Showing posts with label Le Mans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Le Mans. Show all posts
Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Monday, 29 June 2015
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Monday, 8 June 2015
Saturday, 6 June 2015
Thursday, 4 June 2015
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Tuesday, 17 June 2014
Friday, 24 December 2010
Mini Van from the Dark Side of the Moon - Ferrari 250 GTO #3757
The first time I saw one of these, reg no: 5 RU #3869 GT belonging to Dave Clarke formerly of the Dave Clark Five, was on a fabulous summer afternoon in the car park of the Hotel opposite school I must have spent a good hour sitting on a wall leering at it longingly.
This particular example, third overall in the 1962 Le Mans 24 hours and winner of the Spa 500 kms race in 1963, has been the property of Nick Mason since the late 1970's.
Allegedly one frosty morning this vehicle was the only one of his fleet that would start and so Nick ended up taking his kids to school in it, the rumour is that his kids never wanted to be driven to school in anything other than the 250 GTO thereafter which must qualify this car for the title worlds fastest mini van.
I did not know much about it until acquaintances on The Nostalgia Forum put me right some months ago. Ironically I have Nick Masons autograph from that day in my 1981 British Grand Prix programme.
Hope you have enjoyed todays edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' from the Dark Side of the Moon and hope you'll join me again tomorrow for the first of my 12 vehicles of Chritmas series of blogs.
Slightly off topic I read this seasonal story yesterday and humbly recommend it to all.
With Seasons Greetings and best wishes for the New Year too everyone who has played apart in 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' no matter how great or small, thanks for being there to celebrate with.
PS 30 12 10 just found the photo above of #3757 taken at Goodwood Festival of Speed.
This particular example, third overall in the 1962 Le Mans 24 hours and winner of the Spa 500 kms race in 1963, has been the property of Nick Mason since the late 1970's.
Allegedly one frosty morning this vehicle was the only one of his fleet that would start and so Nick ended up taking his kids to school in it, the rumour is that his kids never wanted to be driven to school in anything other than the 250 GTO thereafter which must qualify this car for the title worlds fastest mini van.
I did not know much about it until acquaintances on The Nostalgia Forum put me right some months ago. Ironically I have Nick Masons autograph from that day in my 1981 British Grand Prix programme.
Hope you have enjoyed todays edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' from the Dark Side of the Moon and hope you'll join me again tomorrow for the first of my 12 vehicles of Chritmas series of blogs.
Slightly off topic I read this seasonal story yesterday and humbly recommend it to all.
With Seasons Greetings and best wishes for the New Year too everyone who has played apart in 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' no matter how great or small, thanks for being there to celebrate with.
PS 30 12 10 just found the photo above of #3757 taken at Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Racing is life - Le Mans the Movie
While recovering from a particularly pestulant flu virus last week, I took the opportunity to watch one of my favourite films one that was influential in so much as it inspired me not only to visit Le Mans but also to participate in a lesser 24 hour race in 1990.
The film is a classic among many race fans because it is essentially shot in a documentary style, the first 30 mins is a build up to the start of a 24 hour race with only a brief flash back to interrupt the building tension. We see early morning race day footage of the protagonist Michael Delaney (McQueen) arriving at the circuit, in those days entirely on public roads, huge traffic jams, to me now very familiar scenes from the campsite in the middle of the circuit, teams preparing, drivers preparing and then an increasingly slo mo sequence to the 5 min countdown to the start of the race.
The only discernible voice during the build up is a monologue by the race commentator who sets the scene and describes events as they happen during the course of the race.
Unusually for a film with Hollywood involvement their is no love interest, but there is human interest in the relationship between Delaney who the previous year was involved in a fatal accident with a driver called Belgetti, and Belgettis widow (Elga Andersen) which culminates in the films best known quotation.
The film was shot using a mixture of 1970 race footage a host of original cars and drivers.
David Piper seen above at Goodwood in 2009 gets a credit that reads "And Special Appreciation to DAVID PIPER for his Sacrifice During the filming of this Picture" he lost half a leg filming one of the horrifically realistic
accidents in the film.
