Episode 1 Idris Elba: King of Speed

When I was six years old

I used to sit in the back of my dad's Cortina

with a hanger and drive,

pretending that hanger to be a steering wheel.

By the time I was 14 I realised I had an obsession for speed.

I bought myself a car, and that was it, I haven't looked back.

TYRES SCREECHING

'Now I'm going to race and rally across the world,

'meet legends....'

You always liked speed.

Could never get enough of it.

'..professional drivers...'

It is like a drug, and you want to do more.

'..people obsessed with speed.'

Like me.

Now, I don't know what your title is over here...

-King of Speed, bruv, King of Speed.

-Whooo!

Where's the ejector button?

I've wanted to eject out these things every now and then.

'Achieving boyhood dreams.'

I'm learning from you.

'Making life-long friends.'

'Understanding how speed shaped the cars we drive.'

The underground scene, the drag racing, the kids love it.

'I'm going to uncover how smugglers, law-breakers

'and underage drivers created the world's most popular motorsports.'

'And we learn about my own personal relationship with speed...

Rusty's airborne!

'..and why people risk their lives to go faster.'

Mum. I'm OK, all right? Don't worry about this.

I'm in East London,

where my relationship with the car first started.

I'm here in Forest Gate, which is sort of adjacent

to sort of Manor Park and Stratford and Hackney and Leytonstone,

and I used to literally work down the street at a tyre fitters.

'Tyre fitting was my first proper job

'and I'm dropping in to meet an old rival.'

HE SNIFFS AND SIGHS

'Tony Hunter manages this place.'

'The guy that runs it, he used to work here'

when I was, you know, a tyre fitter in Forest Gate.

Down the street,

just down the road, Robin used to own the old...

Yeah, with the Mini sticking out the front.

-The Mini sticking out the front, yeah.

-Yeah, yeah.

Was that competition for you lot here?

No, man. No, nothing!

We all used to just run around with each other.

Like, on a Saturday, if I didn't have a tyre

or they didn't have a tyre, we'd call each other up,

"What you got, can I come and get it?"

Boom-boom-boom, borrow it off each other, and boom.

Ah, this old bad boy.

HE LAUGHS

And then what you'd do is go in here...

In here.

OK, right, that's it.

There you go.

We had, like, busy, we had a big shop, you had a lot of people

coming in, and you'd whip these on and off in no time, man.

Boom.

Yeah, I learnt a lot.

I learnt a lot about motors, cars, first time I learnt to...

Well, I was allowed to drive, really, cos, like,

sometimes the customer would come in, drop the car off

and go, "Oh, I'll be back in minutes,"

and then you'd do his car and he wasn't back

so I used to zip it out. I loved it. Loved it.

It was a job. It was a great place.

You made good money, good tips.

You met a lot of people and you got to know the community.

You'd be walking and it'd be like,

"All right, Idris? We know you."

We'll start him back on a Saturday, it's not a problem!

On old-time recommendation.

-Seen this?

-Go on.

Oooh!

Wow!

Yeah, it's all right, isn't it?

XR2! Wow!

That is in perfect nick, as well.

Original interior.

How old is this? C-reg?

'86.

Wow.

That's practically the same thing I had.

I had the first Fiesta, the box shape, XR2...

-Mark 1.

-Mark 1.

-Yeah.

And then I stepped up to one of these.

That's a 16 CVH.

-Wow.

-XR2, yeah.

This was like the boy racer's dream at the time, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

-Having one of these.

Yeah. It's a pretty one.

Whoa.

HE GIGGLES

Nothing's changed. Nothing's changed round here.

'When I was 20, I bought a Fiesta XR2, just like this one.'

'his motor was my first decent ride...

Wow!

'.and driving it now brings it all back.'

Whoo-hoo-hoo-hooo!

I tell you what, man, this was me!

Riding round Forest Gate, East London in this thing.

'There's no better way to start my journey than in East London

'with this drop dead gorgeous, rude boy Fiesta XR2.'

It was the boy-racer's car, so...

It was a status car, cos if you had a Ford Fiesta,

you know, that was a decent car to have at that age, you know?

It was a rude boy's car.

I tell you what, I used to watch my uncles and my dad

drive all the time, you know, like, sitting in the back seat

where the camera is, watching the steering wheel.

I used to love watching the steering wheel

with the dash-board and, you know, like how a steering wheel moved.

And then, as soon as I was old enough,

which was probably about 14, 15,

I had a car.

I used to be along these roads all the time.

I used to have a girlfriend that actually lived there.

Look, Cherry Tree Road, boom, she used to live down there,

in the flats round the back.

Older woman she was, as well.

At age 19, I left Hackney to go visit America.

I'd had enough of working in the garages.

I worked for Ford in Dagenham for a while,

but I wanted to be an actor, so I explored the USA.

And this is where the Story of Speed really begins.

You know, when you're flying in an aeroplane

and you look down and see all these cars whizzing around,

it's not too dissimilar to looking at ants as they travel

on their journeys, but the difference is that,

human beings, we've created

a mechanism for getting around,

and these mechanisms are beautiful on their own, you know,

and they're as complex as they can get.

