Le Mans ‘66, Ford vs. Ferrari - movie

Le Mans ‘66, Ford vs. Ferrari - movie

Author
Discussion

CooperD

2,852 posts

176 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
Watched it yesterday with a work colleague who's not really in to cars or motor racing but he thoroughly enjoyed it as did I. Great acting and the motor racing scenes were very creditable.

Alex

9,975 posts

283 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
irocfan said:
and some interesting LM facts 'n' figures...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_24_hours_of_...
I found these stats quite amusing:

Youngest driver to start a race 16 years 202 days United States Matt McMurry (2014)
Oldest driver to start a race 68 years 110 days South Africa Jack Gerber (2013)
Youngest driver to finish a race 16 years, 203 days United States Matt McMurry (2014)
Oldest driver to finish a race 68 years, 111 days South Africa Jack Gerber (2013)

irocfan

40,155 posts

189 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
yikes

Most Time in the car during 24 hours 24 hours United Kingdom Edward Ramsden Hall in 1950
Most Time in the car during 24 hours for a winner 23 h 15 min 17s France Louis Rosier in 1950

unsprung

5,467 posts

123 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
irocfan said:
yikes

Most Time in the car during 24 hours 24 hours United Kingdom Edward Ramsden Hall in 1950
Most Time in the car during 24 hours for a winner 23 h 15 min 17s France Louis Rosier in 1950
holy f*** !!

figures that are simply insane, with or without use of medication


unsprung

5,467 posts

123 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all


In the off chance you're across the Pond on Saturday, there is a related event in Philadelphia. Cars will be started and driven outdoors in front of the gathered attendees. Admission is $12.00.

"...Saturday, November 23rd will now include...

1958 Aston Martin DBR1
1959 Ferrari 250 GT Interim Berlinetta
1963 Ferrari 250P
1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe
1965 Shelby Cobra 289 Roadster
1966 Ford GT40 MK II
1967 Ford GT40 MK IV"

event details
https://www.simeonemuseum.org/next-demo-day/ford-v...





Rick_1138

3,656 posts

177 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
Going to see it at the local independent tomorrow lunchtime while my sister in law is visitng us and new baby.

Nice quiet afternoon with cars smile

nicanary

9,751 posts

145 months

Tuesday 19th November 2019
quotequote all
unsprung said:
irocfan said:
yikes

Most Time in the car during 24 hours 24 hours United Kingdom Edward Ramsden Hall in 1950
Most Time in the car during 24 hours for a winner 23 h 15 min 17s France Louis Rosier in 1950
holy f*** !!

figures that are simply insane, with or without use of medication
The authorities stopped the practice in 1953. The new rule was no more than 18 hours (!). There was also Luigi Chinetti who drove to victory in 1949 in a Ferrari owned by Lord Selsdon, who probably only drove for 20 minutes or so. Then in 1952 was the famous drive by "Levegh" in his Talbot-Lago who took on the works Mercedes team and nearly beat them - it's probable that fatigue caused him to wreck the gearbox in the 24th hour.

thegreenhell

15,115 posts

218 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
I watched this yesterday on the local Odeon iSense big screen.

Wow, the full compliment of Hollywood racing cliches was deployed in this one:
  • Racing at 200mph, but apparently still only on half throttle, so able to floor it to pass rivals.
  • Rivals side-by-side at 200mph having an extended staring contest rather than looking where they're going.
  • Rubbin' is racin' - ramming another car off the track into a fiery crash and then laughing. But it's okay because he was a German ahole.
  • Cars dramatically flipping and exploding instead of just spinning.
  • Cars supposedly racing in neat 2x2 formation so that our hero can weave dramatically between them with exaggerated steering movements.
Then I started to slip into pedantic dick mode, and spotted a few other things:
  • In the boardroom where Iaccocca was trying to convince them to go racing, he showed a slide of the Goldfinger DB5 as an example of appealing to youth culture, but Goldfinger wasn't released until more than a year after that meeting could have taken place.
  • When the suits went to visit Ferrari in early '63, there was a 275 GTB parked outside, again more than two years ahead of its time. Parked nearby was a an obvious 250 California replica kitcar.
  • Inside the Ferrari race shop, still in early '63, they were already working on the '66 P3s, while still also working on the 1958 F1 cars. There was also what looked like a Datsun 240Z-based GTO fibreglass replica in there.
  • Shelby wasn't immune from the modern replicas either, with at least one Daytona Coupe on show with modern 18 inch wheels and low profile tyres.
  • The Ferraris at Le Mans were shown with rear-hinged engine covers, like the GT40s, but they should have been front-hinged.
  • What happened to 1965? They built the cars in a hurry in '64 and failed at Le Mans that year, but they skipped the part where they went back in '65 and failed again.
Overall it was more Herbie Goes Bananas than Steve McQueen's Le Mans.

