FERRARI: RACE TO IMMORTALITY
In cinemas from 3 November on DVD from 6 November www.ferrariracetoimmortality.com
Motor racing documentaries for the silver screen have been all the rage since the award-winning success of Senna. This latest release is, we reckon, among the best, even if the subject matter might politely be described as somewhat ‘niche’.
This is the story of five heroic racing drivers who raced for Ferrari a full 60 years ago, in the second half of the 1950s, none of whom lived to tell the tale. Mass audience appeal is tough for any distributor using such antique material, particularly since the quintet are hardly household names – even if one of them was Britain’s first F1 world champion. But let’s hope it succeeds, for this is a wonderful film, dealing with a largely forgotten era, that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.
Brits Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins were best friends who found themselves pitched against the Latin racers, Eugenio Castellotti, Luigi Musso and Alfonso de Portago at Ferrari, all of their strings pulled by puppet-master Enzo Ferrari during the Scuderia’s formative years. Tragedy lurked around every bend as four of the five lost their lives at the wheel of Ferrari racing cars, while Hawthorn’s own demise in a road accident just months after securing the 1958 F1 title offers a morbid coda to the tale.
But what makes this film so magical is that despite the aura of tragedy, the fantastic archive material and evocative sounds lift the veil on an era remembered by those who lived it to be one of vivid colour and energy. Motor racing was
fun back in those days, despite the dangers on which we might judge it today. And, happily, the filmmakers don’t forget that.
Enzo Ferrari paid a heavy price for what he described as his ‘terrible joys’. But as surviving peers, partners, and ‘expert voices’ recall with such clarity in this captivating film, what a time it was to be alive.
The film will be shown at selected cinemas from 3 November and can be ordered on DVD now.