PRODUCTS AND DOCUMENTARIES
Reviews of the best F1 gear and a new F1 documentary
Enhance the F1 experience with the latest must-have products or feast your eyes on a new F1 documentary
STEVE MCQUEEN: THE LOST FILM Sky Documentaries
Le Mans was a famous box office dud but it wasn’t Steve Mcqueen’s first attempt at bringing racing to the big screen in partnership with
The Great Escape director John Sturges. Day of the Champion, Mcqueen’s attempt to craft an epic based on F1, was abandoned before principal photography began in 1966.
Funded by Warner Brothers, Day of the Champion became embroiled in a race to the screen with Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s rival James Garner vehicle Grand Prix, and who was aligned with which production became a political issue between teams and drivers. Delays completing Mcqueen’s previous film put the shoot months behind schedule and Grand Prix got what would prove to be an unbeatable start, prompting Warner Brothers to pull the plug on Day of the Champion. All that remained were the rushes from footage Sturges had shot while waiting for Mcqueen to arrive.
This feature-length doc is a lavish affair, narrated by David Letterman, and offers a fascinating insight into the technical and political challenges of the production. The extant footage – including Stirling Moss stunt-driving at the Nürburgring – is remarkable too, though its relative scarcity means material from Grand Prix is called upon to do some of the narrative’s heavy lifting. Since the focus is on Mcqueen, his life and his abiding passions, there’s a lot of biographical material, and a look at Le Mans which gives that film a fresh context.
FERRARI 1000GP Price £137.99 dukevideo.com
Published in two volumes and kicked off with a foreword by former Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri and Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto, this is the lavishly illustrated official history of the marque’s participation in Formula 1. Ferrari celebrated its 1000th world championship grand prix at Mugello last year – although the methodology for arriving at this was opaque and, judging by the correspondence GP Racing has received, a number of our readers were similarly baffled.
Ferrari 1000GP therefore provides the definitive guide to Ferrari’s thinking since it offers a visual history, with an image from every one of the 1000 races factored into its rubric.
Many of the pictures are drawn from the archive of Motorsport Images, whose work will be familiar to GP Racing readers. A results archive makes it an invaluable repository of information regarding Ferrari’s performances down the years.
At over 700 pages and weighing 5.8kg, this collection – limited to 2000 copies – will also require a sturdy bookshelf.
TW1018
Price £299 (current pre-order price) uk.twsteel.com
TW Steel has a long association with F1 and its latest timepiece takes its inspiration from 1996 world champion Damon Hill and his Williams FW18 car.
The TW1018 is powered by a
Swiss-made Ronda Z60 chronograph movement and claims a battery life of 50 months. It features a doublelayered white satin dial enclosed in anti-reflective sapphire crystal within a light titanium case, bordered by a rose gold tachymeter bezel with dark blue detailing redolent of Hill’s crash helmet. The rest of the materials are formed in high-grade 316L steel and the engraved caseback features Damon’s signature and a chequered flag motif. A dark blue strap with white stitching emphasises the connection with Hill’s family racing colours.