rec.autos.simulators

Was the movie shot during the GP? If so, were some of the shots like
the helicopter view in Monaco and the overhead shots from Spa real
coverage? To me the incar shots looked too slow. I mean, the cars were
going through the Kink in Spa without having to lift at all.

And what was the deal with Gragham Hill? Was that just a look alike
that played him or was it him. The chap hadn't said a word all movie.
At least I think it was suposed to be Hill, from the mustache and some
photos I have seen of him.

Anyway, the dang movie got me e***d about GPL again. Recently I have
abandoned it a bit since GSB wont work for me no matter what I try.
Plus my TM Spring has gone to the dogs. It jumps all over the place
when I move it just a tad. GP will probably make me want to race
enough to shell out for a TSW> Well, maybe I am not that crazy, but
what are some of the recommendations for a wheel? I am thinking one in
the $100-150 range. What I am looking for, first and foremost, is
precision. The more precise the better. But FF wouldnt hurt either.
Any recommendations?

    The overhead shots are from the 66' season. All the in car shots are F3s
that were redone via hollywood to look like F1s.

     That was the man.

Joel Willstein

Not only is Graham Hill in the film but there are many other GP drivers of
the era sprinkled throughout the picture. A partial list includes, Phil
Hill, Amon, Bandini, Beltois, Bondurandt, Bonnier, Brabham, Fangio, Farina,
Gurney, Ginther, Hulme, Farina, Ligier, Rindt, McLaren, Parkes, Pillete,
Revson, Scarfiotti, Schlesser and Siffert.

I have to recommend the Logitech wheel only because I've used one daily for
a year now with absolutely no problems. I have replaced the pedals and no
longer use the Profiler software from Logitech. I stopped using the profiler
last weekend and won 3 races in a row at Monza against the AI cars,
something I've never been able to do with GPL. Even after using DXTweak to
eliminate the the Windows deadzone, I found that there was still some
vagueness in the steering with the Profiler enabled. As soon as I shut it
off, the little bit of sloppiness in the steering was eliminated and I was
finally able to feel the car and place it where I wanted it to be on the
track. I've dropped my PBLs by at least a full second at each track I've
visited this week<g>.

Good luck with which ever wheel you decide to get and keep practicing!

don

[|]-(_)-[|]

Jim Russell (ex F2 driver and founder of the eponymous drivers' schools,
of course) provided the cars (mostly tarted-up F3s) for the movie "Grand
Prix", as well as all the racing vehicle maintenance and the driver
training. Russell judged Garner as quite good, and felt that if he would
only give up the silly movie business, he could have developed into a
quite competent driver. Yves Montand, Russell thought, was fair. Brian
Bedford was terrified and terrifying, but worst of all, in Russell's
estimation, was Antonio Sbato: after the first session, Russell refused
to let him into any of the cars again, usually handling Sbato's driving
stints himself; he often did Bedford's as well.

My favorite "real driver" turn in the movie is the droll performance by
Graham Hill as the cleverly named "Bob Turner," whose matronly
tut-tutting over the dismal infidelities of Jessica Walter are pure
comedic art...

Little remembered is the fact that the movie won 3 Academy Awards: Best
Sound, Best Sound Effects, and Best Film Editing. I first saw it on my
"honeymoon," which consisted of my new bride and I joining several
friends at the drive-in (!) to smoke dope and watch this fabulous movie.
Ah, sweet bird of youth...

Bart

Incidentally, the director of the film said that James Garner was one of
the few of the actors who was actually capable of driving the cars at
all, the rest were quite hopeless, apparently.
Now I have to see if I've got the tape, I'm curious as well.

As far as if the overhead shots go, I'll have to look further into the
tape.

Carroll Shelby brought Jim Russel in to build the cars, 20-odd Formula
3's (right Joel) and make them look like the appropriate teams' F1 cars.
The film was allowed 15 minutes of track time prior to the practice
session, during which time they shot all the driving/crowd interaction.
Apparently after filming at Monte-Carlo, the director, John
Frankenheimer cut a 30 minute teaser together and showed it to Enzo
Ferrari, who had previously wanted nothing to do with the film,
subsequent to Enzo seeing the teaser, he offered up the full support of
the team and factory! For free no less!

The interesting thing in the "Making of Grand-Prix" documentary though
is seeing Jim Garner circa 1998 describing how he was able to "get away
from" Jochen Rindt who was driving the car  behind him, and Jim claims
all this was done with a camera mounted on the front of his car (Which
at that time would have been no small amount of weight). Jim claims
Jochen told him months after the fact that he had been unable to catch
him! Makes you wonder...

