This 1925 documentary was created by the Engineering Division of the US Army as an introduction to the Air Service – the US Air Force wasn’t formed as its own branch of the military until 1947. The silent film runs at just under 35 mins long and it includes some remarkable footage, including machine gun…
Break The Record is a documentary covering the successful world land speed record run by Blue Flame in 1970 – it was to be the last time the Americans would hold the record, and it was also the last time the outright land speed record would be set at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah….
Not So Easy is a motorcycle safety film presented by Peter Fonda, and featuring Evel Knievel – quite easily two of the most prominent motorcycle personalities of their era. The film was commissioned by the Ontario Provincial Police and it includes a broad range of excellent advice, including a tidbit from Evel explaining that he…
Spitfire! is a wonderful documentary that actually talks to some of the men and women directly involved with the iconic fighter aircraft’s design and construction – including a lady who accidentally ended up clinging to the tail of a Spitfire as it took off and had to circle back around to the airdrome. The film was…
How British Motorsport Was Born is a short film (under 8 minutes) that takes a look at the modern day Brighton Speed Trials, whilst taking a look back at the history of British motorsport. While the team at MotorPunk were at it, they tried their hand at breaking a 90 year old speed record in a proper…
The Hot Rod Story is a film from the late 1950s that was produced as an introduction to the world of hot rod racing including drag racing, land speed racing, and other forms of motorsport that were transitioning from illegal or unregulated, to a standardized format. At just under 48 minutes in length, the documentary…
The Real James Hunt is a documentary about the life of James Hunt, a racing driver and Formula One World Champion who today is remembered as one of the great characters from the golden era of grand prix racing. Oftentimes people focus on James’ iconic playboy lifestyle but behind all of that he was one…
The Breakfast Club is a new series by Blackbird Automotive, a Hong Kong based company that features both the Blackbird Heritage Motorworks garage and the Blackbird Automotive Journal. The Breakfast Club is a four part series covering some of the most iconic purpose-built racing cars of the late 20th century, each episode runs approximately 3…
Ever since the first motorcycle was built it’s been the de facto vehicle of choice for some of cinema’s greatest heroes and villains. The first motorcycles were little more than bicycles with a small internal combustion engine added, this made them far cheaper to build and buy than automobiles – which meant they were quickly…
The Lockheed YF-12 Interceptor was the aircraft that would go on to become the SR-71 Blackbird – one of the most famous of all the Skunk Works projects. The YF-12 was capable of Mach 3 and above, it set 9 world records for speed and altitude in a single afternoon (later surpassed by the SR-71),…
McLaren at Le Mans: Pursuit of Perfection is a 1995 documentary by McLaren Cars Ltd. and Electronic Arts covering the development and race at Le Mans in the same year. I’m not going to tell you which of the McLaren F1 GTR teams wins the race, but by the time the checkered flag fell over…
The Banger Boys is a 1976 documentary by New Decade Films, it covers the life and times of a group of “banger boys” – men who find still functional cars in junkyards and take them out for one last hurrah on one of Britain’s many dirt tracks. Banger racing is still a hugely popular sport…
