[DVD/Video] Rendezvous

[adstubbs]

I saw something in Autocar a few weeks back, saying that a bunch of Dutch researchers had proved that the car in Rendezvous was in fact a Renault Alpine, not a Ferrari as was always thought to be the case - has anyone else seen anything more about this? Given the incredible engine note on the film, I can't believe this myself!

[Aysedasi]

I still haven't seen it!

[Wrex]

I have it on DVD, and would be very suprised if that was true.

If it were, would'nt that make it more impressive?

[thebear]

Originally posted by adstubbs
I saw something in Autocar a few weeks back, saying that a bunch of Dutch researchers had proved that the car in Rendezvous was in fact a Renault Alpine, not a Ferrari as was always thought to be the case - has anyone else seen anything more about this? Given the incredible engine note on the film, I can't believe this myself!

At a recent sports car club party, I played the DVD and got some interesting comments. All liked it but one thought the car was traveling about 65mph, the film sped up and the soundtrack was dubbed later. Frightening thought. The true measure would be if one would play the DVD with a Paris streetmap and actually plot the course and measure it. In addition, thinking about it the sound is awfuly close to that of a Porsche 917 on an audio CD I purchased at Le Mans - it features 20 tracks of various cars at speed.

[racer69]

I find it hard to believe it is sped up. When watching it, watch the other things in the picture, the pedestrians, the other cars, to me they don't seem to be moving too fast to be the picture being sped up.

Whether it was a Renault or a Ferrari, find the garbage truck driver and ask him

[Wrex]

... or the women with a dog smarter than she is?

[JAG]

It should also be pointed put that if it was a 60s Ferrari it would only have 350BHP or so, therefore would not be massively fast compared to a modern supercar. The car probably sounds a lot more powerful than it is.

Also the camera, although placed on the front of the car, is actually focused some way ahead of the car, which sometimes makes the audio appear out of sync with the visuals.

[thebear]

Originally posted by JAG
It should also be pointed put that if it was a 60s Ferrari it would only have 350BHP or so, therefore would not be massively fast compared to a modern supercar. The car probably sounds a lot more powerful than it is.

Also the camera, although placed on the front of the car, is actually focused some way ahead of the car, which sometimes makes the audio appear out of sync with the visuals.

Alleged to be '69-'72.

[gttouring]

well who wants to put a trip together with me to paris?
we'll plot the course, measure it, and drive it in a citroen and time it.
then we can see the variable, and ask the coppers if they'll let us try it in an Alpine and time that (filming all these of course, and finally by elimination we will see if it wasn't a car in question.
But test a ferrari thought there? never, but we will squash the myth of any other car- simply to leave the mystery.

[GTV27]

I haven't seen it for a few years (bluddy 'ell, about 10 years - how time flies), but I remember it was a topic of much debate within my circle of friends at the time.

Based on extensive viewing, we concluded that it was not sped up (as the anciliary action seemed to be in normal speed), but that the car was not travelling at much more than 100 to 130 km/h for much of the film (however, given the nature of the terrain, that is not to damn with faint praise).

A factor which we took into account was not only the hp of the car (275GTB was our guess) relative to modern supercars, but also the quality of the tyres.

The point that was made above about the focus of the camera causing a vision to sound sync problem could have forshortened debate considerably as that was the main argument ref dubiousness put forward by the naysayers.

A tuned Alpine could have outran a contemporary Ferarri (they won the Monte after all), so I don't think it would diminish it too much - don't know how the sound was done though)

[racer69]

Adstubbs - We get Autocar a month or two late down here, what was the date of the mag in which the Rendezvous article appeared?

[adstubbs]

It was in the January 20th issue, page 19 in the Week in Pictures section. It's the issue with the Porsche Carrera GT road test (nice...)

[EERO]

I figured out the route from a Paris Street Map pretty easily, its basicaly L'Etoile-Champs Elysees-Place de la Concorde-Louvre, Avenue Opera and then west again, (I forget the street) and winds up into Monmartre. Knowing the basic route, you can figure out the details while viewing the film. I doubt it was speeded up and think that with the exception of the section along the Champs Elysees, that 65MPH would be pretty darned fast. 100 or so on the Champs Elysses would be about right.

