Ron filming at "The Ring"

A while back I wrote a piece on the best motorsports film ever, Steve McQueen's epic "Le Mans". Senna's documentary should also be way up there, although I have yet to see it. The point that I am trying to make, but failing miserably at it, is that good motorsports films are very rare.

Amazingly there is another good motorsports film in the making. The guys at PistonSpy have seen renowned film-maker Ron Howard at Germany's Nurburgring shooting another period F1 racing movie.

"Rush" as the movie is called chronicles the 1976 F1 season-long battle between Austria's Nikki Lauda and Britain's James Hunt. This is the same year that saw Lauda's massive crackup at the German GP, a crash that almost cost him his life. He severed his right ear and suffered facial burns. If it hadn't been for his three of his fellow competitors he would have surely died in the wreckage. However, the resilient Lauda would return just two races later and storm back into the points chase in pursuit of james Hunt and his McLaren.

Below you can see a in-period video footage of the fiery crash after the jump. Ironically, Lauda voiced his concern over the lack of runoff and tried to boycott the race, but he couldn't get the other drivers onboard. Reluctantly he suited up and got in his car.



I will follow the making of "Rush" closely and report back with any news.

Source: PistonSpy