On an August morning in 1978, French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend, a professional Formula 1 racer, drive him at breakneck speed through the heart of Paris. The film was limited for technical reasons to 10 minutes; the course was from Porte Dauphine, through the Louvre, to the Basilica of Sacre Coeur.

No streets were closed, for Lelouch was unable to obtain a permit.

The driver completed the course in about 9 minutes, reaching nearly 140 MPH in some stretches. The footage reveals him running real red lights, nearly hitting real pedestrians, and driving the wrong way up real one-way streets. (jerrykindall.com)

Urban legend around the film has it variously filmed from a Ferrari, a Mercedes and a motorcycle (although personally I doubt that because motorcycles lean when they turn), and some suggest the driver (who was never named for fear of arrest) was Lelouch himself. But it doesn't really matter because the film - C'etait un rendezvous - which you can watch over at Transbuddha.com, speaks for itself. Amazing.