Wednesday 11th April 2012

Lauda 'ring crash recreated for Rush

If you go down to the woods today ... you'll find Hollywood 'remaking' one of the most notorious F1 crashes ever

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This is Niki Lauda's infamous 1976 crash at the Nurburgring GP, as recreated by Ron Howard's crew on the forthcoming Hollywood F1 epic Rush.

Filming has been taking place today

The movie is due to screen next year and is being billed as a biopic following the epic battle between two very different racers; the Austrian perfectionist Niki Lauda and British playboy James Hunt.

It's an amazing season to try to recreate. Howard's crew have come back to the Nurburgring Nordschleife after last September's visit to film some of the movie's most important scenes.

And Lauda's crash and subsequent rescue must rank as one of the most dramatic moments in the movie. The crew shot that scene today, on location at the now-named Lauda Links, with a mixture of real cars and burnable props.

Actors line up for the scene

It's one of the most influential moments in motorsport history. What happened here in a few, fiery minutes changed racing forever.

Ferarri driver Lauda, despite being favourite for the win and the fastest in practice, was trying to push through a boycott of the event right up until the beginning of the race. But a driver's vote failed to bring the result he wanted.

After spending the week highlighting the notorious circuit's dangers and long emergency response times, Niki's car suffered a catastrophic failure on lap two of the race. He ploughed into the guardrail, then bounced back into the path of Brett Lunger's Surtees-Ford. Unlike Lunger he was trapped in the burning wreckage. Lunger, Guy Edwards, Harald Ertl and Arturo Merzario fought to pull the injured Lauda from the flames. Despite slipping into a coma and suffering permanently disfiguring burns, Lauda was back in action just six weeks later.

Authentic cars used for filming

Formula 1 never returned to the Nordschleife again, and the driver's safety council was, at last, taken seriously.

Filming for Rush has also been taking place here in the UK and PistonHeads will be bringing you the inside story from that in the near future, Ron Howard himself regularly tweeting from the set on @RealRonHoward.

 

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[CocoUK]

WOW! WOW! WOW! This film is going to be absolutely captivating, I cannot wait.
Great work with the Blair witch footage!

[Pints]

Gives me shivers watching that.

[Cotty]

Didn't even know they were making this.

I thought there were major problems making a F1 film. Thats why Driven was changed to Indy cars. Ok it a rubbish film but all the caratures are lifted directly from F1 at that time.

[anonymous-user]

My brother in law is an extra in this film!

[Roo]

Cotty said:

Didn't even know they were making this.

Ron Howard regularly tweets pictures of what they've been filmimg during the day.

[Tonymg]

I know a Camra man who is working on this film as well total wow looks like a good film.....

[Alex]

I'm amazed they went to the trouble of filming this scene on location!

[The Danimal]

They've made it look like autumn in the trees and on the ground. Thats the magic of the movies I guess... but I thought it was July/August when Lauda had the accident... oops.

[Stew2000]

Cotty said:

Didn't even know they were making this.

I thought there were major problems making a F1 film. Thats why Driven was changed to Indy cars. Ok it a rubbish film but all the caratures are lifted directly from F1 at that time.

I liked Driven. not great but alright to watch.

[woof]

Pints said:

Gives me shivers watching that.

Fire in a racing still scares the crap out of me.

[Evo]

I work at Dunsfold and they've been doing a fair bit of filming here (luckily my office window looks out over the runway), apparently involving the scene where James Hunt S**gs an air stewardess, may as well get as much use out of the old 747 as possible

[TimJMS]

They may as well recreate Hunt taking a slash on Esther Rantzen while they're at it

[TeaNoSugar]

Tonymg said:

I know a Camra man who is working on this film as well total wow looks like a good film.....

Why would they need a Real Ale expert working on the film?

[williamp]

woof said:

Pints said:

Gives me shivers watching that.

Fire in a racing still scares the crap out of me.

Yes and yes. The speed at which the flames built up were scary, event hough it was all staged, and I guess modern clothing is far better then it was in lauda's day.

[V8 FOU]

TimJMS said:

They may as well recreate Hunt taking a slash on Esther Rantzen while they're at it

Now THAT I would like to see......

Gruesome film though. I wonder if this is a step too far?

[Boonster]

TeaNoSugar said:

Tonymg said:

I know a Camra man who is working on this film as well total wow looks like a good film.....

Why would they need a Real Ale expert working on the film?

You beat me to that one!

[Cotty]

Roo said:

Cotty said:

Didn't even know they were making this.

Ron Howard regularly tweets pictures of what they've been filmimg during the day.

I don't do twitter

[Jame5]

Cotty said:

Roo said:

Cotty said:

Didn't even know they were making this.

Ron Howard regularly tweets pictures of what they've been filmimg during the day.

I don't do twitter

You don't have to (well this link jumps right to the bits you want)... http://twitter.com/#!/RealRonHoward/media/grid

Some interest pictures of the cars used and sets etc.

Popped down to Crystal Palace when they were filming Hunt and Lauda in F3, the paddock set up was crazy!

[V8 GRF]

williamp said:

Yes and yes. The speed at which the flames built up were scary, event hough it was all staged, and I guess modern clothing is far better then it was in lauda's day.

IIRC Laudas helmet came off in the accident which is why his facial burns were so severe. I think he sued AGV.

[dave stew]

The orange marshalls' 911 looks a bit special too!