Onboard footage used to be rare and very difficult to get, but now in the age of GoPro, it’s difficult to find a race—anywhere—that isn’t being recorded from over a driver’s shoulder. In the old days, however, getting usable footage often meant complicated solutions, mounted precariously on old race cars.
Here are some of the best videos for understanding what it’s like to drive a racing car at speed.
Fangio on the left, Fangio on the right—we thought it would be a good idea to lead with a maestro! It’s amazing to see how primitive these tracks used to be…and how quickly Fangio went around them.
From legendary drivers like Stirling Moss to iconic cars such as Phil Hill’s 1964 Ferrari 250 GTO, this group of Petrolicious feature videos has them all.
In this vintage Shell promotional footage, Hermann Lang drives the Mercedes-Benz W125 around the Nürburgring, and Graham Hill narrates.
With close, traffic-heavy racing that often resembles NASCAR with right turns thrown in, this classic Volvo film shows the firm’s then-new 850 Turbo flying around…sometimes, over the edge.
Ride along with Graham Hill as he tackles Monaco in 1970, and enjoy the old Nürburgring from 1973, with commentary from Jackie Stewart. A ‘70s F1 car looks quite stressful at speed…
Get a lesson on what makes the 1959 Cooper-Climax such a great race car, from Sir Stirling Moss in this older-but-not-quite-classic clip. A wonderful film!
Jürgen Barth takes us through a lap of Le Mans in 1977, aboard the very fast old Mulsanne circuit in a Porsche 936.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE-jkSwyD-E
Climb aboard the famous six-wheel Tyrrell P34 Formula 1 car, at Paul Ricard Circuit with Jackie Stewart at the controls—and giving commentary the whole time.
Suggested by both Sebastiaan Bleuanus and Paul Steel as part of our selection of racing videos a few weeks ago, on the left is an awesome clip of Swede Kenny Brack manhandling Adrian Newey’s Ford GT40…at Goodwood…in the wet…on Dunlop crossply tires.
