Film
6 motorsports venues that are also film sets
Here are six motorsport venues that have starred on the silver screen in the past.
Rally Mexico got underway with a super special stage in Mexico City’s Zócalo Square: also known for being the location for the jaw-dropping opening sequence in the latest James Bond film, Spectre. Elevating the car chase genre to a higher level, it consists of a helicopter fight around one of the largest city-centre squares in the world, with the inevitable explosions, guns, and baddies in black polo necks. If you missed it, check it out here:
To celebrate this momentous occasion, here are six more motorsport venues that have starred on the silver screen in the past. Some are more unlikely than others.
Crystal Palace circuit, London: The Italian Job
Crystal Palace circuit, London: The Italian Job
© Getty Images
Crystal Palace didn’t just bring Formula 1 to London. It also gave us lots of crashing Mini Coopers and an exploding van. The parkland venue in the south of the capital appeared in two scenes from The Italian Job. The initial testing (and crashing) of the Minis used to ship $4m of gold out of Turin in the legendary Michael Caine movie was filmed on Crystal Palace’s start/finish straight. Even more famously a security van was blown up in the paddock, prompting Caine’s immortal line: ‘You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” Still, the doors definitely came off, whereas the circuit has long since fallen into disuse.
Waikato, Rally New Zealand: Lord of the Rings
Waikato, Rally New Zealand: Lord of the Rings
© LA Weekly
New Zealand is probably the ultimate rally, with flowing rollercoaster roads that dance from camber to camber as well as stunning scenery. Turns out we’re not the only people to think that, as the Waikato region – used for a number of Rally New Zealand stages in the past – was also earmarked as being a suitable home for a hobbit. The whole area formed the backdrop to the epic 2001 Lord of the Rings film, which did for tourism to New Zealand what Quadrophenia did to Vespa sales. And the remaining ‘hobbit holes’ will no doubt make a good place to hide from the rain while spectating on the rally.
Ouarzazate, Morocco: Star Wars
Ouarzazate, Morocco: Star Wars
© Star Wars
Ouarzazate was a traditional rest day for the Dakar Rally back when it ran in Africa, but the lunar landscape has also made it the venue for several space-themed films: including Star Wars. Sorry if it comes as a spoiler, but the Star Wars film from 1999 was actually made in northern Africa – within sight of the Dakar bivouac – rather than a distant universe. There’s another connection too: Ewan MacGregor, the star of Star Wars, is a massive Dakar fan – who has ridden through Africa in the company of his actor chum Charley Boorman.
Cala di Volpe, Rally Sardinia: The Spy Who Loved Me
Cala di Volpe, Rally Sardinia:The Spy Who Loved Me
© CarAdvice
The Cala di Volpe hotel, a distinctive landmark on Rally Sardinia, was known as the playground of luminaries such as Flavio Briatore, Sophia Loren, and Elton John amongst others. Back in 1978 though, the hotel and surrounding coast was the location for The Spy Who Loved Me, the 10th film in the Bond series. The film is probably best remembered for the amphibious white Lotus Esprit S1 that adorned boyhood bedroom walls all over the world. And the beach behind the Cala di Volpe hotel, very close to where one of the Rally Sardinia stages runs, is where the Lotus emerges from the depths following a quick jaunt to a heavily-accented megalomaniac’s underwater lair. The driver’s door then opens and Roger Moore nonchalantly throws a fish out of the footwell, before making the inevitable crack about something fishy going on.
Snetterton, England: Rush
Snetterton, England: Rush
© Rush
Snetterton is a rather flat and featureless circuit in Eastern England. Before its makeover, Fuji in Japan was a fast and fantastic rollercoaster of a track that will forever be etched in Formula 1 history as the setting of the ultimate title showdown between James Hunt and Niki Lauda in 1976. Despite being miles apart both visually and geographically, Rush director Ron Howard decided to pass off Snetterton as Fuji, as you do. He commented: “We’re using different corners and sections to replicate tracks that we either can’t get to, or have changed so much that we need to do things to make them historically accurate”. Astonishingly, in this instance, most people were fooled.
Snowdonia, Wales: Carry on up the Khyber
In one of our most unlikely parallels, Wales Rally GB runs straight through an area that was used to film Carry on up the Khyber in 1968: a bawdy comedy mainly centred on the rhyming slang between ‘Khyber Pass’ and ‘arse’. Proving that there’s no such thing as too much suspension of disbelief in cinematography, the producers managed to pass off North Wales as India – and a plaque now marks the spot, not far from Mount Snowdon, where the filming took place. Listen carefully, and you can probably hear the rally cars…