut his car down to avoid overheating. When it was time to go the car would not restart and he was forced to hand the win to Pastrana. I felt his pain as that situation is all too familiar to me.
We sat back and watched the rest of the event. ACP came up short and flipped his EVO due to misjudging speed on the jump. Luckily, him and Jen made it out of that unscathed.
Ken was set to battle Mirra in a battle for 3rd, but unfortunately for them and the crowd, both of there cars were out for the count.
Tanner and Pastrana were in the battle for 1st. It was an incredible battle but Tanner made a single mistake that I am convinced cost him the event. (I was rooting for you in that battle brotha!!!)
The event ended with Travis Pastrana with Gold, Tanner Foust with Silver, and Ken Block and Dave Mirra tied for the Bronze.
If I didn't have the itch after driving Ken's car, I definitely have it now. Rally is so close to drifting with regards to driving skill and style, but also the comradery of the drivers in the sport is amazing just like drifting. Most everyone is friends and all smiles and high fives except for when they are lined up against each other. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to come and check everything out. X Games has that amazing vibe that I live for, that electricity in the air that makes you feel like you can pull insane stuff off behind the wheel. As of this second I am doing everything I can to get an opportunity to compete there in the near future. Maybe in a rally car? Maybe in a 2WD rally class? Maybe drifting? Only time will tell!!!!!
For more coverage of X Games 14 rally, check out the coverage from RiceboyTV.com.
-Vaughn Gittin Jr