Rod Chong'S BIO

 

Name: Rod Chong

Location: Vancouver, Canada

Previous Locations: London, Los Angeles, Toronto, Amsterdam

Career Path: NFS Special Projects Creative Director

Previous Career Paths: Music Video Director for many years also used to do Commercials, Motion Graphics, Multimedia and VJ Projects. Worked on a few video games along the way too. Most of these projects were basically excuses to shoot or create cars though!

Notable Projects/Wins: Birth of Pro Street film on the history of tuner based street racing. Speed Tribe: experimental documentary shot at the 2001 24H of Le Mans. Directed the first Marilyn Manson video!

Car: Lexus IS300

Fav Past Cars: Cal Look '62 Beetle, '82 Corolla SR5, Tuned '89 CRX

Next Car: AE86. Soon soon.... just as soon as I get a raise.... or two.

Car Passions: Used to race go-carts from the age of 6 to 14 at Westwood Raceway in Canada. Also raced RC cars and build Hot Rod/Kustom model cars for many years before getting distracted with video, music, clubbing and girls in art college. Moving to London, UK in 96/97 developed unhealthy addictions to Sports Car Racing, Le Mans, Autosport Magazine and F1. These days the big obsession is Drifting and Time Attack, but I do tend to follow most types of racing: DTM, WRC, FIA GT, LMES, ALMS, Super GT, Le Mans, WTCC, F1 etc etc. Also have a real soft spot for Kustoms, Hot Rods, Vintage Drag racing and late 70s/early 80s Group5 GT racers.

Personal Style: Mod: I have a thing for wearing ties and narrow trousers ATM.

Favourite Band of the Moment: Ting Tings

Personal Motto: I click therefore I am

 


2,120 Posted Nov 19 2009, 01:53 PM by Rod Chong with 20 comment(s)

CAR SPOTLIGHT>> NORTHERN SOUL SR-COROLLA
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This past August, I was invited to be a guest judge at a local drift Drift Mania West event, held at Western Speedway in Victoria BC, Canada. As you can expect at typical North American grass roots drift event, the majority of the cars competing were S chassis of various types. But one drifter chose to break the mold with his choice of car and went in a more old school direction: his name is Chris Scremin and this is his 1985 SR-86. Chris is one of the top drifters in the west coast Canadian scene...

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Posted Nov 17 2009, 09:10 AM by Rod Chong with 22 comment(s)

CAR SPOTLIGHT>> TEAM IKON LEXUS IS350
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Well I'm glad the slammed BMW post from yesterday has gone down a treat... you can never tell with you guys are going to respond sometimes! So here's a quick look at a car from the opposite end of the spectrum to the BMW... It's a good example of an USDM Air Ride VIP styled machine. We spotted Vinh Vo's ground hugging Lexus IS350 last month at the Access Zero 42 car meet in Houston, Texas and instantly knew we had to move it to the opposite end of the parking lot for a quick photoshoot...

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2,120 Posted Nov 16 2009, 06:04 PM by Rod Chong with 59 comment(s)

CAR FEATURE>> FLUSHED OUT BMW
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It seems like the current November "Slammed Month" theme has divided the Speedhunters audience up into two polarized camps. Some of you hold fast to the premise: Form Follows Function and that all upgrades and alterations to a car should be in the pursuit of handing and speed... or at least gives the appearance of this. Others prefer to weigh visual style over performance and are more about show than go . You like cars which place a greater value on aesthetic impact over easy functionality...

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Posted Nov 13 2009, 06:39 PM by Rod Chong with 15 comment(s)

CAR BUILDER>> A VISIT TO SHELBY AUTOMOTIVE
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With the Mustang, Ford is in possession of a very valuable property: a modern car with soul and character. Think about it: the vast majority of car companies these days make all of their models with uniform styling features. It's even hard to distinguish between different cars of the same class these days. It's for this reason I've developed a bit of a soft spot for this retro macho machine, especially the hotted up versions that companies like Shelby and now RTR are putting out. The...

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2,120 Posted Nov 13 2009, 08:46 AM by Rod Chong with 31 comment(s)

CAR SPOTLIGHT>> SEMA 09: THE MUSTANG RTR-C
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Ok this is my last SEMA car spotlight. I think Mike has a few more cars to showcase but this is the last entry for me. For this blogpost, I thought you might be interested to have a closer look at Vaughn Gittin JR's new toy: the Mustang RTR-C. The RTR-C stood out amongst all the various customized 2010 Mustangs on show at SEMA last week. Rather bolt on huge 20 inch wheels and ungainly wings, JR and the crew at ASD took it upon themselves the daunting task to completely reskin a donor Mustang...