And then, the idea behind that is that we want to get

to where we want to go faster, so I think that's why...

Why I wanted to explore this, is to...

Why are we so obsessed with that, you know what I mean?

It's one thing to build a motor car

but it's another thing to race the thing, you know what I mean?

One car builder who revolutionised mass car production

wasn't initially convinced that the public really wanted fast cars.

If a young man makes up his mind to work,

there's no limit to what he can do.

Henry Ford saw his basic Model T as a simple,

affordable way to get from A to B at a respectable 45 mph.

NEWSREEL: By 1919, it seems as if everybody is driving a model T.

Ford sells nearly a million of them a year.

Its low price made owning a car affordable for everyone,

and the Model T dominated the market for many years.

Ford never dreamed people would want anything faster

than his reliable Model T.

They continued to manufacture the car for nearly two decades.

Eventually, the inevitable happened -

sales dropped as people began to plump for the better-looking,

faster cars now being built

by Chevrolet, Chrysler and General Motors.

I'm heading to Detroit, the home of Ford,

to discover how the manufacturer

eventually brought speed to the masses.

In the '30s, Ford was forced into thinking of something new

to beat off the competition and keep his company alive.

NEWSREEL: Again, the great River Rouge plant

of the Ford Motor company is a beehive of activity

as the new Ford V8 goes into production.

He developed and mass-produced a new engine -

the V8, capable of doing 75 mph.

And there, ladies and gentlemen, is the new Ford V8.

No wonder Henry and Edsel Ford

observe their handiwork with approval.

Now anyone with money could buy a fast car,

and anyone who needed to make a quick getaway could, too.

Federal Agents smash illegal breweries,

but they cannot stem the flow of bootleg liquor.

In the '20s, Prohibition created organised gangs

of whisky smugglers all over the USA,

and the V8 was the bootlegger's car of choice.

It left the cops standing.

The smugglers retuned and modified their cars to perfection,

and the drivers became infamous for their encounters with the police.

One legendary driver was Junior Johnson.

He drove his first V8 at age 14,

and now I'm going to meet the man they call the last American hero.

So you were always... You always liked speed, basically?

Basically. Could never get enough of it.

HE LAUGHS

These heads here, you'd take them off in the manifold

and you'd put three carburettors on.

'Johnson was so good at getting away from the cops that,

'in 1955, he became a stock car racer.'

'Some say one of the greatest in the history of NASCAR -

'America's most popular motorsport.'

COMMENTATOR: Johnson's 1959 Chevrolet gets the chequered flag

to capture first place for the Daytona 500.

You used to do all the modifications yourself?

-I mean, did you...?

-Yeah, yeah.

Were you a mechanic?

You had to be a mechanic to be a bootlegger.

If you weren't a good mechanic, you couldn't survive,

cos you had to have fast cars to haul your whisky to the people,

and you'd need them to get away from the revenuers and ABC officers

and the Federal officers.

-Did you ever get caught?

-No.

-No. That's why you're here.

-Yeah.

'It's nearly 60 years since Junior owned a car like this.'

ENGINE REVS AND PURRS

She sounds nice, don't she?

Yeah, she does.

When the V8 came into the picture it changed everything,

and this is one of the fastest production engines ever, right?

Right.

Everybody kept making better parts and better pieces for the motor.

SWITCHES ENGINE OFF

How many bottles of...could you get, could you get into...?

You could get 22 cases of whisky.

22 cases in there?

Yeah, and put five in the front,

two down the floorboard,

and three standing on the edge.

In your seat, one of them'll sit right against your side,

and when you go round a kerb to the left

it kept you from coming out from underneath the steering wheel!

LAUGHING: So...

That must have made it much more heavy, right, to drive?

Yeah, but you had the springs and, like I said, big tyres,

big shocks and stuff, wheels to hold it up.

So, at the transition where, you know,

you guys started racing these cars for fun,

what was that time like?

You couldn't hardly find a race track

that somebody didn't have his fingers in the whisky business.

-In the whisky business, right, right.

-Yeah.

So, really, whisky is behind the beginnings of NASCAR, if you like?

If it hadn't been for whisky, NASCAR wouldn't be formed.

That's, that's a fact.

Wow.

Johnson's NASCAR career was put on hold for a year in '56

when he was jailed for running an unlicensed whisky distillery.

He was granted an official pardon in 1986

by the then President, Ronald Regan.

You get the impression that Junior misses the old days.

V8s in this condition are rare,

and it's great to experience what it must have felt like for Junior.

She's a beauty, man, beautiful little rider.

Feels like a cabriolet,

because you've got the windscreen that's got a gap in it.

Should wear some goggles or something.

OLD-FASHIONED POLICE SIREN

Sitting in this old V8,

I've got almost twice the power of the cop behind me.

HE CHUCKLES

Wow.

Get the alcohol to the people.

It's easy to see how this little motor left the cops standing.

