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on his car

was judged too wide.

I don't know how wide

it is anyway, you know?

I didn't even know

there was a rule about it.

I just drive the damn thing.

At Monaco, lauda

took the lead

at the first turn...

And never looked back.

It was his fourth win

in six starts.

Jody scheckter:

He didn't seem spectacularly fast,

but he won races,

and you could rely

that he's not gonna

do anything stupid.

Hunt stormed back in France,

and after a disputed start,

took the checkered flag

before a home crowd in britain.

Man:
The victory

flag's cinched,

and James hunt crosses the line to win

the British grand prix!

Well, now, James, they've changed

the regulations concerning the wings,

and yet you're still

extremely fast.

How do you do it?

Big balls.

Forget it.

Can't you print that?

We can't print--

but it's true!

The difference

between drivers is maybe

the quantity of desire

you have to win races,

because the talents

are equal.

That includes

whatever the weather is

when you're

at the race course.

Monza, spa, Monaco--

they were quite

famous tracks.

But one was reckoned as a symbol

of pure driving.

It's the highest

possible challenge.

In the shadow of

Germany's eifel mountains

lies a monstrous race track,

22 kilometers around.

Jacky ickx:
Hundred

sixty-eight corners.

At the time, 17 jumps.

So you were flying 17 times

at the nrburgring.

Sir Jackie Stewart:

If a car went off the road, you never saw it.

It just disappeared into

the trees or the bushes,

or down a ravine.

Hitler built it

in the depression.

It is the most challenging,

the most rewarding,

the most dangerous,

the greatest racetrack

in the world.

Jacky ickx:
To win

at the nrburgring,

that means that's

the race of your life.

In 1976,

the defending champion

and points leader

Niki lauda

called on his union

to boycott the nrburgring,

citing unsafe track conditions.

They couldn't marshal it.

It would take an army of

firefighters to do any good.

( Vintage audio )

Hunt cast his vote to race.

Lauda was defeated

by the slimmest of margins--

one.

Brett lunger:

I came round the turn,

he was sideways in the middle of the track.

His car was on fire.

Man:
There's Brett lunger

getting out of the surtees

and into the flames.

Brett lunger:
The Ferrari had different belts

and different systems.

Art merzario

had driven a Ferrari.

He was able to get in,

undo the belts.

I was on top of the car,

and I grabbed

Niki's shoulders

and pulled him

out of the car.

Man:
Lauda is

finally dragged clear

from the burning inferno.

The race of course

is stopped.

I remember him saying to me,

"what's my face like? What's my face like?"

In fact, he didn't know

he'd ingested

a lot of toxic fumes

from the burning resin

and fiberglass

of the bodywork of the car.

People were already talking

about him in the past tense.

We were both certain that

when we turned the radio on,

we'd hear the morning news

saying he was dead.

I couldn't see anything.

I was just listening.

Must have been

in the hospital.

My wife came into the room

where I was lying,

and, uh, she started

crying, so--

which didn't

certainly help me.

I told her afterwards,

"listen, why did you cry

when-- when you come in?

Because I felt bad."

She said, "unfortunately,

I only recognized you

on your feet."

Because I was burned so bad,

in my head and everywhere,

that she had a shock.

And that was the real

issue at the time,

so I thought, "sh*t,

I must fight now to stay alive."

Five weeks later,

I was back in the car in monza.

Brett lunger:

Niki walked down the pit Lane

to where my team was,

and he said,

"Brett, thank you."

And then walked away.

Niki lauda:
I knew the risk

I was getting myself into.

The easy way back is to

drive as quick as possible.

Don't wait.

As long as you wait,

is more worried you get.

( Spectators cheering )

He finished fourth and,

you know,

kept his world championship

hopes alive.

That's the most courageous

thing I've ever seen.

Lauda! Lauda!

After all he's been through,

I would like to see him

right at the front,

fighting and,

you know, unblemished.

Maurice Hamilton:

Back against the wall,

James hunt went out

and he won these two races

through just sheer

determination and grit,

but there was something magical

about what Niki lauda was doing.

He was a very

tough competitor,

but most people

questioned his sanity.

That accident

gave him charisma.

Jane birbeck:

They became--

I hate to think what sort

of buddies they became.

Like playboys together,

if you know what I mean.

Man:
Good afternoon, and welcome

to the Japanese grand prix.

This is the most exciting

finish to a grand prix season

in over ten years.

It's down to a fight for the championship

between hunt and lauda,

with lauda

just three points ahead.

What an incredible end

to the season!

John hogan:
They ended up going

to the Japanese grand prix,

and everybody wanted it,

and the broadcasters

of the world said,

"ah, that's good!

Let's-- let's--

"oh! We don't

have the rights!

"Oh! Now,

how do we fix this?"

( Spectators cheering )

By 1976, Bernie ecclestone

and Max mosley

had become friends

and partners

in the formula one

constructors association,

the loose confederation

of garagistes--

independent car builders.

Max mosley:
Bernie

was completely streetwise,

an absolutely

brilliant tactician.

Nigel roebuck:
Didn't

take Bernie that long

to work out

that the organizers

were making a lot of money,

and fundamentally the teams

were getting screwed.

Lord hesketh:

Bernie came in.

He said, "I have bought

all of the world's

TV rights for

a million dollars."

There were ten teams.

"You can all

have 10% for $100,000.

Lord hesketh:

Nine idiots sat there:

"Think how much testing

I could do with $100,000."

I said no thank you,

and everyone else said no thank you,

and that's how Bernie

got control.

Pathetic, really, but then that's how

great fortunes are made!

While the brabham owner

would eventually sell his team,

he has maintained control

of the sport's

commercial rights

ever since '76

and the showdown in Japan.

John hogan:
Bernie said

to the broadcasters,

"you can have the rights

going forward,

but you've got to show

every grand prix."

Lord hesketh:
As they say,

the rest is history.

Niki lauda:
In fuji,

it was raining all day long,

that we could not drive.

At four in the afternoon,

the race director came

and said, "we have

to start the race now

because

the television time..."

But I said, "look,

the rain is the same."

Those early days,

things were run

a little bit more

like a dictatorship

rather than a democracy.

It was me that said,

"we're gonna start, no matter what."

Man:
And the Japanese

grand prix is underway!

James hunt's

got a superb start.

That's exactly

what he wants to do,

get in front

of all those cars,

because when you're in the front,

you don't have that spray.

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