video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2851488008488190547.... i just tried this link and it did not work google "lelouch" this is a video of a Ferrari driving thru Paris at speds up to 140 MPH in 1978...

 

"On an August morning in 1978, French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a ... all » 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.

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 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.

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 until a DVD release a few years ago."

 

Thanks Rick... I do a poor job of this kind of thing... but the video is very cool

 

I just saw a thread on this video last week - I thought it was on NAM. Anyway, there was a lot of debate about this video - was it really a Ferrari (many say it was really a Mercedes), was the film sped up, and why did he dub a soundtrack over the real noise. I say, "whatever - the video is great!"

 

authenticity came to my mind as I watched it but I also enjoyed " Jurrasic Park" who knows...it's cool

 

The name of the film is C'etait un Rendezvous and you can buy it from several different places.

 

 

A few years back when I was still in school, my instructor ended class early, took us to the school's screening room and blasted this short on the big screen. Absolutely magnificent!

 

I own the DVD and see no evidence that that the soundrack was overdubbed, although I've read analyses purporting that it was. On the contrary, there are a couple of obvious mis-shifts and the like, which suggest authenticity. The DVD title sequence (in French) says that no form of technical trickery was used.

The whole point of this film was that a car-mounted gyro-stabilized camera had been recently developed and used on Lelouche's famous racing film "A Man and a Woman" (with Jean-Louis Trintingnant, Anouk Aimée). He then mounted it on his personal Ferrari and made this short film, whose running length was limited by the 35mm film cartridge capacity of the camera.

The car used was supposed to be a Ferrari 365 GTB4 (Daytona),but you never see it so it's hard to say for sure. It's certainly a 12-cylinder engine with carbs, and since the Daytona was produced from 1968 to 1973 that fits well enough. I remember riding in a friend's 365 GTB4 in the early 70's, and trust me, it was an impressive experience.

But in the end I'm with Rick: "whatever - the video is great!"

Neil
05 MCS
96 M3

 

You guys need to spend more time on MotoringFile:
http://motoringfile.com/2005/11/15/c...n-rendez-vous/

 

You mean, this isn't how you guys drive to work every day?

 

Isn't that how everyone drives their MINI? Or at least would snas laws and traffic? Its a nice find, but I want to know how to make a mount like that, seems like a very good angle for the twisties.

 

And if I'd bothered to refresh my memory from the DVD liner notes I'd have been able to identify the car correctly as a Ferrari 275 GTB. No word on whether it's the GTB2 or the more desirable GTB4. Not that I'd kick either one of them out of my garage...

Neil
05 MCS
96 M3

 

However here's an interesting turn-up for the books. Despite the legend, and despite the DVD liner notes, the car was in fact a Mercedes 6.9 sedan, and the driver was Lelouch himself.

I stumbled on this info while Googling the subject. On this page: <http://www.axe-net.be/rdv/presentation.php> there's a lengthy interview taken from a book about him called "Claude Lelouch, mode d'emploi" (Claude Lelouch, instructions for use"). There's even a photo of the camera on the MB's front bumper. This same explanation is also to be found on the offical Lelouch web site at <http://www.lesfilms13.com/touslesfilms/touslesfilms.htm>.

Note that these are both all in French and are too long for me to translate in full here.

Lelouch explains that he drove while one helper controlled the camera from inside the car, and another used a walkie-talkie to communicate with a spotter at the arches through the Louvre, the most dangerous part of the drive. The spotter would warn them if there was other traffic. Only afterward did they find out the the walkie-talkie wasn't working at all, but they lucked out!

The film was shot in one continuous take on open public streets very early in the morning in August 1976. Speed up the Avenue Foch (at the beginning, toward the Arc de Triomphe) was between 150 and 180 kph, but down by the Seine and a couple of other places he was hitting 200 kph (about 125 mph).

Lelouch explains that they checked into getting permits and having the streets closed off, but found that they'd have to shut down half of Paris at enormous cost, all to do 9 minute short. So he just decided to do it anyway.

He says: "'C'était un rendez-vous' a toujours suscité la polémique, mais il montre aussi tout ce qu'on aime dans le cinéma. Comme j'aime le cinéma plus que la loi..." Translated: "'C'était un rendez-vous' has always aroused strong reactions, but it also displays the things we love best in the cinema. And since I love the cinema more than the law..."

Neil
05 MCS
96 M3