For the first time since the scrapping of its recording, onboard footage of Stirling Moss driving the Nürburgring days after the 1965 German Grand Prix has resurfaced.
The spectacular full-colour footage captures the element of speed and danger associated with grand prix racing in the 1960s.
The film was originally the opening scene to the cancelled Day of the Champion film, which was to be directed by John Sturges and Steve ‘The King of Cool’ McQueen.
Day of the Champion would eventually be axed by Warner Bros Studios after the studio realised that another grand prix-themed film was in the process of being made by the rival MGM production company.
MGM’s Grand Prix hit cinemas in 1966, and McQueen and Sturges were left with hours of tireless work unpublished.
That was until archivist Richard Wiseman stumbled across parts of McQueen’s film some fifty years after everyone had concluded that it had been destroyed.
Thus, the newly discovered film has been mashed together into a new documentary, appropriately titled The Lost Film.
The onboard footage below was captured in the days just after the 1965 German Grand Prix. It is recorded from a camera superbly positioned just above Stirling Moss’ shoulder as he muscles a Brabham-Climax around the hallowed Nürburgring.
Motorsport fans can now see images we are used to seeing in monochrome in crisp colour; a genuinely fantastic artistry piece.
It is incredible to think what could have been if McQueen and Sturges had completed Day of the Champion. It was taped some five years before McQueen’s famous Le Mans flick, a film that was fuelled by McQueen’s desire to have a movie that encapsulated the world of motorsport.
The Lost Film will be made available worldwide for streaming on January 2, though there has been no word yet on which platform viewers can access it.
