John Nack has just posted a link to a rather insipid video of David Coulthard driving an AMG Merc around the Isle of Man. It didn’t really do much for me, but did inspire me to write a quick post about two of the greatest driving videos ever.

The first one I want to point out is another Mercedes, being driven around Paris in 1976. The film is called “C’était un rendez-vous“, but often referred to just as “Rendezvous“. It was shot at 05:30 on a Sunday in August (the month most people go on holiday); this was on open roads with no official approval – there has been no editing of the video footage.

If you’re not a fan of YouTube then you can see it here. For more background info see Wikipedia, Dark Roasted Blend, Hypertextbook, or buy the blu-ray.

The other video which should really get a mention is Climb Dance, which shows Ari Vatanen doing the Pike’s Peak hill climb in Colorado in 1988. There are massive drops as he snakes his way up the hill in a Peugeot 405 T16. He’s absolutely on the ragged edge, but also unbelievably fast. Incredibly so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-K1B4sTX4o
Also available at Google Video.

I’m also using this post as an excuse to spread the love for the Lancia Delta Integrale, one of the most beautiful cars ever made:

So there we go, just thought I’d bring those to your attention. Obviously there are plenty of excellent car sequences in films (e.g. this and this), but these are two excellent displays of real-life driving which might easily pass people by.