Have Your Say – What Story Needs to be Told in Racing

Next Racing Documentary 01.jpg
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below with any documentaries you’d like to see made to highlight exceptional personalities or events from the world of motorsports.

Often when we live through an era, the historical significance of it is not immediately obvious. Or, if we didn’t experience the story while it happened, it can be exciting to learn more about a given personality or event. In either case, a documentary can be a great way to relive or experience a piece of history.

With that in mind, and continuing a series that your support has been overwhelming toward, we want to hear what motorsports personality or event you feel deserves a documentary like we’ve seen with the excellent Schumacher Netflix doc. This might be your favourite race driver that doesn’t get enough credit, or perhaps a single race or race season that you feel ranks among the best, or maybe even a racing game or sim that needs a cinematic tribute.

The first example that comes to mind would be Lewis Hamilton. The legacy of the most popular driver in the most popular motorsport series will echo long past his retirement. Despite holding numerous significant F1 records, he has remained a divisive figure throughout his career. How history will view Hamilton remains to be seen, but surely his story is worthy of a documentary.

Another example might be Michèle Mouton. The presence of females in motorsports is becoming more commonplace these days, but Mouton began her racing career in a time when it was exceedingly rare. Not only did the French driver build a reputation for her exceptional rally achievements, but she also participated in the grueling Tour de France Automobile, and after her driving days has moved to the office as president of the FIA's Women & Motor Sport Commission.

Or perhaps a virtual motorsports documentary is due. One idea might be a feature on Gran Turismo. Some readers may remember when the original GT was released in the late 1990s and eschewed the flashy brands and unrealistic vehicle performance of its gaming contemporaries in favour of more lifelike racing physics and performance. This spawned numerous sequels which collectively sold over 80 million copies over a quarter century and grew into the biggest international championship series in virtual racing and even became a part of the Olympics.

Let us know what drivers or events from the world of motorsports deserve recognition via a documentary, or if you’ve stumbled upon any great motorsports docs that people should check out.

Image by Toby Parsons from Pixabay
About author
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

Comments

Premium
John Surtees deserves a high quality movie or documentary.

I mean it´s the only one human beeing world champion on 4 and 2 wheels. And for sure an achievment which will never be reached again.

For me he flys a bit under the radar, when talking about the legends in motorsports.

Great career, great life with a sad tragedy in loosing his son Henry in a racecar.
Enough stuff for moviemakers.
 
Let me disagree about this statement : "The presence of females in motorsports is becoming more commonplace these days, but Mouton began her racing career in a time when it was exceedingly rare."

During the 70's there was a lot more women in motorsports than today and in fact there has been steps backwards since that period, at the same time as the PC fluff was going more and more proeminent.

Let's have a quick look at them during the 2nd half of the 70's:
- Lella Lombardi had a fair chance in F1 and she raced in many endurance events, including several 24 h du Mans, and wining several podiums.
- There were a bunch of French and Belgian women driving regularly at Le Mans and in touring/endurance championships during the 70s: Yvette Fontaine (who was a Ford factory driver), Christine Beckers, Anny-Charlotte Vernay, Christine Dacremont, Marianne Hoepfner, etc. Many of them teamed with high-level champions in endurance events (like Ickx, Beltoise, etc).
- Many of them had also drives in rallying. The French rallying team Aseptogyl had exclusively female drivers and was active during the whole 70's.

Michèle Mouton has remained the most famous women in driving because she was the most successful, but she was part of a rather strong group of French and Belgian female drivers.
 
Premium
Alex Caffi’s massively underrated 1991 season. Moved forward (in terms of Quali Vs race result) more positions than any other driver that year.
wow great fact which i bet 99% of us do not know. Unfortunately its unrealistic because Caffi was never a star or winning-car driver.

I would add of course - Alex Zanardi - a fantastic person, fighter, pure racer.
 
Staff
Premium
I would like a complete documentary about the evolution of the F1 cars with all the innovations that have been there and already been removed/canceled. Like the switch from front to rear engines, the six wheel Tyrell, the skirts, the active suspension and so on...
 
Premium
While it's great to get documentaries on the drivers; the top personnel in teams such as Principals and technical experts could also do with the limelight; and what better man to start with than Ross Brawn; one of the architects of Schumacher's success, the man who saved what was left of BAR Honda from the brink and laid the groundwork for Mercedes' meteoric rise, and is now one of the figureheads of the whole damn sport of F1.
 
The whole 2006 F1 championship deserves a movie, Ferrari's fight back to the top, Ferrari fighting internally, championship ending for Schumacher with a 1 in a million engine failure.
The 2007 and 2008 seasons are something to take a look at as well.
In WRC maybe the Loeb to Ogier transition.
 
Staff
Premium
Joey Dunlop
The whole Dunlop racing family would make a great documentry

This one is pretty good:
 
A documentary on Jack Brabham, the forgotten 3 time world champion. He is the only driver to win a title driving for his own team, a feat that will never be repeated. The doc could also include what happened to his team after he sold it to Ecclestone.
 

Latest News

Article information

Author
Mike Smith
Article read time
2 min read
Views
14,782
Comments
109
Last update

Online or Offline racing?

  • 100% online racing

    Votes: 86 7.4%
  • 75% online 25% offline

    Votes: 123 10.6%
  • 50% online 50% offline

    Votes: 170 14.6%
  • 25% online 75% offline

    Votes: 322 27.7%
  • 100% offline racing

    Votes: 456 39.3%
  • Something else, explain in comment

    Votes: 4 0.3%
Back
Top