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Ken Block's Escort Cossie V2 blows its engine in its first race

The car had only 40 miles of testing prior to the event

Ken Block and his team recently kicked off the Cossie World Tour at Block's favorite rally in America, Missouri's 100-Acre Wood. Block has had major success at this race in the past, but unfortunately, this year's contest ended with a participation ribbon rather than a podium finish. It wasn't for lack of competitive driving, though. His engine died.

Only weeks after debuting his all-new Ford Escort RS Escort, Block points out early in this video that the Cossie V2 only had about 40 miles on the clock. Later, a teammate likens the race to "bringing a knife to a gunfight," and Hoonigan Racing Team Director Derek Dauncey explains that they need more time, more testing, and more data in order to ensure the reliability is there. It was oddly foreboding, as the car didn't last the full day.

The race starts in the video at about 5:00. The V2 made it through Stage 1 and Stage 2 no problem, but during Stage 3, at about 6:25 in the video, the Cossie starts to smoke due to oil splashing on the engine. At that point, Block says he was running in fourth place, but his team was forced to tow the racecar in. Interestingly, the Hoonigans did have an extra engine that they could have used, but Block and his team wanted to focus on figuring out what was wrong with the car they started with.

The setback hit particularly hard, as memories of 2018's Cossie fire are still fresh. The disappointment in Block's face was obvious, but his wife was able to continue racing, and the team filled the roles of spectators for the second day of the event. Check out the full experience, including in-car dash footage of when the car failed, above.

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