San Francisco Drift

Sometimes while driving in the City, I can go from zero to apoplectic in about 60 seconds. Weekends are unusually bad because not only are the streets full of careless drivers, it's full of drivers who rarely drive, and even less so actually drive in a City. On the shuttle to work I look out the window and down into so many cars with people texting while driving, sometimes with both hands, that I know the daily commuters are dangerous too, but the weekend drivers with less experience, and especially the suburbanites who come into the City, are a downright menace. Not only is it just frustrating to be behind people who have no idea where they are going, which lane ends, which turn is left only or which streets are one way, but the experience being trapped behind those that make a right turn form the far left lane, those who stop in the middle of an intersection for almost a minute before picking a direction, those who are confused by the green light (hey, it means "go"), those who stop at interactions with no stop sign, those who don't realize that the major arteries are timed, or as my mother puts it: those who take their half of the road down the middle—are enough to make that blood vessel behind my eye want to pop. Add tourists to this mix during the summer and I need to add 30 minutes to my commute time or I'll lose it in the frustration.

And thus—I envy this guy.

This is some serious driving skill. And what a town to do it in! I can't imagine when they filmed some of this as so many streets had to be closed (when did they get the Bay Bridge all to themselves?). The sunlight shadows makes it look around noon, but so many of their locations are rarely so deserted. Oh, to cross the City like this...

DC and Ken Block present Gymkhana FIVE: Ultimate Urban Playground; San Francisco.

Shot on the actual streets of San Francisco, California, GYM5 features a focus on fast, raw and precise driving action. Filmed over four days, director Ben Conrad and his team are back to work on their second Gymkhana production and delivered the entire city of San Francisco as Ken Block's personal gymkhana playground. DC Shoes also provided fellow DC athlete and longtime Ken Block friend, Travis Pastrana, to make a cameo appearance on his dirtbike, and S.F. resident Jake Phelps of Thrasher Magazine fame also makes a cameo as Block hoons S.F. in his most incredible Gymkhana yet.