Auto Racing's Literature/Movie/Documentary Discussion
11-04-2015, 08:15 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Auto Racing's Literature/Movie/Documentary Discussion
Welcome.
As the title states this will be a thread to discuss and share the books, movies, videos, etc that relate to motorsports. I will try to keep this post and the following few updated with links and lists as, hopefully, the thread blossoms. This is not the place to post race highlight videos or the like. We're looking for, basically, story tellers. If you share a title, please post your own review, description or a link to where one could be found, and if possible a place to purchase (for movies and books).
"1" (2013) (Documentary) - "Set in the golden era of Grand Prix Racing '1' tells the story of a generation of charismatic drivers who raced on the edge, risking their lives during Formula 1's deadliest period, and the men who stood up and changed the sport forever."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2518788/
This a great watch, I will find a link to purchase.
Rush (2013) (Movie) - "The merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula One rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1979320/
Senna - a terrific documentary made to look like Senna is narrating his racing career. Great insights from those who were close to him and competed with him. The movie sets up Senna as the hero, and every hero needing a villain, it is Alain Prost and Jean-Marie Balestre of the FIA that he rails against in his quest for F1 glory. The human side to him is displayed in the work he did in Brazil, time spent with family, his good relationship with Ron Dennis etc. There is the vulnerable side to him as well, as when he walks out of a meeting where due to Nelson Piquet's reasoning, the FIA determines a course of action for which Senna was penalized and surely lost the championship. Understand that this is made to look Senna good, and perhaps goes a little over the line in showing Prost as the villain. A nice book pairing with this would be to read Tommy Byrne's "Crashed and Byrned - The Greatest Racing Driver You Never Heard Of". Byrne back in the day was an incredible talent who even challenged Senna in lower formulae. He even tested for McLaren and was passed over by Ron Dennis who may have done so, because he wanted someone that had more of an image than Byrne. Reading this book, you will get a sense for the countless talented drivers that have tried, only to fail.
Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman - This movie is available to rent online and can also be purchased. I have yet to watch it, but by all accounts this is a must-watch for any racing fan. While attending racing school for a movie in which he played a race car driver, Paul Newman got hooked to the sport. He started competing and by sheer dint of his hard work was able to make a name for himself as a competitor that one respected.
Bobby Deerfield (not very great) - Al Pacino plays an F1 driver. But F1 and racing take a back seat to a love story. Still may be worth watching once considering it has appearances by Carlos Pace, James Hunt and Mario Andretti.
Dust To Glory - movie about the Baja 1000. This is a fantastic documentary that follows several threads of competitors both on 4 and 2 wheels participating in the BAJA 1000. Mario Andretti makes an appearance as the Grand Marshal of the race, and in one terrific scene drives a truck off-road and you can still see that he has the edge in him. This one is a must-see.
Le Mans - While a commercial failure, this movie will be enjoyed by all race fans. Dialogue is sparse as the racing action takes center stage. Staring the original king of cool, Steve McQueen, in what I consider one of his most memorable films. It is an accurate portrayal of the racing in that era and does a very honest reproduction of the conditions and emotions drivers experience as they go through the 24 hours.
Grand Prix by John Frankenheimer - James Garner leads a great list of actors in a story featuring several plots and sub-plots. The start of the movie is the Monaco Grand Prix and that alone is worth the action. Phil Hill acted in the movie too and Jackie Stewart was a stand in for James Garner as and when he needed to drive the BRM F1 car. Soichiro Honda is represented by a character named Izo Yamura, who is the head of the Yamura company in Japan. Great relationship between the Ferrari drivers - the senior driver being Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Sarti, and his team-mate a young Italian named Nino Barlini. When I watched the movie, it was when Schumi was still at Ferrari and it seemed eerily similar to the good relationship Schumi shared with a young Massa. The movie is long, tends to drag in parts, but the racing action makes up for it. James Garner actually turned out to be a talented driver as he and others discovered as the movie progressed along. Put this on your list if you haven't seen it yet.
Weekend of a Champion by Roman Polanski - This movie is available to view instantly on Netflix. In this movie Roman Polanski follows Jackie Stewart around the weekend of the 1971 Monaco Grand Prix. You get to catch glimpses of how Stewart prepared himself for the weekend and what goes on behind the scenes in his personal life. His time with his spouse in the hotel room as he prepares for the race. Him standing trackside at certain corners and observing cars go around watching, learning and processing the information for when it comes time for him to get on the grid.
