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Anachronisms (12) |
Audio/visual unsynchronised (2) |
Continuity (6) |
Crew or equipment visible (1) |
Errors in geography (2) |
Factual errors (17) |
Miscellaneous (1) |
Revealing mistakes (1) |
Spoilers (1)
Anachronisms
After his accident Lauda is shown with the same Helmet he used in the Season so far which is not correct. Because his Helmet came off during the accident, Lauda decided to sue the manufacturer and switched to another manufacturer. The new Helmet was different shaped than his old one.
Throughout the film, OMP race suits are shown with the new OMP logo, which wasn't designed until 2012.
When James Hunt is flying and takes notice of the flight attendant, the airline seats shown are Lufthansa First Class seats that were not introduced until 2001.
The McLaren team has a Mark 2 Transit van in their pits at the '76 British GP. The Mark 2 was introduced in '78.
In the first birds-eye establishing shot used for Vienna a modern transit van can be seen crossing a bridge in the bottom left corner of the frame.
At the airport sequence at the end of the film (1976), James Hunt and his party are seen in a late 1980s-vintage Lincoln limousine.
At an F3-race in 1970, a yellow Renault 5 is visible in the background. That model was introduced in 1972.
The HS 125 aircraft G-IFTE which James Hunt and his friends depart on towards the end of the film was manufactured in 1978, two years after the year in which the film was set.
When James Hunt is introduced to his new Formula 1 car, he is wearing a Franklin & Marshall tennis shirt. In the early 1970's Franklin & Marshall was only a college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and not yet an Italian fashion line. This shirt would not have existed until 1999.
Drivers are wearing modern day racing helmets in some racing scenes.
When Niki Lauda and Marlene Knaus have a breakdown with the Peugeot in their first meeting scene, a Fiat 128 drives past them. This model of the Fiat 128 was first introduced in 1969, the scene takes place in 1975. The model in question is a 128 CL with plastic bumpers, enlarged tail lights and mate black grill. CL's were launched in mid 76.
In the background at Watkins Glen, a British-registered Ford Cortina is visible in the background.
Audio/visual unsynchronised
James Hunt receives a telephone call on his "Trimphone" which had an electronic warble to announce incoming calls, not the ringing bell heard on the soundtrack.
When Lauda is in his car before the start of his first race after his accident, he's seen revving his engine. When the camera looks over his shoulder at the tachometer, as he increases the revs, the needle moves down, instead of up, as it should. This is repeated a couple of times.
Continuity
At the press conference before the Japanese Grand Prix, Hunt is smoking with his right hand while simultaneously nervously flicking his lighter with his other right hand.
(at around 1h 28 mins) Just after Lauda's 4th place finish in his first race after the accident, there is a fan sitting atop the billboard, in a purple shirt and waving a flag. To his right, about 6 to 7 feet away, there is another fan in a green shirt, pumping his fist in the air. In the next shot, these same two fans are sitting immediately beside each other, their legs almost touching.
James Hunt pits in the Nurburgring behind Team Tyrrell (Patrick Depailler). However, when he looks at his side mirror he clearly see's Niki Lauda, which would be impossible since the Tyrrell is in between Niki and James.
On the morning of the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix, Hunt gets out of a bed that shows two other sets of feet. This is the same bed, with the same feet as that shown in a montage of fun-loving Hunt later in the film - where the feet are shown to belong to two air stewardesses.
When Niki crashes at Nurburgring, his car is hit by another racer and pushed further down the track. When the replay of the accident is shown on TV with James Hunt watching, the first impact shows Niki being pushed to a different part on the track - over the white line and to the side.
During the Nuerburgring race, when Hunt stops at his box for tire change, the dark-blue 6-wheeled Tyrrell is briefly seen behind his car, already standing there. In a following shot, the Tyrrell is seen turning into its box.
Crew or equipment visible
When the ambulance go through the pit lane, you can see the rig for the camera attached to the side of it (black tubing).
Errors in geography
When Niki Lauda and James Hunt are racing at the Nurburgring, both cars go into the pits to change to dry weather tyres. Before Lauda leaves the pits, Hunt is shown driving around the renowned Carousel corner before Lauda had left the pits. This corner is is around 2 thirds of the way through the circuit, and would be approximately 5 minutes away given the conditions.
