The new trailer for 'Gravity', starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. F1 rivals, the playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth, left) and the meticulous Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) in a scene from Ron Howard's Rush. IN the annals of Formula One motor sport, the 1970s were both the best of times, and the bad old days. The racing was mesmerising, almost primal in the way man melded with machine at high speed. However, the conditions in which Grand Prix events were conducted were anything but grand. Tracks were configured without the drivers' safety in mind, and the same applied to the cars of the day. When commentators referred to these vehicles as "bombs on wheels," it was not hyperbole. It was merely a statement of fact. In Rush, an enjoyable and exciting time capsule of this era, the main focus is the 1976 Formula One World Championship. Two drivers cleared out from the pack and duelled for the ultimate honours across a remarkable season. Their rivalry? Beyond intense. Their individual personalities? Beyond opposite. British maverick James Hunt (played by Chris Hemsworth) was a loose cannon out on the track, and a lady-killing, champagne-swilling hedonist everywhere else. Only one man could keep pace with Hunt in his swaggering, golden-locked prime. The Austrian ace Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) was a pragmatist off on the track, and an obsessive-compulsive student of the sport everywhere else. Lauda played the percentages, and made the right choice almost every time. Hunt went with his instincts, and dealt with the consequences later. The flashpoint of a tumultuous season arrives when Lauda makes a rare wrong choice, and almost dies in a fiery wreck on Germany's notorious Nürburgring circuit. Remarkably, just six weeks later - after being permanently disfigured with burns all over his body - Lauda returned to Grand Prix competition in an attempt to block Hunt's route to the title. As directed by Ron Howard from a workmanlike script by Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen), Rush goes about its business like Hunt and Lauda themselves: briskly and bluntly. While it could be argued the movie makes too much of the contrast between its two lead characters - They were much friendlier in real life than the petty animosity depicted here but there can be no disputing the visceral thrills of Rush's ripping racing sequences.