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Posted Nov 12 2009, 03:30 PM by Rod Chong with 24 comment(s)

CAR SPOTLIGHT>> SEMA 09: THE RIG ROD
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This giant scaled up Hot Rod is the latest creation from the Southern Oregon based Blastolene shop. These are the same crazy minds responsible for Jay Leno's tank car.... It's a connection which immediately makes a lot of sense! Designed by Randy Grubb, the Blastolene design philosophy is based around finding unusual large displacement engines and building up drivable "sculptures" around them. The 12v71 Detroit Diesel with twin 671 superchargers is an industrial application engine...

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2,120 Posted Nov 12 2009, 08:10 AM by Rod Chong with 9 comment(s)

VIDEO ROLL>> RACING THE NORDESCHLEIFE @ IRWINDALE
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It seems like a lifetime of experience has flashed by since then, but it was only a few weeks ago that we put on a video game competition at irwindale Speedway. The idea was to get some of the Formula D drivers to compete on the famous Nurburgring Nordschiefe for the same prize money they'd win at Irwindale itself. The competition turned out to be a titanic struggle between privateer drifter Quok Ly and Falken stalwart Darren McNamara and saw some incredible gaming skills being thrown down. Have a look at the video to see what transpired.

:R

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Posted Nov 11 2009, 04:12 PM by Rod Chong with 18 comment(s)

CAR SPOTLIGHT>> SEMA 09: THE NEWSTALGIA MODEL A
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The spirit of the scene that some people are calling "Rat Rodding" is a counter culture against the smoothster style million dollar "cheque book" Rods which are still dominating the big Hot Rod awards. A true Rat Rod normally looks like it's been built with period specific components, which give the impression of being found in the open desert, river beds, swap meets and junkyards. This style of car started out with machines that were inspired by the original jalopy street...

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2,120 Posted Nov 11 2009, 03:12 PM by Rod Chong with 37 comment(s)

CAR SPOTLIGHT>> SEMA 09: PROJECT BOSS 0770-SR
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Of all the "new" pony cars on the market today I like the look of the Mustang the best. In my books, it's the only one of the three which doesn't look over bloated and fat compared to its original version. SEMA itself was filled with modified 2010 Mustangs, most of which didn't do much for me though. I also didn't pay much attention to most of the big wheeled Pro Touring "Stangs either... But there was one Mustang that caused me to stop in my tracks: the JM Enterprises...

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Posted Nov 11 2009, 12:00 PM by Rod Chong with 13 comment(s)

CAR SPOTLIGHT>> SEMA 2009: A CADDY ON THE GROUND
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What's the difference between a low-rider and a custom? Can any of you answer this question? Is it the choice of wheels? Or air ride used instead of hydraulics? Or it is the type of scene that the car fits into that determines what you call it? Without talking to the owner of this car, I'd say this flat black low riding Caddy is styled to more fit into the custom car world. The flat black theme and the white walls more fit into this scene than anything else. Agree? It's one of my favs...

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2,120 Posted Nov 11 2009, 07:41 AM by Rod Chong with 46 comment(s)

CAR FEATURE>> ZEEM'S SCRAPING INFINITI
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If you were to try and create a demographic history of VIP Style car owners in the USA, it's likely that most of these guys (and gals?) would've previously graduated from some kind of a sport compact car. It's a well established pattern; the owner would have spent some time modifying front drive cars (probably Hondas) and has now graduated to the ranks of large, stately Japanese sedans. Texas resident Zeem Choudhury definitely fits this mold. He's an ex-Honda guy who wanted a new...

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Posted Nov 10 2009, 06:58 AM by Rod Chong with 18 comment(s)

EVENT>> SEMAHUNTING 2009
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Man I'm tired... I just feel asleep while sitting here working on these photographs. It appears I'm still recovering from a wild week in Las Vegas last week. Oh well... best to crack on and get this story written up before I fall asleep again! It was a pleasant surprise to see Pagani brought over one of the Zonda R chassis from Italy. This was probably one of the most striking cars at SEMA and was the centerpiece of the Pirelli booth. The Zonda was set up right beside the Falken booth where...

