Yeah I thought it was pretty good too. Humorous yet factual. at least from my recollection although I had to google why Niki had lost his helmet in the crash and was only protected by his balaclava in the fire. Seems he had "modified" his helmet prior to the event and the impact had compressed the foam inside the helmet and it came off in the impact. Lesson learned eh ? Or is that just internet inaccuracy ? Mike, Keith ?

I went to see “RUSH” last evening. My first reaction was that the volume of the sound in the theatre was way too high. Is the younger generation deaf??? It’s difficult at time to remember that this is a drama based on actual occurrences. Therefore some literary license may be involved. Overall I’d rate the movie at about 7 out of 10.

In no particular order, here are a few observations:
•      The music used in the movie drowns out the sound of the engines (Now that’s loud!!). And that horrible 70’s disco music really mucks up things a lot.
•      The actor who plays Niki Lauda does so with a good deal of accuracy. There’s one scene (at the Japanese GP grid) where you can only see his eyes and the resemblance is uncanny.
•      The background on how Lauda financed his F1 career is close to being true, I’d say. Possibly embellished a bit, but close.
•      The bit about how Lord Hesketh ran out of money and Hunt signs with McLaren is somewhat vague and may not be completely accurate.
•      People like Lauda had a good grip on the technology available at the time (car set up, lightening the car, etc), but the BRM folks are depicted as being somewhat retarded which I’m sure they were not.
•      Hunt is depicted as going barefoot quite frequently. He had abnormally large feet which may account for some of that and even had the toe of his driving shoe cut off.
•      The guy who plays Hunt resembled him quite a bit. I’m unable to comment on his (and Lord Hesketh et al) lifestyle though contemporary reports somewhat confirm it. Hunt definitely had a temper (he punched out a corner worker at Mosport, I believe) and a “volatile” personality according to reports at the time.
•      At the time (maybe it still is) F1 was glamorous and the danger probably attracted a lot of women. The mortality rate for drivers was very high. I can’t comment on the psychology of all that. The portrayal of Hunt’s sexual activities may be a bit overplayed.
•      Technically F1 was just discovering ground effects aerodynamics

Watched Rush last night; 1976 F1 season was a case of real life being more incredible than fiction!
Seeing the movie without knowing it was a true story one would laugh at the possibility of Lauda's recovery.
I was at the 1973 Canadian GP, which was the first time a pace car was used and it got in front of the wrong car and confused the finishing order of the race. While the officials were sorting out who had won the race there was a rumour around the paddock that the teams voted for the Hesketh team to be declared the winners, as they threw the best parties!
The Hesketh team was something quite extrordinary in the history of F1, that day at Mosport I got Lord Hesketh's autograph (the only one I've ever asked for in my life) and he told me that he was 'quite sure Bubbles would have the car running well for the race'!
I still have a Hesketh bear decal on one of my tool boxes!
A great story about a special time and certainly the best F1 movie made to date.
Whoever did the casting for this movie should win an Oscar, remarkable!

One more note; Hesketh's family fortune was never at risk, F1 just got too expensive for him.

For me I enjoy the movie very much, so much so i watch a documentary of the 76 battle between the two legends. So far it is one of the best racing movie i ever saw.

Lots of great stuff on YouTube about Lauda, Hunt and the 1976 season. YouTube shows how they were actually quite good friends (Susan, watching the movie without knowing any of the background, said the movie didn't make that clear).