One of the world’s best-known film directors has sparked a nationwide search for a witness to one of the most famous incidents in the history of Formula One.
Ron Howard, director of films such as Apollo 13 and Cocoon, has started work on his latest project: the story of Niki Lauda’s fightback from a near-fatal crash to contest the 1976 Formula One World Championship in the final race of the season against the charismatic James Hunt.
But his researchers have come up with the story of a young boy, who not only witnessed Lauda’s fiery crash at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring but captured the incident on an 8mm video camera. Howard appealed to his Twitter followers: “Anyone know the young boy