RE: Journey To Le Mans DVD
Friday 7th November 2014
We'll understand if, when asked to think of great motorsport films of the last few years, you find yourself running out of candidates well before you run out of fingers. But, with the proviso that we haven't seen more than the trailer yet, this one looks promising.
Get fired up for LM15 with first hand view of LM14Journey to Le Mans is the story behind (spoiler alerts!) Jota Sport's win in this year's LMP2 class - one of the tightest class wins in recent years - and the action-packed season beforehand. It's also narrated by Sir Patrick Stewart, giving it the full Royal Shakespeare, which must be worth a few quid of anyone's money by itself.
The Jota team's story is one of true Le Mans gritThe film was made by first-time director Charlotte Fantelli, who raised £400,000 of funding and invested heavily in it herself. It will be getting a limited cinematic release on the November 11, with a premiere in Leicester Square and simultaneous screenings in 50 other Vue cinemas. A shorter version will be shown on ITV in late November, and there will be a DVD in time for Christmas. It will likely make a more rewarding stocking filler than the inevitable Clarkson-versus-Caravans special, so start dropping hints now.
Journey To Le Mans DVD
No Steve McQueen but plenty of true grit in a revealing documentary charting Jota's LMP2 Le Mans adventure
Get fired up for LM15 with first hand view of LM14
It's certainly not short of drama. Team boss Simon Dolan had a huge crash just weeks before the 24-hour at Silverstone. And then, just hours before Le Mans, Audi exercised its option to steal back Marc Gene to replace Loic Duval after the latter was ruled out of the race with a monster shunt in practice. Leaving a frantic search by the Jota team for another driver and a last-minute opportunity for Oliver Turvey to step up to the plate. Action enough before the race even got under way then.
The Jota team's story is one of true Le Mans grit
Discussion
Pistonheads said:
We'll understand if, when asked to think of great motorsport films of the last few years, you find yourself running out of candidates well before you run out of fingers.
"Easier Said Than Done", "Truth In 24", "Truth In 24 II", "19 allée des Marronniers", "Closer To The Edge", "Road", "Senna", "Love The Beast"... I think we've actually done pretty well for motorsport films the last few years!That aside I'm really looking forward to checking this out as you can never see too much of Le Mans. I'm hoping that Audi will give us "Truth In 24 III" as well!
£7.00 from Asda Direct inc postage.Bionic Billy Nav said:
Er Hello Rush? And I,Superbiker was quite good aswel as Senna and TT as already mentioned..
Rush was a film rather than a documentary, hence why I didn't include it in my list. 
I enjoyed Rush, though its minor deviations from the facts meant it fell just short of greatness (in my opinion).
I, Superbiker was good, though I seem to have fallen behind on those: I think they have done four now?
Went to see this last night at the Vue in Bristol with the live feed to the Q and A at Leceister Square afterwards. Good film and well worth the watch. Similar to the Truth in 24 but with an outcome that was less forgone than it was for Audi. Remember before this year Jota hadn't made the top step at Le Mans so big risk for the film makers. If you like Sportscar racing and Le Mans is your thing (and I suspect that if you are a fully paid up Pistonhead then the answer to both of those questions is "Yes") then you will love this film.
I watched the film at the Vue cinema in Portsmouth. I agree with the other posters that it's an ok film, but a key point for me was an admission during the Q&A session when one of the film makers said that he wasn't a motorsport fan. I'm afraid that shows in the film itself. It almost misses the main story, which was the car dropping to 14th in class, 29th overall, and then going on to win it's class (5th overall). I remember at the time the Radio Le Mans guys kept referring to the car as it picked it's way through the field, particularly in the last eight hours. It was a brilliant story, and I can't understand how you'd let that slip through your fingers when it's happening right in front of you?
For a start, surely you show more of the race itself than the last half hour or so in a 90 minute film? The build up to it felt quite ponderous at times. They used RLM commentary throughout the film, so obviously had the rights to it. If it were me, I'd have shown no more than 45 mins of background, and 45 on the race itself. I would have shown them dropping to 14th/29th in the second hour, and shown the human side of that, the frustration, dissappointment etc of falling down the field. You then show the fightback. They were back up to 15th in hour three, so why not show that?
Looking at the ACO stats (www.24h-lemans.com/en/race/results_2_2_2046.html) the car hovered around 15-11 overall for hour after hour, so again why not big that up- Small team, battling to hang in there against some big names, war of attrition, endurance test for everyone, etc etc. Then you big it up again as the car starts to creep up the list in the last eight hours. If they'd trawled through the RLM commentary and found every reference to the car gaining places, overlaid that onto their own footage and the Eurosport broadcast and added dramatic music, they'd have ended up with an edge-of-your-seat thriller.
Surely you count the hours down, where the car is every hour, you show the Rolex clock repeatedly, show the sheer fatigue on everyone's faces, all to emphasise the relentless grind to the point of exhaustion that is Le Mans. And surely you play on the last splash and dash- if anything goes wrong now the class win could be lost, second car only a lap behind and reeling them in etc etc.
And why not big up that it's a class win, with a small team battling against the might of big factory teams and coming out best of the rest? It adds to the David v Goliath element of it all. By the end, there shouldn't have been a dry eye in the house, but the drama just didn't come across. Dunno, maybe the team had right of veto over what went in, or they didn't give much raw emotion away on the day? Maybe the crew just didn't get enough footage? Either way, it's a missed opportunity I'm afraid.
For a start, surely you show more of the race itself than the last half hour or so in a 90 minute film? The build up to it felt quite ponderous at times. They used RLM commentary throughout the film, so obviously had the rights to it. If it were me, I'd have shown no more than 45 mins of background, and 45 on the race itself. I would have shown them dropping to 14th/29th in the second hour, and shown the human side of that, the frustration, dissappointment etc of falling down the field. You then show the fightback. They were back up to 15th in hour three, so why not show that?
Looking at the ACO stats (www.24h-lemans.com/en/race/results_2_2_2046.html) the car hovered around 15-11 overall for hour after hour, so again why not big that up- Small team, battling to hang in there against some big names, war of attrition, endurance test for everyone, etc etc. Then you big it up again as the car starts to creep up the list in the last eight hours. If they'd trawled through the RLM commentary and found every reference to the car gaining places, overlaid that onto their own footage and the Eurosport broadcast and added dramatic music, they'd have ended up with an edge-of-your-seat thriller.
Surely you count the hours down, where the car is every hour, you show the Rolex clock repeatedly, show the sheer fatigue on everyone's faces, all to emphasise the relentless grind to the point of exhaustion that is Le Mans. And surely you play on the last splash and dash- if anything goes wrong now the class win could be lost, second car only a lap behind and reeling them in etc etc.
And why not big up that it's a class win, with a small team battling against the might of big factory teams and coming out best of the rest? It adds to the David v Goliath element of it all. By the end, there shouldn't have been a dry eye in the house, but the drama just didn't come across. Dunno, maybe the team had right of veto over what went in, or they didn't give much raw emotion away on the day? Maybe the crew just didn't get enough footage? Either way, it's a missed opportunity I'm afraid.
I saw Journey last night. Like the title says, it covers the "journey" to Le Mans as well as the race, which means ELMS support races at Silverstone, Imola, Spa. It's not Senna or Truth in 24, but as another poster said, if you're a fan of sportscars/endurance racing you'll like this.
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