You will get a sense of the burden on Jackie Stewart as he prepares to compete for the race all the while making astute observations about safety and will get a glimpse of how what he saw and processed turned him into a champion for racing safety. While "1" has him speaking of the past, in this movie you will observe Stewart first-hand experiencing and going through the motions of a race weekend. I highly doubt anyone from the modern era could prove to as on-topic as Stewart was. It almost seems like todays batch of drivers have everything taken care off for them. In the version released in 2013 (the one on Netflix) there is an epilogue added that features Stewart and Polanski getting together and reminiscing about that weekend in 1971.
Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman - From user A 2 "I enjoyed the documentary and would recommend it as a must-see for all. The movie is specifically about Paul Newman the race car driver and while it has interviews with Robert Redford, and Jay Leno, their conversations are centered on Paul Newman and his addiction and determination to be as good as he can be out on the track. Other notable interviewees include Bob Sharp, Mario Andretti and Carl Haas. The movie starts of with Newman starting off by club racing with a Datsun 510 in Bob Sharp colors and then moves on to his progress, making it to the runoffs and his victories at those. His first runoff victory was in his words something that he inherited because a competitors car failed him and he was determined to win fair and square, which he did a few years down the line. The movie charts his progress to the Rolex 24 Hours and then onwards to Le Mans where he was troubled a lot by the press and the paparazzi. It is opined that he never went back to Le Mans because he did not like the attention that his presence brought to the team with press getting in the way of the team during pit stops.
The movie then tracks his tenure as a successful team owner with Newman Haas racing and all the victories that organization achieved. There is the moment of grief he encounters as he loses his son to drug overdose and it is racing that keeps him going through all of it. At one point Redford remarks that racing had taken over so much that he became a uninteresting conversation partner as he'd always talk about his cars.
While I enjoyed the movie, I wish they had more racing action. I would have liked at least one or two acts to have focused on races that marked his improvement as a driver and were crucial to pushing him further. Something like the movie Senna where they showed his first race for Toleman and then his home race in Brazil that he won. I'd also have liked at least part of it to have been in the first-person, but that probably was a big challenge given how private he was and how much he tended not to talk about his achievements in glowing terms."
As the title states this will be a thread to discuss and share the books, movies, videos, etc that relate to motorsports. I will try to keep this post and the following few updated with links and lists as, hopefully, the thread blossoms. This is not the place to post race highlight videos or the like. We're looking for, basically, story tellers. If you share a title, please post your own review, description or a link to where one could be found, and if possible a place to purchase (for movies and books).
Movies/Documentaries
"1" (2013) (Documentary) - "Set in the golden era of Grand Prix Racing '1' tells the story of a generation of charismatic drivers who raced on the edge, risking their lives during Formula 1's deadliest period, and the men who stood up and changed the sport forever."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2518788/
This a great watch, I will find a link to purchase.
Rush (2013) (Movie) - "The merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula One rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1979320/
Senna - a terrific documentary made to look like Senna is narrating his racing career. Great insights from those who were close to him and competed with him. The movie sets up Senna as the hero, and every hero needing a villain, it is Alain Prost and Jean-Marie Balestre of the FIA that he rails against in his quest for F1 glory. The human side to him is displayed in the work he did in Brazil, time spent with family, his good relationship with Ron Dennis etc. There is the vulnerable side to him as well, as when he walks out of a meeting where due to Nelson Piquet's reasoning, the FIA determines a course of action for which Senna was penalized and surely lost the championship. Understand that this is made to look Senna good, and perhaps goes a little over the line in showing Prost as the villain. A nice book pairing with this would be to read Tommy Byrne's "Crashed and Byrned - The Greatest Racing Driver You Never Heard Of". Byrne back in the day was an incredible talent who even challenged Senna in lower formulae. He even tested for McLaren and was passed over by Ron Dennis who may have done so, because he wanted someone that had more of an image than Byrne. Reading this book, you will get a sense for the countless talented drivers that have tried, only to fail.
Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman - This movie is available to rent online and can also be purchased. I have yet to watch it, but by all accounts this is a must-watch for any racing fan. While attending racing school for a movie in which he played a race car driver, Paul Newman got hooked to the sport. He started competing and by sheer dint of his hard work was able to make a name for himself as a competitor that one respected.
