It is Autumn and storm season over in Mexico for the latest Forza Horizon 5 Festival Playlist Weekly Challenges in Series 18, and given the view out of my office window at the moment, you’d be forgiven for thinking it is here in the UK too.
Still, the chances of snow in Mexico seem a little more remote, and so we will be able to concentrate on our driving. It is week two of the Horizon Wilds takeover, and so there is a plethora of muddy, dirty action just waiting for us to fire up our engines.
Part 1: #Forzathon Weekly Challenge – Be a Hoonicorn
Continuing with the tribute to Ken Block, the subject of the weekly car challenge for Series 18 Autumn is another Hoonigan creation, the absolutely mental 1965 Hoonicorn. Based on a Mustang, this thing was transformed over the period of two years into an insane drift machine, and mixes a muscle car and a rally car to create something very special.
If you don’t own one yet, they are available from the Autoshow for a mere 500,000 credits.
Chapter 1 – The Legend
Get in your Hoonicorn and floor it. Simples!
Chapter 2 – Wild in the Streets
Celebrate the sheer speed of this unholy creation by winning a street race. Pick your favourite and let ‘er rip.
Stock trim should be more than enough.
Chapter 3 – Hoonicart
A bit of an odd step this time, with the need to smash a taco cart. Yes, really. Apparently this is a nod to Gymkhana 7, but I don’t remember it… I found mine in the middle of Mulege.
Chapter 4 – Drift Wonders
Now this is more like it, we have to earn seven Ultimate E-Drift or Drift skills in the Hoonicorn.
With a bit of planning, it is possible to complete this step and the weekly PR Stunt Drift Zone challenge at the same time, merely by taking the Hoonicorn to the Panoramica drift zone.
And with that, 5 points are yours towards the weekly cars.
Part 2: Challenges
Lots of Eventlabs to try again this week, but a bit more racing too, which puts a bit more of a smile on my face. Let’s have a look at what is in store for us, shall we?
The Trial – Cooper’ation
The pun writers at Playground keep excelling themselves, don’t they?
The subject of The Trial this week is the Mini Cooper from 1965, amazingly given that title. Be quicker to walk because you’re going to have to go stock here too.
But if you do want a fun little top rated D Class, I came up with the following share code: 680141450.
Assuming our teammates don’t want to play bumper cars all the way around, and also assuming that we can win two out of the three races, then we can walk away with an Alpine A110 from 1973.
EventLab 1 – Cast Haste Presents Cordillera Lapras
For this Eventlab, we need to use a Classic Rally car in the B Class 700 tuning range. I chose an Escort Rs1800 from 1977, the #5 Racing one to be precise, and the share code is: 793610371.
This does appear to be the longest single lap in the world, but it flows quite nicely, so not too bad in all. And for completing the course, we will get a new horn, the Horizon Mexico intro horn.
EventLab 2 – Joh Cee Presents Mangrove Rallycross Nightrace
For this course, we need to change the vehicle up a bit, and use an Unlimited Offroad car in an A Class 800 tuning range. I went with the old faithful, the Jeep Trailcat, and my share code is: 118411445.
Our prize for winning? A Super Wheelspin, of course.
PR Stunt – Danger Sign -La Cruz
The weekly invitation to jump about a bit is here, and this time our target is a not inconsiderable 240m – this is known in the trade as “a fair old way”!
Still, we are limited to any S2 Class 998 car, and so I brought out the BMW X5M Forza Edition to jump about a bit. The share code for this monster is: 519084427.
Another Super Wheelspin will be yours if you jump far enough.
PR Stunt – Speed Trap – Caballo Blanco
An off road speed trap and a target of more than 160 mph means there is only one car for the job – You didn’t get out of the BMW after the danger sign, did you?
Another Super Wheelspin will be ours for zooming about fast enough.
PR Stunt – Drift Zone – Panoramica
A Drift Zone, a target of 77,000 drift points, and a car restriction of S2 Class 998? Step forward the Hoonicorn!
Using this car can kill two birds with one stone if you get the timing right with the weekly car challenge. Stock trim should do it, as the surface is offroad, and I smashed the target on the first try.
