Ken Block shreds up San Francisco

It was loud. It was smelly. It was awesome.

Ken Block, the man behind Gymkhana and other insanely impossible automotive wizardry, has been spotted the last couple of weeks shredding pavement up — and over — some of The City’s steepest hills and most famous landmarks.

The intrepid SF Citizen and others captured and YouTubed unto the world clips of Block buzzing around Potrero Hill, Russian Hill and even downtown in his rally-style Ford Fiesta.

One clip shows Block’s souped-up ride jumping and completely clearing the tip of Taylor Street right at the famous and lovely Vallejo Steps. Another video shows Block doing donuts around a phony cable car.

The donuts on the Bay Bridge that Matier and Ross reported being made by a “Ford Fiesta” last week make a lot more sense now.

Motorcycling magazine Racer X tweeted at the time that Block was in town filming Gymkhana 5, the fifth installment of his signature series of extreme driving videos.

In addition to Block’s wickedly agile driving, the videos feature some pretty neat footage of a remote-control copter rig used in the shooting of the commercials. You can be sure these guys paid The City proper coin for the proper permits to fly their hardware, unlike this guy from last year, who may have served as inspiration for the cinematography.