Director behind Lauda film revealed

Ron Howard to direct movie about Niki Lauda and James Hunt's title fight

The director planning a film about the 1976 F1 title fight between Niki Lauda and eventual champion James Hunt has been revealed as Ron Howard – the man best known for playing Richie Cunningham in the hit TV show Happy Days and for winning an Oscar as director of A Beautiful Mind.

A new script has been written by Peter Morgan following the events of the 1976 campaign, which featured Lauda's horrific accident at the Nordschleife and saw Hunt take the title after a rain-hit finale at Fuji – which Lauda pulled out of over safety concerns as heavy rain fell.

Howard is now set to start work on the film, which has been given a working title of Rush, with the focus being on the relationship between rivals Lauda and Hunt as the title fight developed.

"I got sent the script by Peter and I liked it very much - it blew me away, in fact,” Howard was quited by The National. “It's a great story, it's a remarkable story and, as all F1 fans know, it nearly ended tragically when Niki Lauda crashed into the barriers while travelling real fast and his car burst into flames.

"Amazingly, he survived but he was clearly in a bad way, but even more amazingly he missed just two races and returned for the Grand Prix in Italy.

"It's a European film and so the budget's going to be set accordingly. But I think it will still work with American audiences. Even though Nascar is king in the States, a lot of people love F1 and even more people like a good story and this is just that."

Source: Crash.net

Alonso's championship would require Hunt's rising

Only the most fanatic Ferrari-fans believe that Fernando Alonso still could reach Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in this years WDC-battle in F1.

Vettel leads Alonso with 92 points (204-112). The Spanish driver should therefore reach the German by approximately 9,2 points per GP during the last 10 GP-weekends.

There's only one in the history who has achieved in doing that, it required Niki Lauda's extremely serious injury in the 10th GP in 1976 at Nürburgring. Lauda was then leading McLaren's James Hunt by 35 points (61-26), which with today's system would mean that Lauda would have been 98 points ahead of Hunt (176-78).

Hunt rose with his 7-races long sting and won the WDC with one point, after Lauda stopped in the last rainy race after two laps. Back then Lauda got only 7 points from the remaining races (27 points with the new system).

After Hunt, Kimi Räikkönen with Ferrari came from most behind in 2007 and became WDC.

Turun Sanomat

HEIKKI KULTA

Facts

Biggest rises to the championship:

1976 James Hunt McLaren from behind 35 points (after 9 races)

2007 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari from behind 26 points (after 7 races)

1964 John Surtees Ferrari from behind 20 points (after 5 races)

1988 Ayrton Senna McLaren from behind18 points (after 4 races)

1982 Keke Rosberg Williams from behind 16 points (after 2 races)

2003 Michael Schumacher Ferrari from behind 16 points (after 3 races)

Courtesy: Nicole

Famous Hunt car set for Silverstone sale

James Hunt's Hesketh F1 car to go up for sale at Silverstone Classic

The car in which James Hunt secured his maiden F1 victory is to be sold at auction later this year at Silverstone.

Hunt, who went on to win the 1976 title with McLaren, secured his maiden F1 victory the previous year at the wheel of Hesketh Racing's 308/2 chassis, which ran in a white livery with red and blue stripes and a famous teddy bear logo.

It was to be the only victory for the Hesketh team, which competed in F1 with its own cars from 1974 to 1978 – its debut having come in 1973 with a car purchased from March.

The 308/2, designed by Harvey Postlethwaite, carried Hunt to victory in the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, while he also finished on the podium in both France and Austria.

The car had been part of Lord Hesketh's private collection until 2007 but will now be sold at Silverstone Auctions' sale during the Silverstone Classic weekend, on Saturday, July 23.

“This is an incredibly exciting car, that carried one of the most well-known and loved British Formula 1 drivers to his first victory,” Silverstone Auctions' managing director Nick Whale told the Northampton Chronicle. “It is a very important part of Formula 1 history that continues to be successfully raced.

“We are very proud to offer it for sale during the Silverstone Classic. It seems fitting a car developed so nearby to Silverstone, at Lord Hesketh's Northamptonshire estate, should be returning here to be sold with Silverstone Auctions.”

The car has been used in recent years by Hunt's son James for a number of events, such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Silverstone Classic.

Source: Crash.net

Raikkonen still not ruling out F1 return

Kimi Raikkonen insists he still has not made a decision about returning to Formula One in 2011.

After agreeing to end his Ferrari contract a year early late in 2009, the Finn signed on with Red Bull and Citroen and then endured a difficult and crash-laden start to his new career in the World Rally Championship.

But early this month in Jordan, 30-year-old Raikkonen became the first driver since Carlos Reutemann to score points in both F1 and world rallying.

And then shortly after declaring he is not missing Formula One, he finished less than 7 minutes behind winner Sebastien Loeb in Turkey for fifth place.

But when asked if his recent results make it more likely he will stick with rallying in 2011, Raikkonen told Turun Sanomat newspaper: "It has not turned in any direction.

"There is no rush for me to make decisions. We'll have to see what are the possibilities and what for me is the most interesting -- what I enjoy the most and what it is I most want to do," he added.

"We will see at a point some time later this year," said Raikkonen.

Famously not fond of F1's off-track activities and pressures, and ruing the lost days of characters like James Hunt, Raikkonen's observers agree that he seems happier in the rallying world.

"If the F1 world could go back 20 years, it would be the same as rallying now," he said. "It (rallying) is still professional but in just a bit more of a relaxed style."

Source: Motosport