Bobby Deerfield (not very great) - Al Pacino plays an F1 driver. But F1 and racing take a back seat to a love story. Still may be worth watching once considering it has appearances by Carlos Pace, James Hunt and Mario Andretti.
Dust To Glory - movie about the Baja 1000. This is a fantastic documentary that follows several threads of competitors both on 4 and 2 wheels participating in the BAJA 1000. Mario Andretti makes an appearance as the Grand Marshal of the race, and in one terrific scene drives a truck off-road and you can still see that he has the edge in him. This one is a must-see.
Le Mans - While a commercial failure, this movie will be enjoyed by all race fans. Dialogue is sparse as the racing action takes center stage. Staring the original king of cool, Steve McQueen, in what I consider one of his most memorable films. It is an accurate portrayal of the racing in that era and does a very honest reproduction of the conditions and emotions drivers experience as they go through the 24 hours.
Grand Prix by John Frankenheimer - James Garner leads a great list of actors in a story featuring several plots and sub-plots. The start of the movie is the Monaco Grand Prix and that alone is worth the action. Phil Hill acted in the movie too and Jackie Stewart was a stand in for James Garner as and when he needed to drive the BRM F1 car. Soichiro Honda is represented by a character named Izo Yamura, who is the head of the Yamura company in Japan. Great relationship between the Ferrari drivers - the senior driver being Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Sarti, and his team-mate a young Italian named Nino Barlini. When I watched the movie, it was when Schumi was still at Ferrari and it seemed eerily similar to the good relationship Schumi shared with a young Massa. The movie is long, tends to drag in parts, but the racing action makes up for it. James Garner actually turned out to be a talented driver as he and others discovered as the movie progressed along. Put this on your list if you haven't seen it yet.
Weekend of a Champion by Roman Polanski - This movie is available to view instantly on Netflix. In this movie Roman Polanski follows Jackie Stewart around the weekend of the 1971 Monaco Grand Prix. You get to catch glimpses of how Stewart prepared himself for the weekend and what goes on behind the scenes in his personal life. His time with his spouse in the hotel room as he prepares for the race. Him standing trackside at certain corners and observing cars go around watching, learning and processing the information for when it comes time for him to get on the grid.
You will get a sense of the burden on Jackie Stewart as he prepares to compete for the race all the while making astute observations about safety and will get a glimpse of how what he saw and processed turned him into a champion for racing safety. While "1" has him speaking of the past, in this movie you will observe Stewart first-hand experiencing and going through the motions of a race weekend. I highly doubt anyone from the modern era could prove to as on-topic as Stewart was. It almost seems like todays batch of drivers have everything taken care off for them. In the version released in 2013 (the one on Netflix) there is an epilogue added that features Stewart and Polanski getting together and reminiscing about that weekend in 1971.
Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman - From user A 2 "I enjoyed the documentary and would recommend it as a must-see for all. The movie is specifically about Paul Newman the race car driver and while it has interviews with Robert Redford, and Jay Leno, their conversations are centered on Paul Newman and his addiction and determination to be as good as he can be out on the track. Other notable interviewees include Bob Sharp, Mario Andretti and Carl Haas. The movie starts of with Newman starting off by club racing with a Datsun 510 in Bob Sharp colors and then moves on to his progress, making it to the runoffs and his victories at those. His first runoff victory was in his words something that he inherited because a competitors car failed him and he was determined to win fair and square, which he did a few years down the line. The movie charts his progress to the Rolex 24 Hours and then onwards to Le Mans where he was troubled a lot by the press and the paparazzi. It is opined that he never went back to Le Mans because he did not like the attention that his presence brought to the team with press getting in the way of the team during pit stops.
The movie then tracks his tenure as a successful team owner with Newman Haas racing and all the victories that organization achieved. There is the moment of grief he encounters as he loses his son to drug overdose and it is racing that keeps him going through all of it. At one point Redford remarks that racing had taken over so much that he became a uninteresting conversation partner as he'd always talk about his cars.
While I enjoyed the movie, I wish they had more racing action. I would have liked at least one or two acts to have focused on races that marked his improvement as a driver and were crucial to pushing him further. Something like the movie Senna where they showed his first race for Toleman and then his home race in Brazil that he won. I'd also have liked at least part of it to have been in the first-person, but that probably was a big challenge given how private he was and how much he tended not to talk about his achievements in glowing terms."
