A stillborn movie

In the middle of the 60’s, two feature movie about car racing were competing: “Grand Prix” directed by John Frankenheimer (produced by the MGM) and “Days of the Champion” (Warner Bros).

This second film would never be completed, despite the  start of the shoot in 1965, one year before Grand Prix, by director John Sturges who had just finished “The Great Evasion” with Steve McQueen, who even went to Monaco, to better feel the atmosphere of F1 (picture above with Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart).

Of course, it was the actor who had pushed the director in this project, which sadly didn’t materialised although the first rushes filmed at the Nürburgring were promising (picture below), with on-board cameras and helicopter views, as never seen at the time.

The shooting was delayed in the summer when McQueen was busy in Asia for the movie “The Sand Pebbles”…

When he wanted to resume the project, it was too late: “Grand Prix” was in preparation and the large Hollywood studios didn’t want two movies on the same theme. McQueen was very disappointed, but this later motivated him even more for the “Le Mans” project, with Sturges (who left the project midway) and the movie had a limited commercial succès.