pjammer: Rendezvous - (hat tip, Faisal Jawdat)

ezekiel's chariot - 張敦楷 (

pjammer) wrote,
@ 2005-11-21 15:52:00

Current mood:	impressed
Current music:	Blur - Song 2 (Whoo Hoo)
Entry tags:	movies

Rendezvous - (hat tip, Faisal Jawdat)
ugust morning, 1978 - French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a then-newfangled gyro-stabilized camera to the front bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend (a professional Formula 1 racer), drive at breakneck speed through the heart of Paris. The film was limited for technical reasons to 10 minutes; the course was from Porte Dauphine, through the Louvre, to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur.

The driver completed the course in about 9 minutes, reaching nearly 140 MPH in some stretches. The footage reveals him running real red lights, nearly hitting pedestrians, and driving the wrong way up one-way streets.

Upon showing the film in public for the first time, Lelouch was arrested. He has never revealed the identity of the driver, and the film went underground until it was released to DVD few years ago.

For many years it has been enjoyed as an almost Masonic secret among car enthusiasts. Whisper the words "Have you seen Rendezvous?" and you'll receive either a knowing, "No, but I've heard it's unbelievable" or a smug, "It is un-be-lieve-able."

Subsequently the film went underground - occasionally shown in front of a Lelouch full-length feature on theatrical release. Outside of this, only poor quality pirate copies on VHS or a badly worn print were available. These would be played at car club meetings and slowly the film attained its mythical status with the arrival of the internet helping to spread the word.

What we do know is that there are no special effects or speeding up the film - Lelouch simply mounted the camera on the front of the car and shot it.

Download it for yourself here: Rendezvous.mov - 35 MB

Edit: Welcome, new readers! :) Those interested in automotive film may also want to check out the Mercedes-Benz Lucky Star short film starring Benecio Del Toro that I am also hosting.

Leave a comment and let me know how you found this page!

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(44 comments) - (Post a new comment)

There's a sequel, of sorts.

grumpy_sysadmin
2005-11-22 12:20 am UTC (link)

Two cars (not supercars, but sporty... a Renault and an Alfa, maybe?), both front and rear cameras (though one front-end bites it when nailed with a pebble early on) in, I believe, another French city (Nice?).

Google's failing me right now.

It is, as you'd imagine, also exciting.

I might be thinking of the Getaway in Stockholm series that

soulrefraction mentions here, but I recall its being more central European.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: There's a sequel, of sorts. pjammer 2005-11-22 03:30 am UTC (link)
	Interesting ... would love to see it if you find it ... post it here! :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	prosewitch 2005-11-22 12:47 am UTC (link)
	Wow. I loved watching it and recognizing landmarks. :) I e-mailed a link to my dad because he's a car nut, plus he's been to Paris enough to know the lay of the land. Thanks for posting! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	pjammer 2005-11-22 03:31 am UTC (link)
	Places that would normall take hours to connect via public transit zip by in the space of 9 minutes. Think of all the laws broken to make that movie ... yikes! :) How have you been? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	prosewitch 2005-11-22 04:59 pm UTC (link)
	I'm busy, mostly. Doing okay with school and emotional stuff, but it's so bloody cold here in Indiana that I can't wait to come home to California for the holidays! :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	rcantilles 2005-11-22 01:24 am UTC (link)
	I was halfway through it (jaw dropped the whole time) when quicktime crashed. how appropriate. now to go see the other half. (what is really freaking me out is that I definitely recognize places, and it blows my mind that I was taking the subway from place to place and here I see it linked in 1 drive. 1 very fast drive.) (Reply to this)

	bandicoot 2005-11-22 01:31 am UTC (link)
	Are you sure the whole file got posted? I tried downloading it twice and it was only 22mb, not 35. Both copies crashed about 2/3 of the way through. Great while it lasted, though. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	rcantilles 2005-11-22 01:47 am UTC (link)
	huh and I thought it was just me. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	zarex 2005-11-22 01:50 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, the file is bad. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	pjammer 2005-11-22 02:21 am UTC (link)
	Screwed up my upload ... should be fixed now. Please retry ... sorry about that. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	eszterezuky 2008-07-17 12:10 pm UTC (link)
	( Reply to this )( Parent ) pjammer am UTC ( link ) Screwed up my upload. . . Should be fixed now. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	last_thylacine 2005-11-22 01:37 am UTC (link)
	I must echo a couple of other posters here. It crashed for me in the same place, however it was awesome to watch while it lasted. :) Thanks for the heads-up about it, no matter what. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	pjammer 2005-11-22 02:22 am UTC (link)
	My bad. I muffed the upload and that's why it's crashing. I erased and re-uploaded the full file. Should be working now. :P (Reply to this) (Parent)

