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
As you have mentioned in the article, a Lewis Hamilton documentary would be very interesting as it would show his racial obstacles, money issues, his dad's sacrifices etc... There are also so many things about his non-F1 life to cover. He deserves a good documentary as the most succesful driver ever.
 
Last edited:
Kimi Räikkönen's career.
Wouldn't that just be

Race - "I know what I'm effing doing"
Party, smoke, drink vodka, get drunk
Race - "Leave me alone"
Party, smoke, drink vodka, get drunk
Race - "Where's my effing steering wheel"
Party, smoke, drink vodka, get drunk

And so on?
 
Wouldn't that just be

Race - "I know what I'm effing doing"
Party, smoke, drink vodka, get drunk
Race - "Leave me alone"
Party, smoke, drink vodka, get drunk
Race - "Where's my effing steering wheel"
Party, smoke, drink vodka, get drunk

And so on?
Thats probably the whole script
 
Fathers and sons in F1 ?
A pretty massive area if you asking me.
You know... hill, villeneuve, rosberg, schumacher, piquet, verstappen, magnusen...
 
So many great suggestions' like Richard Burns and Jackie Ickx but it got me thinking about past great documentary's, that I thought I would post this one from 1975 called Champions Forever, anyone reading this that hasn't seen it I think would enjoy it immensely
 
Last edited:
Bruce Mclaren,racing for the Cooper team and eventually starting his own F1 team,wich still exists today.
This was very good:
 
- 2009 Brawn F1
- Mario Andretti
- Bernie Ecclestone
- Tyrrell F1
- Gordon Murray
- Adrian Newey
- Pre-war grand prix racing
- Make a movie (documentary or feature film) of the Rene Dreyfus/Lucy Schell/Delahaye story
 
There was Kart Life, a series following several kart families(amongst which was David Malukas who is next year in IndyCar). it was representing the life of a karting family quite well. So, I think there should be documentary about pro sim racers, about the whole scene, the stories, the future etc.
 
Premium
How about something on the history of famous race tracks.
  • The Ring
  • Monza
  • Monaco
  • Silverstone
  • Indy
  • Columbus Motor Speedway
Or cars
  • Fan car
  • 6 wheeler
People
  • Fangio
  • AJ
  • Penske
 
Last edited:
Sergio Perez - and you may think "why??" well Sergio Perez when he was starting his career being 13 in 2003 karting in Mexico he had a crash with the son of the leader of the Mexican Federation of Motorsports in that time, after crashing with Klaus Schinkel Jr (his rival at that time for the championship) both started to fight, and then their families started to fight, after that the father of Schinkel used his power and contacts to affect Sergio's career, giving a death threat to the race director to give Sergio unjustified sanctions, so the next race Sergio was disqualified from the race, and eventually Sergio was banned from racing in Mexico missing the CART race that was held in the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and the Easy Kart Championship (Which he was also leading), all this led to Sergio and his brother Antonio(Later NASCAR Mexico champion in 2007) to train privately in the "Brothers Gallo" circuit in Guadalajara, Jalisco with Formula cars that were lended by Tomás López Rocha (IMSA Champion in the United States) a Formula Vee, a Formula Reynard and a Formula 3, after that with the help from his brother, his father and Carlos Slim he travelled to Germany alone with 14 years old living in a restaurant that was from a friend of his uncle, after going to the Skip Barber Racing School and the German Formula BMW (Where he was the youngest winner ever) after that he won Formula 3 with 16 years old and got to GP2 and one of the key moments of his career happened, he won the Monaco GP with all his family there with that almost securing a Formula 1 seat, finally after more than 2 decades, Mexico had another Formula 1 driver as Carlos Slim Dommit announced Sergio was going to race for Sauber in 2010, after that we all know what happened going to his first win and the challenges with Red Bull, Sergio raced oficially in Mexico until 2015 in the Mexican Grand Prix, and Klaus Schinkel Jr now races shitty Renaults in Mexico. I think that would make a REALLY cool documental.
1632946053627.png
1632946145366.png

1632946173267.png
1632946720843.png

(This just made me think how normal is my life just regular 15 (almost 16 in 1 week) year old guy who wants to be a Formula 1 driver, who finished 3rd in his first championship racing karts with 13 (rental karts rip), but pandemic screwed it all left my dad without job, and just has an Xbox 270° used misaligned wheel with broken paddle shifters which has almost the same age as me and has it since 4 years ago but somehow manages to win Assetto Corsa online races in WSS and RaceU (Wanted to race in SRS but I need to be older of 18 I think) so yeah, I guess I would need a BIG miracle to get 100,000 MXN pesos out of nowhere to get a professional kart and get things going, also maybe it's too late rip so guess Esports are my only hope.)
 

Attachments

  • 1632946720310.png
    1632946720310.png
    760 KB · Views: 36
Premium
Two New Zealand drivers who competed in some very famous races from history but for some reason are nearly forgotten.
Chris Amon and Denny Hulme. And of course, you know I'm saying this because they were not mentioned in the Ford vs Ferrari movie, And I'm still bitter :D
 
The essence of racing, when you literally push your car: my hero is Mansell. I have to push my car into the finish line.
 

Attachments

  • Mansell.jpg
    Mansell.jpg
    90.3 KB · Views: 32
Last edited:
Who was really the best? When the corruption of the record books doesn't show the real story.

What influence the manufacturers, teams, sponsors and the media have had on F1's regulations.

Which championship really matters, the teams or the drivers?

The best car or the best driver. What one was really the greatest of all time?

Team orders, an honest result.

Too many races. When less is more.

F1, the raise of the oligarch.
 
Last edited:

Latest News

Article information

Author
Mike Smith
Article read time
2 min read
Views
14,774
Comments
109
Last update

Online or Offline racing?

  • 100% online racing

    Votes: 74 7.4%
  • 75% online 25% offline

    Votes: 103 10.3%
  • 50% online 50% offline

    Votes: 145 14.5%
  • 25% online 75% offline

    Votes: 274 27.4%
  • 100% offline racing

    Votes: 400 40.0%
  • Something else, explain in comment

    Votes: 4 0.4%
Back
Top