11-04-2015, 08:15 AM
#2
Thread Starter
Books
Aussie Grit: My Formula One Journey by, Mark Webber - Mark Webber was at the centre of one of the most captivating chapters in the history of Formula One. In 2010, while racing for Red Bull, he and his team mate Sebastian Vettel went head to head for the World Championship. There could only be one winner. Since retiring from Formula One Mark has concentrated on endurance racing, including the legendary Le Mans 24 Hour race. He hit the front pages of newspapers around the world in December 2014 when he slammed into the barricades in the final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in South America, and was lucky to escape with his life. But the controversy of his relationship on and off the track with Vettel, who went on to win multiple world titles, has never been far beneath the surface. Here, for the first time, Webber tells the inside story of one of Formula One's most intriguing battles - it is a story that goes to the heart of why the sport is loved by millions of fans around the world. In his trademark straight-talking, no-nonsense style Mark reveals his amazing life on and off the Formula One race track. From his first taste of karting to his F1 debut in 2002, scoring Minardi's first points in three years at the Australian Grand Prix, through to his first win with Red Bull at the 2009 German Grand Prix and the year he should have been crowned World Champion. Mark Webber's journey to the top of Formula One was every bit as determined and committed as his racing. Aussie Grit is his searingly honest story. Includes a foreword by Formula One legend Sir Jackie Stewart.
http://www.amazon.com/Aussie-Grit-Fo.../dp/1509813535
Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans by, AJ Baime - Go Like Hell tells the remarkable story of how Henry Ford II, with the help of a young visionary named Lee Iacocca and a former racing champion turned engineer, Carroll Shelby, concocted a scheme to reinvent the Ford company. They would enter the high-stakes world of European car racing, where an adventurous few threw safety and sanity to the wind. They would design, build, and race a car that could beat Ferrari at his own game at the most prestigious and brutal race in the world, something no American car had ever done.
http://www.amazon.com/Go-Like-Hell-F.../dp/0547336055
Crashed and Byrned: The Greatest Racing Driver You Never Saw by, Tommy Byrne - Crashed and Byrned is the thrilling tale of a poverty-stricken kid’s rise to become the only driver Formula One legend Ayrton Senna ever feared—and how it all went wrong from there. For a brief moment Tommy Byrne was arguably the world’s greatest driver, the equivalent of Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali rolled into one. But in a sport where talent isn’t always as important as the money you bring to the table, he was almost doomed from the start. With all the chips stacked against him, he became the 1980 Double British Formula Ford 1600 champion, the 1981 British Formula Ford 2000 champion and the European Formula Ford 2000 champion. In 1982—having also become British F3 champion—he entered F1, but by the following year had disappeared without trace.
http://www.amazon.com/Crashed-Byrned...6661074&sr=1-1
The Last Open Road by, Burt Levy - The Last Open Road is a novel written by B.S. Levy, a long time amateur racer. It tells the story of a young mechanic from Passaic, New Jersey who becomes involved in automobile road racing during its peak in the 1950s.
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Open-Road...last+open+road
11-04-2015, 08:16 AM
#3
Thread Starter
Online Media
Dinner with Racers - A podcast series by factory Acura driver Ryan Eversley and another guy, Sean Heckman. Ryan and Sean meet up with drivers, engineers, team owners, business types and a ton of other randoms across a number of motorsport disciplines. These podcasts range from serious topics to genuinely funny conversations.
I've listened to a couple of these so far and I highly recommend them. For IMSA/Sportscar related, Andy Lally, Bob Varsha and Beaux Barfield (race director for IMSA) are a great listen.
