Auto Enthusiasts - Tearing through Paris in a Ferrari @ 140 MPH- Great Video

On an August morning in 1978, French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend, a professional Formula 1 racer, drive at breakneck speed through the heart of Paris. The film was limited for technical reasons to 10 minutes; the course was from Porte Dauphine, through the Louvre, to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur. No streets were closed, for Lelouch was unable to obtain a permit. The driver completed the course in about 9 minutes, reaching nearly 140 MPH (225 Km/h) in some stretches. The footage reveals him running real red lights, nearly hitting real pedestrians, and driving the wrong way up real one-way streets. Upon showing the film in public for the first time, Lelouch was arrested. He has never revealed the identity of the driver, and the film went underground until a DVD release a few years ago.

Now, thanks to the miracle of the Internet, you can watch it in your browser

http://www.bsdunix.ch/​public/rendezvous20_04​.mov

Make sure you've got good speakers and turn up the volume 'cuz that Ferrari sounds fantastic! I can see why Claude used a Formula 1 racer to drive for him. This guy was flying! He had that Ferrari sideways a couple times and airborne at least once! Awesome post! {You forgot to mention the pigeons he came close to plastering!}

cool, thanks for the link. I've been wanting to see this legendary film for years, and it's absolutely fantastic and quite insane. I wonder who the driver was. Sounds like something Gilles Villeneuve would do, or James Hunt.

I found a link to the route, here.

I've had a v-hs tape of it for years that we shot off a movie screen. Nice to see that it's finally made the i-net! For me, it comes in 3rd, right behind "Le Mans" & Bullitt.

man that's just crazy. It like a french verson of getaway to stockholm. again that's some mean stuff people wish to film

The Stockholm one is a legend too. Love it.

I've just watched it forensically and its really pushing luck, rolling the dice on every turn.

Fantastique! Bloody Hellique as well.

Q: If there was a "pedestrian speed bump", would he have kept driving without looking back?!

I remember seeing this about 6 years ago on some Xtreme TV show, showing the wildest police chases, and the most unbeleiveable events ever. This definately classes as one of those.

Another video I love is the Pikes Peak, from the late eighties. Forget the name, but it's on my computer somewhere, and has onboard, low camera angles, on a record run which wasn't beaten for years and years.

I doubt that if he actually ran into a pedestrian, that he'd be able to continue. Ferrari's are powerful beasts, but man...fragile.