[masraum]

Cool site

http://www.a2zracer.com/page33.html

I've been wondering forever what/where the significance of the 2 finger salute was.

Steve giving the "two finger salute" in the film Le Mans


Hundreds of years ago when the English and the French were doing battle, any English longbowman who fell into the hands of the enemy often had two fingers of his "string-pulling" hand loped off. Should he escape, this would prevent him from plying his trade. So in Battle, English longbowmen would taunt the French by raising the two fingers across the lines to show they were still potent warriors.

In the last scene of Le Mans, the movie filmed during this race, Steve McQueen, salutes Ferrari driver Erich Stahler, played by Siegried Rauch.

A 917 was wrecked during filming. Fortunately it was later resurrected.

Here are the remains of the camera car 917K, after driver David piper blew a tire at Arnage while ahead of Parkes' 512 Ferrari. The Porsche crashed into barriers at both sides of the track, broke in two, with both halves coming to rest in a ditch. The crash cost Piper his lower leg. Fortunately the aft camera seat had been removed. None of these shots appeared in the movie.

David Piper, you may recall, had been Tony's co-driver at Daytona four months earlier. David owned his own 917K, and asked Tony to drive it at Monza a few weeks later. It was the beginning of a fine friendship. Piper eventually mended so well nobody could tell he lost a leg, and Tony would drive his 917K on three continents.

Believe it or not, the 917K was so valuable, it was reconstructed with help of 917-034 chassis and body.

Retaining its original chassis number, the rebuilt car went on to win the Daytona, Monza, and Zeltweg races

the following season! Considering how "right" a car must be to win, those mechanics were miracle workers!