This film documents the Chrysler Turbine Car World Tour of the early 1960s, it was a time when the American automaker was experimenting in no small way with turbine powered cars, and by the end of the project they had built 55, 5 prototypes and 50 pre-production cars. The benefits to turbine use are plentiful,…
Full Throttle – The Life of Tim Birkin offers a look back at the life of racing driver Tim Birkin, a man who should be far better known than he is outside of vintage racing circles. Tim Birkin’s life was a fascinating if somewhat tragic story, he was one of the era’s most prominent racing…
Les 24 Heures du Mans is a 34 minute film covering the Corvette entries at the 1960 Le Mans, the four cars were entered by Briggs Cunningham to accompany his brand new Jaguar E 2A – the car that would go on to become the E-Type Jaguar (or XKE if you live in a certain…
Challenge for the Championship is a short documentary produced for British Leyland that covers the 1977 Formula One season. It’s largely commentated by Colin Chapman, and offers a unique look into the insight he had, it’s also interesting to note how much is the same within F1 even 40+ years later. There’s some excellent footage…
This film was produced for Chrysler to show off their new proving grounds in the mid-1950s. The film was made by Wilding Picture Productions, and it shows an exceedingly elaborate testing facility including an expansive enclosed space capable of housing dozens of cars at a time. The testing regimen was surprisingly complex, and it’s safe to…
The Grid is a Horizon documentary showing the inner workings of the Williams Formula One team during the controversial 1981 season. Much of the film is spent discussing and explaining the ground effect systems being developed by the teams to optimize under-car aerodynamics. Some of the systems are startlingly clever and some are a little…
The extraordinary battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda during the 1976 Formula 1 World Championship has become motorsport legend. It was even made into a blockbuster film in 2013 by Ron Howard with Chris Hemsworth as Hunt and Daniel Brühl as Lauda. This documentary is an earlier look into the season, including period interviews…
The Last African Flying Boat is a vintage documentary covering the recreation of an aerial tour from Egypt to South Africa by flying boat. The film includes footage of the first flying boats in Africa as well as more modern examples, and the insight into the difficulties of traveling across Africa are well documented. The…
The World’s Fastest is a documentary currently in production by director/photographer Alexandra Lier and producer Laia Gonzalez. If the name Alexandra Lier sounds familiar to you, that’s because she’s one of the world’s foremost land speed record photographers, and the creator of the books Speedseekers and The World’s Fastest Place. Alexandra has been travelling to…
The Iso Rivolta Chronicles is a series of short films about the cars of Iso Autoveicoli S.p.A, and the modern collectors who keep them alive. For the uninitiated, Iso was a refrigeration company until after WWII when they branched out into cars and motorcycles, one of their most famous early creations was the Iso Isetta…
This documentary from 1954 shows the victorious return to racing by Mercedes-Benz after 15 years of non-participation, it was an extraordinary achievement that went a long way towards changing Formula One forever. The revolutionary streamlined Mercedes cars were far more advanced that the vehicles being driven by their competitors, and the precision with which Mercedes…
The Look at Life series of short documentaries were produced in the 1960s to offer a glimpse into parts of society that might otherwise never be seen by the average Brit. This film, titled Vintage Models, is a look into the world of classic car enthusiasts – as they were in 1963. It’s interesting to look back…
