Documentary filmmakers looking for Cannonball Run footage

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A German production company is developing a documentary on the real-life race that inspired the Cannonball Run movie, and is looking for historical footage.

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Documentary filmmakers looking for Cannonball Run footage originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 31 Dec 2015 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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History of BMW touring cars looks splendid in Adrenalin trailer

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Adrenalin documentary video

More high-quality documentaries about the history of motorsports are always welcome. When thinking about racing, we generally focus on moving forward to go a little faster or shave a tenth of a second off a lap. There's not much time to look backward. It's too bad, because there are so many fantastic stories from the sport's history. Thankfully, an upcoming doc is taking on the challenge of telling some of these tales, and it looks like a movie not to miss, especially for BMW fans.

Adrenalin - The BMW Touring Car Story mixes high-quality, vintage footage with new interviews from many of the drivers of these machines to craft what looks like a fantastic experience. Covering the period from the '60s to the modern DTM era, just the trailer shows racing from the 2002, 3.0 CSL and of course the E30 chassis M3 of the '80s. You also get to hear from legends behind the wheel like Hans-Joachim Stuck, Johnny Cecotto and Joachim Winkelhock telling their stories.

Adrenalin comes out in November on DVD, Blu-Ray and on-demand. Check out its trailer above for a taste at what it's aiming for. The documentary definitely looks like one to watch.

Continue reading History of BMW touring cars looks splendid in Adrenalin trailer

History of BMW touring cars looks splendid in Adrenalin trailer originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 12:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Havana Motor Club documentary revs up Cuban street racing scene

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Havanna Motor Club Trailer

From the 1959 Cuban Revolution until just recently, it was illegal to buy or sell cars in Cuba without government approval. There were also very few new cars brought into the country. At the same time, racing was also banned on the island nation because it was considered an elitist sport. Of course, a government can do its best to prohibit whatever it wants, but that's not always going to stop passionate people from pursuing what they want to do. And that's exactly what has happened with racing in Cuba - it never really disappeared, it just went underground.

A new documentary titled Havana Motor Club aims to tell the story of Cuba's illegal drag racing scene, along with an attempt to organize the first legal race in the country in decades. However, the film isn't quite done yet, and its creators are raising money on Kickstarter to complete it. The fundraiser has already met its goal of $52,250 to finish editing, license music and generally improve the sound mixing. The filmmakers plan to release the documentary in 2014 or early 2015, but backers can get it early.

Based on the trailer, the documentary is beautifully shot and stars the sort of old-school American iron the country has become legendary for. It's amazing that these cars are still on the road, let alone look as good as they do. The filmmakers say the goal of the documentary is to shed light on the evolving Cuban culture through the spectrum of motorsports, and that sounds like a great place to start to us. Scroll down to watch a trailer for the film and to check out an interview with director and producer Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt from Autoline Daily (about 5:43 into the video).

Continue reading Havana Motor Club documentary revs up Cuban street racing scene

Havana Motor Club documentary revs up Cuban street racing scene originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 01 May 2014 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ernest Hemingway’s Chrysler New Yorker restoration to be chronicled in documentary

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Hemingway's Chrysler New Yorker Convertible

The last car Ernest Hemingway ever owned was a 1955 Chrysler New Yorker Convertible. After the legendary writer shot himself in 1961, the car effectively vanished from public view. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, the convertible was in Cuba, getting passed around between the members of one family. Some 50 years after Hemingway died, a determined writer unearthed the car and began the laborious process of restoring it to its former glory. Here in the States, that would be as simple as calling up the local parts store and doing some quick ordering, but the US trade embargo against Cuba put a crimp in that plan.

The documentary Cuban Soul follows writer David Soul as he attempts to overcome the embargo and get the car back on the road with more than a little help from the ingenious craftsmen on the island. You can check out the trailer for the film below. The project is in need of generous supporters, so head over to the Red Earth Studio site to learn how you can lend a hand.

Continue reading Ernest Hemingway's Chrysler New Yorker restoration to be chronicled in documentary

Ernest Hemingway's Chrysler New Yorker restoration to be chronicled in documentary originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazing dwarf car documentary teased

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Ernie Adams and his amazing dwarf cars - video screencap

It's hard to tell without another car for reference, but in the image above, 72-year-old Ernie Adams is driving a very small car. Actually, the technical name is a "dwarf car," a road-legal nearly-perfect replica of a full-sized car, and Adams built it from scratch. He's been building dwarf cars since 1965 - all of them from scratch, by hand. Adams was apparently the first to do it, and along the way he created the first dwarf race car and, unintentionally, the dwarf car racing series.

Working on his property in Arizona, Adams is still building them, and Jeff Diehl has put together a documentary on the man and his fantastic little creations. Adams was once the editor of a magazine called Dwarf Car Racer, so he knows the subject well. You can have a watch of the trailer for the doc below, it's an eye popper when you see Adams on the road in traffic. For an even fuller picture, check out the second Hemmings link to a magazine piece on Adams and his toys.

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Amazing dwarf car documentary teased originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 05 Feb 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Buick Regal Grand National documentary Black Air coming in August

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Black Air, the documentary on the Buick Grand National, is set for release on December 11 of this year. On August 4, however, the first 20 minutes of the film will be screened at the at the national meet of the Buick Performance Group in Hebron, Ohio.

The film, by Andrew Fillipone, Jr., looks at a car that is as much of an anomaly now as it was during the years it was built, from 1984 to 1987. The Regal Grand National, a boxy black coupe that still sported Buick portholes emitting the superheated air from a 3.8-liter turbocharged V6, had little to say to its brethren like the Buick Century, Skylark and Park Avenue. And any speaking it did do was usually centered around tire smoke and bystanders gasping, "Golly..."

You can watch the trailer below. And if you're near the National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio on August 4, you know whose party to crash.

Continue reading Buick Regal Grand National documentary Black Air coming in August

Buick Regal Grand National documentary Black Air coming in August originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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