	crabbyolbastard 2005-11-22 01:47 am UTC (link)
	For those unable to view the whole thing... http://www.transbuddha.com/mediaHolder.php?id=1063 (Reply to this)

	troyworks 2005-11-22 02:09 am UTC (link)
	sweeet!!!! (Reply to this)

	mfree 2005-11-22 03:35 am UTC (link)
	I tried this from the inside :) http://www.posterboard.tv/movies/chattanooga-1.mpg Of course, I didn't have the advantage of gyro-stabilized anything, just a vintage 1994 8mm analog camcorder, a home-made aluminum plate that fit through the child-seat anchor holes, and a lot of stiff foam rubber pads :) (Reply to this)

	foobiwan 2005-11-22 03:47 am UTC (link)
	go get the 153mb dvd rip. much much nicer sound. (Reply to this)

	frost_factor 2005-11-22 06:05 am UTC (link)
	Hopefully your webserver can handle a hit from Digg! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	pjammer 2005-11-22 06:54 am UTC (link)
	Are you a contributor to Digg? I'd appreciate a link to this page than hotlinking the MOV file directly. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	rcantilles 2005-11-22 11:59 am UTC (link)
	comment whore (Reply to this) (Parent)

	frost_factor 2005-11-22 07:56 pm UTC (link)
	Of course. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	watt__lv 2005-11-22 01:56 pm UTC (link)
	Try posting URL as http://www.dissonant.org.nyud.net:8090/~pjammer/movies/Rendezvous.mov that's a free powerful cache (Reply to this) (Thread)

	owyn 2005-11-22 07:44 pm UTC (link)
	It's okay (dissonant, my server) has essentially unlimited bandwidth. Looks like we've only thrown out 25 gigs so far, which isn't anything like that week pjammer decided to try and mirror jibjab. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

no way is he doing 140 mph

gliderguider
2005-11-22 03:00 pm UTC (link)

That's a very impressive bit of film, but I think the 140 mph claim is grossly exaggerated.

I've driven cars and ridden motorcycles at 260 km/h (160 mph) on occasion, and I've spent a lot of time on motorcycles on twisty roads (sometimes on city streets) working the range 120 - 160 km/h (75 - 100 mph).

That camera is mounted low which makes it look impressive, and the engine is revved out and apparently has no more gears to change into, but from the way it takes a lot of corners barely slowing down after a long straight I'd estimate that the top speed is a lot closer to 140 km/h than to 140 mph.

(Reply to this)

yep, I stand by that

gliderguider
2005-11-22 03:43 pm UTC (link)

OK, I just took a look at the link with the speed analysis.

First, overall it matches my impressions very well. It shows the speed peaking at between 110 and 150 km/h every time except one, and they claim that one peak is over 220 km/h at around 3 min 9 seconds.

I took another look at the video. That would appear to be right around when it is overtaking two other cars, one of which looks like a 2CV. The speed difference to those cars being overtaken looks to me like about 60 - 70 km/h and he's going maybe twice their speed. So perhaps they're going 70 km/h (which seems entirely likely) and he's doing 140. There is no way on earth that he is doing 220 -- which would be about 150 km/h more than they are.

Their calculation shows the car doing an average of 112.5 km/h for 40 seconds from time 131 to 171, and then an average of 220.0 km/h for 18 seconds from time 171 to 189. To my eye and ear the speed is very nearly the same and constant that whole time, dropping only slightly from time 155 to 170.

Even by their analysis, the average speed over that 58 seconds is only 145.8 km/h.

I think they've misplaced their landmark in the middle (whatever it is) by something around 325m.

I could believe, for example, that the car was averaging 155 km/h for 43 seconds, and averaging 120 km/h for the 15 seconds going around the two corners in that middle of the 58 seconds. That works out to exactly the same average speed over those two sectors, and fits in properly with everything else we see and hear.

There are two a very similar lane merges (?) on the left at times 170 and 178. Did they mistake them? That would explain the 112 followed by 220 km/h anomoly perfectly.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: yep, I stand by that

stuckinmycube
2005-11-23 03:19 pm UTC (link)

At the risk of being accused of attention whoring I'd have to agree. I don't have any experience driving cars at insane speeds but just watching him pass a couple cars on the straight-aways it certainly didn't seem like he ever hit 140 mph. I've had guys pass me on the highway doing probably 140 Km/H versus my 100 Km/H and they blow by me a lot faster than he passed the other cars in the video.