http://www.dinnerwithracers.com
Truth in 24 (Audi) - "Truth in 24" chronicles the Audi Sport racing teams as they attempt to win a record fifth consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans. The films gives viewers an unprecedented behind-the-scenes view of the strategies engineers and drivers use as they set out to make history against local favorite, Team Peugeot. "Truth in 24" rides alongside drivers Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Dindo Capello as they prepare for the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans contest. Unlike any sports production, the film brings out all the drama and emotion of the 76-year old race and the people trying to win it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFwoxM1MiBw
TRUTH IN 24 II - Every Second Counts (Audi) - The Le Mans 24 Hours are a legend. They are mentioned in the same breath as the Rallye Monte Carlo, the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. Since 1923, hundreds of thousands of motorsport enthusiasts have been flocking to La Sarthe year by year to experience the one-day race. To watch the protagonists in their sports cars battle for each place and each meter of tarmac with bated breath. The drivers cover 4,800 kilometers in 24 hours - almost as many as the Formula One racers in a whole year. Every Le Mans winner has gone down in history. The three Audi drivers Andre Lotterer, Benoít Treluyer and Marcel FÄssler did so in a special way with the triumph they achieved in 2011. The film TRUTH IN 24 II documents the tenth and arguably most emotional triumph of the brand with the four rings at this sports car classic. After two Audi R18 TDI cars have retired following spectacular accidents, the remaining Audi fights a dramatic battle for overall victory with the three Peugeot 908 cars which the Audi trio ultimately decides in its favor with a narrow margin of 13 seconds. The film captures the entire drama of the fourth-narrowest running of the Le Mans 24 Hours with intimate insights into the team of Audi Sport and breath-taking pictures.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27F26UA1i6M
The Official History of the WRC - WRC Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Xn7o7qbTk
11-04-2015, 03:34 PM
#5
Former Moderator
This isn't strictly a documentary. It is an instructional video from Skip Barber Racing School back when Skip himself ran the program. Keep in mind this program has graduated several drivers in to professional ranks and is a must watch for any racing fan as well as participants
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQRmYMlmdqM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQRmYMlmdqM
11-04-2015, 05:53 PM
#6
Former Moderator
Other movies to add:
1. Senna - a terrific documentary made to look like Senna is narrating his racing career. Great insights from those who were close to him and competed with him. The movie sets up Senna as the hero, and every hero needing a villain, it is Alain Prost and Jean-Marie Balestre of the FIA that he rails against in his quest for F1 glory. The human side to him is displayed in the work he did in Brazil, time spent with family, his good relationship with Ron Dennis etc. There is the vulnerable side to him as well, as when he walks out of a meeting where due to Nelson Piquet's reasoning, the FIA determines a course of action for which Senna was penalized and surely lost the championship. Understand that this is made to look Senna good, and perhaps goes a little over the line in showing Prost as the villain. A nice book pairing with this would be to read Tommy Byrne's "Crashed and Byrned - The Greatest Racing Driver You Never Heard Of". Byrne back in the day was an incredible talent who even challenged Senna in lower formulae. He even tested for McLaren and was passed over by Ron Dennis who may have done so, because he wanted someone that had more of an image than Byrne. Reading this book, you will get a sense for the countless talented drivers that have tried, only to fail.
2. Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman - This movie is available to rent online and can also be purchased. I have yet to watch it, but by all accounts this is a must-watch for any racing fan. While attending racing school for a movie in which he played a race car driver, Paul Newman got hooked to the sport. He started competing and by sheer dint of his hard work was able to make a name for himself as a competitor that one respected. [Updated on 12/21 to include review] - This weekend, I watched Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman. I enjoyed the documentary and would recommend it as a must-see for all. The movie is specifically about Paul Newman the race car driver and while it has interviews with Robert Redford, and Jay Leno, their conversations are centered on Paul Newman and his addiction and determination to be as good as he can be out on the track. Other notable interviewees include Bob Sharp, Mario Andretti and Carl Haas. The movie starts of with Newman starting off by club racing with a Datsun 510 in Bob Sharp colors and then moves on to his progress, making it to the runoffs and his victories at those. His first runoff victory was in his words something that he inherited because a competitors car failed him and he was determined to win fair and square, which he did a few years down the line. The movie charts his progress to the Rolex 24 Hours and then onwards to Le Mans where he was troubled a lot by the press and the paparazzi. It is opined that he never went back to Le Mans because he did not like the attention that his presence brought to the team with press getting in the way of the team during pit stops.
The movie then tracks his tenure as a successful team owner with Newman Haas racing and all the victories that organization achieved. There is the moment of grief he encounters as he loses his son to drug overdose and it is racing that keeps him going through all of it. At one point Redford remarks that racing had taken over so much that he became a uninteresting conversation partner as he'd always talk about his cars.
