It's really a great documentary and does seem to indicate that Steve McQueen really didn't have a set plot when making the movie. He was a big enough star back in the day that the studio was willing to let him spend money on the movie (up to a point) just on his name recognition.
On the day LeMans came out, I sat through it twice in a row because the race footage was so great. Now that in-car cameras are widely used, it's not that dramatic, but back in the day it was amazing.
Here's a photo from the movie Grand Prix showing how things were done.
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