On the positive side, Bale was excellent as the Ken Miles caricature, and now I really want an early narrow-bodied 289 Cobra.

jl34

523 posts

236 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
thegreenhell said:
I watched this yesterday on the local Odeon iSense big screen.

Wow, the full compliment of Hollywood racing cliches was deployed in this one:
  • Racing at 200mph, but apparently still only on half throttle, so able to floor it to pass rivals.
  • Rivals side-by-side at 200mph having an extended staring contest rather than looking where they're going.
  • Rubbin' is racin' - ramming another car off the track into a fiery crash and then laughing. But it's okay because he was a German ahole.
  • Cars dramatically flipping and exploding instead of just spinning.
  • Cars supposedly racing in neat 2x2 formation so that our hero can weave dramatically between them with exaggerated steering movements.
Then I started to slip into pedantic dick mode, and spotted a few other things:
  • In the boardroom where Iaccocca was trying to convince them to go racing, he showed a slide of the Goldfinger DB5 as an example of appealing to youth culture, but Goldfinger wasn't released until more than a year after that meeting could have taken place.
  • When the suits went to visit Ferrari in early '63, there was a 275 GTB parked outside, again more than two years ahead of its time. Parked nearby was a an obvious 250 California replica kitcar.
  • Inside the Ferrari race shop, still in early '63, they were already working on the '66 P3s, while still also working on the 1958 F1 cars. There was also what looked like a Datsun 240Z-based GTO fibreglass replica in there.
  • Shelby wasn't immune from the modern replicas either, with at least one Daytona Coupe on show with modern 18 inch wheels and low profile tyres.
  • The Ferraris at Le Mans were shown with rear-hinged engine covers, like the GT40s, but they should have been front-hinged.
  • What happened to 1965? They built the cars in a hurry in '64 and failed at Le Mans that year, but they skipped the part where they went back in '65 and failed again.
Overall it was more Herbie Goes Bananas than Steve McQueen's Le Mans.

On the positive side, Bale was excellent as the Ken Miles caricature, and now I really want an early narrow-bodied 289 Cobra.
Well observed, I spotted quite a few of those too!

DId you notice the speeded up film when the cars went round the corners lol! ?

I was baffled by the car just turning up off a plane from England when Shelby had apparently been designing it .. He designed next to bugger all.




Fastchas

2,640 posts

120 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
thegreenhell said:
I watched this yesterday on the local Odeon iSense big screen.

Wow, the full compliment of Hollywood racing cliches was deployed in this one:
  • Racing at 200mph, but apparently still only on half throttle, so able to floor it to pass rivals.
  • Rivals side-by-side at 200mph having an extended staring contest rather than looking where they're going.
  • Rubbin' is racin' - ramming another car off the track into a fiery crash and then laughing. But it's okay because he was a German ahole.
  • Cars dramatically flipping and exploding instead of just spinning.
  • Cars supposedly racing in neat 2x2 formation so that our hero can weave dramatically between them with exaggerated steering movements.
Then I started to slip into pedantic dick mode, and spotted a few other things:
  • In the boardroom where Iaccocca was trying to convince them to go racing, he showed a slide of the Goldfinger DB5 as an example of appealing to youth culture, but Goldfinger wasn't released until more than a year after that meeting could have taken place.
  • When the suits went to visit Ferrari in early '63, there was a 275 GTB parked outside, again more than two years ahead of its time. Parked nearby was a an obvious 250 California replica kitcar.
  • Inside the Ferrari race shop, still in early '63, they were already working on the '66 P3s, while still also working on the 1958 F1 cars. There was also what looked like a Datsun 240Z-based GTO fibreglass replica in there.
  • Shelby wasn't immune from the modern replicas either, with at least one Daytona Coupe on show with modern 18 inch wheels and low profile tyres.
  • The Ferraris at Le Mans were shown with rear-hinged engine covers, like the GT40s, but they should have been front-hinged.
  • What happened to 1965? They built the cars in a hurry in '64 and failed at Le Mans that year, but they skipped the part where they went back in '65 and failed again.
Overall it was more Herbie Goes Bananas than Steve McQueen's Le Mans.