This beauty helped Ford realise that speed could sell cars.

It wasn't long before Detroit was booming.

By the '60s, the city was churning out 11 million cars a year.

Today, I'm meeting up with Detroit Police Inspector Daryl Brown.

'He's going to show me the historical heart of Motor City

'and introduce me to some of the city's illegal street races.'

The underground scene, the drag racing, the night life -

kids love it, they got money in these cars.

They got Forgiato wheels, Asantis,

22s, 24s, got all their money invested in a car.

THEY LAUGH

I mean, seriously, they've got every dime.

It's a big, it's a big scene.

Where we're going to, the guys are, for the most part,

responsible for the illegal scene.

They work on a lot of the guys' cars.

When we get over here you're going to see

some amazing vehicles over here.

How are they going to react to you coming today?

Um, since I'm with you, I'm going to be OK!

-This is Tommy.

-How you doing?

'These underground racers go head-to-head on the streets

'and are willing to break the law, all in the name of speed.'

I'm coming to stand next to you, man.

-So this is where, where it all happens, yeah?

-Yeah.

Street racing is simple -

two cars in a straight line.

The fastest over a set distance wins.

TYRES SCREECHING

If you're lucky enough to win big,

you can spend the money on a showpiece ride.

Tuned up, classic low-riders are the trophy car of choice,

and many cost more than a brand-new, top-of-the-range F-type Jag.

This is Show And Go, a one-stop shop for extreme rides.

If you want your car to stand on end, you come here.

If you want to be the fastest, you come here.

How much money do you think you have on this lot right now?

'Tommy runs this place, which has been serving

'the local underground scene for the last 20 years.'

-Probably about 800,000 sitting out here.

-800,000?!

-Yeah.

Those two right there, those are 100,000 apiece.

-These?

-Yeah.

-The work done on them?

-The work done to them and what it is.

You know, with the low-riders, everything on them's custom,

everything's candy painted, they're chrome-plated,

everything, you know.

Everything's old, that's where the classics, where the style's at.

Yeah. What is the history of, you know, doing up cars in Detroit?

-I think ever since the second car was made!

-Really?

I built this. This car's ten years old now.

I just, I saw one, probably 13 years ago.

A friend of mine had one.

It was a beautiful car, candy painted

and it was the first time I'd ever seen a low-rider,

and I saw it and I'm like,

"Oh, my God, I have to have one of those."

The SS Impala.

Whoo!

SUSPENSION SQUEAKS

Where did this come from?

Where did this flip in the suspension come from?

Just started with guys wanting to ride low,

but needed to lift them back up for bumps and to get into driveways,

and they got the idea of taking a hydraulic pump off of a lift gate,

I believe, something like that's how it started,

and they put it on and made the car be able to go up and down.

You want to sit in it and we'll lift it up and go out and three wheel?

Come on, let's do it.

There you go!

HE LAUGHS

HE LAUGHS

I need my seatbelt on!

ENGINE FIRES UP

Inspector Brown, I'll be back!

Wow.

I'm not sure this car would work in Hackney.

It's a bit too flash.

These guys spend everything they have on their cars

and the one I'm in kind of works, as long as you're not shy

and you like trampolining.

It's actually a very smooth ride.

I mean, as crazy as it looks, it rides beautifully.

-I'm going to have one of these one day.

-Oh, man!

There's no feeling like it, man.

You listen to some oldies, cruising down the road.

Yeah, man!

-Does it have seatbelts?

-No.

No seatbelts, you just need to hold on.

But it's this powerful Malibu

that is the car of choice for street racing.

ENGINE ROARS

I got, like, ten grand saying

I could beat anybody right now on the streets.

-Bring it on.

-Come on, ready?

These guys right here, these are real street racers right here.

They're out here all the time.

No-one from London yet, though, huh?

-Huh?

-No-one from London.

London, bring it on. Come on, all in. Bring it on.

'This guy hasn't lost a race yet.'

-We want that pound.

-I'm taking dollars.

I mean, if I brought my car out here,

you lot wouldn't have a clue, you wouldn't...

Right now, I'm 15 and oh, I ain't lost nothing.

-15 and oh?

-15 and oh and ain't lost nothing.

-What you driving?

-Street cars.

-Malibu.

-Fifteen and oh.

-Fifteen and oh.

You got guys come from Ohio, up north, you know.

If they can't beat that person, they'll call on another person

and then he come down with a pocket full of money,

then he go home broke.

He's running... He's on the street 15 and oh, not the track.

-Chicago, Oklahoma...

-Chicago comes here once a year.

-Yeah.

If I bring a car down here tonight..

OK.

..I'll race you from Kent to Harper.

Well, if you want to run from Kent to Harper...

That's like an eighth.

..I'm going to whoop you, sir.

HE LAUGHS

Let me tell you, I don't waste no time.

I'm going to shake your hand, but when we line up...

-Tell him your name.

-..it's nothing personal, it's big do.

We King Of The Street now.

Now, I don't know what your title is over there...

King of Speed, bruv, King of Speed.

