24.04.2023Steve McQueen's "Le Mans" is one of the most famous racing movies

The 1971 American movie Le Mans is still one of the cult classics in the motorsport film genre. Main actor and co-producer Steve McQueen had the idea of producing a documentary about the 24-hour race in Le Mans. The whole thing was already planned in 1966, when the rivalry between Ford and Ferrari was at its peak. However, it was not implemented until a few years later in 1970. In Germany, the film was shown in cinemas for the first time in October 1971. The label Schuco now gives us the opportunity to dedicate a place to the classic in the domestic showcases. The set in our online shop consists of the Porsche 911 S in scale 1:43 that McQueen drives in the film and which claims the legendary first scene of the film as its own. In addition to the vehicle in the usual high quality from Schuco, the set contains an equally detailed, true-to-scale figure of McQueen. Motorsport fans, Porsche collectors and film fans all get their money's worth here.

The movie itself uses scenes from the original Le Mans race in 1970, where Porsche celebrated its first overall victory in the 24-hour classic. Overall, the film is a mixture of feature film and documentary character. Steve McQueen plays the American racing driver Michael Delaney, who competes in a Porsche 917 in the 1970 24-hour race in Le Mans. Delaney is traumatized after causing a racing accident the previous year that killed his friend and fellow racer Piero Belgetti. As the film begins, Delaney struggles with the lingering trauma of the previous year and the will to win the upcoming race. His adversary in the film is the German Ferrari driver Erich Stahler, played by Siegfried Rauch, who also competes in Le Mans with a Ferrari 512S. The duel between the two vehicles is fictitious for the film and never actually took place as the Ferrari 512S was clearly inferior to the Porsche 917. In order to address the broad masses with the film in addition to its documentary character, which is intended to convey to the viewer the daring and the danger that the drivers exposed themselves to at the time, a budding love story between Delaney and the widow of the accident victim is told in a subplot Belgetti staged.

McQueen, unable to find investors for his project to make a documentary about the Le Mans race, founded the production company Solar Productions to produce the film with the support of some investors. For the race footage, the Porsche 908/02 piloted by Herbert Linge and Jonathan Williams was fitted with three cameras during the real race in 1970 and produced over 10,000 meters of footage. The team even managed to finish after 24 hours. However, a lot of time was lost due to the time-consuming changing of the film rolls during the pit stops. Further film scenes were subsequently shot with racing greats such as Jo Siffert, Herbert Linge, Vic Elford, Derek Bell and Rolf Stommelen. In total, the shooting lasted more than half a year. British racing driver David Piper lost his leg in an accident while filming the film. Even if the film itself was not very successful, it is now considered a milestone in racing films.

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Porsche 911 S LeMans med figur Steve McQueen Grå 1:43 Schuco

59,95 €