Nearly half a century before F1 released it’s now famed “Drive to Survive” series, this film was the most amazing, realistic, and breathtaking account of what life was like to be a Formula One driver. Champions Forever profiles some of the largest stars of that era and follows them, sometimes to their own demise. There is glamour, there is travel, there are introspective interviews, beautiful racing footage, and a whole lot more. There’s a young Jackie Stewart who is just so fed up with people dying for no reason, there’s the dashing Peter Revson, heir to the Revlon fortune and doomed to never see any of it, this film is a non-stop, eyes wide, look at what it was like to live and die on the edge.

As much as Jackie Stewart has been lauded over the years, not just as a champion racer but also as a champion for enhanced safety capability for race cars AND facilities, we see him at his finest here. He is young, he is brash, and he understands that F1 drivers are a special breed. They were willfully getting into these cars that may kill them, racing at tracks that may kill them, and not really getting all that rich doing it. Helping them, help themselves would be the defining legacy of his career (oh, and the championships).

There’s not much more to say here other than the fact that if you have ever wondered what it was like to be a racing driver in the Swingin’ 70s, it’s actually better than what your feeble imagination can come up with. Watch!

Hit the image to watch Champions Forever on YouTube – Greatest F1 documentary ever