While I enjoyed the movie, I wish they had more racing action. I would have liked at least one or two acts to have focused on races that marked his improvement as a driver and were crucial to pushing him further. Something like the movie Senna where they showed his first race for Toleman and then his home race in Brazil that he won. I'd also have liked at least part of it to have been in the first-person, but that probably was a big challenge given how private he was and how much he tended not to talk about his achievements in glowing terms.
3. Bobby Deerfield (not very great) - Al Pacino plays an F1 driver. But F1 and racing take a back seat to a love story. Still may be worth watching once considering it has appearances by Carlos Pace, James Hunt and Mario Andretti.
4. Dust To Glory - movie about the Baja 1000. This is a fantastic documentary that follows several threads of competitors both on 4 and 2 wheels participating in the BAJA 1000. Mario Andretti makes an appearance as the Grand Marshal of the race, and in one terrific scene drives a truck off-road and you can still see that he has the edge in him. This one is a must-see.
5. Le Mans - While a commercial failure, this movie will be enjoyed by all race fans. Dialogue is sparse as the racing action takes center stage. Staring the original king of cool, Steve McQueen, in what I consider one of his most memorable films. It is an accurate portrayal of the racing in that era and does a very honest reproduction of the conditions and emotions drivers experience as they go through the 24 hours.
6. Grand Prix by John Frankenheimer - James Garner leads a great list of actors in a story featuring several plots and sub-plots. The start of the movie is the Monaco Grand Prix and that alone is worth the action. Phil Hill acted in the movie too and Jackie Stewart was a stand in for James Garner as and when he needed to drive the BRM F1 car. Soichiro Honda is represented by a character named Izo Yamura, who is the head of the Yamura company in Japan. Great relationship between the Ferrari drivers - the senior driver being Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Sarti, and his team-mate a young Italian named Nino Barlini. When I watched the movie, it was when Schumi was still at Ferrari and it seemed eerily similar to the good relationship Schumi shared with a young Massa. The movie is long, tends to drag in parts, but the racing action makes up for it. James Garner actually turned out to be a talented driver as he and others discovered as the movie progressed along. Put this on your list if you haven't seen it yet.
1. Senna - a terrific documentary made to look like Senna is narrating his racing career. Great insights from those who were close to him and competed with him. The movie sets up Senna as the hero, and every hero needing a villain, it is Alain Prost and Jean-Marie Balestre of the FIA that he rails against in his quest for F1 glory. The human side to him is displayed in the work he did in Brazil, time spent with family, his good relationship with Ron Dennis etc. There is the vulnerable side to him as well, as when he walks out of a meeting where due to Nelson Piquet's reasoning, the FIA determines a course of action for which Senna was penalized and surely lost the championship. Understand that this is made to look Senna good, and perhaps goes a little over the line in showing Prost as the villain. A nice book pairing with this would be to read Tommy Byrne's "Crashed and Byrned - The Greatest Racing Driver You Never Heard Of". Byrne back in the day was an incredible talent who even challenged Senna in lower formulae. He even tested for McLaren and was passed over by Ron Dennis who may have done so, because he wanted someone that had more of an image than Byrne. Reading this book, you will get a sense for the countless talented drivers that have tried, only to fail.
2. Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman - This movie is available to rent online and can also be purchased. I have yet to watch it, but by all accounts this is a must-watch for any racing fan. While attending racing school for a movie in which he played a race car driver, Paul Newman got hooked to the sport. He started competing and by sheer dint of his hard work was able to make a name for himself as a competitor that one respected. [Updated on 12/21 to include review] - This weekend, I watched Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman. I enjoyed the documentary and would recommend it as a must-see for all. The movie is specifically about Paul Newman the race car driver and while it has interviews with Robert Redford, and Jay Leno, their conversations are centered on Paul Newman and his addiction and determination to be as good as he can be out on the track. Other notable interviewees include Bob Sharp, Mario Andretti and Carl Haas. The movie starts of with Newman starting off by club racing with a Datsun 510 in Bob Sharp colors and then moves on to his progress, making it to the runoffs and his victories at those. His first runoff victory was in his words something that he inherited because a competitors car failed him and he was determined to win fair and square, which he did a few years down the line. The movie charts his progress to the Rolex 24 Hours and then onwards to Le Mans where he was troubled a lot by the press and the paparazzi. It is opined that he never went back to Le Mans because he did not like the attention that his presence brought to the team with press getting in the way of the team during pit stops.
