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Watch the filming of Niki Lauda's 'Ring crash for Ron Howard's Rush

The production crew for Ron Howard's Rush recently stopped by the Nürburgring to recreate Niki Lauda's infamous Formula One crash during the 1976 Nürburgring GP. Lauda's car suffered a catastrophic failure on the second lap, launching him into the guardrail and placing his crumpled machine in the path of Brett Lunger's Surtees-Ford. The two collided and it wasn't long before Lauda was trapped in burning wreckage. Lunger and a handful of other racers fought to pull Lauda from the flames. Those on hand succeeded in rescuing the Austrian, and while he lapsed into a coma and suffered disfiguring burns, he was back in the cockpit within two months.

Just before the race, Lauda had pressed for a boycott of the dangerous race. The area in which the crash occurred is now known as Lauda Links.

Rush will follow the volatile 1976 F1 season and two of the primary characters that defined the year: Lauda and James Hunt. Hit the jump to see bystander video of the stuntmen in action.

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