Pro-Touring + HellaFlush = Ill-Touring

Being passionate about modified rides, I spend a lot of time on websites that span the spectrum of hotrodding to “tuning” and everything in between. Two favorite build styles of mine are Pro-Touring and the Street Drift style called HellaFlush. HellaWho? I’ll explain in a minute. Call it DetroitFlush or Ill-Touring (Ill, as in Siiiick wheel fitment dude!). We can nail down the name later. Let’s dig into this concept a little and see what you, the reader, has to say.

First, lets define the two components of DetroitFlush individually.

Pro-Touring. The Pro-Touring.com’s definition as a reminder, is old muscle with new sports car performance. Modern suspensions, brakes, big wheels/tires and late model drivetrains (like a 6.1L Hemi Crate motor, 6 speed Tremec and 20″ wheels with 315/30/20 Pirelli’s like the TerraCuda built by Chip Foose)

HellaFlush on the other hand is the concept, “Offset Is Everything” and traces its roots to Japanese Street Drifting which pushes the limit of fenders on import cars such as WRX’s, EVO’s, 240SX’s and RX-7’s. As seen in the picture above from the HellaFlush website, the wheels fit flush to the fender. Simple in concept, difficult to achieve, especially for a street driven car. It takes careful engineering and attention to detail to fit 18×9.5, +35mm wheels in fenders designed for 16×6.5 +45mm wheels (ie Subaru WRX stock wheel size) just as it does fitting a Shelby GT500 Supercharged 5.4L V8 into the bay where a 260 ci small block once lived, like the Pro-Touring Comet we featured.

Ill-Touring or DetroitFlush… Starts with a Detroit classic, add Pro-Touring modifications like big brakes, upgraded suspension, interior and exterior updates and a modern EFI mill. Then add aggressive flush fitting wheels. Both Pro-Touring and HellaFlush movements are gaining momentum and the definitions will continue to morph. As an example, check this RX-7 ‘vert with a Mustang 5.0L featured on Speedhunters. For this discussion, let’s ask Willy Wonka. The candyman would say, “Strike that, reverse it”. Take the RX-7’s wheel fitment and transplant it onto a ‘64 Ford Falcon Sprint or ‘72 Chevy Nova SS. Today, we won’t dive into the HellaFlush ways of the force in achieving perfect wheel fitment, but to simplify, the Cliff Notes version would say: fender flares, fender rolling and massaging, serious negative camber, stretching tires, stiff adjustable coilovers, and wide low offset wheels.

Any hot rod artists on board want to bust out some renderings of this concept? I’ll take one of a ‘64 Falcon in white running either a Turbocharged original inline-6 or high revving 289 with black Rota Torque R’s in 18″x9.5″ all around, a CF front splitter, rolled fenders, and nasty front camber. Anyone else see the potential I see or am I off my roller rockers? Time will tell… maybe I need to build my own Ill-Touring Falcon to demonstrate my illness.

Let’s hear what you have to say! Is Ill-Touring crazy cool, or just crazy! Tell us about your own crazy hot rod ideas. Leave a comment below!

Hechtspeed

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Drifting Photos from Drift Day 26 in Wisconsin

Drift Day 26 Story and Photos by Daniel Lo over at Corner Speed Photo Thanks Dan!

This past Sunday marked my first time shooting 4 wheels for me. My first love is the 2 wheeled variety over at Corner Speed Photo. Thanks to some professional guidance, I think it worked out!

Held at USA International Raceway in Shawano, WI, “Drift Day 26″ featured big names from the Midwest drift scene with the likes of Simba Nyemba of GripGambler and Mike Pollard of TMF Opposition in attendance. All this was made possible by my friend and pro shooter Danny Lim who was covering the event for Wrecked Magazine and was kind enough to invite an amateur to tag along. Check out his coverage of Formula Drift at Long Beach this year.

Having had fairly minimal exposure to the sport of drifting beyond watching The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and the odd YouTube clip, it took me a while to understand what exactly I was supposed to be shooting. Fortunately, Danny was on hand to coach me thru the basics so I had a bit of a jumpstart on the day.

Shooting a drift event was in a lot of ways the total opposite of what I’m used to. When you’re panning it means the front of the car is pointing towards you and when it’s coming or going, you see the car’s profile. Unlike shooting motorcycles, or possibly most other forms of motorsports, wheel spin is pretty much always visible so you can never quite get away with cranking up the shutter speed without losing sense of motion.

However, the real fun started towards the end of the day when I was able to put the camera down, throw on a helmet, and hop into Simba’s purple 240sx for a ride. Say what you will about drifting, but there’s no denying the ridiculous amount of precision and skill that must be required in navigating a car sideways around a track and experiencing it firsthand was nothing short of mind-blowing. Thanks again Simba!
(no that’s not me in the passenger seat)
When it comes to racing, my first love will always be 2 wheels so I probably won’t drop shooting motorcycle racing in favor of drifting anytime soon, but would I do this again? Definitely!

Click here for some more pictures from Drift Day 26

(Give Dan a shout and tell him to shoot more cars! – Pikesan)

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