Filed under: Chicago Auto Show, Motorsports, Coupe, Hyundai, Racing





RMR Hyundai Veloster rally car - Click above for high-res image gallery

There are more famous racing families than the Millens, but not many. While Steve Millen was closely associated with Nissan, his brother and nephew have long been associated with Hyundai That nephew is Rhys Millen, the drifting champion we know and love. And this is the latest tool of his trade.



Rhys Millen Racing started with the new Veloster coupe that debuted last month at the Detroit Auto Show and stripped it down to nothing. They stripped the chassis to its bare metal, soaked it in alkalai for five days and then reinforced the welding. They replaced the metal body panels with carbon/Kevlar to cut 75 percent of the shell's weight, dropping the scales down to 2,656 pounds. The company stripped out the interior and fitted a custom eight-point roll-cage, firewall and Sparco bucket. What's more, the Veloster rallycross car uses an unspecified custom long-travel suspension, with 18-inch HRW wheels, Hankook rubber and 14-inch Alcon brake discs (12-inch in the back) gripped by six-piston calipers all around.



The real treasure, though, sits under the louvered hood: Hyundai's 2.0-liter four-cylinder bolted to an HKS ball-bearing turbocharger driving a whopping 500 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque through an X-Trac six-speed sequential to all four wheels. Hot diggity damn.



Hear Hyundai's rally engine starting up







Rhys will be pivoting the Veloster around the 2011 U.S. Rallycross Championship, and sharing it with motorcross two-wheeler Robbie Maddison at the Summer X-Games. A second car will be built for Maddison to share with rally champ Marcus Dodd also in the U.S. Rallycross Championship, while a third front-drive car will be constructed for celebrity drivers. Follow the jump for the full details in the press release, and check out the additional images in the gallery below.





Gallery: Hyundai Veloster Rally Car





[Source: Hyundai]Continue reading Rhys Millen's new 500-hp Hyundai Veloster rallycross machine drifts into Chicago [w/sound]



Rhys Millen's new 500-hp Hyundai Veloster rallycross machine drifts into Chicago [w/sound] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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"The real treasure, though, sits under the louvered hood: Hyundai's 2.0-liter four-cylinder bolted to an HKS ball-bearing turbocharger driving a whopping 500 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque through an X-Trac six-speed sequential to all four wheels. Hot diggity damn."



Wow.

 

I WANT THIS!!!

 

I would take his GC over this!!



I wont if he will be running this or his GC for Pikes Peak Hill Climb this year. Last year with the GC was so sick!!!

 

He didn't run the GC last year, he ran that Hyundai powered custom Lemans style racer. He will run that again this year, last year it was barely finished in time and his time was slow as hell, but that's what happens when you stop on course lol.



Hmm...it would be a tough choice, but I think I would take HIS GC over this too...but really either would be great.

 

^ The mid engine v8? Yeah, I would too.





It only says the 2.0 I4 but was the the theta or the Beta? I imagine the theta but curiosity stands

 

Good point. They are pretty good about providing underhood shots so we will probably find out.

 

Videos!





http://s975.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=IMG_0681.mp4



http://s975.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=IMG_0680.mp4



http://s975.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=IMG_0672.mp4