-Oh, King of the Speed?

-Yeah.

-Whooo!

-Speed versus Street.

-I tell you what,

we'll get you five cars and you leave whenever you want.

You've got to explain what that means.

Five cars in front, and you leave whenever you want,

and I'll start the car, but I'll come get you.

Oh, come on, man, no way! Are you kidding me?

-Do it all the time.

-Not to me, you don't!

I'm not going to come all the way from London

and get beat like that, no way.

'Luckily, I'm not going to take him on today,

'but I thought I sounded convincing.'

The City of Detroit has changed dramatically

in the last half a century.

Today it's in deep trouble.

This is Motor City. This is, you know,

one of the industrial capitals of America at one stage, right?

Do you think because America has been introduced to foreign cars

in such a massive way, do you think that had anything to do with

the, you know, the destruction of the motor industry here?

Oh, yes, definitely, I think that when Toyota

and other low-car companies start bringing in the smaller,

more efficient, more reliable vehicles,

I think it did a lot of damage, you know,

to the big three auto makers here - GM, Ford and Chrysler.

I used to work for Ford, back in the day.

-My dad, my dad was a shop steward for about 25 years.

-Wow.

And before I became an actor I worked at Ford's.

My dad lived that life, you know what I mean?

And I can just imagine, you know, if...

When that Ford plant in Dagenham died,

a lot of people lost jobs in there,

it was crippling, it was just crippling for people.

So I kind of have, you know,

a real sort of close affiliation to it, in a weird way.

I kind of feel at home in Detroit, in a weird way.

This area here, this was rich people just everywhere.

Gone.

-It's like a ghost town now, isn't it?

-It's like a ghost town.

You actually haven't seen ghost town yet.

This was a thriving business area

that was supported by thousands of workers here at the Packard plant.

Wow.

This is considered to be

one of the largest abandoned factories in the world.

In its heyday, this Packard factory employed 30,000 people.

Its cars outsold Cadillac.

One of their adverts of the time read

"Built like a Packard means built to last."

Wow, man.

Look at it, it's just abandoned fields.

When the auto industry left here, it tore us out the frame.

The demise of the motor industry caused people to abandon Detroit.

Since 1950, over a million people have moved out of the city.

We're on our way to New Jersey, a ten-hour drive from here.

For the last few years I've travelled continuously.

I'm not complaining, it's just part of the job.

It looks a bit dreary, doesn't it? Reminds me of England.

(This is Aranday.

(Aranday's still sleeping.

(God knows how.)

Everyone needs something other than work, you know?

And in my spare time, I DJ.

Music, to me is, um...

I keep saying it, man, it's a re-set button for me.

You know, running around acting and all of that is great,

but, you know, you're oftentimes outside of who you are

cos, you know, you're sort of being other people, you know,

it's what you do for a living.

And so, with music, man, like, I love making it

and, you know, putting my playlist together to DJ

because, you know, that's more me.

There is a school of thought, people go,

"Oh, well, it waters down who you are as an actor,

"if you're doing music."

But, again, I tend not to overthink it like that,

you know what I mean?

It turns out that I've been doing music longer

than I've been doing acting, but no-one would really know that.

Raceway Park in New Jersey - home of drag racing.

I've come to find out how street racers

like the ones I met in Detroit are behind the largest

motorsport organisation in the world.

As racing goes, it doesn't get any more basic than this.

Two cars, flat out over a quarter of a mile.

The first past the post wins.

The cars at this event were all built for the road,

but they're anything but normal.

Some have as much as 1,000bhp under the hood.

It's no wonder that drag cars

regularly make it into the record books.

NEWSREEL: There they go.

In the '50s, illegal street racing was out of control.

By the end of the decade it had killed

dozens of drivers and spectators.

A man called Wally Parks created the Government-backed

National Hot Rod Association to take racing off the streets.

Here they compete under strict rules designed for safety and fair play.

Automatic expulsion faces any member who races on the public highways.

As a result, the juvenile nuisance problem

has been reduced as much as 90% in some communities.

Tonight is a practice night where anyone can tune and test their cars.

These rides are worth anything from a few thousand

to half a million dollars.

They call this Grudge Racing -

personal battles between racers, often with big money bets attached.

Showing me around is Justin Humphries,

illegal street racer turned professional.

This is something that, I mean, it happens everywhere.

I mean all local drag strips always have a test and tune night

for people just to bring their stuff out.

I want to race. I've got a coach.

I want to use my coach to come race.

Betting on these guys is a serious business,

so they ask the organisers to keep their practice times a secret.

And the man to beat at the moment is this guy, Jason.

-Word?

-Yeah.

What's his fastest time?

He's got to be eight seconds, somewhere, isn't he?

What?!

Wow.

'It's really easy to see

'why racers spend their hard-earned cash on these cars.'

This your boy right here?

Well done, King. How you feeling, all right?

'For them, it's a way of life.

'They're addicted to the competition and the banter that goes with it.'

THEY LAUGH

Is that true, man? Is that true?

Yeah.

