The Power and the Glory

- Season 1

(1991)

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

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. The sport was banned in the 1950s.

Some of the sport's great names 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.

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 100 mph in the pioneering age of the sport.

The 20s/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.

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. Today they are multi-million-dollar businesses.

Hitler knew that victory on the grand prix circuits would demonstrate the Third Reich's technical superiority and bring his new Germany great prestige. With government subsidies, Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union set out to build a winning car.

Rallying began as a genteel amateur sport for those with a sense of adventure - today it is highly competitive, with special cars, large back-up teams and professional drivers.

The story of the brilliant red cars of Italy - so elegant to look at, so easy to drive - which dominated grand-prix racing after the Second World War, featuring, in particular, the great classic of its time, the Maserati 250F.

In 1958, a little Cooper Climax, driven by Stirling Moss , won the Argentinian Grand Prix. It was the first time in the modern era that a mid-engined car had won a grand prix. The front-engined racing car was soon consigned to history.

Ferrari, Porsche and Jaguar all made their reputations by winning on the racetrack. Using specially-shot footage, Making a Marque looks at some of the world's most beautiful sports cars which proved themselves first on the racetrack.

To win the Indianapolis 500 is an American dream. The drivers share over $7 million for just one race. Rick Mears describes what it is like to drive round the famous track at speeds approaching 240 mph.

How Formula 1 was transformed into a multi-million pound global business. Featuring interviews with racing drivers Nigel Mansell , James Hunt and Gerhard Berger, and team bosses Ron Dennis, Frank Williams and Ken Tyrrell.