Drivers are introduced with their back stories at the starting grid of the Monaco Grand Prix. They're off!. Jean-Pierre Sarti (Yves Montand) leads Scott Stoddard (Brian Bedford), Pete Aron (James Garner) third. Pat Stoddard (Jessica Walter)gets out of bed hungoverand looks down at the racing cars from her high balcony. Hugo, an older gentleman friend arrives to escort her to the winner's circle. Pat had partied hard with two Greeks and ouzo while her huband Scott had gone to bed early. Stoddard pushes and passes Sarti for the lead leaving the others behind as they begin to lap the backmarkers. Nino Barlini (Antonio Sabato) passes Aron for 3rd. Pete Aron in the 11 car Jordan-BRM is having problems with his gearbox and gestures to his pits. He slips to 5th and pits. Team owner/Manager Jeff Jordan (JaCK Watson) angrily tells him to get back out despite a faulty transmission. Aron exits the pits in front of his teammate Scott Stoddard in the 12 car. Despite being a lap down and with a wonky car Pete doesn't pull out of the way, Jordan is livid as he sees the cars pass the pits. Aron ignores the blue flag order. Coming to the chicane Aron's car slips a gear, he raises his arm but too late, the 12 car rams him from behind. Stoddard is sent into the runoff haybales while Aron is pushed into the harbour. Stoddard is badly hurt and Arons swims to safety. Jordan is furious and calls Aron a liar and a coward. In the hospital Stoddard is bandaged from head to foot. Jordan peevishly tells Pat she got what she wanted, Stoddard is finished as a driver. Meanwhile Sarti wins the race. In a hotel room after the celebrations a weary Sarti has a chat with Aron, Pete tries to explain what happened. At night the 11 car is hoisted from the harbour. Pat sits by her unconscious husband, she gently kisses the sleeping man and tells him softly she knows he will drive again somehow, but she has had enough. She leaves quietly as Stoddard stirs. Aron then comes to the room and sees Scott crying. In a posh reception area Hugo greets American journalist Louise Frederickson (Eva Marie Saint). Sarti arrives wearing a tuxedo and is introduced to Louise. Jean-Pierre charms the woman and the two go outside for a quiet talk. Louise is doing a story for a fashion magazine. Sarti recalls Louise had written an article about his wife Monique, who is from an auto company family but never comes to races. The two browse in an old car museum, Louise admits she has never seen a race before. Sarti invites her to another party that night. At a disco young people shake their booties to pop music. Nino Barlini arrives on a motorcycle and spots the bored but gorgeous, leggy blonde Lisa (Francoise Hardy). Nino goes to chat her up. Pete visits the Ferrari factory in Modena to talk to Agostini Manetta, asking to drive for them again. Manetta refuses partly because of how Aron left the team three years earlier, he also says Aron is reckless and not a winner. Stoddard is transferred by ambulance back to the UK, reporters crowd around him on the gurney. A reporter asks about a rumoured divorce but Jeff says it's not true. In the hospital Scott tells Jeff he wants her back. Pat is a fashion model doing a shoot at the Ferrari garage. Louise is there too and greets Jean-Pierre. The two Ferrari cars come out onto a city street to cheering onlookers. At the French Grand Prix Pete is now in a burgandy blazer as a TV commentator. In the pits Lisa is now an enthusiastic pit babe hanging close to Nino. The drivers kibbitz with Pete. The famous Japanese industrialist Izo Yamura (Toshiro Mifune) arrives by limo. Pete introduces himself to the Japanese car owner, but can't arrange an interview. Scott watches dismally as Pat is being interviewed on TV, she denies any marriage problems. Pete chides her off camera for the obvious lies. The others discuss the Stoddards' not exactly fairy tale marriage. Sarti and Louise have lunch together. Pete then sees Pat sitting alone on the bleachers and goes to apologize but still manages to insult her. At a quiet stream, Jean-Pierre gives Louise fly-fishing lessons. Sarti talks about his marriage. Nino and Lisa are in a pedal boat nearby. Louise is not married as she likes to be free and independent. The cars whiz by the French fans, Louise is in the crowd and excited by the spectacle. Sarti in the #6 Ferrari cruises to a win. Pat sits with Pete in a bar as they hear the French anthem. Pat tries to break the ice between them and asks for a lift. In a Mustang Aron drives quickly as Pat admits she has left Scott and why she did so. On a hillside viewpoint Jean-Pierre and Louise look a the scenery, Sarti tries to encourage her to stay in Europe for a while longer. He invites her to join him at a place near Monza. At the hotel Pete leaves Pat at her room, he then finds a letter slipped under his door. Pete goes to the Yamura garage with the invitation. He is greeted by Yamura, who explains his racing philosophy, and is anxious for his first win. He offers Aron a job as a driver in a third car on his team, Pete accepts. Pete and Pat stroll down a quiet city street. Pat announces she is divorcing Scott. The two are more friendly, and later Pat comes to his hotel room. At an exlusive resort Jean-Pierre shows Louise around his large Ferrari-decorated suite. They make love and discuss the future over champagne. Yamura shows Pete around his racing car