You took him out?

You talking too much!

You ain't sexy enough for a movie, man, leave it alone!

He's talking too much, he ain't sexy enough for a movie, man!

This fat girl right here, that's all this girl do, is talk.

'This is bringing back memories when I was hanging out as a kid

'shouting about whose car was the fastest,

'but it never really got this serious.'

-I mean this is, it's common stuff.

-Big, big bragging.

-Oh, yeah.

-Big bragging.

Mouths are always running, shit's always being talked.

I mean, it's always going on.

But that's why they love it.

That's what brings them out here every night.

-Street racing - love it.

-That's right. That's right.

Like I said, these same guys will be here every time

there's a test and tune, they look forward to it.

They go to work and this is what they're waiting for.

'And after all that bragging,

'it's time to see Jason sling his car down the track.'

ENGINE ROARS

SHOUTING

'The worst drug in the world is drag racing.

'Once you do it, you're hooked for life

'and it's the most competitive motorsport in the world.'

Our class, 30 cars can show up at a race

and they'll all run within five hundreds of a second.

Yeah, I bet you've got a speed addiction that's worse than mine.

Ah, it's terrible.

ENGINE SCREAMS

I wouldn't say that it's necessarily dangerous.

I mean, this is the only track I've ever crashed at in my life.

I hit the wall at the finish line, 190, 200 mph,

and I was out on my phone, on my cell phone

talking to my pregnant wife before the EMTs even got to me, so...

I mean, yeah, all motorsports are dangerous,

anything can happen at any time.

Unfortunately, this race track has taken the lives of two

of our top drivers within the past four or five years

but, hey, that's the risk you take when you go racing.

Yeah.

According to some sources,

drag racing has killed over 400 drivers since 1950.

Even with rules and regulation, it's still extremely dangerous.

It's no surprise that, over the years,

we've attempted to balance the thrill of the car's raw power

with our own safety.

In the '60s, over 30,000 people a year were killed

in road traffic accidents.

The US Government was soon under pressure to act.

Cars like the Chevrolet Corvair

were produced with anything but safety in mind.

This great-looking motor was a death trap

to anyone unlucky enough to crash in it.

It wasn't long before a protest movement against the car emerged,

led by a campaigner called Ralph Nadar.

If General Motors wishes to know

why I spent an inordinate amount of time on the Corvair,

it is because the Corvair is an inordinately dangerous vehicle.

Nadar wanted to introduce safety tests

and lower the Interstate speed limits from 70 to 55.

Talk of speed restrictions

soon attracted major opposition from car enthusiasts.

One man determined to prove Nadar wrong was Brock Yates.

Now, Yates wanted to show that, in the right hands,

cars could be driven at speed and safely,

so he created a protest event that became a global phenomenon.

The Cannonball Run wasn't just a movie,

it was an illegal street race that really happened.

I'm meeting Brock's son, who accompanied him on that first race.

-You're Brock, right?

-I am Brock.

-Brock Junior?

-I am Brock Junior.

And your dad started the Cannonball Run.

He started the Cannonball Run. He started the Cannonball

Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash.

What was the Cannonball about? I mean, what started it?

Cannonball was started for two reasons -

to prove that good drivers could traverse long distances

at high speed safely, and the other one was

an opportunity to say, "Speed limits?

"We don't need no stinking speed limits."

It was a protest against the 55.

Remember that the West was empty, there was not a soul out there.

You'd leave St Louis and you wouldn't see anybody else until California.

Right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Is this, is this the car you drove in?

-This is the car.

No, I didn't drive in it. Brock ran it in '72 and '75.

Can you call him Dad, please?

Cos it just freaks me out when you say "Brock".

Oh, I'm sorry.

My father got this car new, sent it down to Cotton Owens,

NASCAR builder, and this was built specifically for the Cannonball.

For a little extra range there's this small fuel cell here.

Wowzer.

And when he went to a gas station, one pump went in there,

one pump went in there, dollar bills flew across the floor.

I mean, this car was made for high-speed driving.

The front end was lowered, the car would run about 150 mph.

So, what would you take?

I mean, you've got no room for luggage.

Oh, I mean, you've got a bag, you've got some water.

My mother very carefully packed fruit juices and vitamin C...

..stacks of one dollar bills,

and some...stuff.

-Chocolate?

-Chocolate. Well...

-Why do you have so much chocolate?

-Energy.

I mean, 36 hours of non-stop, full-attention driving

-is a serious endurance test.

-Yeah.

-Not only on the car, but on the drivers.

-I can imagine.

-Dude, can I drive it?

-Yeah, we can drive it.

-Come on, let's go.

-I'm ready.

Many believe that the Cannonball Run became one of the most

glamorous and exciting demonstrations of the '70s.

It was named after Cannonball Baker,

who set a record in 1933 for driving across the USA in 53 hours.

Driving as fast as they could get away with,

the Cannonballers of '71 aimed to do it in just 36 hours.

-So, you did the first one?

-I did the first one.

-How old were you?

-14.

-14 years old.

