Guilty Pleasure

I was always one of those kids who liked reading, playing outdoors, hanging with friends, or rotting my brain on video games. Sure, I had my "boyish" traits, but unlike others my age in good ol' North Adams, MA, I never really had any interest in motor sports - particularly motorcycles or cars.

It wasn't until my later year in high school that I discovered rally races. Basically, a team modifies an already fast car to make it even faster and ready to be driven off road. Then they drive said car as fast as they can through a course which may wind through a forest, through a rural town in Europe or along the edge of a cliff. But it isn't like Nascar where it's a giant cirlce. No, no, this is a long, winding, Point A to Point B race where the course is ever changing and the only person to help you is your co-pilot who sits beside you and tells you the "grade" or severity of the upcoming turn, from a scale of 1-6 (what gear you should be able to be in to go through it).

Not only do I love the cars - I love the whole concept of it. The risk, the fact that it is outdoors - in the woods or desert. It didn't help that one of my best friends from Ithaca (Nick) also loved the sport as much as I do.

So then came along an evolution of rally racing, Gymkhana. It's basically another Point A to Point B race, but with as many tight turns as possible. It's almost like speed ballet with a car.

I know a lot of you may not enjoy this next video as much as I do, but give it a chance for a few reasons:

1. I think it's incredible what this man (Ken Block) can do with a car. His control is ridiculous.
2. It was filmed on the backlot of NBC Universal here in LA - so if you visit, we can take the backlot tour and you can see all the film sets (Psycho, Jaws, Dr. Suess, etc).
3. The camera work is AWESOME. The pans and tilts on the car when it's moving are ridiculous, the slow motion adds a sense of awe - and that shot (@ 6:25) where the camera starts outside the driver's window only to come in through it, behind the steering wheel, and down to the shifter shatters my mind. I literally have NO idea how they did it.

I'll never drive like this, but it'd be fun to try (on a closed course of...course).