[thebear]

Originally posted by EERO
I doubt it was speeded up and think that with the exception of the section along the Champs Elysees, that 65MPH would be pretty darned fast. 100 or so on the Champs Elysses would be about right.

(makes appropriate car sounds)

[thebear]

For a very scientific analysis, click HERE . It is a very compelling answer to many of the prior questions.

[Pete Fenelon]

I can accept the speeds from that link -- a max in the 130s sounds entirely plausible and most of it looks like 60-70 which is a fair clip through narrow city streets. But the soundtrack doesn't seem to match up with what the car's doing, some of the audible gear changes don't seem to make sense relative to what the car's doing.

[nickyf1]

Originally Posted by racer69

I find it hard to believe it is sped up. When watching it, watch the other things in the picture, the pedestrians, the other cars, to me they don't seem to be moving too fast to be the picture being sped up.

Whether it was a Renault or a Ferrari, find the garbage truck driver and ask him

the cannonball run is terrible for being sped up!

[thebear]

Click Here for the actual video

[djb]

thanks Mr Bear for the google link, havent seen it for many years but seeing the opening sequences makes me have the same feeling when I first saw it-that the speeds and gear changes/speeds dont seem to match up.

For instance, in the first minute, the car is going down the wide blvd leading to L'Arc de Triomphe (sp?) and about halfway down the way it passes another car. Now given that this Ferrari sounding car is now in third or fourth gear, it should be going at least 160k (100mph) (although he does seem to feathering the throttle at some point and not shifting up), the car passed is probably going 50, 60, 70 k (30 to 45mph tops) and going from my memories of going past cars whilst on a motorcycle with a speed difference of 100k and up to 150k more than the car I passed (yes, naughty naughty), the passing difference in the film is much too slow for what the car SHOULD be doing given the number of shifts and engine note--engine note btw that specifically is implying that this isn't a Citroën 2CV (for the N"Americans-lets see, how about a very old, crapped out early VW Beetle running on 3 cylinders-you get the picture.)

anyway, thats my take on it, going from visual memories, sure aient scientific but like they say, there's nothing free in life except bad advice...

ps, I'm surprised its on google video, I only watched a minute so dont know how much of it is on.

[mountainstar]

http://www.lovefilm.com/static.php?tpl=rendevous

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/gal...=h706&seqnum=4

Here are a few links that shed some more light on the film.

If you watch the film closely you'll see the car dip in sync with the gear changes.

There have been a few scientific studies done and it would appear from the facts that the car was moving at a fair clip.

[thebear]

Originally Posted by djb

ps, I'm surprised its on google video, I only watched a minute so dont know how much of it is on.

All of it (~8m30s). It apparently can be DOWNLOADED!

[mountainstar]

It can be and now that I've seen how good it is, I'm getting the DVD.

[Suze]

I've just watched it all, was good....according to a friend it was redone a few years ago by a guy on a motorbike, but they crashed...?

[djb]

lets face it, going fast on an open highway is one thing, even if you go by someone in the slow lane and there lots of room, but to go through red lights and narrow streets, UNLESS its a controlled situation is just plain irresponsible, would any of us not be outraged if a loved one was killed or became a parapalegic if some damn idiot hit them doing somethinig like this? With the net today, one can see similiar videos of young men doing this sort of thing and it really is scarey, in real life with real consequences this sort of thing is not cool.

[thebear]

Originally Posted by djb

lets face it, going fast on an open highway is one thing, even if you go by someone in the slow lane and there lots of room, but to go through red lights and narrow streets, UNLESS its a controlled situation is just plain irresponsible, would any of us not be outraged if a loved one was killed or became a parapalegic if some damn idiot hit them doing somethinig like this? With the net today, one can see similiar videos of young men doing this sort of thing and it really is scarey, in real life with real consequences this sort of thing is not cool.

Aside from today's at least quadruple traffic density which bodes poorly for (relatively) clear streets regardless of the time of day.