Le Mans (film)
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Le Mans (1971; director: Lee Katzin) is a film starring Steve McQueen, featuring the actual 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race.
The film is today still popular among race fans as it is a relatively accurate depiction of the era, with a lot of racing but very little dialogue. In fact, the first 38 minutes, showing McQueen's character arrive and the pre-race build-up, does not have any dialogue at all. Due to this, and partly to the American market's general low awareness of the Le Mans 24 Hour race, it was only a moderate success at the box office there.
McQueen had intended to race a Porsche 917 together with Jackie Stewart, but the #26 entry was not accepted. Instead, in the movie, he was shown starting the race on the blue #20 Gulf-Porsche 917K, which in the real race was driven by Jo Siffert and Brian Redman. The race-leading white #25 Porsche 917 "Long tail" was piloted by Vic Elford/Kurt Ahrens.
Main parts of the film were filmed on the circuit during the 14 June 1970 race. The Porsche 908/2 which McQueen had previously co-driven to a second place in the 12 Hours of Sebring was entered by Solar Productions to compete in the race, equipped with heavy movie cameras providing actual racing footage from the track. This #29 camera car, which can be briefly seen in the starting grid covered with a black sheet, was driven by Porsche's Herbert Linge and Johnathon Williams. It travelled 282 laps (3,798 km) and finished the race on 9th position, but it was not classified as it had not covered the required minimum distance due to the stops to change film reels.
Additional footage was shot after the race using genuine racing cars of the day, mainly Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512, painted like the real competitors which staged the main rivalry in the 1970 season, and the film, too. According to the rules, 25 of each sports car had to be built, so enough were available, compared to few if any of the prototype class. In the crash scenes, cheaper Lola T70 chassis were sacrificed, disguised with bodywork of the Porsche and Ferrari.
[edit] Trivia
- David Piper lost part of his lower leg in a crash during the shooting
- A mechanic took one of the 600hp Ferrari 512 cars out on a trip on public roads to make an impression on his girlfriend
- The movie's most memorable quote is, "Racing is life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting". This quote is often attributed to Steve McQueen, but 1950's French racing driver Maurice Trintignant is acknowledged as having said this
