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The Power and the Glory

  • 1991
  • Planned
  • Documentary
  • 1 season

The Power and the Glory was a 13-part television documentary series shown between 4 October and 27 December 1991 on BBC2. The series covers 100 years of motor racing history.

Latest: The Power and the Glory · 1991

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  1. E1. The Fastest Men on Earth

    Oct 4, 1991

    The first Grand Prix was won 85 years ago at 73 mph. This year's Indianapolis winner averaged 176 mph.

  2. E2. The Road Racers

    Oct 11, 1991

    Millie Miglia, Targa Florio, Carrera Pan Americana - the names of the great road races have disappeared from the racing calendar, but they still evoke the history of motor racing at its most full-blooded. But as the power and speed of cars rose, so did the death toll of drivers and spectators. The sport was banned in the 1950s. Today's alternatives include racing in the Mexican deserts

  3. E3. The Right Stuff

    Oct 18, 1991

    What makes a champion racing driver? Some of the sport's great names, including Nigel Mansell and Stirling Moss offer an insight into what took them to victory. And at a school for racing drivers, students find out if they have that combination of skill, courage, toughness, and the will to win.

  4. E4. The Pioneers

    Oct 25, 1991

    This is the story of the remarkable men whose daring and skill pushed the top speed of racing cars from around 20 mph to over lOO mph in the pioneering age of the sport.

  5. E5. The Aristocrats

    Nov 1, 1991

    The 20s and early 30s saw the expansion of grand-prix racing and the introduction of technical advances like supercharging and the first single-seaters. The designers produced some of the classic cars of all time - Bentley, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo

  6. E6. Years of Thunder

    Nov 8, 1991

    From zero to 300 mph in six seconds, nose-to-tail racing at 200 mph, ear-splitting exhausts, gigantic crowds - this is motor racing the American way. Both drag racing and stock-car racing started illegally on the streets of America and have become part of the country's popular culture. Today they are multi-million-dollar businesses. The stars of these sports explain how it happened

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