On the positive side, Bale was excellent as the Ken Miles caricature, and now I really want an early narrow-bodied 289 Cobra.
Wow, full nerd mode! biggrin

thegreenhell

15,115 posts

218 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
Fastchas said:
Wow, full nerd mode! biggrin
I can't help it. I wore my best anorak to the theatre.

Halmyre

11,148 posts

138 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
thegreenhell said:
I watched this yesterday on the local Odeon iSense big screen.

Wow, the full compliment of Hollywood racing cliches was deployed in this one:
  • Racing at 200mph, but apparently still only on half throttle, so able to floor it to pass rivals.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're following the car in front closely, you can back off the accelerator a bit and get towed along in its wake (slipstreaming). At an opportune moment you can floor the accelerator, pull out from the slipstream and (hopefully) overtake. Maybe not quite how it's portrayed in the film, though.

Bright Halo

2,950 posts

234 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
I haven’t even seen it yet but it sounds like Christian Bale has put in a great performance.
He has to be one of the most underrated actors of our time.
Hostiles was not a very good film but his acting was exceptional and made it worth watching.

David87

6,648 posts

211 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
Going to see it on Monday. Hope I'll be allowed in after arriving in a Tesla. hehe

I really like Fords and am not keen on Ferraris, so hoping that Ford will win the race. wink

cuprabob

14,421 posts

213 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
Halmyre said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're following the car in front closely, you can back off the accelerator a bit and get towed along in its wake (slipstreaming). At an opportune moment you can floor the accelerator, pull out from the slipstream and (hopefully) overtake. Maybe not quite how it's portrayed in the film, though.
As demonstated in "Days of Thunder" smile

irocfan

40,155 posts

189 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
David87 said:
Going to see it on Monday. Hope I'll be allowed in after arriving in a Tesla. hehe

I really like Fords and am not keen on Ferraris, so hoping that Ford will win the race. wink
you won't be allowed in having not used dino-juice to get there hehe

Adam B

27,142 posts

253 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
Halmyre said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're following the car in front closely, you can back off the accelerator a bit and get towed along in its wake (slipstreaming). At an opportune moment you can floor the accelerator, pull out from the slipstream and (hopefully) overtake. Maybe not quite how it's portrayed in the film, though.
A lot of the overtaking is after a prolonged period of side by side (of course whilst they look at each other and scowl), then another gear is found

dr_gn

16,140 posts

183 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
I went to see it in iMAX last night. I liked it. OK, there’s way too much downshifting after the red line (and some weird stuff about 7000 rpm), throttle pedals being pressed, unexplained surges of acceleration, and sideways glances between drivers (as I assumed there would be to be fair). Maybe the director should have watched this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8By2AEsGAhU&fb...

...if it's so essential to see a foot on a pedal. I'm not sure how reality would have detracted from the film here.

If you can accept that though, then I thought it was a really enjoyable film. My 12 year old son liked it too. Didn’t seem like 2 1/2 hours. I didn’t know anything about Ken Miles, and it prompted me to read a bit about him, and Le Mans ‘66. I thought the end was all a but contrived, but it appears to be not too far fetched...I dug this book out that was my Dads - I wish I’d have read it all before watching the film.




TypeR

1,122 posts

238 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
I watched this yesterday with my Le Mans travel buddy. I wasn’t expecting it to be too accurate or factual. It was 2 plus hours of fun. For facts, I watched 24 hour war on Netflix when I got home.
I’d never heard of Ken Miles before, he reminded me a lot of Guy Martin. Passionate racer, mechanic, slightly oddball and a constant cup of tea on the go.
Catrina Baldrick who play Mrs Miles is a bit scrummy too.
Overall I’d give it 8/10

cuprabob

14,421 posts

213 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
quotequote all
TypeR said:
Catrina Baldrick who play Mrs Miles is a bit scrummy too.
Overall I’d give it 8/10
Caitriona Balfe - I couldn't work out where I recognised her from therefore I had to look her up and discovered it was Outlander.