Continuity mistake: The clock at the Ford pit shows 05:09 during the phone call and 00:53 (can't see it exactly because it is too blurry) in the next shot, when the mechanic holds the sign EZ Miles. (01:56:10)
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
1 continuity mistake
Directed by: James Mangold
Starring: Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Jon Bernthal, Caitriona Balfe
Factual error: Christian Bale is eating a bag of potato chips. That bag is foil-lined or made of some type of polymer blend. Potato chips were packaged in a wax-paper/plastic bag in the mid-sixties. The inside of the bag would have been whitish, not silver.
Henry Ford II: This isn't the first time Ford Motors' gone to war. We know how to do more than push papers. Go ahead, Carroll. Go to war.
Carroll Shelby: Thank you, sir.
Trivia: Matt Damon's primary reason for taking the part was because he was keen to work with Christian Bale.
Question: During La Mans, it shows Shelby taking a stopwatch from Ferrari's pit and dropping a nut on the floor. Is there any indication Shelby ever cheated during a race like this (whether at Le Mans or somewhere else)? Like, was he ever caught or accused of cheating? I get there's a lot of artistic licensing taking place in this film, so I understand if it was made up, just curious if it was based on anything from Shelby's life.
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Answer: Technically, neither of these incidents would be considered cheating in the classic sense. Stealing the stopwatches would be just that, stealing. It's likely that some other members of a team like Ferrari had back up stopwatches. Dropping the lug nut in the Ferrari pit would just be a mind game to put doubt in the minds of the pit crew as to whether they got all the lug nuts on the wheels. Neither of these incidents would affect the performance of the race car. It was mischief, not cheating.
This doesn't answer the question at all (and seems like someone's trying to correct this thinking it's a mistake entry). I said "cheating like this" for the 2 examples I gave, because it's cheating (by definition) but not necessarily breaking La Mans rules. Plus I also asked about actual accusations of cheating.
Bishop73
It's called gamesmanship, how is dropping a lug nut to make the Italians think they had forgotten one cheating? Now if he had taken the lug nut so it delayed their pit stop or so it wasn't put on at all that's a different story. You seem like you never competed if you think those things are cheating.
And stealing a stopwatch is gamesmanship too? The question is was this based on anything. I've never competed in LeMans, but in a majority of sports there are rules against deceiving the other team (for example a balk). Seems like you've never played sports.
Bishop73