Travis Pastrana floored it in his Subaru Brat, sending dust clouds billowing across the Outback’s red sands. This 1978 ute was reincarnated as the Brataroo 9500 Turbo, which produced a whopping 670 horsepower from a turbocharged 2-litre boxer four. That little engine produced a whopping 680 lb-ft of torque, and the redline reached 9,500 RPM.
Pastrana kicked things off with a 160-foot canyon jump over a road train, the big truck groaning beneath him as the Brat soared over a 10-story drop. The landing was rough, ejecting a cloud of gravel that stung like tiny hailstones. And suddenly they were on a dusty old town street, Pastrana ripping up the road with some very good donuts around a guy on a Segway dressed as a kangaroo for nostalgia’s sake. The crowd was ecstatic, yelling and cheering as the tyres smoked and the engine roared away.
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The sun was pounding down on Bathurst’s Mount Panorama circuit, which hosts the grueling 1000-mile endurance event. Pastrana showed up unexpectedly, sliding the Brat onto the asphalt amid a swarm of screaming V8 Supercars. The engines roared in unison as he sped into The Esses, a vicious series of curves that tested every ounce of his ability. The brakes locked and released perfectly, and he lined up alongside a Chevrolet Camaro driver for a drag down Conrod Straight. They sped past the grandstands together, the Brat holding its own and the tyres screeching in protest of the blacktop. Local drivers, such as Will Brown, watched from their cockpits, stunned by the entire situation. Pastrana waved as he crossed the line first, then disappeared into the following turn.
Cameos were where things got really ridiculous. Toby Price, a two-time Dakar winner, was riding behind on his dirt bike, sending up clouds of dirt in perfect time with the Brat’s drifts. Subaru rally ace Chris Atkinson joined in for a tandem slide through the eucalyptus groves, while the Nitro Circus guys, Ryan Williams and Jaie Toohey, were doing BMX stunts off homemade ramps while Pastrana drifted the Brat below. The Mighty Car Mods team, Moog and Marty, turned up the volume with some creative exhaust notes, and of course the Mad Hueys were along for the trip, knocking back a shoey (a beer poured into a boot, for the uninformed) in true Aussie style. These cameos gave the whole performance a distinct Australian character. Pastrana later stated that the Brat took every hit like a champion. “We built it to handle the abuse,” he noted. “Jumps, slides, you name it, it was all just part of the fun.”
Brian Scotto, co-founder and director of Hoonigan, was on hand with drones and helmet cams to capture the whole thing. It had been a decade in the making, and the location was special to him. “We pushed the car and the shots harder than ever,” he said in reflection of the whole thing. The ultimate product is 11 minutes of sheer mayhem. Every frame had you enthralled, from the Outback opener to the harbour close. Pastrana’s third appearance in the series serves as a farewell; Ken Block started the Gymkhana thing 17 years ago with a modest practice run. Pastrana is passing the torch to someone else now, but his impact on the series will be remembered for a long time to come.
