The actors do their own driving.
The producers approached Jaguar and asked them to provide a car for the film. The company refused, so the producers obtained the Jaguar seen in the early scenes of the film from elsewhere. Then, in what was an apparent act of 'F-U' retaliation, they filmed the in-the-garage scene of the rally send-off ... with the Jaguar being unable to participate because it refused to start. The car is a 1974 XK-E V12 Series III. The unreliability of this car is well known. This car made Time magazine's 2019 list of "The 50 Worst Cars of All Time".
Some of the featured cars:
- 1966 Ford Shelby Cobra 427 "Side Oiler" (Cobra Team)
- 1974 Ferrari Daytona (Ferrari Team)
- 1974 Porsche 911 Targa (Porche Team)
- 1971 Dodge Polara 440 police car (Dodge Team)
- 1970 1/2 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 (Camaro Team)
They wanted a shot of the Ferrari speedometer but the helicopter couldn't keep up. They finally got the shot by mounting the camera on the AC Cobra.
Linda Vaughn ("Emergency Plan Alpha") was a popular race queen of the period; among other things, she did a season of personal appearances for Hurst Corporation as "Miss Golden Shifter".