The movie then tracks his tenure as a successful team owner with Newman Haas racing and all the victories that organization achieved. There is the moment of grief he encounters as he loses his son to drug overdose and it is racing that keeps him going through all of it. At one point Redford remarks that racing had taken over so much that he became a uninteresting conversation partner as he'd always talk about his cars.
While I enjoyed the movie, I wish they had more racing action. I would have liked at least one or two acts to have focused on races that marked his improvement as a driver and were crucial to pushing him further. Something like the movie Senna where they showed his first race for Toleman and then his home race in Brazil that he won. I'd also have liked at least part of it to have been in the first-person, but that probably was a big challenge given how private he was and how much he tended not to talk about his achievements in glowing terms.
3. Bobby Deerfield (not very great) - Al Pacino plays an F1 driver. But F1 and racing take a back seat to a love story. Still may be worth watching once considering it has appearances by Carlos Pace, James Hunt and Mario Andretti.
4. Dust To Glory - movie about the Baja 1000. This is a fantastic documentary that follows several threads of competitors both on 4 and 2 wheels participating in the BAJA 1000. Mario Andretti makes an appearance as the Grand Marshal of the race, and in one terrific scene drives a truck off-road and you can still see that he has the edge in him. This one is a must-see.
5. Le Mans - While a commercial failure, this movie will be enjoyed by all race fans. Dialogue is sparse as the racing action takes center stage. Staring the original king of cool, Steve McQueen, in what I consider one of his most memorable films. It is an accurate portrayal of the racing in that era and does a very honest reproduction of the conditions and emotions drivers experience as they go through the 24 hours.
6. Grand Prix by John Frankenheimer - James Garner leads a great list of actors in a story featuring several plots and sub-plots. The start of the movie is the Monaco Grand Prix and that alone is worth the action. Phil Hill acted in the movie too and Jackie Stewart was a stand in for James Garner as and when he needed to drive the BRM F1 car. Soichiro Honda is represented by a character named Izo Yamura, who is the head of the Yamura company in Japan. Great relationship between the Ferrari drivers - the senior driver being Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Sarti, and his team-mate a young Italian named Nino Barlini. When I watched the movie, it was when Schumi was still at Ferrari and it seemed eerily similar to the good relationship Schumi shared with a young Massa. The movie is long, tends to drag in parts, but the racing action makes up for it. James Garner actually turned out to be a talented driver as he and others discovered as the movie progressed along. Put this on your list if you haven't seen it yet.
11-08-2015, 01:38 PM
#7
Former Moderator
I'm going to add Weekend of a Champion by Roman Polanski. This movie is available to view instantly on Netflix. In this movie Roman Polanski follows Jackie Stewart around the weekend of the 1971 Monaco Grand Prix. You get to catch glimpses of how Stewart prepared himself for the weekend and what goes on behind the scenes in his personal life. His time with his spouse in the hotel room as he prepares for the race. Him standing trackside at certain corners and observing cars go around watching, learning and processing the information for when it comes time for him to get on the grid.
You will get a sense of the burden on Jackie Stewart as he prepares to compete for the race all the while making astute observations about safety and will get a glimpse of how what he saw and processed turned him into a champion for racing safety. While "1" has him speaking of the past, in this movie you will observe Stewart first-hand experiencing and going through the motions of a race weekend. I highly doubt anyone from the modern era could prove to as on-topic as Stewart was. It almost seems like todays batch of drivers have everything taken care off for them. In the version released in 2013 (the one on Netflix) there is an epilogue added that features Stewart and Polanski getting together and reminiscing about that weekend in 1971.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GkLejtum5s
You will get a sense of the burden on Jackie Stewart as he prepares to compete for the race all the while making astute observations about safety and will get a glimpse of how what he saw and processed turned him into a champion for racing safety. While "1" has him speaking of the past, in this movie you will observe Stewart first-hand experiencing and going through the motions of a race weekend. I highly doubt anyone from the modern era could prove to as on-topic as Stewart was. It almost seems like todays batch of drivers have everything taken care off for them. In the version released in 2013 (the one on Netflix) there is an epilogue added that features Stewart and Polanski getting together and reminiscing about that weekend in 1971.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GkLejtum5s
