37 replies to this topic

[Andretti Fan]

There have been quite a few fictional racers in movies and on tv, some successful ( Le Mans), and others not so much ( think Bobby Deerfield)!

Who is your favorite fictional race driver?

 

I present to you a winner at Le Mans and The Monaco Grand Prix........ Franco Bertolinni, from the movie "The Gumball Rally! Actor Raul Julia.

 

 

"The first rule of Italian Driving.........what isa behind me isa not important"!

" Franco is ready.......The race can begin"!

[Collombin]

Will Overhead must be my favourite, although the accomplishments of Tim Ryder seemed remarkable at the time, if a little far fetched - an 18 year old Grand Prix winner?

[Glengavel]

Scott Stoddard, for his gritty determination.

Michael Delaney, for pulling Lisa Belgetti.

[Bloggsworth]

Terry Treadpedal in the Toronto Globe column.

[Nemo1965]

My favourite fictional character, is of course Steve Warson, from the Michel Vaillant-comic books which were a pilar of joy in my youth. Michel himself was the typical hero, someone without blemish, while Steve was, as far as possible, a real character, with vanity, egotism, and so forth. The best Vaillant-albums therefore, were always were Warson was the leading character.

 

If I understand the question in a different light, in the sense that I believed that the actor was a racing-driver for the duration of the fictional experience, I would say Michael Delaney (portrayed Steve McQueen) in Le Mans.

 

PS: I thought the character of the drivers in Grand Prix were rather cardboardy, unless I see Chris Hemsworth murder his role as James Hunt. In retrospect, the characterisation of drivers in Grand Prix seemed suddenly brilliant.

[BRG]

Penelope Pitstop.   

[JacnGille]

Penelope Pitstop.   

[LittleChris]

Dick Dastardley & Muttley

[ensign14]

Booby Galore.

[cantabriamadrid]

Michael Delaney (Steve McQueen) and Frank Capua (Paul Newman)

[RogerFrench]

Lady Penelope's Parker.

[fuzzi]

No question: Stroker Ace (in the book at least)

Edited by fuzzi, 12 August 2016 - 04:59.

[kayemod]

Without a doubt, Jeff Bridges as Junior Johnson, sorry "Junior Jackson", in The Last American Hero. One of the best motor racing films ever, it even made NASCAR seem interesting.

[Rediscoveryx]

Takaya Todoroki from a Japanese 70's anime-style cartoon that (in Sweden at least) was called "Grand Prix"

[Alan Baker]

Skid Solo.

[Dick Dastardly]

Willie Winn....

[Dick Dastardly]

Dick Dastardley & Muttley

Good choice !!!

Edited by Dick Dastardly, 12 August 2016 - 09:24.

[Glengavel]

Lady Penelope's Parker.

 

I think he was a former getaway driver, not a racing driver! OTOH, Alan Tracy did a bit of motor racing...

[Sharman]

How about Buford of recent memory?

[karl100589]

Beau Brandenberg:

 

Probably because he reminds me of someone...

[MLC]

Forrest Evers from the Bob Judd novel series was quite an intriguing character. 

[Bill Becketts]

For Boys of my generation in the UK it has to be Skid Solo..

[Bumblyari]

Bumbly Number Three

[Collombin]

For Boys of my generation in the UK it has to be Skid Solo..

Eddie Topps for us youngsters.

[ensign14]

I never had Tiger.  The comic of choice in the e14 household (apart from Roy of the Rovers) was Scoop, which was a mix of magazine and comic strips.  The resident racing driver in that was Ron Hutton, who went from rallying to supersports and then F1, and ultimately the Land Speed Record.  Plus Le Mans in an annual, and scrambling in a throwback strip.

[Radoye]

Branimir Mitrovic 'Floyd'

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079606/

 

 

 

 

When i was about 10 - Brad Foreman, from Action's "Roaring Wheels":

 

 

 

Solo, Vaillant, Delaney and Capua aren't too shabby either.

[Welby]

speed racer !

[sidewinder26]

The italian driving for Ferrari in Grand Prix was cool, but my favorite is probably Rowdy Burns. 

Edited by sidewinder26, 13 August 2016 - 03:46.

[john aston]

Some true Brit bloke called Nigel Mansell- you'd have to make him up wouldn't you?

[kayemod]

Some true Brit bloke called Nigel Mansell- you'd have to make him up wouldn't you?

 

I think most of us would rather you didn't...

[BRG]

That makes you wonder which real life drivers were more unlikely than their fictional counterparts.  I always thought the whole Lord Hesketh/Bubbles Horsley/Eaton Neston/James Hunt thing was the sort of Boy's Own story that would be dismissed outright as totally unbelieveable if it was fictional!

[kayemod]

An awful lot of things have happened on race tracks that we'd dismiss as ridiculously far-fetched if we'd read them in a novel, take some Indy 500 finishes for instance, this year's LeMans 24 Hours ending etc.

[BRG]

That's true, similarly this year's Indy 500 finish.

 

Of course, sometimes you wonder if some unseen hand hasn't helped out (Dale Jr winning at Daytona for instance)

[Collombin]

That's true, similarly this year's Indy 500 finish.

It's only recent 500s that have really had any last lap dramas though. 2006 was totally unlike anything that had happened before.

[ensign14]

That makes you wonder which real life drivers were more unlikely than their fictional counterparts.

 

Williams/Benoist/Wimille...

[10kDA]

Racer X, of course.

[10kDA]

 

PS: I thought the character of the drivers in Grand Prix were rather cardboardy, unless I see Chris Hemsworth murder his role as James Hunt. In retrospect, the characterisation of drivers in Grand Prix seemed suddenly brilliant.

 

[AAGR]

Then of course, a 'real' fictional racing driver was 'Willy Eckerslike' ....

 

And, unless I am losing my mind, was there not a 'Chuck Nicholson' who raced Jaguars for Tom Walkinshaw in the 1980s ?

 

But these, presumably, count as pseudonyms, rather than fictionals ....