"Grand Prix"

[Zeke]

Then you know it's the real deal. Anyone of you could have handled an early F1 car mid pack or further back. However, when it came to the likes of Clark, Moss and company, they had some magic that few possess. Can't leave out JM Fangio.

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

That was probably a fluke...

I seriously doubt it, because it was part of the plot for it to cause the Ferrari to go off through the barrier... they showed the piece vibrating loose in a shot of the rear of that car, followed by a rear facing shot of it bouncing back and down the banking towards and hitting the Ferrari.

Paul, thanks for posting the Popular Mechanics article... I remember all that stuff about the cannon being used to fire those cars around so Frankenheimer could control the filming of those crashes. I was a subscriber at the time and remember reading that piece start to finish several times after seeing the movie. I may even still have that issue in a box somewhere.

[URY914]

I've kept that issue for 40+ years now. Glad I could share it.

[CMDR Perry]

A few years ago Autoweek did a nice follow up article about the film with James Garner and Justin Bell (I think). Notably Brian Bedford could not drive anything before the movie was made. The cars were actually Formula 2 versions as I recall that always raced the same weekends as the big bore cars. I love the scenes with the real F1 drivers like Graham Hill, Dan Gurney and Jo Bonnier. I saw it when it first came out in Cinerama at the "Cooper" and still have the large promo booklet you could buy at the theaters.

Hey Milt did you ever race go-carts with Dave Pyka from Anaheim?

DP Lindman

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by CMDR Perry

Hey Milt did you ever race go-carts with Dave Pyka from Anaheim?

DP Lindman

Maybe. There are literally hundreds of karters in SoCal. An event at Willow Springs in good economic times could yield 400 entries. Can't know everyone. Remember, my kart has been on the wall as a display for some 17 years now. I got the idea from something I saw many years ago about the aforementioned Jo Bonnier. He purchased a McLaren F1 car for his own team, then retired it to a wall in his home!

So, if Dave was around in the 70's and 80's, it was likely if he raced in the same division, namely lay down enduro karts.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled thread.

[R K T]

Back in the 70s I worked on the docks in the LA Harbor and they filmed a Rockford Files show in the warehouse I was in charge of. I got to talk to James Garner the three days he was there. VERY cool guy. He said that doing Grand Prix was the hardest job and at the same time, the most fun he ever had.

[Tervuren]

Grand Prix has the best racing scenes of any movie I've seen. Although I admit, I don't watch a lot of movies. Those helicopter shots from the real F1 race at Monaco are priceless, and cleverly mixed in with GT40 footage and staged F2's.

I like the movie in that its also not just the racing, but shows a diverse group of drivers at different ages, different countries, team bosses, etc.

[HunterVonWurst]

Lots of clips on YouTube...

[hcariss]

Brilliant thanks for posting.

[URY914]

I belong to a forum that has a Grand Prix thread that has over 1000 replies to it.

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by URY914

I belong to a forum that has a Grand Prix thread that has over 1000 replies to it.

Dude... please paste my question in there and see what happens:

Question... remember the scene with the exhaust piece falling off and bouncing/sliding back and down the Monza banking and hitting the Ferrari?

Have any of you ever read anything about how that was done? In today's world, I wouldn't think twice about it because I'd know it was CGI.

I wonder if they experimented with a rearward shot from the camera car, dropping a piece of exhaust (probably made of plastic) from a certain point on the banking until they knew exactly how far back the Ferrari should be in order for the piece to hit it.

[Zeke]

Can't go to the scene right now, but IIRC, the part vibrates loose and the camera sweeps around to see it bounce toward the Ferrari. That has got to be actually two shots with the 2nd shot showing the pipe after it was tossed out of the back of a car or truck. Speeded up, the film looks realistic.

Even at slow speeds the thing could have bounced wrong and hit the driver's helmet. Pretty good stunt. Pretty scary too.

[Heel n Toe]

Milt, Frankenheimer didn't allow speeded-up film to be used.

As far as what they used to replicate the exhaust piece, I've thought about the fact that it could've been something with a little weight to it encased in foam rubber.

[URY914]

Originally Posted by Heel n Toe

Dude... please paste my question in there and see what happens:

Question... remember the scene with the exhaust piece falling off and bouncing/sliding back and down the Monza banking and hitting the Ferrari?

Have any of you ever read anything about how that was done? In today's world, I wouldn't think twice about it because I'd know it was CGI.

I wonder if they experimented with a rearward shot from the camera car, dropping a piece of exhaust (probably made of plastic) from a certain point on the banking until they knew exactly how far back the Ferrari should be in order for the piece to hit it.

I don't think they will have an answer for you. They didn't make the film, they are fans of the film.

[URY914]

Grand Prix trivia question:

What was the chassis number of the Ford GT40 camera car?

[URY914]

[CurtEgerer]

Must-have T-shirt for the true fan available here:

Yamura Motors T-Shirt

[URY914]

[CurtEgerer]

I wonder if he's still around. Maybe he would sign the T-shirt

[HunterVonWurst]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

I wonder if he's still around. Maybe he would sign the T-shirt

Nah...you're a little too late:

Toshirô Mifune
Date of Birth:1 April 1920, Tsingtao, China (now Qingdao, Shandong, China)
Date of Death:24 December 1997, Mitaka City, Tokyo