-I was the navigator.

There was supposed to be more cars,

but they all dropped out at the last minute,

and then everybody found out how much fun we had.

-So, did someone win?

-Oh, sure.

Brock and Dan Gurney in a Ferrari Daytona

won in fall of '71 in 35 hours, which was pretty quick.

-35 hours, eh?

-Yeah.

-That's pretty good.

Dan Gurney was interviewed at the finish line,

and he said, "Well, I never went over 175."

The Cannonballers claimed the biggest accident

they ever had involved a spilt lasagne.

Brock's taking me to meet a couple of veterans of the race.

-What car did you drive?

-I had a Lotus Esprit S1.

-Oh, wow!

-So, it was fun.

-That was a nice car.

-That was.

We sold all our cars, pooled our money together,

I took out a personal loan.

The car was like 17,000, which...

-Which is a lot of money.

-Yeah.

What was your concentration fuel?

I mean, Brock, I think, ate a lot a chocolate and fruits and vitamin C.

What might have been yours?

Well, we got down to maybe ten minutes at the wheel a stint,

and then get out, change over.

We had cruise control on the car

and the co-driver could set the speed.

I'd go, "OK, give me 106 mph.

"I'm a little tired, take it down to 105.

"OK, that's good."

Most of the cars had CBs.

Did you use yours?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-Oh, all the time.

You had to apologise to the truckers,

"We're the car coming up behind you with the white lights,

"we're going to blow past your left door if you'll let us."

We're really asking permission to go by, cos they own the road.

Right, OK.

When we were crossing the Ohio border,

there was a plain police car sitting off to the side with its lights off.

And he comes over on the CB and he goes, "Blue Lotus."

And I ignore him, and he goes, "Blue Lotus." I ignore him again.

So finally, the third time, I said "Yeah?"

He goes, "Are you number three?"

And I said, "Number three in what?"

And he goes, "Cannonball."

I'm going like, "What's that?"

THEY LAUGH

When we were going into New Mexico, I remember thinking,

"God, we're getting away with this!"

Because, really, it's an act of civil disobedience.

But we never got stopped. We never got a speeding ticket.

Wow.

The Cannonball protest failed to prevent

the introduction of the 55 speed limit.

It was the '70s oil crisis and the need to save fuel

that finally ushered in a new speed limit.

-MAN ON CB RADIO:

-'What's your handle?'

You've got the Silver Bullet. Come back.

'Silver Bullet, this is Black Bird. You can find me in a 56 T-Bird.

'Can I join up with you guys?'

You're always welcome, see if you can stay with us.

So we're going to get into a Cannonball Run, huh?

Ow!

-WOMAN ON CB RADIO:

-'What is that sexy car coming down the road?

'Can I hop in that seat?'

Sure, we'll give you a ride.

'Well, you know, I don't get in cars

'unless I know the gentlemen's names.'

This is Seven Wallace and Silver Bullet, you'll be safe.

'We got ourselves a convoy.'

All right, pedal fast. Let's go.

Do you think when your dad started Cannonball,

did he think it was going to grow as big as it did?

When Cannonball happened, I mean, yes, it was a lark,

yes, it was stupid, yes, it was all kinds of things,

but it captured the American imagination.

I mean, there hasn't been a Cannonball for 30 years,

-but still, that's what people think about.

-Yeah.

Any time somebody's out having fun with a car,

or driving quickly, it's the Cannonball.

The Cannonballers drove from coast to coast

in the first ever supercars.

It's the world of Starsky and Hutch,

Dukes of Hazzard, Smokey And The Bandit.

This nation helped the car become a global star in it's own right.

At last, a chance to fulfil a dream

at the Holy Grail of American racing -

NASCAR.

Founded by bootleggers like Junior Johnson,

the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing

was formed in 1947, and the American public loved it.

COMMENTATOR: Here they come, off the fourth corner,

Ernie Irvine leads them down now.

Superstar drivers in everyday-looking vehicles

driving perilously fast.

They're in deep trouble.

Oh!

Into the pack!

Whoa, whoa! Oh, no!

Oh, my gosh!

No national motorsport in America's history has had more accidents,

or more drawn more sponsorship money or viewing figures.

The track at Watkins Glen is steeped in history,

and tomorrow I'll be driving round it in a race-spec NASCAR.

'But today I'm joining a top NASCAR team in the pits.'

Yeah, that's me!

That steering wheel's right up on your neck.

Let me ask you something - if this car goes over, how do you get out?

-Either wait for them to come get you or...

-Same way!

-Cut.

-Out the windows, no matter what.

-Get out the windows?

-Yeah.

-It's just quick-release on the thing?

-Yeah.

How does the helmet come off quick, cos you can't...

-They'll get out with the helmet.

-They usually leave the helmet on.

If they're upside down, they'll release the belts and you'll fall.

Having seen my name on a quarter of million dollars' worth

of racing car, I want to meet the man who's going to be driving it.

Jamie McMurray is a former world karting champion

and a seven-times NASCAR winner.

