Grand Prix Trivia Quiz

Answer: Monaco

The first race in the movie "Grand Prix" was the (1966) Monaco Grand Prix, perhaps the most famous GP of them all. The circuit snakes through the actual city streets of Monte Carlo making for a very difficult race. Early in the movie, in a voice-over narration, a racer mentioned that there are over 2000 gear shifts during the race, for an average of one every three seconds. That's no NASCAR oval!

Answer: James Garner

James Garner played Pete Aron, an American racer who was perceived as more than a bit temperamental by his team manager especially when Aron started complaining during the race about his shifter/gearbox.

As to Garner's racing abilities, according to imdb.com, "During breaks in filming there were several mini races in which Garner either tied or bettered the professional drivers hired for filming."

Answer: Aron and his car ended up in the water.

Aron's car had a shifting problem, which at one point caused him to slow unexpectedly, triggering the events which led to his driving off the road, crashing through a barrier into the Mediterranean. He was OK, if not a little shaken, but fellow teammate, Scott Stoddard, who was leading the race, wrecked trying to avoid Aron and was severely injured. Aron was summarily fired at this point, having been perceived by his boss as having slowed teammate Stoddard's progress, eventually causing the crash.

Answer: Television reporter

Poor Pete took a job as a reporter, mainly so he could stay involved in racing, but, of course, he still had hopes of racing again. His attempt at an interview with the enigmatic owner of a racing firm was an utter failure. This same owner later offered Pete a job as one of his race drivers.

Answer: Yamura

Yes, fictional Japanese racing company, Yamura, hired Pete. The company was rather new to the GP circuit, and was likely modeled after Honda, who had their first GP win in 1965, with, coincidentally enough, an American driver!

The actor who played Mr. Yamura, Toshirô Mifune, had too much of an accent for the filmmakers, so his voice was dubbed over for the general release.

Answer: She was a journalist for a magazine.

Eva Marie Saint played Louise Frederickson, a journalist for an American women's magazine, looking for a story about racing and fashion. She, herself single, fell for the confident, but married, Jean-Pierre Sarti (played by Yves Montand) who claimed his marriage was just for convenience.

Answer: absence of imagination

Early in the movie, "voiceovers" with several of the racers gave movie-goers a sense of what it was like to be a racer. Much of the dialogue was based on interviews with real racers.

In this case, Sarti said, "I think if any of us imagined - really imagined - what it would be like to go into a tree at 150 miles per hour we would probably never get into the cars at all, none of us. So it has always seemed to me that to do something very dangerous requires a certain absence of imagination."

Answer: Motorcycle racing

Nino was apparently based on Lorenzo Bandini, an equally passionate and competitive Italian, who was killed, somewhat ironically, at the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix because of injuries sustained after he rolled his car over in a wreck and it burst into flames.

In the movie Nino said: "I used to think nothing could be better than motorbike racing. Three times I am a World Champion on my motorbike. I am happy. Then I go into one of these, these cars: you sit in a box, a coffin, gasoline all around you. It is like being inside a bomb! Crazy, but of course the cars are faster, and that is the most important thing."

Answer: Adolfo Celi

Adolfo Celi played Agostini Manetta, a man definitely not interested in hiring Pete Aron. In his lifetime, Celi (1922-1986) made a lot of European films; some might recognize him as Emilio Largo in the James Bond thriller "Thunderball" and also, perhaps, as the prisoner of war camp commandant in WWII Italy, in the film, "Von Ryan's Express", starring Frank Sinatra.

Like the actor who played Mr. Yamura, Celi's accent (Sicilian) was considered too thick so his voice was also dubbed over.

Answer: Sarti was killed after launching his car off a bridge.

Sarti was a sort of "tragic hero" in the movie. His marriage was a sham and during the movie he had been involved in a wreck in which he had run over and killed two young male spectators - an event for which he was repressing his feelings. Louise Frederickson, Sarti's girlfriend, could not even ride with him to the hospital since Sarti's wife had uncharacteristically appeared for the race.