Another Super Wheelspin? Well, if you insist…
Seasonal Championship – In Retro Spec
Take a retro rally car, tune it to B Class 700 and try to win some races is the name of the game this week. Of course, from the cars that are available, I chose a Subaru 22B. The share code is: 164422572.
For winning the championship solo, or best two out of three in a convoy, we can drive away with a shiny Evo from 2006.
Seasonal Championship – Fresh Prince
Nothing to do with Will Smith this time, this is a series of races where we have to use the Hoonigan Bel Air. See what they did there?
We can tune this monster up no further than B Class 700, and so my share code is : 130331269.
Coming out on top in this series sees us win a Bone Shaker, which is nice!
Seasonal Championship – Buggy Bounce
As the title suggests, this event is for Unlimited Buggies, and the tuning limit is A Class 800. I went with one of my favourite offroad vehicles, the Ariel Nomad, and my share code is: 144860625. If you are going to offroad, you might as well do it in a car with no body panels, right?
For triumphing solo, or in a convoy for winning the majority of the races, we can get our grubby little hands on a Toyota FJ40.
Part 3: Other Challenges
Just a Photo Challenge and some light smashing to do this week, so it is all a bit quiet.
Photo Challenge -#Guanahana
We need to take a Hoonigan car, any Hoonigan car, to the mural by Spaik in Guanajuato. This really takes me back, as I first floated the idea of these articles with the editor in reaction to a mission just like this, a long time ago.
Still, I’ll post my picture and the location below for your perusal.
Completing this task will award us with a Forzalink phrase, “Time to Hoon?”
Collectibles – Go Fast
In and around the stadium in the centre of the map, there are, for some reason, some dinosaur pinatas, and our mission, should we decide to accept it, is to smash twenty of them.
I’ll post a picture below showing what they look like and the area they are in.
Completing this task will get us a dinosaur outfit. May be time to change out of my Pinata suit!
Part 4: Hot Wheels Events
Are you an elite level Hot Wheels player? If so, we have a couple of tasty extra challenges for you.
PR Stunt – Danger Sign – Canyon Jump
Some distance to jump, a restriction of any S2 Class 998 car, and so there is only one car for the job – the Koenigsegg Agera, with share code: 109282883.
The target for this jump is to clear more than 400m, and with a sufficient run up, this should be eminently doable.
A Super Wheelspin will be winging its way to you if you manage this feat.
Seasonal Championship – All American
The challenge for this championship is to use an American car, tuned to S2 Class 998, to win a series of races.
Now, there aren’t many American cars in this category, so I went with the spirit of the series, and used a Hoonigan RS200, which is a flipping quick car. Mine is a little tuned, and the share code is: 130713320.
For coming out on top, either solo or in a convoy, our prize is a Jeep Trackhawk. That is pretty damn fast too.
Further to the above are the same Monthly Rivals Events that last for the full series so if you haven’t yet done those, it’ll be best if you go and nail a couple of clean – and fast – laps around both the La Selva Scramble and the River Scramble. The best way to involve yourself here is by clicking through the event tiles on the Festival Playlist tab.
The points you earn from those – and from the other challenges above – will all go towards new cars. We like new cars, even if our garage is overflowing and we’ve got a stupid amount of spare cash still sitting in the bank. Still, Series 18 – Autumn will deliver up the Honda Trophy ‘15 and Velostar N. You’ll also see points added to your overall Series total, working towards the cars for that – the Subaru Brat for 80pts and the Sierra 700R for 160pts.
Series 18 will move into Winter next week and that means you’ll have the chance to nab the Polaris RZR Pro and No.42 Extreme E. The Series will conclude in Spring with the Nissan Safari and MINI X-Raid being your rewards.
Series 19 runs with the theme of ‘Midnights at Horizon’ after that.
In order to be able to complete the Forza Horizon 5 Festival Playlist Weekly Challenges for Series 18 – Autumn, you’ll need a copy of Forza Horizon 5 in your digital library. Sitting pretty on Game Pass or behind a cash outlay, it is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S or PC, all via the Xbox Store.
The comments section is below. We’d love to know if any of the cars or tunes listed have helped you out this week. Don’t be afraid to let us know what worked – or didn’t – for you.
