Two details in Rush

[beelsebob]

So I washed Rush tonight, and I will avoid as much spoilering of the details of the film as I can, but there were two little things that caught my eye in terms of technical stuff...

1) There's a scene in which McLaren are scene pouring buckets of ice onto the rear tyres on the starting grid. What the ---. Why are they trying to cool the tyres, why is ice the preferred method, was this really done, why?
2) In the scene in which Lauda first arrives at Ferrari, he is demonstrated to have supreme technical/setup knowledge by basically saying "MAKE ALL THE THINGS MAGNESIUM!", is there some background to this? Did Ferrari set up one car with a bunch of magnesium parts after he arrived? Which parts, etc?

[muz]

Not sure about the ice but the magnesium scene was at brm, not Ferrari. He got the Ferrari seat with the money from brm (he gets same pay as clay ragazonni sp ) his loans and a recommendation from clay if i remember right

[beelsebob]

Not sure about the ice but the magnesium scene was at brm, not Ferrari. He got the Ferrari seat with the money from brm (he gets same pay as clay ragazonni sp ) his loans and a recommendation from clay if i remember right

Uh yes sorry, my bad, at BRM. But yes, same question effectively.