Heres an artical i just found in our paper up here take note of one of the cars to be used in the movie
Blast from the past
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October 17, 2008 11:00pm
CARS are the stars in the bleak futuristic movie, Death Race, screening from the end of this month.
The film is a reworking of the 1975 film
Death Race 200 featuring David Carradine, but with a darker
Mad Max feel rather than the almost campy original.
The plot is simple: prisoners race to the death for their freedom.
OK, there are a few sub-plots, but not a lot. The action is brutal while the dialogue is very Sylvester Stallone-like with the occasional humorous one-liner, although not always intentionally funny.
The action takes place in 2012 after the "US economy collapses" . . .
It stars Brit Jason Statham, who has worked in action films such as
The Transporter, in which he did much of his own stunt driving.
However, the real stars are the cars.
They are not futuristic machines from the drawing boards of artists but modified versions of real cars.
The star is a 2006 Mustang GT, and there is also a 1966 Buick Riviera, 1989 Jaguar XJS, 1989 BMW 735i, 1978 Porsche 911, 2004 Dodge Ram and, a personal favourite, a 2006 Chrysler 300C.
In all, 34 cars were made and most of them totalled in the fast-action film.
It took about eight weeks from concepts drawn by two artists and four draftsmen to creation in a Montreal fabrication shop by 50 workers.
The fabrication crew started by destroying electrical systems, airbags and antilock braking systems of the donor cars scavenged from Los Angeles junkyards or bought over eBay.
They were stripped down to bare metal, then rebuilt "from the ground up", with roll cages, fuel cells and racing seats.
The special-effects crew then took over.
The Mustang gets a machinegun that spits out 2000 rounds a minute.
The cars were also modified with weapons and fortified with armour, making them much heavier.
The Mustang gets a machinegun that spits out 2000 rounds a minute, the Porsche 911 is outfitted with four hellfire missiles on the roof and four mini-rocket clusters on the hood, the XJS has two .50 calibre M2s on the bonnet, and the 300C has three .308 calibre MAG 58 rocket-tube machineguns on the bonnet and hellfire missiles on the back.
To compensate for the extra weight, the car builders beefed up suspension and engines, although most of the weapons and armaments are foam and thin metal sheeting made to look like heavy duty weapons and bomb-proof armour-plating.
Motoring fans will love the fact that little of the action is done with computers.
Statham did a lot of his own wheelwork, but often he and the actors needed help. To get shots of the actors in the cars driving, stunt co-ordinator Jack Gill created a "pod car".
He describes the invention as "convenient when you want to get actors' reactions, ones you can't get on green screen in real traffic and in actual cars banging together".
The pod sits on top of the race car and is attached to the car with a steering wheel, brake and accelerator pedal.
"I drove up there while the actors sat inside with cameras pointing at them," he said.
Although the driving is real and there is plenty to please drift fans, the stunts are more about explosions and crashes than good driving.
During the shooting of the film a team of 85 mechanics was employed to constantly repair the wrecked cars.
So, plenty of action, little dialogue, a few nice bodies . . . shouldn't trouble the Academy Award judges, but definitely will please the teens and revheads.
BEST CAR MOVIES
1. Mad Max (1979)
Mel Gibson stars as a future cop who takes on a motorcycle gang. The star of the movie is the 1974 Ford Falcon XB sedan with a 351 V8. Real stunts.
2. Bullitt (1968)
Steve McQueen does much of his own driving in this slow-paced detective movie which happens to feature perhaps the best cinematic chase involving his 1968 390 V8 Ford Mustang and a 1968 440 Dodge Charger.
3. Smokey and The Bandit (1977)
Burt Reynolds and the Flying Nun elevate the Pontiac Trans Am to super-hero status distracting the law from a truck delivering illegal booze.
4. The Blues Brothers (1980)
John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd were the ultimate in cool in their 1974 Dodge Monaco "Bluesmobile".
5. The Fast and the Furious (2001)
A homage to illegal street racing. The heavily modified cars are mainly Japanese (Mitsubishi Eclipse, Toyota Supra, Honda Civic, Mazda RX-7) with a Dodge Charger R/T and a VW Jetta!
6. Le Mans (1971)
Steve McQueen stars in this documentary style movie about the famous endurance race. Real racing with a Porsche 908.
7. Duel (1971)
Dennis Weaver's Plymouth Valiant is terrorised by a Peterbilt 281 truck in Steven Spielberg's first feature.
8.
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)
The original and the best. Too many cars to list, although a certain Ford Mustang Fastback named Eleanor rates a special mention.
9. The Gumball Rally (1976)
An illegal cross-country race in the sexiest cars on the planet . . . how could it miss. The stars were a Shelby 427 Cobra, Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona, Porsche 911 Targa, Camaro Z/28, Dodge Polara.
10. American Graffiti (1973)
Harrison Ford, Ron Howard and Richard Dreyfuss in their early careers couldn't outshine the star cars of a 1932 Ford coupe, 1955 Chevy, 1958 Chevy Impala, 1951 Mercury coupe, 1956 Ford Thunderbird. Best scene is the cop car leaving its rear end on the street.
