Lauda: The Untold Story
Niki Lauda’s story is well known to cinema goers, thanks to
Ron Howard’s epic ‘70s Grand Prix drama Rush.
As good as it was, though, it
only told half the story – James Hunt’s half. Lauda: The Untold Story goes
behind the visor to find out what made the man with the severely burnt face get
back in his racing car, pull on his helmet despite the pain, and try to win the
1976 Driver’s Championship.
As well as examining Niki’s story, it looks at the
parallel narrative of the evolution of Grand Prix safety throughout the 20th
Century with input from Jackie Stewart, David Coulthard, Mark Webber and others
who have been instrumental in pushing forward driver safety.
Rush DVD
Probably the best Grand Prix racing film ever.
If that sounds like an exaggeration you haven’t seen Rush.
Ron Howard (Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code) directs Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda
and Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt in this brilliant retelling of the 1976
Formula Driver’s Championship – a script ready made for Hollywood; Hunt the
partyboy versus Lauda the calculating professional.
Everything gets very
serious, very quickly when Lauda suffers his terrible crash at the Nürburgring
throwing the title in doubt and making Hunt examine his motivation and his
lifestyle. A great film – if not exactly overburdened with the need to stay
true to real life.
1: Life on the Limit
1: Life on the Limit examines the difficult and controversial history of safety in Formula One.
From its earliest days F1 attracted the best and brightest drivers and saw them pitted against each other in cars that were at, or beyond, the cutting edge of technology.
Especially in the days before purpose built circuits predominated the result was tragically inevitable - many drivers paid the ultimate price for the speed, fame and glamour that went hand in hand with racing.
As speed and the pressure to succeed increased drivers started to push back against the perceived lack of interest in their safety from teams and organisers.
With people like Jochen Rindt and Jackie Stewart leading the charge F1 as we know it today started to emerge. But it was not without severe birth pains that the safety regime that has protected drivers since the fatal crashes of Ratzenberger and Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994.
Packed with interviews with key players including Max Moseley, Bernie Ecclestone, Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill, Jacky Ickx, Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher and the indomitable Professor Sid Watkins, this documentary shows the true cost of the glamourous side of F1 and the price too many drivers paid for it.
Weekend of a
Champion
In 1971 Roman
Polanski turned his lens on the glamorous world of the Monaco Grand Prix as Jackie
Stewart tries to win the most famous GP of them all. Superbly filmed (as you
would expect) and with access that film crews today would die for, this is a
real treat for fans of the DFV-era of Grand Prix racing. Amongst the highlights
for F1 fans is the onboard camera work from Stewart's Tyrell around a very wet
Monaco circuit.