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Old 5 Apr 2006, 23:35 (Ref:1571834)   #12
thebear
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85mi S. of Daytona, 125mi NE of Sebring
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thebear should be qualifying in the top 10 on the gridthebear should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
The "Triumph of lelouche"

Please don't try this at home. In fact please don't try this anywhere.

On an early August morning in 1978, French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend, a professional Formula 1 racer, drive at breakneck speed through the heart of Paris. The film was limited for technical reasons to 10 minutes; the course was from Porte Dauphine, through the Louvre, to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur. [It's shot in the very early hours, so it helps a bit of you know the geography, as it's darkish in places. I reckon he must have hit 6th on the Champs Elysee, because he's really flogging it down there.]

No streets were closed, for Lelouch was unable to obtain a permit.

The driver completed the course in about 9 minutes, reaching nearly 140 MPH (260 km/h) in some stretches. The footage reveals him running real red lights, nearly hitting real pedestrians, and driving the wrong way up real one-way streets. [It is also a tribute to the speed with which a sleepy early-morning pigeon can react - and an hommage to those that didn't make it]

Upon showing the film in public for the first time, Lelouch was arrested. He has never revealed the identity of the driver, and the film went underground on VHS tape until a DVD release (c'etait une rendezvous) a few years ago.

Turn up your sound for this... and buckle up. Oh, and it's not been messed with, speeded up and whatnot. Totally insane, but entertaining (unless you were one of the pidgeons).



P.S. The word is it was Gilles Villeneuve. It figures.

There is a companion thread HERE on 10-10ths and the google link will be posted there as well.

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