The Best Racing Movie Ever

Rating: 9/10 (25 February 2014)

I've been to the German Grand Prix and driven the Nürburgring. I've known drivers and racing directors. When Niki Lauda told the BRM guys the car was too heavy, it gave me a chill. When I hung around BRM, they were struggling to develop a new motor. They came up with a contraption called an H-15. It was massive, and it was heavy. The Nürburgring is not just dangerous, it wrecks cars with its dips and rolls. A heavy car bottoms out and destroys its undercarriage, and sure enough...well, so much for BRM. The H-15 was before this story. Obviously, BRM never learned their lesson.
Of course, there's the human element. I've often thought that bullfighters and race car drivers are the only successors to the gladiators. The personal and professional rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt reveals the mentality behind men who flirt with violent death. For one it's a means to an end, for the other it's the end in itself. And this is the hub of the story.
Rush is the real thing. It is simply the best racing movie ever made. It's a crime that it wasn't nominated for an Oscar.