A 5 seconds outtake, slow-motioned 6 times, from C'était un rendez-vous (It Was a Date), a 1976 French short film directed by Claude Lelouch.
The film shows an eight-minute drive through Paris during the early hours (05:30) of a Sunday morning in August, accompanied by sounds of a high-revving engine, gear changes and squealing tyres.
Shot in a single take and limited by the short capacity of the 1000 foot 35mm film reel, and filmed from a camera mounted on the bumper of a Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9. A photo has surfaced that reveals an Eclair cam-flex 35mm camera with a wide angle lens, and a typical ‘speed rail’ hard mount on a Mercedes. This model, which could reach a top speed of 235 km/h, was only available with a three-speed automatic transmission. Lelouch drove his own car himself and claimed that the top speed achieved was around 200 km/h in the 1.3 km avenue Foch. Lelouch also claimed that the soundtrack was dubbed with the sound of Lelouch's Ferrari 275GTB, which has the corresponding number of gears and a V12 sound that is quite distinct from that of any V8, including the 6.9 litre V8 of the alleged Mercedes camera car.
The film is too good to be true: everything seems to make it one fluent take, without any pedestrians, cars, or other obstructions spoiling the high-risk venture. Even the magic lady in red is quitely crossing the road - as if it was all staged. Nevertheless, the speed has not been accelerated and on the chosen course there was one assistant, who was posted with a walkie-talkie in the Rue de Rivoli, behind the archway exiting from the gardens of the Louvre palace, meaning to assist the driver at the only blind junction; however, Lelouch has revealed that the radios failed, and if Chouraqui had tried to warn him of a pedestrian the message would not have been received. Anyway, the traffic light at that junction showed green. The lady in red barely escapes.
The route measures 10.597 km long, which indicates an average speed of approx. 80 km/h.