Champions Forever, The Formula One Drivers

[Wheel-Nut]

Did anyone catch this on SpeedTV last evening? I only caught bits and pieces, it looked interesting. Is this show something old or is it new? Anyone have any info?

[racer2c]

Funny you should mention it. I was going to post a thread on that show also. It was really good. Very dramatic. I kept thinking that if anyone can talk Hollywood into doing another race movie (thanks Sly), they need to do a period peice with the same sort of 'feel' as the footage showed. Nothing beats that early 70's shick. Over the top cars. Huge sideburns. Danger at every turn. Way cool.

[mnkywrch]

We figured out on TF that the number to order the DVD or VHS was

866-326-2268

It's also the 1977 version of the film, which is the same as what Speed Channel has been showing.

There's the 'original' 1973 version, but no idea the differences.

[datachicane]

The 1973 version is/was called 'The Quick and The Dead'.
Same film, same interminable Stacy Keach narration, except for the gorier sequences that were mercifully cut from 'Champions Forever'.

'Champions Forever' is pretty cool, but true racefans will keep moving along- nothing more to see here.

[mnkywrch]

Waitasec.

They cut gore from Champions Forever?

:eek:

It had too much gore for me, really. Coulda done without seeing the marshal getting struck.

I enjoyed it because, well, it's one of the few windows I have into an era of F1 that occurred before my birth.

[racer2c]

Originally posted by datachicane
The 1973 version is/was called 'The Quick and The Dead'.
Same film, same interminable Stacy Keach narration, except for the gorier sequences that were mercifully cut from 'Champions Forever'.

'Champions Forever' is pretty cool, but true racefans will keep moving along- nothing more to see here.

You know what they say about turning your back on history.

[DaveL]

It's a great documentary. I watch it whenever it is on.

If you knew nothing about what happened that day at Zandvoort, just watch David Purley as he tries to rescue Roger Williamson. It's a scene of true tragedy and heroism.

[Kate]

Cevert was my first major crush in racing. I was horrified when he was killed -- and you are very fortunate you didn't see how he died. Jody Scheckter, who used to drive with the to-hell-with-you-all abandon of Michael Schumacher, was the first one on the scene (Cevert being his teammate) and he said that stopped him forever from driving like that because it was the first time he realised that he could die in a racing car.

Imagine that when you tuned into the first race of a season in the 1970s and early 80s, you could guarantee that two of those drivers at least would not be alive by the last race. We were almost afraid to commit to a driver in case he was the next one to go. However, Mario said that one just got used to it and thought "Well there's another one I don't have to get past." Unless you were Jackie Stewart, who walked away after Cevert was killed and never drove again.

I'm glad they show this video so the people who think F1 started in 1994 can see what it was like when motor racing truly WAS dangerous.

[Cam]

There was a program many years ago, (ummm... Mid-80s) called "Gentlemen Lift Your Skirts"

It was about what the teams had to do after the FIA banned the rubber skirting around the tob of the car that Williams used very effectively when he was running Alan Jones....

Alan Jones was testing the new car.... Without the skirt. He came into the pits and FW asked how it was. AJ said the ride was really harsh. FW told him to sit on his wallet. :eek:

[Kate]

If you've seen Alan Jones lately, he would not have that problem now. Of course they'd have to widen the car ...

I visited Donington Park when the ELMS ran there and saw the museum filled with cars that look like F1 cars should look. You should go there if you ever get the chance. It's amazing that they used to race such truly unsafe bullets without apparently giving it a second thought.

[DjDrOmusic]

I witnessed the Cevert crash...it was absolutely chilling. I remember Jody stopping his McLaren and running across the track to see if he could help, and then saw him run back towards his car waving his hands in the air. At the time Cevert and Scheckter and just had a run in at Mosport the weekend before that almost came to blows in the pits, so him being first on the scene really seemed to be ironic, but the irony was really made evident when it was learned that Scheckter was signed to become Cevert's teamate for the next season at Tyrrell. The Quick and the Dead was originally titled "Bloodsport" and the first time I had seen the movie was on HBO, and yes it was quite gory.

[mapguy]

Originally posted by Kate
Jody Scheckter, who used to drive with the to-hell-with-you-all abandon of Michael Schumacher, was the first one on the scene (Cevert being his teammate)

:saywhat: Jackie Stewart was his teammate.

[TrueBrit]

Originally posted by mapguy
:saywhat: Jackie Stewart was his teammate.

I thought so too...

[DjDrOmusic]

Originally posted by mapguy
:saywhat: Jackie Stewart was his teammate.

Yes he was, I have many vivid memories from that day, one of which was Stewart slowing to a crawl as he went past the accident scene and watching him put his head down a bit. It was the last time anyone sitting in that section saw him in his race car, as Ken Tyrrell withdrew the team out of respect to Cevert. Tyrrell had entered three cars for the weekend, adding Chris Amon to the team for both Canada and The Glen. I miss that aspect of F1, when a team would add a car or a privateer could buy a year old car and enter a Grand Prix. It made for some unique stories.

[Kate]

Sorry, Scheckter was "going to be" his teammate -- that's what I should have said. Stewart was his mentor as well as teammate and fully intended that Cevert would take up right where he (Stewart) left off.

Incidentally, even knowing what happened to him, I do enjoy that little scene of Cevert getting into his pretties right in front of the camera and the congregation ... you aren't going to see any of the modern guys doing that (nor would I want to.)