Finding James Bond Spiral Jump Stunt Location in Thailand

News, notes, questions on the McHenry invented James Bond Astro Spiral Jump Stunt
Post Reply
MSI
Site Admin
Posts: 2389
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:37 pm

Finding James Bond Spiral Jump Stunt Location in Thailand

Post by MSI »

Q: I'm from Stuttgart in Germany and co-founder of the James Bond Club Germany.
  • For about 20 years, my greatest passion has been the filming locations of the James Bond films around the world. Not just traveling there and visiting the locations, but also researching unknown filming locations.
    I've already discovered a large number of new filming locations and shared them with the James Bond community. Traveling to filming locations interests many people around the world, not just James Bond fans.

    My greatest success was researching and visiting the filming location of the Astro Spiral Jump from "The Man With The Golden Gun" from 1974, from the point of view of many James Bond fans the greatest car stunt in film history! The location was completely unknown for 44 years and I was the first Bond fan to visit the exact filming location on Klong Rangsit north of Bangkok on June 1, 2018. Coincidentally, exactly 44 years after the stunt that was performed there on June 1, 1974.

    My research into all the James Bond filming locations in Thailand resulted in the book "On the tracks of 007: Guide to Thailand", which I wrote together with a friend.

    I am often criticized about whether the filming location of the famous Astro Spiral Jump is correct and how I found the location. My theory is that a very long, straight run-up road was necessary for the vehicle's necessary speed of 48 mph. We know from historical records and interviews that a concrete road was built that leads to the stunt bridge. And I am sure that this road still exists and was not demolished after filming.

    Instead, the road was almost certainly gratefully accepted by the locals and a village with houses was built around it.

    In the target area there is exactly one such road, several hundred meters long, straight like a line and - compared to other roads there - very narrow. And very old. In my view, this must be the road that was built for the film. There is no other.

    I am still often criticized and people doubt it. That's why I've been looking for documents, recordings, interviews or experts for months now who can help me prove my theory. The Astro Spiral Jump from the James Bond film is a common topic in your McHenry Forum. Are there any experts there who can help me? Who can I contact?

    Unfortunately, the stunt happened 50 years ago and many of those involved have already died ...

    It would really help me if there were any recordings or if someone remembered roughly how long the road was that was built into the open field as a run-up for the stunt.
A: Raymond, still going strong at 95, worked with the stunt team for the movie but never travelled to the location. I will check with him on possible clues to the location.

My brother Stanley was also the announcer for the ALL American Thrill Show stunt show that included the spiral jump for several years and I will ask him about the location.

I will also look through our boxes of information to see if any better idea on the location
I have gone through the box many times but never for trying to determine if any pictures and/or letters, etc might shed light on the actual location in Thailand.
Also note, the Bond car for the stunt originally was to be with a Pantera!
MSI
Site Admin
Posts: 2389
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:37 pm

Re: Finding James Bond Spiral Jump Stunt Location in Thailand

Post by MSI »

A: I Spoke with my father Ray and here are a couple of things that might give you some clues: A few things Ray mentioned in our discussion:
  1. The actual ramps used for the stunt were built by local craftsmen in Thailand.
    • They were beautiful and made of teak wood. Apparently, many spoke of the beauty of the workmanship.
      So that brings up the possibility that some of those craftsmen and/or their children might also still be doing such work in the area and then might know where it was to help you validate your location of the stunt in Thailand findings.
  2. After the successful single stunt run, Jay Sr. said he ‘blew up’ the ramps. Ray, and I, believe Jay's statement that he 'blew up the ramps' was an exaggeration like many of Jay Sr.’s stories.
    He was all about showbiz!
    • I doubt that since why would he? Jay Sr. wasn’t one to waste beautiful teak wood ‘blowing up’ the ramps.