When Lauda meets Marlene for the first time, he asks her for a lift to a train station nearby, and she answered that Trento's half an hour's drive. Clearly they are somewhere in central Italy with no mountains in sight, which means hours away from Trento (city in the Alps).
Factual errors
Throughout the film Niki Lauda's nationality is shown in the stats abbreviated as AUS - this would be the international code for Australia. Austria's code is AUT.
The Nürburgring racetrack is referred to as "The Graveyard", while its actual nickname was "The Green Hell".
Niki Lauda's eyelashes. Soon after the fire, when he is in hospital there is a profile of his face. The actor has perfect dark eyelashes, these would have been the first things to burn.
In a close-up of James Hunt's McLaren M23 on the grid 'Cosworth' is shown on the valve covers of the DFV engine. The correct valve covers would have displayed 'FORD'.
Driver François Cevert was not decapitated in his fatal accident at Watkins Glen but split in half. The incident depicted in the film is an amalgamation of two fatal crashes at the circuit: Francois Cevert in 1973 and Helmuth Koinigg in 1974. Lauda witnessed the Cevert crash but the Frenchman's car was inverted on top of a guardrail. It was Koinigg's car that went under the guardrail, decapitating him.
In the film, Niki Lauda makes his Formula One debut with BRM in 1973. In reality, Lauda started several races for the March team in 1971 and 1972.
During the Japanese Grand Prix, Hunt was first overtaken by Patrick Depailler, not Mario Andretti. Despite the commentator saying Hunt needed to finish at least third to win the championship, fourth would have sufficed. The scoreboard error, putting Hunt in 5th, was corrected before the race was finished.
The ambulance seen driving by at the Nürburgring has an incorrect alarm siren sound. German ambulances sound like "ta-tü-ta-ta" whereas the one in the movie sounds like "dee-daa dee-daa".
At the British Grand Prix Hunt is shown winning the race, in reality this was not true. Hunt was involved in a crash at the first corner, ran back to the pits and jumped in the spare car. He then proceeded to win the race. The win was later thrown out and Hunt disqualified as he should not have been able to race in the spare car.
Niki Lauda's first Formula One race in the movie is the 1973 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. This was actually the last race of the 1973 season.
The car which picks up Niki and Marlene in Italy has an Italian rectangular license plate on the back, with a style never seen in Italy. Rectangular plates were introduced in 1976 and featured an orange provincial code which preceded the number. But the scene is set in 1975: Italian license plates at that time were square, with the provincial code in the top row with up to two digits, and the last four digits in the bottom row. The front one, however, is accurate both in shape and format (the provincial code followed the number).
In F1, "rooster tails" are so-called because the water on the track flies straight upwards from the rear of the tyre and then curls over. In the final race in Japan an apparently fast-moving car has the spray coming from the front of the tyres.
In a scene set during the 1973 season, when Niki Lauda was driving for the Marlboro-sponsored BRM team, he is wearing coveralls with the logos for STP and Levi's. These were actually his sponsors when he drove for March in 1971-72.
At the beginning of his career in Ferrari, Lauda is shown driving a Ferrari 312 T. In reality the car of the first year was the 312 B4.
During the free practise before the Nuerburgring race, a car accident is shown. The number of the crashed car, briefly visible, is 32. Neither was there an accident during the '76 Nuerburgring practise, nor was there a number 32 car in the entire field.
During the 1976 Nurburgring race, tobacco advertising is shown on cars. Voluntary covering of this advertising commenced in 1973, and by 1976 tobacco advertising was completely banned.
Following James Hunt's wedding ceremony, Bubbles Horsley broke the news to Hunt that Lauda had just signed for Ferrari. The wedding actually took place on October 1974, which Lauda by then, in his first year with Scuderia Ferrari, finished fourth in the season. He signed up at the start of the year.
Miscellaneous
In the scene in Italy where Niki and Marlene hitch a lift, the subtitles refer to him as 'Lauder' not Lauda.
Revealing mistakes
The newspaper that is handed to Hunt has a repeating paragraph in the right column visible, starting with "Only hours earlier...".
Spoilers
Continuity
During the lung vacuuming sequence, the close-up shots show the vacuum tube in line with Niki Lauda's throat but a distant shot shows the tube almost perpendicular to his throat.