For so long as I can keep in mind, I’ve been a complete automobile nerd. Sparked by my dad and mom, who took me to native hill climb races within the North of Italy proper across the identical time I began strolling, automobiles are all I’ve ever been thinking about. Whether or not on a household street journey, throughout day by day college bus commutes, or whereas using my bike across the neighborhood, I used to be all the time car-spotting. And it’s by no means actually stopped; from Italy to the UK after which onto Japan.
In any case this time, I think about myself to have an above-average data of automobiles, which might be a great factor given I shoot, movie, write, and speak about them for a dwelling. However up till very not too long ago, I had by no means heard of the Hyundai Pony. The primary time I heard the identify was when Luke Huxham known as me a couple of months again asking if I wished to come back and shoot the behind-the-scenes picture content material for a movie he was to direct in South Korea.
That movie is Run Pony Run, which you need to press play above to look at should you haven’t seen it already.
Quick ahead a couple of weeks, and I discovered myself at a port in Seoul subsequent to Nobutero ‘NOB’ Taniguchi and a wild custom-built Hyundai Pony II drift automobile.
What on earth was occurring? It’s fairly easy actually. Peaches, a South Korean automobile culture-based life-style model, has constructed the wildest interpretation of Korea’s most iconic automobile and invited one of many world’s greatest drifters to drive it for a brief movie.
The Hyundai Pony, produced for 15 years from 1975, was Korea’s first mass-produced automobile. It introduced reasonably priced motoring to the nation, and due to that, it holds a particular place in each Korean’s coronary heart. Peaches’ automobile began as a second-generation Pony II. However as you may need guessed, it’s a far completely different machine now than the one which rolled off Hyundai’s manufacturing line in 1982.
Khyzyl Saleem was known as on to reinvent the Pony’s exterior and settled on a Group B rally design that’s completely consistent with the automobile’s age however provides aggression and performance. Underneath the pores and skin, the Pony’s unique naturally-aspirated Mitsubishi four-cylinder engine was swapped out for a Theta II Turbo mill (Mitsubishi 4B11 primarily based) from a Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T. It’s not inventory, with about 400hp on faucet.
Peaches started constructing their Pony II late final 12 months, with Taniguchi flying to Seoul a number of instances to arrange and shakedown forward of filming.
Capturing behind-the-scenes content material for a manufacturing like that is all the time enjoyable. You get to comply with the photographs being put collectively – just about by no means in chronological order – and witness what goes into creating the movie’s feel and appear.
Location 1: The Port
This brings us to the primary foremost location of the shoot, a port round an hour exterior of Seoul’s metropolis middle.
The movie’s storyline sees Taniguchi being shipped from Tokyo to Seoul inside a container. As soon as he arrives in South Korea, Taniguchi jumps straight into the Pony II and sends it sideways at completely different places.
For me, trying out all of the cinema-grade movie gear and instruments is simply as enjoyable because the filming, beginning with the U-Crane-equipped Mercedes-Benz ML 55 AMG digital camera automobile.
Within the first motion scene, which was being up and shot right here, Taniguchi blasts out of the port at pace.
On the primary day, the automobile was plagued with a number of technical points that noticed it considerably down on energy.
You possibly can see the engine structure with the top-mounted turbo and the pushrod damper setup that makes up the entrance suspension geometry.
I used to be impressed at how Taniguchi overcame the shortage of energy through the use of the automobile’s momentum to get it to slip in the proper locations so the crew working the U-Crane may get their photographs.
As evening fell on the primary day, the crew took care of a few of the container photographs.
This gave me time to correctly look over the automobile.
What Khyzyl managed to do with the Pony II hatchback is loopy. It actually appears to be like like one thing that might have competed in Group B rallying again within the day. That is achieved by means of enormous entrance and rear field fenders that give the Hyundai new proportions. Refinements across the aspect skirts and the reduce rear bumper inject some modernity into the bundle whereas including much more perspective.
It’s additionally wild how a lot wider the entrance observe is in comparison with the rear, the wheels barely being contained by the outsized fenders.
One other trendy contact is the roof spoiler that flares up on its extremities and consists of a number of components to maximise downforce.
With one peek inside, you may inform this automobile is function-focused. The cabin options uncovered tube framing, roll cage reinforcements, uncooked sheet steel, and never a lot else.
The rear part of the roll cage supplies house for twin overflow tanks for the rear-mounted radiator, together with mounting factors for the rear pushrod suspension structure.
After I returned to the set, the container touchdown sequence and Taniguchi’s arrival photographs had been being captured. That is my favourite a part of the movie; the person himself sitting comfortably in a lounge chair behind the container, illuminated by a single gentle.
The scene ends with Taniguchi strolling out of the container and revealing the automobile.
By this time it was late, however fortunately we had a continuing provide of espresso and snacks to maintain us going into the wee hours. I like how the meals truck was displaying a poster of Taniguchi.
Some drifting scenes required onboard photographs of Tanaguchi, however these weren’t captured the way you would possibly assume they might be. Firstly, fake tire smoke was created by spraying oil on some burners.
Flashing lights looked like pace, and with the smoke pouring into the cabin, it appeared like Taniguchi was drifting.
That is what all of it appeared like from a couple of steps again. Fairly loopy.
The primary cameras used for filming – together with this scene – was a pair of full-frame Sony Venice 6K items mated to a wide range of cinema-grade prime lenses.
That is the kind of setup utilized in Hollywood film productions; no expense was spared in guaranteeing an ultra-high-quality cinematic look.
The evening ended simply because the solar was about to interrupt throughout the horizon, the final shot being Taniguchi drifting across the man on a scooter.
Location 2: Previous Seoul
The next night – after the crew grabbed a couple of hours of sleep until mid-afternoon – everybody was again at it. This time our location was within the middle of Seoul on a hill that appeared prefer it was nonetheless caught within the ’70s. That is the place we might be enjoying with toy automobiles.
Whereas the crew was establishing their gear and ready for evening to fall, I went for a bit of wander and checked out town views from the hillside location.
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Within the movie, that is the place Taniguchi parks up the Pony II and meets a toddler enjoying with a reproduction of his automobile. Pictures within the bag, day two wrapped up.
Location 2: Enjoyable On Observe
On the ultimate day of taking pictures, all of us moved to the AMG Speedway, an hour or so exterior Seoul, the place many motion photographs had been taken care of.
Arriving because the observe opened, the rigging crew wasted no time establishing two digital camera angles.
I’m positive you may spot which photographs within the video got here from this low-mounted digital camera.
On the identical time the manufacturing was happening, Taniguchi was documenting the expertise for his personal channels.
The day was crammed with a ton of driving, and the Pony II – now with additional energy due to some in a single day engine work – was performing flawlessly.
As if taking pictures a manufacturing of this magnitude wasn’t onerous sufficient, there was a time crunch of simply three days, therefore the loopy schedule. Taniguchi needed to return to Japan for racing commitments, and the automobile wanted to be shipped to Poland for Membership de Ultrace 2024.
It’s all the time enjoyable engaged on these initiatives. Hopefully, the subsequent one isn’t too distant!
Dino Dalle Carbonare
Instagram: dino_dalle_carbonare
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