      So he probably had the craftsmen dismantle the ramps to avoid the mess of a ‘blow up’ and then maybe sold the wood back to the craftsmen! or gave it to them if they dismantled it for free?!
    Jay Sr. liked to exaggerate with many of his stories
  3. But for the sake of discussion, lets assume that he DID blow up the ramps.
    • Would he have also gone to the expense of tearing up and then having to dispose of the mess of a concrete from the road built for the car to get up to speed?
      I doubt it.
      He probably threatened to ‘blow it up’ too and sold it to locals or whomever owned the land
      that’s the type of businessman and exaggerator Jay was.
Jay Sr. was a great fun guy and promoter who liked to exaggerate to enhance stories!
May he rest in peace!
Main point is you might contact Jay Jr and see if he can shed any light on things.
MSI
Site Admin
Posts: 2389
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:37 pm

Re: Finding James Bond Spiral Jump Stunt Location in Thailand

Post by MSI »

Additional response from original poster:

Thank you for your response.
You probably know the book "James Bond - Golden Gun on Location" by my good German friend Chris Distin, which came out a few months ago? I helped Chris a little with it. We've known each other for a long time and he's also active in the James Bond Club Germany.

What we know about the location of the Astro Spiral Jump is based on a hand sketch from the production time that surfaced a few years ago. (please note that the sketch is drawn upside down, so north is down).
Astro Spiral Jump sketch reduced.JPG
Astro Spiral Jump sketch reduced.JPG (33.92 KiB) Viewed 336 times

We are therefore at Klong 2, south of the "Wat Saeng San" temple. I also visited the temple in 2018 and met the head of the temple, an old monk. They also filmed in the temple at the time. The monk watched the stunt live in 1974 and described the stunt location to me as "a few hundred meters south" of the temple. I tried to meet some locals and ask them questions. But back in 1974 there were hardly any houses there and so many didn't know about the Bond film and the famous stunt. One remembered, however, and said "go to the concrete road" and pointed south.

My assumption was always that a long run-up was necessary for the stunt and the necessary speed of 48 mph. We know from historical records that a concrete road was built. I am an engineer and approached the topic technically. What would such a road have to look like?
I assumed at least 500 m long to reach and keep the exact speed and dead straight. To keep costs down and to be able to build the road quickly, it should be a narrow road. I found exactly 1 concrete road in the area in question. Today it is 700 m long, extremely straight with no curves or interruptions. No bridge at the end towards the klong! In my opinion, it doesn't make sense to build a long concrete road there but then leave out the important bridge. Today there is a village and many houses are on that road.

In addition, this concrete road is narrower than other "normal" roads there. It only consists of 1 row of concrete elements one behind the other, while other roads in this area consist of 2 concrete elements next to each other and are therefore wider. All other roads in this area are wide concrete roads (2 concrete elements next to each other) or dust roads.

The road that I think is possible based on all the evidence is at 13.993917, 100.642056 and the jump was from west to east over the Klong.

I'll be back in Rangsit at the end of January with my wife and other Bond friends. And maybe I can find out a little more about where the stunt was. So I want to find out as much as I can in preparation. I'm still convinced that this road was built for the stunt and is still there today. But there are a lot of doubts that I want to clear up.
Here is a picture of the ramp under construction (From site 007.com))
Astro Spiral Jump ramp reduced.JPG
Astro Spiral Jump ramp reduced.JPG (51.85 KiB) Viewed 336 times
Here is the concrete road location from 2018
Concrete road reduced.JPG
Concrete road reduced.JPG (56.38 KiB) Viewed 336 times
MSI
Site Admin
Posts: 2389
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:37 pm

Re: Finding James Bond Spiral Jump Stunt Location in Thailand

Post by MSI »

From the book "James Bond - Golden Gun on Location" by Chris Distin
  • currently can't get it shipped to US...only available on Amazon Germany
I grabbed one of the sample photos showing the damage to the ramp from the perfect landing for the movie stunt...
Landing Ramp damage during jump.png
Landing Ramp damage during jump.png (767.86 KiB) Viewed 295 times
Post Reply