4 Rotor Rx7 Drag

15 December 2020 at 20:00

If you've been following the Hoonigan YouTube channel, you know Ken Block has been busy racing his insane Hoonicorn Mustang against, well, pretty much everything. The theme of this recent series is Hoonicorn vs The World, where the 1,400-bhp all-wheel-drive Mustang battles a menagerie of performance cars from stock hypercars to crazy Pikes Peaks racers.

Thus far, Block and his Mustang are undefeated, but the latest race features something arguably crazier than the Hoonicorn. Rotary fans undoubtedly know all about Rob Dahm and his quest for RX-7 glory. He has a four-rotor RX-7 with massive boost, a massive wheelbase, and yes, an all-wheel-drive setup. It's actually an homage to the Hoonicorn, as Dahm was so impressed with what he saw in Gymkhana 7 that he set out to build a crazy RX-7 in the same manner. The car is stretched upwards of six inches, and like the Hoonicorn, it's modified to the point where virtually none of the parts are original. Oh, and it also makes over 1,200 bhp.

Hoonicorn highlights:

On paper, these two cars are surprisingly well-matched, and looking at them side by side, both definitely exude a Frankenstein, I wanna kill you presence – notably Dahm's RX-7 which has the gearbox fully exposed next to him. Here's where the plot thickens, because this particular event is Dahm's first outing with the RX-7 where he's really given it the beans. It gets even twistier, because rumours from team Hoonicorn say the Mustang's twin-turbocharged V8 could be a bit sick. So yeah, there are some interesting variables in the equation.

Gallery: Ken Block's 1,400-HP Hoonicorn Mustang

And then the variables go out the window when, on the very first run, Dahm's RX-7 ejects the bonnet in spectacular fashion, hitting the roof hard enough to shatter the back window. It was the first of two roll races, and though Dahm lost the run, he didn't lose by much. Anyone familiar with racing and building cars will recognise that's a crazy good effort for the very first run in such a machine.

But it's not the only run of the day. Dahm didn't hesitate to line up again despite the damage, and this best-of-three challenge ultimately saw four races total. We won't spoil the outcome of all the action but we will say this – the RX-7 wins at least one of those races, and there's more carnage from both cars before the engines eventually fall silent.