Carnerd

Showin ol' TC how it's done

Plyman438

Really? I was somehow disappointed with that movie. Not as bad as Cruise's "Days of Thunder" or whatever it was called, but still far from a classic. I really looked forward to that movie, but somehow was not fully satisfied. The cheesy volleyball "beefcake" scenes and some other equally bad scenes could have been left out. The Cole Trickle character also is best forgotten.

With that being said, in last week I've watched again "LeMans" with Steve McQueen and "Grand Prix" with James Garner. Then last weekend I saw the documentary "Senna." Who needs a cheesy, formula fighter jock and NASCAR jock movie with Cruise with those fine films out there and actors who didn't have to beat you over the head to let you know how special they were. In fact, some have said McQueen's inoperable lung cancer was caused by his race car driving days breathing in asbestos. That dude could drive a car or bike like John Surtees.

Plyman438

Steve McQueen.....any actor who can drive an 1100bhp H-12 Porsche 917 at 240mph on the Musallane Straight at LeMans is a race driver in my book. McQueen also reportedly declared personal bankruptcy soon after making LeMans. He sure put his money where his mouth was. Gives Tom Cruise something to shoot for as I would guess racing was a little more than a hobby to McQueen.

My993C2

These two are two of the classic best motorsports movies ever made though I often find myself fast forwarding through the love scenes between Jean-Pierre and what's her name in "Grand Prix". But there is a 3rd motorsports movie which I like "The Last American Hero" - 1973 staring a young Jeff Bridges. It is completely different from "Lemans" and "Grand Prix". It does not have the same quality of race footage cinema as these two other iconic motorsports movies. But it is still a good movie based on the true story rise of Junior Johnson in the early days of NASCAR (though in the movie he is known as Junior Jackson) and it is not your typical Hollywood "make believe" movie.

Here is the trailer:

Flying Finn

WTF? Does this mean CJ is also d-bag?
He does have q nice chunk of money and has dated a hottie or two sooo...
But wait, he hasn't driven F1 car though... Or at least yet!

Plyman438

Yes!! Good choice. I've seen that film and enjoyed it...very gritty movie about racing before the corporate world completely took it over. And I'm a big Jeff Bridges fan. I kind of grew up with him watching his movies throughout the decades. And don't forget the "great" drugged out, rehabbed Gary Bussey plays his brother in it.

Also, I was just watching the Bonus material in the latest DVD of Grand Prix. Very fascinating with great Formula 1 drivers of past interviewed. They also seemed to agree that it would be impossible today to do a film like Grand Prix . Yes, I too could have done without the soap opera love scenes and even knew back in the 60's when I first saw it that they didn't use Formula 1 cars, but according to Frankenheimer the director they used Formula 3 cars with Formula 1 exhaust pipes. In the Bonus material, they also did a film on Brands Hatch back then and today and took you through the whole race course and why it's such a classic race course. They basically said it's pretty much the same as it was back in 1966 when Grand Prix shot there. The bonus material by itself is worth the price of the DVD.

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2001 Orient Red Metallic Boxster

Plyman438

I was looking over Steve McQueen's biography again, and he bought a Porsche 908 Spyder about a year before he started filming "LeMans" and entered it in Sebring 12 hour race and won his class with it. He also won many SCCA races in CA over the years and motocross events on his many bikes he owned. At Riverside, he almost lost his life in his 908 while leading and breaking the lap record at 150mph when his gearbox blew and parts went flying everywhere. And against his backers wishes, he did all his own driving for "LeMans" in the 917 and said that if he had screwed up at 235mph he would have lost everything he ever worked for in resulting lawsuits. As it was, a flag person was hit by a 512 Ferrari and died and a pro race driver lost his leg in bad crash during filming. In fact, McQueen himself had to buy the Ferrari racers used in film after Enzo reneged on supplying the film with 5 512's after learning Porsche was scripted to win the race. There are a couple cool pictures of McQueen and Paul Newman together in book.

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2001 Orient Red Metallic Boxster

onefastviking

And then there was that motorcycle racer named Harvey Mushman that raced in California too. He was pretty successful as well.

I had a friend that grew up racing at Elsinore and said he always was the real deal.

onefastviking

I'd put my money on CJ over TC any day !

Cory M

How come the Willow Springs track surface only looks smooth and dark in promotional videos and commercials?

eclou

TC reportedly wrecked the Red Bull car. CJ said that didn't get to drive with TC, but he did get to show David Coulthard the proper line at Willow Springs in a G37 test car.

Evan Fullerton

Are you aware that it was resurfaced a couple months ago and is black though not all much smoother now?

Cory M

I haven't been there since the resurfacing, WSIR is not my favorite track, but I have seen commmercials from way before the surfacing that look nothing like the actual track. I assumed they altered the colors with software or filters or something. Glad the track has been surfaced, now if we can just get them to clean and restock the bathrooms on Sunday morning...

azbanks

TC does some of his own stunts but a stuntman named Keith Campbell has been doing the rest in most of his movies. Keith started working with TC when Keith did the backflip down the sidewalk scene in "The Firm".
(OT, Keith was the alien in the opening scene of Men in Black)