In “Gymkhana 2022,” rally driver Travis Pastrana attempts stunts never before seen in a gymkhana series — increasing the chances of things going wrong.
Subaru of America’s “Launch Control” YouTube show is doing a three-part behind-the-scenes look at the latest installment of the gymkhana series titled “Road to Gymkhana.” The third episode (all three were filmed before the death of gymkhana creator Ken Block) shows just how much nail biting took place during filming.
“Travis brings a new element of higher risk,” Lance Smith, president of Vermont SportsCar, which makes Pastrana’s Subaru rally cars and gymkhana cars, said in the video. Gymkhana 2022 is Pastrana’s second gymkhana video, and in addition to debuting his Subaru GL Family Huckster wagon, it also includes some of the most ambitious stunts in the series.
Travis Pastrana driving Subaru station wagon at Gymkhana 2022
Before even getting into the car, Pastrana filmed BASE jumps from Fort Lauderdale buildings. As mentioned in the previous episode, Pastrana was injured by a hard landing and sidelined for six months, leaving teams scrambling to finish filming while he recovered.
One of the items on the agenda was slide rails, the kind of movement normally accomplished with a skateboard, not an 865-horsepower station wagon. The rails had to be perfectly centered, and Pastrana had to hit his target perfectly, or the car could tip over. That last part is made more difficult because Pastrana can’t actually see the rails when she jumps the car onto them.
Still, that photo and several others, including the sidebar of the Pastrana swapped out for a regular Subaru WRX, went well. That leaves the bridge jump.
Delays caused by Pastrana’s injury allowed negotiations with the Florida Marathon government to use the bridge. After a charitable donation to upgrade a local skate park, Hoonigan’s crew was granted permission to film Pastrana jumping a 100-foot bridge gap in a hovering helicopter. The crew took a ramp from “Gymkhana 2020” and shimmed it to get the correct trajectory, and did some tests on land.
“This wagon flies like a wagon,” Pastrana said, but by cranking its speed up to 120 mph, he was able to gain enough distance to clear the gap. Check out Gymkhana 2022 to see the results.