TV Series Based Upon Le Mans in the 50s and 60s...

You read that right - a TV series based upon Le Mans in the 1950s and 1960s. We did a double-take on this, but it's true and the team assembled is the real deal. Brothers Ridley and Tony Scott (Gladiators, American Gangster...) will produce the show and the money behind it is equally impressive.

The show will be based upon a book by a SCD contributor, Wallace Wyss. The book is called "Shelby: The Man, The Cars, The Legend."

We interviewed Wally about the book and his involvement. Included is the press release from the studio.

http://www.sportscardigest.com/le-mans-tv-series-drama-the-drivers/

 

Interesting topic but in general 'the Hollywood crowd' doesn't handle automotive stuff very well. Still there have been a few notable exceptions to the rule.
Brock Yates got into the Cobra early on. He did the test drive of a Shelby 427 Cobra back in 1965 for Car & Driver magazine. The 427 had 485HP in car with a curb weight of 2529 pounds. Zero to sixty in 4.3 seconds was quick back then. The Cobra was difficult to launch with zero to sixty times varying from 4.2 to 4.6 seconds in 4 tries.
The other car tested a 1966 427 Corvette ran zero to sixty in 5.4 seconds with a curb weight of 3160 pounds. It to was difficult to drive with the zero to sixty time varying from 5.2 to 5.7 on 4 runs.
CH

 

For us Ferrari-people, the Le Mans races of the late fifties and early sixties are right up our alley! But I suppose very difficult to do it justice in the format of a TV-series.

 

OK, then you will be interested to hear that at the recent Sundance Film Festival a documentary on the life of Ayrton Senna was being peddled, and it was getting rave reviews even from reviewers who didn't know squat about racing. I have no idea if or to whom it might have been sold, but keep your eyes peeled.

 

Who's going to provide all the vintage Ferrari, Jaguars, Astons, and everything else, for the series?

 

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I'm betting it won't be broadcast in the US.

 

If the emphasis is mainly on Shelby, it might turn out to be the only country to air it.

Let's see, it'll be one big job to pull this off properly, I for one am eager to see the result!

 

Was this made into a video, or just in print?

George

 

How do you think they'll cast this one? I'm seeing the kids from beverly hills 90210, but set in the 50's. Luke Perry, of course, would be Shelby.


(sorry, I'm fresh out of current pop culture references)

I could see this going soooo wrong but have high hopes...
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What network would pick it up? I don't see it going prime time. SpeedTV.. not a chance, unless Richard Petty appeared in each episode. Discovery's HD Theater would be about the only candidate to possibly air such progamming, since they've developed somewhat of an enthusiast fanbase.

 

Hello George, video would be a great idea but unfortunately just in print. It is the November 1965 cover date - Car and Driver magazine.
Included in the issue is 'Hot Ride at Riverside by Brock Yates. Ken Miles was there to help Brock Yates get up to speed driving a Ford GT 40 Roadster, one of only three that existed at that time. Riverside was a warm 104F that day and Brock Yates almost melted when driving the GT 40 with the Santa Ana blowing in lots of humidity...
CH

 

Thank you. I would love to read it. I'll ad it to the list of to do's.

George

 

I have heard that both "The Art of Racing in the Rain" and "Drive Like Hell" (the GT40 story) have been optioned as films. Not holding my breath that either does justice to the sport but it sure would be cool to see Ken Miles cast as the hero he was...

 

Wow, that was easy. The internet is wonderful. Scroll down the link and you can download the Cobra story. The second page of this link has the 20 year on comparison between the GTO and GTO with Gurney. Great stuff.

George

 

Good to know it's still out there to be found!
Car and Driver was big on comparison tests. Some of the car companies took the challenge very seriously. In 1966 they did a comparison test of 6 muscle cars. Three cars arrived stock and the other 3 were 'performance enhanced' with some subtle and not so subtle modifications. All done in the hope of securing a victory over their competitors the magazine had chosen.
CH

 

Gladiators, American Gangster. Oh, boy. Vintage LeMans and CGI, can't wait.
Perhaps we'll appreciate Driven a bit more after this.

 

Visually Scott's movies are fantastic. I am very hopeful this will turn out well.

George

 

"Wyss: I don’t know, I haven’t seen a script. But I think by reading the production companies’ descriptions, the only thing you can be sure about is that it’s going to be a drama about racers, and they could be real people depicted or fictional characters, basically whatever they want."



A drama with fictional characters and situations, because the world of international racing in the 50s and 60s was actually quite dull, and the drivers and teams uninteresting. Will there be aliens?

 

Maybe not but keep an eye out for the DVD. just one man's opinion tongascrew

 

A.J. Baime's book Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, And Their Battle For Speed And Glory At Le Mans has been picked up by 20th Century Fox and developed into at least the scriptwriting phase.

Producer Lucas Foster (Crimson Tide, Mr. And Mrs. Smith, Man On Fire) commented on Adam Carolla's podcast last year saying he was approaching Brad Pitt, Josh Brolin, Matt Damon, Eric Bana and Daniel Day-Lewis for the film and claimed he was looking for a director at that point.

He also said that he wanted to make the film "from the driver's perspective" and that he wanted to bring the experience of going 200mph, risking life and limb, to the audience.

 

It isn't American-style television, and I'm betting isn't even being considered for the American market, Shelby or not.

 

As excited as I was/am to have heard they were possibly doing this as a TV series, I also have to admit that I wouldn't be surprised either, if it was televised everywhere else BUT the USA. I hate the fact that everything motorsports/Ferrari/F1/etc. is geared to Europe and the USA always seems to be an afterthought. It's true that our racing preferences are different from the rest of the world, unfortunately, but we are a major market! The new movie about Aryton Senna is a good example of that, where the movie was released over a year ago in Europe/Japan/etc., but has only been played in a few major cities here in the USA, over a single weekend. When the time comes, I just really hope they give the series a try in the USA, whichever channel it's on, I'll watch it!

Mark

 

Could be fantastic if it is done properly.....