NASCAR requires endurance, as well as driving skill,

with 40 races across the season and hundreds of laps in each race.

-COMMENTATOR: Daytona 500 to Jamie McMurray!

-Yes!

Little Jamie-baby!

This is strictly for the pros.

Hook, line and sinker.

What's the fastest you've ever been, like, in a car?

In a car, fastest?

Probably about 220.

But what I'll tell you about speed is that

to go fast is not a big deal.

The speed sensation is not a big deal at all, but if you have control.

It's when you spin or, or you lose control,

-a tyre blows out...

-Yeah.

That's when it becomes an issue and, for me, you know,

some of your hardest hits weren't at tracks that were the fastest,

it's just...

Speed is not a big deal. It's when you don't have control at it.

Crazy how many checks they have to do. They've got...

Like, this is one check and then for a whole hour before they even

start racing they have to go through all these different checkpoints,

checking the specifications of the car before they can race.

Weigh it, everything.

What is extraordinary is the access the public seem to have here.

While all the cars are checked for raceworthiness,

the teams and drivers mingle with their fans -

unlike the elite world of Formula One,

NASCAR totally embraces its followers.

WOMAN SINGING "STAR-SPANGLED BANNER"

And you have a good reason to win today,

cos you've got my name on the side of that car,

-you know what I'm saying?

-LAUGHTER

-Exactly right.

-Go for it, man, let's win.

All right, get some, on three.

-One, two, three... ALL:

-Get some!

ENGINES REVERBERATE

As 43 200mph machines line up for the rolling start,

the noise is like thunder vibrating through your body.

And as they pass I'm hooked, just the same as the fans.

-SHOUTING OVER ENGINES:

-We're in 6th place.

If I had the skills enough to drive, I would race this.

Yeah, I mean, it's dangerous, of course it is,

but the thrill of it, you know, would be amazing.

Tomorrow I'm going to be on that very track.

Doing 100 miles, 150.

I mean, you know, I wouldn't want to be a race driver,

you know, I love what I do...

-SCREAMS OVER PASSING CARS:

-..but I would do this!

HE MOUTHS, ENGINES ROAR PAST

Hey, can I...?

Am I allowed to...? I used to be a tyre fitter.

Oh, yeah? Yeah, when I was 16.

I used to zip, zip, zip, zip.

-Can I practise?

-Let me see if we have a practice tyre.

You've got some nuts!

PNEUMATIC GUN ZIPS

That's harder than it looks, too.

Jamie has slipped back to 9th,

and the team stand by to bring him in for fuel and tyres.

A frantic harmony descends over the team.

Everyone's on auto pilot,

but you get a sense of the power and the danger.

Tomorrow I'm going to be in one of the cars just like Jamie's,

and, if I'm honest, I can't wait.

-What was that stop?

-15 seconds.

-What was it?

-15 five.

That's a crappy stop.

So the fuel guy in the end,

so he was stuck with the thing still in the...?

Yeah, cos it was completely full,

so sometimes the vacuum seal will start to go,

and if he doesn't pull it out before the driver takes off,

-it can get wedged in there.

-Yeah, yeah.

He did a good job of just getting it out of the car.

It suddenly dawned on me why NASCAR generates billions of dollars.

These cars resemble the ones the fans drive every day to work,

yet under the bonnet they're monsters.

It's a fine balance of speed and strategy.

It's something the team are going to have to get right

if Jamie is to improve on his current position.

Jamie's about 25th right now, and they pitted early

because there's a whole stack of cars

that still have to come in and pit.

So the thinking is, if everyone's coming in and pitting,

they pit early, they're going to sit it somewhere between five and one.

You see all the cars coming in now, look.

So, all those cars have come in now, which means my guy's

going to be on the road and just...

Right to 30 more laps and finish.

'These guys are like modern-day gladiators

'going toe-to-toe in front of baying fans.

'Times are still tough here,

'but who cares when you've got a beer in one hand

'and NASCAR thunder in your ears?'

I sound like I know what I'm talking about, don't I?

HE LAUGHS

Jamie crossed the line in 11th place,

but he still netted over 100,000 dollars.

Having experienced the highs and lows of race day,

tomorrow it's my turn to drive.

My guide will be NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace.

As a member of the NASCAR Hall Of Fame,

Rusty knows only too well how dangerous this sport can be.

In 1993 he walked away from this crash.

-COMMENTATOR:

-..and flips wildly right at the start-finish line,

very reminiscent of his accident...

'Today, Rusty is retired

'and enjoys his first love from the safety of the commentary booth.'

Rusty, we're going to see you tomorrow, yeah?

-That's right.

-And I'll drive round a little bit.

-Yeah, we'll have fun, won't we?

-Yeah.

-He goes fast, man, he goes fast.

-I go fast, too!

Do you? OK, good to hear.

The fastest part of the track is in the back straightaway.

You might reach about 170 back there.

160, 170.

How many are we going to do tomorrow?

-Tomorrow, we'll do...

-75!

We'll do as much as that car will give us tomorrow.

