Steve McQueen-Motor Racing

 

 



 

McQueen was a motorcycle and racecar enthusiast. When he had the opportunity to drive in a movie, he performed many of his own stunts.  The most memorable were the car chase in “Bullitt” and motorcycle chase in “The Great Escape”.  McQueen did have a considerable amount of screen time riding his 650cc Triumph TR6 Trophy motorcycle. It was difficult to find riders as skilled as McQueen.  Due to clever editing, McQueen is seen in a German uniform chasing himself on another bike.

 

Together with John Sturges, McQueen planned to make “Day of the Champion” a movie about Formula One racing. He was busy with the delayed “The Sand Pebbles”.  The project was called off.

 

McQueen considered becoming a professional race car driver. In the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring race, Peter Revson and McQueen won with a Porsche 908/02 in the 3 litre class.  They missed winning overall by 23 seconds to Mario Andretti/Ignazio Giunti/Nino Vaccarella in a 5 litre Ferrari 512S. The same Porsche 908 was entered by McQueen production company Solar Productions as a camera car for “Le Mans” in the 1970. McQueen wanted to drive a Porsche 917 with Jackie Stewart in that race, but his film backers threatened to pull their support if he did.  Faced with the choice of driving for 24 hours in the race or driving the entire summer making the film, McQueen opted to do the latter.  ^“Le Mans” is considered by some to be the most  realistic representation in the history of the race.

 

McQueen competed in off-road motorcycle racing. His first off-road motorcycle was a Triumph 500cc that he purchased from friend and stunt man Ekins. McQueen raced in many top off-road races on the West Coast. In 1964, with Ekins on their Triumph TR6 Trophys, he represented the United States in the International Six Days Trial. It was a form of off-road motorcycling Olympics. He was inducted in the Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1978. In 1971, Solar Productions funded the now-classic motorcycle documentary “On Any Sunday”.  McQueen is featured along with racing legends Mert Lawwill and Malcolm Smith. Also in 1971, McQueen was on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine riding a Husqvarna dirt bike.

 

McQueen collected classic motorcycles. By the time of his death, his collection included over 100 and was valued in the millions of dollars.

 

In a segment filmed for “The Ed Sullivan Show”, McQueen drove Sullivan around a desert area in a dune buggy at high speed. All the breathless Sullivan could say was, "That was a helluva ride!"

 

McQueen owned several exotic sports cars, including:

• Porsche 917, Porsche 908 and Ferrari 512 race cars from the Le Mans film.

• 1963 Ferrari 250 Lusso Berlinetta

• Jaguar D-Type XKSS (Right-Hand Drive)

• Porsche 356 Speedster

 

McQueen was never able to own the legendary Ford Mustang GT 390 that he drove in “Bullitt”. It featured a highly modified drivetrain that suited McQueen's driving style.