Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39476 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-01-22
• Rating: Exempt
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
Nearly two hours of stunning footage which showcases over 25 of the world's most impressive rally cars. This interactive program features on-board, driver seat action, facts about drivers, and rare archive footage of vintage rally cars.

Customer Reviews

Sit back and enjoy the most exhilarating ride of your life.
From 70hp 2-stroke Saabs to 600hp Pikes peak hill climbers this disc has the lot. Tony Mason take you through all the important rally marques since the modern sport developed. Each model is examined in enough detail to satisfy all but the most demanding anoraks. What sets this disc out as a must buy for any motorsport fan is the driving action. The drivers demonstrate their skills (nice footwell shots, heel and toe etc..) and their unsurpassable bravery driving the hugely overpowered monsters of the mid eighties. The 6 minutes of a Peugeot 405 climbing pikes peak is worth the disc price alone, at one point Ari Vatanen has to lift his hand off the steering wheel to shade his eyes from the sun at speeds and levels of opposites lock that appear unrecoverable, never mind the shots of Lancia's slicing through the huge crowds at Monte Carlo. The technical quality of this disc is very reasonable considering the amount of archive footage being used. I have had to watch this disc three times in one day, and at 2 hours long I never once was tired of watching powersilding Audis, Fords, Subaru's...... A must Buy.

Best archive stuff you can get on DVD
Having watched this 2-hour programme through twice, I have to admit this was well worth buying as a rally fan. You can watch some footage of virtually every championship-winning car that ever existed in the WRC, as several precious minutes are devoted to each car which includes a very clear Tony Mason commentary and endless footage of varied cars relevant.

Good points of this video would be it's 'archive' nature: the fact that it provides an information database for all the major cars and the bestmoving imagery for each one. It is also very thorough as there are a wide range of cars involved as well as excellent bonus material including "that" 1987 pair on Pikes Peak, the Audi Quattro S1 and the modified Peugeot 205 T16 (dubbed 405), the latter driven by Ari Vatanen and the former cracking a new record on the mountain.

Worth mentioning also are interviews with Messrs Malcolm Wilson of Ford and David Lapworth of Subaru who talk about the cars they worked with in the frame of their respective companies. These bits are very fascinating as you'll find out things you may not have known before directly from the big boys and also their opinions ("This car was too heavy, there was a time when we did this, that, and all this started etc. etc.").

If there are less pleasing factors, it's that the commentary, while great, won't teach you much more you didn't already know (at the end of the day you're probably going to know that basic information stated by Mason long before you commit yourself to an interactive DVD). Also, some footage, while good, can be rather thin-on-the-bone, which disappoints. For example the only footage I saw of a Peugeot 206 throughout the entire programme was one crew driving through a Finnish stage in 2000. Similiarly, for the Escort RS Cosworth virtually all you see is a prototype car trundling down the same road, that for virtually all the section that covers the car.

But these do tend to be minor irritations. And for me, there were several sections, such as the Vatanen Pikes Peak scene, which alone made the DVD worth paying for. That element more than much else really earns it the four stars.