When Gymkhana drops a new film, the world pays attention. Gymkhana 2025: Aussie Shred is a no-prisoners celebration of speed, dirt, water, and full-send driving. It’s also a tribute to Australia’s extreme terrain and motorsport culture. But the breakout star isn’t just Travis Pastrana or the stunning locations—it’s the mechanical fever dream known as the Subaru Brataroo 9500 Turbo.
Reimagining A Legend: The Birth Of The Brataroo
Leave it to Subaru Motorsports USA and the engineering savants at Vermont SportsCar to look at a 1978 Subaru BRAT and think, What if we turned that into a 670-horsepower active-aero missile? The result is a vehicle that honors its quirky heritage while surpassing the performance envelope of any Gymkhana machine before it.
The Brataroo’s silhouette is unmistakably BRAT—compact, angular, utilitarian—but that’s where the nostalgia ends. Under its widened arches lives a rallycross-bred chassis designed to withstand fourth-gear landings, canyon-spanning jumps, and the type of sideways abuse only Pastrana can administer.
Central to its insanity is a fire-spitting turbocharged 2.0-liter boxer engine, pushing 670 horsepower and 680 lb-ft of torque, with a shrieking 9,500-RPM redline. This is not a tuned BRAT—it’s a purpose-built vehicle whose entire existence serves a single purpose.
But the real magic comes from the next-generation active aerodynamics, the most advanced ever used in a Gymkhana build. Flaps, ducts, and surfaces constantly adjust to keep the Brataroo planted (or intentionally unplanted) during high-consequence maneuvers. Subaru and VSC essentially turned a beloved retro oddball into a hyper-agile stunt car that treats physics like a mild suggestion.
Maximum Send In The Land Down Under
Australia gave Pastrana a playground unlike any Gymkhana before it. From the sparkling waters of Sydney Harbour to the remote red sands of the Outback, Aussie Shred showcases the stark beauty and danger of the continent.
Then Pastrana Goes And Does Pastrana Things
He dangles two wheels off a pier as if gravity took the day off. He clears a 160-foot canyon gap over a road train—a jump that looks like something from a video game, only there’s no reset button. And in what may become one of the most iconic scenes in Gymkhana history, he skims the surface of a lake at triple-digit speeds in a stunt that defies common sense and likely several maritime regulations.
Pastrana summed it up best, “Every part of this car was designed to take the abuse we threw at it… Skimming across a deep lake and scaring myself every step of the way.”
A Star-Studded Aussie Cast
Gymkhana films have always thrived on cameos, but Aussie Shred goes big. Local legends step in to test their mettle against the Brataroo, from two-time Dakar champ Toby Price, to Subaru WRC veteran Chris Atkinson, to Nitro Circus BMX phenoms Ryan Williams, Jaie Toohey, and Will Brown.
Even the V8 Supercars crowd joins in for a rolling drag race down Mount Panorama’s Conrod Straight—a matchup that feels both absurd and perfectly Gymkhana.
And because no Australian celebration is complete without properly embracing the culture, Moog and Marty of Mighty Car Mods show up, the last of the V8 Interceptors makes an appearance, and the Mad Hueys contribute the most Australian ritual of all: the shoey.
The Gymkhana Legacy Continues—With A Nod To Ken Block
Director Brian Scotto noted that Australia had always been on the wish list, ever since he and Ken Block attempted to film Gymkhana Nine there. Anti-hooning laws stopped that attempt cold. But this time, Australia opened its arms—and roads, and harbors, and Outback.
For Scotto, the return was personal. For Pastrana, this marks his final Gymkhana film. For the audience, it’s a cinematic love letter to the series Block launched nearly two decades ago. The influence is clear: the urban-meets-wilderness style, the high-concept stunts, the celebration of car culture in all its rebellious glory.
A New Benchmark In Off-Road Cinematics
For off-road enthusiasts, Gymkhana 2025 is a feast of dirt, danger, and impossible driving. The Brataroo shows what’s possible when engineering refuses to compromise, and Pastrana shows what happens when you hand a madman the keys.
The film puts Australia’s extremes on full display while pushing the Gymkhana franchise into wilder, more ambitious territory. It feels like a finale, a tribute, and a challenge all at once: What’s next? Who’s next? And how the hell do you top this?
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