-Oh-ho-ho!

-No! No 75mph stuff, let's get it on, man!

-65 is good.

-OK, 65.

-What?!

-You know why?

Cos we don't have drivers' uniforms and helmets tomorrow, right?

-I do. Oh, man, I'm kitted out.

-I don't have all that.

-Oh, right, OK.

-OK, well, I don't need that.

If I catch on fire, I'll just jump out.

Today I ride to the track with Rusty.

He's offered to give me a quick driving lesson

along the route of the original Watkins Glen circuit,

which went right through the centre of town.

ENGINE ROAR APPROACHES

Whoo!

Not only is it illegal to drive a modern NASCAR on the streets,

you'd be arrested if you drove at this speed.

Luckily, we've been given special permission, just for today.

SIREN

Whoo!

HE LAUGHS

You're a wild man, Rusty.

You're a wild man.

I really think you'll like it. I really do.

I don't think you're going to have a problem, but I would tell you,

just ease into it. Don't go out there and charge the corners

real hard, real fast.

The tyres need to get some temperature in them.

The more temperature you get, the better grip you get.

-But this car, man, it's fast.

-Yeah.

It's a... Like I say, it's a 200mph car,

and it should stop good and...

So my biggest advice to you is just ease into it

and, I really promise, you'll be fine.

So, on the brakes, how different are they from car brakes?

There's no power assist whatsoever,

-so you've got to push on them hard.

-Really hit them.

Yeah, but you'll feel them.

People ask me that a lot, and there's no power assist

because all that power assist stuff is too heavy, too much weight.

So this is what they call the master cylinder right to the brakes.

And so when you press them, you're going to really feel

that car stop and you'll be able to modulate your feet to feel it so.

-Where's the ejector button?

-"The ejector button!"

I've wanted to eject out of these things every now and then.

You get a car that doesn't handle good in a race, you want to get out!

You're tired of it, you know? You really are.

Oh, yeah!

(And the crowd goes wild!)

There comes a point in everyone's life

when you feel unsure of what you're about to do.

And, for me, getting into a race-prepared NASCAR

is one of those moments.

ENGINE ROARS TO LIFE

Yep, I've come a long way from riding around in my XR2.

I think he's going to be nervous right now.

I think he's trying to figure out his braking and down-shifting.

That's what he's thinking about right now.

When I was nine years old, my mum and dad bought me a BMX, right?

And it had all the padding and everything.

And my mum used to say, "I know what BMX's do,

"but you don't use it for that."

OK, Mum.

What's the point of having a BMX if I can't jump over a few hills?

And that was it for me, man.

-Like, that's part of my spirit,

-you know?

It's like, you're not going to put me in that car

and tell me to drive slow. That's just stupid.

I'm going to push it as hard as I can,

just because, you know, it's my opportunity to do it.

Sounds good right now. ENGINE IN THE DISTANCE

Shifting a little bit aggressive. Hear the motor rev up real hard?

That was a good downshift. That sounded good.

He's going to keep in third gear right there now.

He's accelerating out real smooth.

'There's no way I'm looking at the speedometer,

'but on the straights it feels like I'm flying.'

I guarantee he's going to come in with a big smile on his face.

I promise he will.

I know he'll come in all happy,

going, "Man, this is the deal! I love this!"

What did you think?

Hoo-hoo-hoo!

You looked good out there, man.

I can't even get out of the car, I'm so excited.

That was great. That was great!

Oh, man!

Hey, that sounded good back there. I heard a couple of shifts

-you missed, but you got the rest of them right, though.

-Yeah.

-You were sailing going down through here.

-I was, whooom...

Through here, you were all over the rev limiter,

-I mean, you were cranking through here.

-It was good.

-Did you like it?

-Honestly, that was amazing.

You've got a little sweat on your face, man - that means you've been digging.

Me and her started to, started to bond a little bit

on that, this last round. I was like, OK,

just getting those corners really good,

and, you know, just as you said, you know, just come in,

kiss the corners a little bit then get out of there, accelerate.

I was coming down there I didn't want to stop.

-That motor's got some power, doesn't it?

-Dude, beautiful.

You know, one day when I die, you know, I want to tell people,

"Yeah, man, I rode around Watkins Glen, 200mph."

I'll push it up every year.

It'll be 150, then 160, then 200.

-That's addicting, isn't it?

-No doubt. There's just no doubt.

When you get a car that's really handling good and driving good...

Next, I will head to Europe

where I will learn about the British story of speed...

John Cooper put a little Formula Junior engine in it

and that was the Mini Cooper.

..before heading to Finland to tackle the world's toughest

and deadliest motorsport - rally driving.

I'm going to learn from the very best - Ari Vatanen...

'..and do things the Finnish way.'

-You said you weren't going to mention that.

-This is part of it.

But you're mentioning it now and you said you wouldn't.

'I'm going to need more than my knowledge and skill

'if I'm going to survive my next encounter with speed.'

You have to calm down now, you know?

To have a calm attitude, otherwise, really, we'll go off.