Wednesday 16th February 2011

Bullitt: The Remake (Scalextric-Style)

A 32nd of the size, but is it only one 32nd as good...?

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The world of movies is saturated with remakes at the moment, with everything from Star Trek to True Grit getting the treatment. And now it's the turn of Steve McQueen car-chase classic Bullitt.

Except that this is a remake with a twist, because it's being done in stop motion by a chap with more attention to detail than seems healthy. Using 1:32-scale slot cars.

Is it possibly the geekiest thing ever? Yes. Is it so geeky it's actually quite cool? Er, maybe... we're intrigued either way.

In true movie style, only the trailer has been released so far, but its cracking V8 soundtrack, suitably mean bad guys and evocative San Francisco backdrop have got us eager to see the finished product.

We have only one question: What are a Lotus Cortina and a Starsky-and-Hutch Gran Torino doing in 1960s San Francisco...?

 

 

[anonymous-user]

Don't remember it being that slow and choppy.

[JumpinJack]

I wish I had that much free time to spare.

[pozi]

I wish they did it properly instead of just using stop motion photography.

[James Dean]

Was the Ford Cortina really sold in the US and A?

[Agoogy]

If you keep playing the next YouTube video, there are some awesome builds...

[B10]

James Dean said:

Was the Ford Cortina really sold in the US and A?

It is also RHD and has a UK number plate.

[wab172uk]

JumpinJack said:

I wish I had that much free time to spare.

Me too.

[mattviatura]

I'm going to ask a question now that I've always wanted to know the answer to.

I realise it's something I probably should know.

Why does the Mustang "revrev" between gear changes?

[Jackass]

I'm sure it was just so you knew it was manual.

[DanS]

brilliant!

[James Dean]

B10 said:

James Dean said:

Was the Ford Cortina really sold in the US and A?

It is also RHD and has a UK number plate.

Ah, that explains it, I missed that.

[Dangermouse78]

IIRC the Cortina wasn't sold Stateside however the Lotus version was exported

[Spudler]

Dangermouse78 said:

IIRC the Cortina wasn't sold Stateside however the Lotus version was exported

I remember seeing an Austin 1100 many many years ago in the States.

Shouldn't the Beetle be green?

[Ray Singh]

How many hub caps did they get through during the re-make of this.?

[Gandi69]

Not even a 32nd as good. If its animated why use slot cars?

[Root Ginger]

mattviatura said:

I'm going to ask a question now that I've always wanted to know the answer to.

I realise it's something I probably should know.

Why does the Mustang "revrev" between gear changes?

He's double declutching presumably because the manual gearbox on the Mustang had no synchromesh. So engage clutch, shift to neutral, declutch, rev, engage clutch, shift to next gear, balance revs, declutch.

[E36GUY]

pozi said:

I wish they did it properly instead of just using stop motion photography.

Quite. If they're using stop motion then why do you need slot cars?

[SC00P]

Currently this video is a slot car recreation of a man driving down a street at normal speeds and spinning his wheels a bit?

I've never seen Bullitt, but the hype always made the chase sequence out to be a bit better than that.

Wake me up when the proper version's complete.

[mattviatura]

Root Ginger said:

He's double declutching presumably because the manual gearbox on the Mustang had no synchromesh. declutch.

On an upshift?

And why two 'blips'?

[Crow555]

mattviatura said:

I'm going to ask a question now that I've always wanted to know the answer to.

I realise it's something I probably should know.

Why does the Mustang "revrev" between gear changes?

The same happens in Vanishing point as well when Kowalski stops to pick up the newly married "couple" in the desert. As he's taking off, he double-blips the accelerator, presumably as mentioned above to do with double-clutching.