VT7r: Ken Block Restoration

This VSC prepared 2006 Subaru WRX STI (VT7r) rally car brought Ken Block many of his first rally victories – and a few decidedly ‘Ken moments’ –  in what would be a seminal time for his motorsports career. It was in this car Ken Block earned a bronze at the inaugural rally event at the 2006 ESPN X Games, just behind Colin McRae’s silver and Pastrana’s gold medal in what has proven to be one of the most iconic moments of American rally history. He then drove this Subaru STI to his first overall rally win at the 2006 Lake Superior Performance Rally later that same year.

Block also had arguably his first  “AIN’T CARE” experience at the 2006 Maine Forest Rally with this car. (According to Ken, “AINT CARE” means: “To strive to win at any cost, with zero mechanical sympathy or regard for one’s well being.)

“Pictured here is my first real AIN’T CAREmoment in my rally career: almost ripping the wheel off the race car by clipping a log on the inside of a corner in the Maine Forest Rally, in 2006. My co-driver Alex Gelsominohad to sit outside the rear window to balance the car so we could make it back to service (approx. 15 mile drive). We made it with only three rotating wheels, the team fixed the car, and we were able to go on and finish the rally. Rally situation AIN’T CARE example at its finest. (All photos by Neil McDaid.)

The following year he drove it to silver at the 2007 X Games, along with victories at 100 Acre Wood and Rally Colorado. Ken ultimately finished third in 2007 Rally America Championship standings after a heated season-long battle with Pastrana.

2007 also featured one of the stranger moments in American rally history, when Block traded this car with BMX icon Dave Mirra mid-rally! Read the full story here.

In 2009 Dave Mirra piloted this car to his first rally win at the Team O’Neil Rally – with Vermont SportsCar’s own Lance Smith as Co-Driver. In August of that same year, the car was sold to a privateer who continued to race it through 2012. 

The chassis is now in the hands of a private collector who commissioned Vermont SportsCar for a complete restoration of the vehicle.  

See a short clip of this car in action in 2006 HERE.