"...he simply doesn't possess the skill to drive that fast and live very long. Besides missed shifts and lack of torque control, he also didn't know how to manage adhesion, as revealed by the jerky motions of the front wheel in close-up."

Aww c'mon Robespierre don't be a wowser! He did it - what he might have lacked in skill he made up for in "balls".

As for the speed he was doing, at the Champs Elysees segment a motorbike crossed his path. It seems to give some idea of whether the speed was "fiddled".

Apparently you're talking about Paris. That driver was very, very good. He drifted through turns at 9/10.

The schlump in Stockholm didn't even have complete control of the car. Wally, watch it again. If you didn't see the wheel, you couldn't possibly have noticed the shifts.

Hey Wally.. Robespierre was referring to the Stockhohlm video that YOU posted.. I think you're in the wrong city.. we're in PARIS here!.. stop confussing the issue mate!

So who do they think was the driver?

Goldwynn... The driver's name was never revealled.. all Lelouch the producer of it said was it was a Formula 1 driver.

MERVskilton: Thanks for the reply.......I read the note on the website with the same info BUT surely after all these years surely someone would have spilled the beans. There must have been rumours about this.....especially with the police. I`m wondering if there was a Formula One race about that time in the area. Think I`ll do some checking into this...........I`m very curious about who that driver might have been.

That didn`t take long.....just went googling. Found reference to the real driver who turns out to be Claude LeLouche himself. Check out this link at Wikipedia http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/C'&eacu...un_rendez-vous.

Sorry but that link is not complete and I cannot get it to show complete likely because of the French punctuation mark. This is the link of a forum where the driver of that Paris speed trip had been discussed and where I obtained the Wikipedia link. All I did was copy and paste and it took me right there. It is http://aoctavio.castpost.com/136163.html and the poster is the 10th one down and his name is Kyrre.

Since people are sharing links to videos of fast laps around Europe,here is another one.
Its a motorcycle ride on the Paris Boulevard Périphérique with speeds up to 250 km/h. FYI its a big download at 35mb.
Go here to get it.

http://www.sportbikez.net/videos/1/6

And click on the photo "Pascals ride on the Périphérique

Thank you Robespierre.......that makes it so much easier. Care to explain that?

Oh, gosh. Where to begin?

The Fodor's link script screwed up because it thinks certain punctuation marks signify the end of the URL it's parsing.

<b>The only thing it should look for is the [space] character at the end of the string.</b> (Or possibly a period followed by a space if the quoted URL is at the end of a sentence. But they don't care - they deleted the thread I started earlier today on this very subject.)

Anyway - any character can be represented in a URL by a &quot;percent escape&quot; sequence. In the present instance, I converted the apostrophe to a %27, and the e acute to a %e9.

Since the stupid Fodor's parser doesn't stop at a percent sign, the whole URL is included in its scan.

Ahhhh! So that`s it! Not that I would have known about &quot;percent escapes&quot;. And thank you again for taking the time to explain this. ( I hope not as many times as the bus system in Paris).

Great Video of bike in Paris.. thanks Lovejoy!

RobesPierre ...yep we did get our wires crossed before... sorry.. my mistake , I was referring to the orig post, the Paris clip and we had moved on to the one i posted...The driver in Paris was streets ahead of the Stockholm driver..so to speak.. have a good one and drive carefully :)

You are a whacker Wally!

Wally.. &quot;Whacker&quot; is an Aussie term.. don't confuse it with something else!! *merv winks here*

MervSkilton..I know its an Australian term mate...I am an Aussie too.....
have u ever been to Paris? I was there for a few days in 1987.....

Another bloody Aussie!!!.. where the bloody hell are ya in OZ?

This video was shot of an auto-ecole for French teenagers. First time you drive on the AutoRoute du Soliel you will recognize the technique.

What is an Auto-Ecole?

Driving school.

where did you get that story from?

Merv , in Victoria ..out of Melbourne
and you ??

Victoria too!

I am up near Belgrave in the Dandenong Ranges....

I'm in the Strzelecki Ranges.. howdy neighbour!

howdy Merv...:)

Wally.. do you know The Para Pub?.. The Paradise Hotel in Clematis?

Merv, never been there but its about 15 mins away from here ..is that your regular haunt ??

I drink there after my radio show every Mon &amp; Wed.. why don't ya drop in!

what's this radio show ?? what station ??

Warning: If you want to enjoy the film just as it is, and you don't enjoy speculating on trust, perception and belief, stop reading here! Spoilers within.....


********

I was intrigued to follow up Robes' hypertextbook link, because that was my first thought as I watched the film - just how fast are those dashes on the pavement dividing lines passing the point of reference, and can I guess the speed from using that or possibly the length of the route as an index?

And sure enough, someone did just that - and put up some very nicely done graphs, too.

The thing is, there are different kinds of trust. That the filmmaker makes certain claims doesn't mean he doesn't have integrity - he could have believed his claims himself, but simply have been mistaken. Yet the idea that it could only have been a character flaw that explains errors seems to prevent many people from looking for errors - it's almost as if they find it rude to challenge and verify the facts, as if facts had feelings.

It is, also, possible that people exaggerate or lie or even just enjoy 'fooling' people. So I'm intrigued by what has been said about disclaimers. That there is a disclaimer that no manipulation was used doesn't constitute independent proof that no manipulation was used (consider the source of the disclaimer.) If I tell you it is the absolute truth that my surname is xx_yy, well, maybe it is the case (yeah, right!) but why should anyone accept me or anyone as the purveyor of absolute truth, even and perhaps especially because I insist that people do so?

Finally, studies, even if done correctly, are limited in the scope of what they prove. Even the hypertextbook people had to evaluate the film as presented - their analysis of the film might be correct, but it doesn't prove the film wasn't manipulated.

Again, it's interesting: it's almost as if some people think it's rude, somehow, to look for independent verification of a claim.

(Meanwhile, Carta_pisana, thanks for the link, I enjoyed thinking about the film and the thread.)

Very interesting Sue xx yy...

Your evaluation could apply to absolutely anything in the world.. there is always more to a story and all people should not fully believe everything they read.. and think laterally as to the perspective and angle of the person presenting a subject.. and the big question why and what is their invested interest??..

And now with the invention of the DIY modern day overnight publisher on the internet it is harder to make the distinction between the professionalism of the past which required a bigger dedication to a subject through the commitment of traditional publishing which cost large sums of money but still corruptable by the higher powers with the money.. hence i only fully believe something I read until I see it it with my own eyes in real life.. until then it is all only speculation, opinion and entertainment!

And all because the lady loves .....Milk Tray....

..chocolates???.. where do Milk Tray Chocolates come into this discussion???

You obviously don't know the Milk tray commercial here in the UK.

;-)

Muck

Instead of telling the poster what s/he doesn't know, why don't you explain it?

No....

:-)

Muck

Did someone mention chocolates???