 BTW Darek, try spraying some electrical contact cleaner into the pots
on your TM wheel and moving the levers, wheel vigorously, they get dirty
easily and will produce erratic results when moved even slightly (I
believe these are called "spikes"), maybe your springs are ok?

Dave

--
*****************************************************
David A. Ewing

*****************************************************

The production crew bought a fleet of Formula Junior cars and made them
look a bit more like F1 cars. Although apparently Masta was flat in a
good F1 car back then, but...

It's him. Also you can spot Clark, McLaren, Ginther and a few others in
there too. The meeting at Spa is a good place to see.

--
Cheers!
Graeme Nash

Frankenheimer, who was particularly attracted to accidents, got a real
break during the 1966 running of Spa, as it was one of the most
accident-filled races in GP history. All those aerial shots showing cars
*** half over embankments and spun around in the middle of the road
are of the real race. ALL the distance shots are the real thing --
that's why they did the names and helmets as they did: Jean-Pierre Sarti
(John Surtees) same white helmet with thin blue stripes), Pete Aron
(Chris Amon) same white helmet with red/white/blue scallop, Scott
Stoddard (Jackie Stewart -- Scot, get it?), white helmet with tartan
band -- without spooling up one of my copies, I forget who Antonio
Sbato was supposed to be: Bandini, I guess, as Ferrari's only other
factory drivers in '66 were Parkes (white helmet with red/white
diagonals in band) and Scarfiotti (who knows).

One of my favorite stories about the movie is the one Graham Hill told
about seeing a private screening of the rough cut -- at one point, in
the midst of a crash scene, Hill instinctively ducked down into his
theatre seat, to the amu***t of the other drivers watching the
screening.

If you have Speedvision, watch for them to re-run their "Grand Prix"
Special Edition, which, as James has mentioned, is intercut with
interviews and behind the scenes footage -- totally cool...

BB

BB

|
| >Hey, just sitting here watching Grand Prix. Just a gew questions...
| >
| >Was the movie shot during the GP? If so, were some of the shots like
| >the helicopter view in Monaco and the overhead shots from Spa real
| >coverage? To me the incar shots looked too slow. I mean, the cars were
| >going through the Kink in Spa without having to lift at all.
|
| Parts of the film were shot during during GP weekends, mostly backround
and
| crowd shots. All of the in-car and car to car shots were setup shots
filmed
| with cast-off F1 cars and rebodied F2 chassis. Garner did much of his own
| driving, much to the dismay of his insurance company, while Brian Bedford
| was terribly afraid of the cars. The majority of his in-car shots were
done
| by towing the car around a circuit behind a camera truck or with a stunt
| driver, notice he always drove with his face covered, it could have been
| anyone in his car<g>.
|
| >And what was the deal with Gragham Hill? Was that just a look alike
| >that played him or was it him. The chap hadn't said a word all movie.
| >At least I think it was suposed to be Hill, from the mustache and some
| >photos I have seen of him.
|
| Not only is Graham Hill in the film but there are many other GP drivers of
| the era sprinkled throughout the picture. A partial list includes, Phil
| Hill, Amon, Bandini, Beltois, Bondurandt, Bonnier, Brabham, Fangio,
Farina,
| Gurney, Ginther, Hulme, Farina, Ligier, Rindt, McLaren, Parkes, Pillete,
| Revson, Scarfiotti, Schlesser and Siffert.
|
|
| >Anyway, the dang movie got me e***d about GPL again. Recently I have
| >abandoned it a bit since GSB wont work for me no matter what I try.
| >Plus my TM Spring has gone to the dogs. It jumps all over the place
| >when I move it just a tad. GP will probably make me want to race
| >enough to shell out for a TSW> Well, maybe I am not that crazy, but
| >what are some of the recommendations for a wheel? I am thinking one in
| >the $100-150 range. What I am looking for, first and foremost, is
| >precision. The more precise the better. But FF wouldnt hurt either.
| >Any recommendations?
|
| I have to recommend the Logitech wheel only because I've used one daily
for
| a year now with absolutely no problems. I have replaced the pedals and no
| longer use the Profiler software from Logitech. I stopped using the
profiler
| last weekend and won 3 races in a row at Monza against the AI cars,
| something I've never been able to do with GPL. Even after using DXTweak to
| eliminate the the Windows deadzone, I found that there was still some
| vagueness in the steering with the Profiler enabled. As soon as I shut it
| off, the little bit of sloppiness in the steering was eliminated and I was
| finally able to feel the car and place it where I wanted it to be on the
| track. I've dropped my PBLs by at least a full second at each track I've
| visited this week<g>.
|
| Good luck with which ever wheel you decide to get and keep practicing!
|
| don
|
| [|]-(_)-[|]
|
|
|
|