Plus the low camera mount does make it seem faster than it is, like when you ride a go kart, 40 MPH in a go cart will seem pretty damn fast. Still a cool video.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	Re: yep, I stand by that applehead78 2005-11-23 05:20 pm UTC (link)
	found this through himpstomp's link. okay. i don't drive but i was thinking in my head that that really did not seem all that fast. anyway. i don't know why a mini movie about a guy being an asshole on the road is so precious. HAH! =) (Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: yep, I stand by that

dirtybob
2005-11-24 07:32 am UTC (link)

Came across this link through hipstomp's page.

I don't know if I agree. True, it does not look like he is going that fast, but consider a few specs on the car he is driving, lifted from http://www.dennigcars.org/models/ferrari_275_GTB.htm
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_275

The GTB is a 5 speed V12 generating 280 horsepower at 7600 RPM. At about 2:45 in the video, the driver blasts a turn and sticks it into first gear. He hits 5th gear at about 3:03, and stays in 5th until he encounters a bus at 3:20. From the sounds of it, he is not at the redline (you can hear him get near redline of 8,000 RPM as he attempts to match revs for some of his downshifts or when it sounds like he misses a shift at 3:30). Conservatively, I'd say he is hitting 5,000 RPM in that straightaway.

Does it not seem plausible that 5th gear @ 5000 RPM in a dual cam V12 might be pushing more than 100 mph, seeing as they top out at about 165 mph? He is definitely hauling major ass.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: yep, I stand by that

gliderguider
2005-11-24 08:19 am UTC (link)

Does it not seem plausible that 5th gear @ 5000 RPM in a dual cam V12 might be pushing more than 100 mph, seeing as they top out at about 165 mph?

Yes, I'd expect such a car to be far faster than the car in the video, which after all that acceleration crawls past other traffic. It really doesn't seem to accelerate very well at all, though the cornering and braking are not bad. During the period you mention, it takes 18 seconds to go from maybe 80 km/h to .. let's be generous ... 160 km/h. A modern car with about the same amount of power as that Ferrari, such as a Subaru WRX STi or a Mitsubishi GTO, will do 0 - 160 km/h in about 12 seconds and 80 - 160 in probably 8 seconds, or more than twice as quickly as the car in the video. I pick those cars because I've driven them, btw. My 1100cc BMW motorcycle will do 0 - 160 in about 10 seconds.

Which all makes me wonder ... what evidence do we actually have that this is a Ferrari GTB? It seems to perform more like an MGB GT!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: yep, I stand by that

dirtybob
2005-11-24 07:36 pm UTC (link)

Of course, the two vehicles you have listed are both turbo charged, and will obviously blast to their top speed significantly faster than the naturally-aspirated GTB (6.5 seconds to reach 100 kph). I can't find a dyno for the GTB, so I can't even hazard a guess as to how long it would take the GTB to reach 160 kph. I also have never driven a V12 (only inline 4s, V6 and V8s), so I can't say how I would expect it to rev towards its redline.

I am under the assumption that we are in fact listening to the actual car being driven. If you recall such films as Bullit (with Steve McQueen), you quickly realize that either he magically has six gears (in an automatic), or that the sound was added in afterwards. If we are listening to a sound studio in this film, then I concede that the driver is not going as fast as claimed.

It is still an impressive bit of film, even if it isn't a Ferrari blasting the streets at 140 mph.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: yep, I stand by that

gliderguider
2005-11-24 09:36 pm UTC (link)

Yes, they're both turbo charged, but they also have engines a lot smaller than 275 cu in (which is 4.5 l). Turbos get you power from a smaller engine, but all else being equal (which the power outputs are), the large engine will be easier to drive quickly. Those two cars do take less than 6.5 seconds to 100 km/h, but the difference will be the 4WD, not the turbo.

I'm fairly serious about the MGB GT suggestion, btw. The 1974 V8 model (131 hp @ 5000 rpm) would sound like this and perform about right. I've heard V12's racing (ranging from Tom Walkinshaw's Jags to currrent F1 cars) and this doesn't sound like them. It sounds much more like a good old Aussie V8, as seen in the Bathurst 1000 etc, except this is much much slower. Either the sound is as you hint fake or else it's a much smaller and less powerful engine than the Ferrari, working hard, but still in a very nice-handling chassis. Like a British sports car.

