Patrick Dempsey - Racing Le Mans?
Discussion
I was just about to post about this. It looks rather good.
http://www.discoveryuk.com/tv-guide/?type=series&a...
http://www.discoveryuk.com/tv-guide/?type=series&a...
Funny, because I thought it was pretty s
t. Comparing Patrick Dempsey's racing prowess with that of James Garner, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen is verging on offensive.
There is a lot of whinging about how tough it is to mix racing (pretty poorly) with a career in pretending to be someone else - and hand-wringing about where the money is going to come from - how about spending some of your own, Patrick?
Lots of historical inaccuracy (particularly claiming that 'filler', stock footage of the 'ring was Le Mans) and the joke bit in the last episode where Patrick Long has to show him how to flash the headlights in a car he was racing for half of the ALMS season.
There's some good background stuff and some great footage from some of the ALMS races, but to suggest that Dempsey is in the same echelon as Garner/Newman/McQueen created a big credibility hole for me.
t. Comparing Patrick Dempsey's racing prowess with that of James Garner, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen is verging on offensive.There is a lot of whinging about how tough it is to mix racing (pretty poorly) with a career in pretending to be someone else - and hand-wringing about where the money is going to come from - how about spending some of your own, Patrick?
Lots of historical inaccuracy (particularly claiming that 'filler', stock footage of the 'ring was Le Mans) and the joke bit in the last episode where Patrick Long has to show him how to flash the headlights in a car he was racing for half of the ALMS season.
There's some good background stuff and some great footage from some of the ALMS races, but to suggest that Dempsey is in the same echelon as Garner/Newman/McQueen created a big credibility hole for me.
belleair302 said:
. Nobody sensible puts their own money into motorsport, you find sponsors if sensible.
I think you'll find, speaking from experience, that most people who compete put their own money into Motorsport at some point or other. Sadly, sponsors prefer celebrities, regardless of their skill level, to unknown talent.
Matt Harper said:
Lots of historical inaccuracy (particularly claiming that 'filler', stock footage of the 'ring was Le Mans) and the joke bit in the last episode where Patrick Long has to show him how to flash the headlights in a car he was racing for half of the ALMS season.
To be fair, he wasn't racing that car in the ALMS, where they were using a Cup car. One suspects there are a fair few differences between the two, but yes, I get your point.I thought it was quite a good series, and it dealt with the early race tragedy respectfully. I did like the '$5 for every photographer hit' bit too. You could see that was getting silly from the Tribunes.
Red Firecracker said:
One suspects there are a fair few differences between the two, but yes, I get your point.
The button may have been half an inch to the left, you mean? I pretty much guarantee that it's generally in the same vicinity. "Gentleman Racers" are absolutely a part of sportscar racing culture - but Patrick Dempsey has a very high opinion of himself and his racing capabilities that the nonsense referenced above challenges.
He should maybe stick to playing doctors and nurses.
No, I mean they are in significantly different places, and the object of the piece was to demonstrate the efforts that the drivers go to to prepare for every single eventuality, including going back over stuff that may seem obvious and everyday. The ALMS Cup car and the GTE-AM car are different beasts. Preparation is the key, especially as Dempsey had already mentioned that he tended to become overloaded, as evidenced by the consecutive pitlane speeding pings he received earlier in the season.
Allan McNish has a good line on 'luck', which I think is relevant here, which goes something like '(bad) luck is the excuse for people who fail to adequately prepare'. What was in the episode was (dramatised maybe) preparation.
I don't have a beef with Dempsey, from what I saw of him on track at Le Mans he acquitted himself very well. His times and lines were nothing to be ashamed of and from all reports he gained the respect of his fellow competitors, who are only too quick to voice concern of under-prepared and under-talented drivers (see some of the Gulf Middle East drivers earlier in the season).
Allan McNish has a good line on 'luck', which I think is relevant here, which goes something like '(bad) luck is the excuse for people who fail to adequately prepare'. What was in the episode was (dramatised maybe) preparation.
I don't have a beef with Dempsey, from what I saw of him on track at Le Mans he acquitted himself very well. His times and lines were nothing to be ashamed of and from all reports he gained the respect of his fellow competitors, who are only too quick to voice concern of under-prepared and under-talented drivers (see some of the Gulf Middle East drivers earlier in the season).
The flash headlights button could easily be one of several buttons. most gt cas will have a power control system where you program any button to do anything..
want a button to flash the left head light 3 times then the right twice and repeat 3 time no problem. you might use that to help identify the car when it comes down the pit lane.
want another button that flashes the main beams 3 times to let a slower car know your coming up behind again no problem..
obviously another latching button to turn the lights on and off...
and thats just the lights... loads of other buttons for other things.. I've jumped into two supposedly identical gt cars from the same team and the dash layouts were totally different. when Im not driving and working the pit wall the first thing i do is take a photo of the dash and switch panels and print them out and label everything, so if at 2am in the dark and the cars stopped I can guide the driver to which button needs pressing or which trip needs to be reset and how to find it in the dark.
There was a lot of hollywood about dempsey at LM which was a bit annoying, but I think he did ok as a GTam driver...
want a button to flash the left head light 3 times then the right twice and repeat 3 time no problem. you might use that to help identify the car when it comes down the pit lane.
want another button that flashes the main beams 3 times to let a slower car know your coming up behind again no problem..
obviously another latching button to turn the lights on and off...
and thats just the lights... loads of other buttons for other things.. I've jumped into two supposedly identical gt cars from the same team and the dash layouts were totally different. when Im not driving and working the pit wall the first thing i do is take a photo of the dash and switch panels and print them out and label everything, so if at 2am in the dark and the cars stopped I can guide the driver to which button needs pressing or which trip needs to be reset and how to find it in the dark.
There was a lot of hollywood about dempsey at LM which was a bit annoying, but I think he did ok as a GTam driver...
This was shown a couple of months ago in the Middle East and I think it's well worth watching.
I had no idea who Patrick Dempsey was and I thought the comparisons to Newman, Garner and McQueen were a bit silly but other than that it's a good program. It shows a lot of the downsides to trying to run a race team and I remember a lot more of the show being negative than positive. Dempsey himself is clearly enthusiastic about the driving (while not the best driver he's hardly the worst) and it's good to see how much he dislikes the sponsorship stuff he has to do to help fund the team. They also don't skip the driving errors he makes.
Sure it focuses on an actor and it compares him to people he probably ought not be compared too but at least it got made and it's a chance, for those of us who are not in one, to see behind the scenes at a race team.
I expect it will be much better than whatever will be on the other channels at the same time.
I had no idea who Patrick Dempsey was and I thought the comparisons to Newman, Garner and McQueen were a bit silly but other than that it's a good program. It shows a lot of the downsides to trying to run a race team and I remember a lot more of the show being negative than positive. Dempsey himself is clearly enthusiastic about the driving (while not the best driver he's hardly the worst) and it's good to see how much he dislikes the sponsorship stuff he has to do to help fund the team. They also don't skip the driving errors he makes.
Sure it focuses on an actor and it compares him to people he probably ought not be compared too but at least it got made and it's a chance, for those of us who are not in one, to see behind the scenes at a race team.
I expect it will be much better than whatever will be on the other channels at the same time.
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