For so long as I can bear in mind, I’ve been a complete automobile nerd. Sparked by my mother and father, who took me to native hill climb races within the North of Italy proper across the similar time I began strolling, vehicles are all I’ve ever been excited by. Whether or not on a household street journey, throughout every day faculty 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 spite of everything this time, I think about myself to have an above-average information of vehicles, which might be a very good factor given I shoot, movie, write, and discuss them for a residing. However up till very lately, I had by no means heard of the Hyundai Pony. The primary time I heard the title was when Luke Huxham known as me a number of months again asking if I needed to return and shoot the behind-the-scenes photograph content material for a movie he was to direct in South Korea.
That movie is Run Pony Run, which you must press play above to observe for those who haven’t seen it already.
Quick ahead a number 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 inexpensive 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 might need guessed, it’s a far totally 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. Beneath 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 based mostly) 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 appear and feel.
Location 1: The Port
This brings us to the primary predominant 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 totally different areas.
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 digicam 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 dearth of energy by utilizing the automobile’s momentum to get it to slip in the precise locations so the group working the U-Crane may get their photographs.
As evening fell on the primary day, the crew took care of a number 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 seems to be like one thing that might have competed in Group B rallying again within the day. That is achieved by means of big entrance and rear field fenders that give the Hyundai new proportions. Refinements across the aspect skirts and the lower rear bumper inject some modernity into the bundle whereas including much more angle.
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 contains a number of parts 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 metallic, 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.
Once 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 relentless provide of espresso and snacks to maintain us going into the wee hours. I really 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 suppose they might be. Firstly, fake tire smoke was created by spraying oil on some burners.
Flashing lights appeared like pace, and with the smoke pouring into the cabin, it regarded like Taniguchi was drifting.
That is what all of it regarded like from a number of steps again. Fairly loopy.
The primary cameras used for filming – together with this scene – was a pair of full-frame Sony Venice 6K models 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 number 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 regarded prefer it was nonetheless caught within the ’70s. That is the place we’d be enjoying with toy vehicles.
Whereas the crew was organising their gear and ready for evening to fall, I went for a bit of wander and checked out the 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 duplicate of his automobile. Pictures within the bag, day two wrapped up.
Location 2: Enjoyable On Observe
On the ultimate day of capturing, 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 organising two digicam angles.
I’m certain you may spot which photographs within the video got here from this low-mounted digicam.
On the similar 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 capturing 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 far-off!
Dino Dalle Carbonare
Instagram: dino_dalle_carbonare
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