The essence of the film is a superbly captured Titanic 24 hour battle between the Ferrari and Gulf Porsche teams. The end of the film focuses on a tight finish which is not unusual at Le Mans all though racing is a non contact sport and some of the driving antics seen at the end of the film are more usually seen at the beginning of the race between novices to 24 hour racing.
There is no Holywood finish to the race for McQueens character Delaney though he does his bit for the Gulf Porsche team, which never won at Le Mans in real life despite dominating almost all sports car races from 1970 - 1971 everywhere else. The Porsche Salzburg team won the 1970 race depicted in the film and the following year. By 1972 the Porsche 917's were banned from racing at Le Mans.
At this time of year, between seasons, race fans love quoting using all or part of the 'A lot of people go through life doing things badly. Racing’s important to men who do it well. When you’re racing, it... it’s life. Anything that happens before or after... is just waiting.' which is Michael Delaney's response to Mrs Belgetti's question what is so important about racing ?
The quotation is originally attributable to Maurice Trintignant a French Formula One driver.
To sum up a must see film for race fans, if only to see the Le Mans track at its murderous best and to my mind the most exciting sports racing cars of all time, Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512, all captured with inventive camera work and superb editing. The best bit about the film is that the usual Holywood cliche's are by and large missing leaving us with an experience far closer to a documentary than say the Frankenheimers Grand Prix with its rather laboured with plot, excruciating love interest and painfully cliched dialogue.
Hope you enjoyed today's film revue, wishing everyone a relaxing Sunday and I hope you'll join me again tomorrow, don't forget to come back now !
The film is a classic among many race fans because it is essentially shot in a documentary style, the first 30 mins is a build up to the start of a 24 hour race with only a brief flash back to interrupt the building tension. We see early morning race day footage of the protagonist Michael Delaney (McQueen) arriving at the circuit, in those days entirely on public roads, huge traffic jams, to me now very familiar scenes from the campsite in the middle of the circuit, teams preparing, drivers preparing and then an increasingly slo mo sequence to the 5 min countdown to the start of the race.
The only discernible voice during the build up is a monologue by the race commentator who sets the scene and describes events as they happen during the course of the race.
Unusually for a film with Hollywood involvement their is no love interest, but there is human interest in the relationship between Delaney who the previous year was involved in a fatal accident with a driver called Belgetti, and Belgettis widow (Elga Andersen) which culminates in the films best known quotation.
The film was shot using a mixture of 1970 race footage a host of original cars and drivers.
David Piper seen above at Goodwood in 2009 gets a credit that reads "And Special Appreciation to DAVID PIPER for his Sacrifice During the filming of this Picture" he lost half a leg filming one of the horrifically realistic
accidents in the film.
The essence of the film is a superbly captured Titanic 24 hour battle between the Ferrari and Gulf Porsche teams. The end of the film focuses on a tight finish which is not unusual at Le Mans all though racing is a non contact sport and some of the driving antics seen at the end of the film are more usually seen at the beginning of the race between novices to 24 hour racing.
There is no Holywood finish to the race for McQueens character Delaney though he does his bit for the Gulf Porsche team, which never won at Le Mans in real life despite dominating almost all sports car races from 1970 - 1971 everywhere else. The Porsche Salzburg team won the 1970 race depicted in the film and the following year. By 1972 the Porsche 917's were banned from racing at Le Mans.
At this time of year, between seasons, race fans love quoting using all or part of the 'A lot of people go through life doing things badly. Racing’s important to men who do it well. When you’re racing, it... it’s life. Anything that happens before or after... is just waiting.' which is Michael Delaney's response to Mrs Belgetti's question what is so important about racing ?
The quotation is originally attributable to Maurice Trintignant a French Formula One driver.
To sum up a must see film for race fans, if only to see the Le Mans track at its murderous best and to my mind the most exciting sports racing cars of all time, Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512, all captured with inventive camera work and superb editing. The best bit about the film is that the usual Holywood cliche's are by and large missing leaving us with an experience far closer to a documentary than say the Frankenheimers Grand Prix with its rather laboured with plot, excruciating love interest and painfully cliched dialogue.
Hope you enjoyed today's film revue, wishing everyone a relaxing Sunday and I hope you'll join me again tomorrow, don't forget to come back now !
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)