shop, there are many chassis and bodies being worked on. Pete sits in a car then the two men have tea outside a luxurious estate. Yamura tells Aron he was a fighter pilot in the war, shooting down 17 Americans. The two men seem to hit it off. At the Stoddard manse, filled with trophies and racing art, Scott returns, now hobbling on crutches escorted by Jeff Jordan. The house is a shrine to Scott's older, dead brother Roger. Scott uses the mementos as motivation to exceed. At a meeting with all the other drivers Sarti presses for a union to push for better safety. Scott arrives and is greeted warmly by the other drivers. Pete and Pat are living together in a suite upstairs, Scott comes to talk and asks Aron to leave them for a moment. Scott has missed her but Pat refuses to reconcile. Sarti has pole position for the Belgian GP at Spa. The cars tear around the long circuit. It starts to rain heavily and Aron in the #24 Yamura begins to cut through traffic. Sarti pushes hard at the front and comes up to the backmarkers. Suddenly his right front wheel breaks off and the Ferrari crashes through a fence. Sarti is helped out. His leg gashed, he looks back at two spectators who were killed in the crash. Aron wins! Stoddard and Jordan look on glumly. The father of one of the dead men attacks Sarti as Aron receives his flowers and the American anthem plays. Intermission At Stoddard's farm they wheel out Roger's old front engine green racer from a barn. Scott squeezes into the car and takes it out for a spin. At Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix Scott is back racing, he celebrates a hot record lap, Aron and Yamura look concerned. In the race Barlini spins out but continues. Sarti retires at the back of the circuit. Scott charges and rubs his leg whenever he can, he wins! The Jordan team are joyous. Later Scott injects his leg with a painkiller. In the US he wins again at Watkins Glen. After Mexico Yamura and Aron review movies of the #32 Yamura spinning out. Aron acknowledges he is making mistakes, Stoddard has won yet again. At Brands Hatch the cars arrange on the grid. The track announcer states Aron has already won at Belgium and Germany. The British Grand Prix is underway! After 15 laps Stoddard begins to slow, he starts thinking of the drugs and Pat. He pits and is lifted almost unconcious from the car. Barlini, Sarti and Aron battle for the lead on the last lap. Aron's car begins to leak fuel. It catches fire but Aron continues onto 2nd place as the car erupts in a fireball. Aron is OK! Sarti seems shaken and blasts the photographers. Lisa joins an ecstatic Nino on the podium. Scott is relaxing in a dark room as Pat comes to see him, concerned. At a pub all the drivers celebrate Nino's win. Sarti slips out quietly and Louise joins him. Jean Pierre is getting reflective and begins to question what they all do. Louise tries to reassure him. At Monza Lisa notices a handsome young man at a slot car track. Sarti is upset his car hasn't arrived yet. A narrator describes the dangers of the 6.5 mile high banked race track. Manetta arrives with a guest, it is Sarti's wife Monique. She greets Louise awkwardly and makes small talk with Nino. Then Lisa sees Nino playing around with two Japanese girls and turns away. Manetta challenges Sarti's recent driving and suggests he is ready for retirement, Jean-Pierre is angry. He politely meets his wife behind the pits. Monique tells him divorce is out of the question and Sarti will always be used for marketing her auto company. Scott and Pat prepare to go to a party, this will be his last race. Nino is headed to a room with the two kimono-clad girls. Outside Lisa starts to talk to the handsome guy she noticed earlier. The next morning Jean-Pierre and Louise talk wistfully and express their love. In the pits Nino wonders where Lisa was last night, she tells him she is leaving him to go to Greece with her new American boyfriend. Nino sarcastically tells her off. Scott confidently blips his throttle as Pat looks on smiling. Pete arrives in his Shelby Mustang GT and greets Pat, he wishes her well. On the grid the announcer says Barlini leads the championship with 28 pts, Stoddard and Sarti are tied for 2nd at 27, Aron is 4th with 26. The flag drops, Sarti's car stalls. He manages to restart 30 seconds behind the pack. Barlini leads. The cars speed around the imposing banking at 180 mph. Sarti closes up and passes slower cars. Barlini stretches his lead but Sarti is the fastest car on the track. On lap 22 Sarti makes it to 4th place! An exhaust pipe comes off another car, Sarti hits it, spins off the high banking and crashes in an explosion on the trackside below. Jean-Pierre is fatally injured and taken away by ambulance. Louise is hysterical, Monique is shocked. Manetta black flags Barlini withdrawing his whole team from the race. Everyone is silent in respect. Back on the track Scott and Pete now duel wheel to wheel, passing and re-passing each other using drafting. Around the last corner Pete presses ahead and wins by a wheel. Getting out of his car Yamura indicates Sarti is gone, Aron is silent but takes the winner's laurels and beckons a subdued Scott up to the podium. Later, Pete looks sadly around the empty grandstands and starting grid. He hears the engines roar, has a smoke and strides off down the track.
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