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2,120 Posted Nov 09 2009, 10:14 AM by Rod Chong with 8 comment(s)

VIDEO ROLL>> DRIFT CAMS ON THE NURBURGRING
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Our man in Germany Alok Paleri just send me this link via MSN. It showcases some in-car drift action from the last round of the German IDS series... Enjoy!

:R

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Posted Nov 08 2009, 06:54 PM by Rod Chong with 30 comment(s)

EVENT>> SEMA 09: OUTSIDE THE SHOW
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Last year at SEMA , I spent a lot of time walking the floor, processing photos and preparing stories for Speedhunters.com. However this year, we had Mike Garrett taking care of these duties, so I was free to focus on securing some exciting new Speedhunters business partnerships and collaborations for 2010. My partner in crime, Rachel Kelly and I were so busy doing back to back meetings, that I didn't get to shoot the whole show. Oh well... I still have some Speedhunters reports coming out this...

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2,120 Posted Nov 06 2009, 06:25 PM by Rod Chong with 15 comment(s)

VIDEO>> FALKENHUNTING 2009
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Those of you who are "friends" with me on Facebook will know that last week Speedhunter's editor Riley Vigier and I were crunching to finishing up two videos for the 2009 SEMA Show. You've already seen our tribute to the new Formula D champion Chris Forsberg, and here's our second year end video offering: Falkenhunting 2009. A new Speedhunters film which debuted at Falken's SEMA booth on Tuesday. It covers our season long collaboration with the Team Falken drift family....

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Posted Nov 04 2009, 12:56 AM by Rod Chong with 16 comment(s)

VIDEO>> CHRIS FORSBERG: PORTRAIT OF A CHAMPION
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We just did a premiere of this film to a packed house at the Formula D/Spo Com party in Las Vegas. It's a little tribute to the new Formula Drift 2009 Champion Chris Forsberg. Entitled "Portrait of a Champion" , it's a collaboration with the drifting film-maker of film-makers Will Roegge. ... And i suppose myself and Speedhunters' editor, Riley Vigier also had something to do with this film too.... We hope you like it! I also need to thank Ernie and Tutul from Nos Energy Drink...

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2,120 Posted Nov 02 2009, 03:20 PM by Rod Chong with 114 comment(s)

CAR FEATURE>> SEXY STYLE 350Z
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VIP Style... Drift Style... Hella Flush (?) style... Lux Style... Time Attack Style... JDM Style... These are all different labels which have been thrown around the US import car scene in the past few years. Once a style gets solidified, a rule set gets made and standards are created for what one should and shouldn't do with a car build. However, every once and a while a car will come up which makes you scratch your head. This 2006 Nissan 350Z is certainly Hella Flush approved, but it's clean...

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Posted Nov 02 2009, 10:24 AM by Rod Chong with 82 comment(s)

NOVEMBER EDITORIAL>> IN THE WEEDS
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"Offset is everything" : This is a mantra which many of you guys have been preaching for some time now... But I want to question if wheel offset is indeed the be-all-end-all of modified cars aesthetics around the world. For me cars with offset wheels are usually great, but it's a rule that doesn't always apply to all cars across multiple styles and genres. So let me put this alternative idea forward: Stance is Everything. How the car sits on its wheels -the stance, is the one element...

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2,120 Posted Oct 30 2009, 03:32 PM by Rod Chong with 10 comment(s)

VIDEO>> ANDY PRIAULX: THE TOURING CAR MASTER
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This Speedhunters film is going to be my final contribution to the Driver's Month special features. It's a quick portrait of the multiple World Touring Car Champion, Andy Priaulx. Shot last month at the Imola round of the WTCC, we've done our best to capture the essence of Touring Car racing. The intensity, the aggressive driving and the on track dramatics. Thanks Andy Priaulx for taking the time to talk to us. Enjoy the film! :Rod Chong Andy Priaulx Guest Blog on Speedhunters Special...

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Posted Oct 28 2009, 08:10 AM by Rod Chong with 61 comment(s)

EVENT>> ACCESS ZERO 42 HOUSTON PT2
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Wow what a response we are getting to our Access Zero 42 coverage! Glad you lot like the photos, but the true testament has to go to the organizers of the show who brought a lot of fellow auto enthusiasts together for this meet. Linhbergh and I decided we were going to select 1 car from the event to shoot as the November "Slammed" theme calendar desktop. It needed to be a car that we hadn't already shot as photo features, and one that we weren't already aware of. I wasn't sure...

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