The Racers

Opening Narrator: The playground of the world, Monte Carlo, is calling. The city of white villas, of sand and sea and gambling. This is how it looks once a year when even the roulette wheel seems to spin more slowly. This is how it looked on a Spring afternoon in the early fifties, the day before the annual race through its winding streets. As in every great sport, motor racing has its traditions and its heroes. As in bullfighting, the presence of death gives a special intensity to their lives. For these are the gods of the road, adored by millions, masters of a skill which approaches an art. Representing the great motor factories of England and the Continent, backed by an organisation of technical experts, they're the drivers of cars which are jewels of engineering perfection. But not all drivers are champions or part of the wealthy factory teams; others, with their secondhand cars and their unpaid helpers are poor - in everything but dreams of victory.