And, yes, it doesn't have to be a Ferrari in order to be impressive.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: yep, I stand by that

gliderguider
2005-11-25 09:22 am UTC (link)

I just measured the part of the route being discussed -- which is the highest speed part -- on Google maps. I don't know how accurate it is, but I get 3.25 km in exactly two minutes from the Arc de Triomphe to the Musée du Louvre via that dog-leg through the Place de la Concorde. That's 98 km/h average. If it's 3.5 km then it's 105 km/h average. And the dog-leg is only 15 seconds of that total, remember.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: yep, I stand by that
(Anonymous)
2006-01-08 09:12 pm UTC (link)

OK, apart from the fact that you are totally spoling the thing that is exciting about the film (no, not the pant wetting fast driving boys) but the mystery and intrigue of not knowing who the driver is, who the girl he meets, etc. And, if any of you had bothered to read anything about the film, Claude Lelouch is qouted in his book, and in a few intervies as saying he was the driver, (not his friend the F1 driver) and the car was not a 1965 Ferrari GTB but was in fact his own Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9l. However, if you had the chance (his friend the F1 driver was dead by this point) any of you guys would claim you drove it! Also, for all you guys who claim to have driven fast cars, when you listen to the audio, you recognise heel and toe shifting, cos that's what real drivers do, you recognise engine braking, which real drivers do, you also recognise dumping the clutch whilst braking and using the side of his foot to rev the engine to alert people he is coming. Whether LeLouch drove or not, whether it was a ferrari, a merc or a fucking fiesta, it's still good driving, it's still an exciting film and it will always be better than anything you guys manage to do with your lives. (Oh, and how many of you are at MIT analysing the speed relative to the centre lines, none? oh right, cos i thought you knew what you were talking about.)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: yep, I stand by that
(Anonymous)
2006-01-09 08:53 am UTC (link)

I do believe I said that it was an impressive bit of film. I also engaged in a discussion about the apparent speed of the vehicle in the film, not the mystery and intrigue of who the driver is, the girl he meets, and why he is in such a fucking hurry. I'm glad you have read and studied this film. Good for you. With that knowledge, I'm sure your life will be far more meaningful than ours.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	candid 2005-11-23 01:31 pm UTC (link)
	Leave a comment and let me know how you found this page! I did a google search for "attention whore." (Reply to this) (Thread)

	pjammer 2005-11-23 06:20 pm UTC (link)
	BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! How often does the 'being a cock' icon get used these days? ;) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	fitfool 2005-11-24 05:02 am UTC (link)
	> Leave a comment and let me know how you found this page! Found you from madbard's page. I saw that video a few days ago and I can't believe I didn't think of you when I saw it. I think I was too distracted by wondering why they didn't run into any police cars. (Reply to this)

	nift argon_boy 2005-11-24 07:14 am UTC (link)
	found this through the_eleven (Reply to this)

	Whoa. shmoovio 2005-11-25 10:00 pm UTC (link)
	That was absolutely thrilling. Thanks a shitload for hosting it. Both times he went the wrong way my anus puckered majorly, as it also did when the buss pulls out near the halfway point. God, that was fun! (Got here via Hipstomp.) (Reply to this)

	isogen 2005-11-25 10:20 pm UTC (link)
	via hipstomp. (Reply to this)

	psyoko 2006-02-21 07:26 pm UTC (link)
	via hipstomp, and then again through google. (Reply to this)

Neat video
(Anonymous)
2006-03-01 05:37 am UTC (link)

Hey, thanks for linking that video.

I'd known about it for a while, seen it at a car museum in St. Louis, Missouri (Chesterfield, MO) and wanted to see if I could find it linked on the web. A bunch of different sources suggested it was titled "Rendezvous" and so I typed in rendezvous.mov into google and you were the second or third link down the list.

Cool!
Missy
(misspudding.blogspot.com)

(Reply to this)

Either way
(Anonymous)
2006-04-24 10:57 pm UTC (link)

You look at it I reckon the run was done a number of times so the route was remembered, or had a rally navigator. It was very early in the morning hence the fuzz were either asleep or just tucking into their morning croissant.

The driver was a F1 driver and in those days they were amazing characters, plenty of charisma and definatly up for such a lark. So what that he did not get to the 140mph as advertised, he was damned fast and did not wreck the car.

I wonder how many folks would even attempt it.....

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: Either way (Anonymous) 2006-12-08 01:51 pm UTC (link)
	the car is not a Ferrari but it is a Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3 (Reply to this) (Parent)

(44 comments) - (Post a new comment)

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