Ferrari: Race to Immortality [DVD] [2017]

A very good introduction to the Ferrari phenomenon. Very enjoyable for the petrol head novice plus a few facts and stories that the more informed probably did not know too.

A good dvd covering the 50s motor racing and the British / Italian drivers for Ferrari. Some great colour footage from the 50s - with a little modern film of there historic cars. What shows is the high quality gloss paint work.The other side is the truly horrific face of death for driver and spectator - it is hard to imagine still continuing a race after a crash killing or injuring 180 spectators. Unbelievable.

I should start by immediately confessing a vested interest – this excellent film, comprised mainly of period footage, much in colour, seemed like a visual accessory to my book, ‘Too Fast A Life’, which sought to accurately depict the last few years of Mike Hawthorn’s extraordinarily conflicted life and to highlight the ludicrous perilousness of Grand Prix driving in the 1950s. The biggest difference is that the glamorous Pete Collins, Mike’s best friend, gets equal top billing, with their continental Ferrari teammates also featured, generally around the time of their deaths (in the manner of ‘Ten Green Bottles’). Passing mention is, of course, rightly made of the opposition - Stirling Moss, Juan Fangio, Tony Brooks, Lewis-Evans and other top drivers of the day.What astounded me most (given that I probably knew more about the subject than the filmmakers) was the amount of original film footage and archive testimonies they have accumulated (and which I’d never before seen or heard). Some of it heart-stopping in its brutal candour – horrific crashes, the like of which we’ve not seen for over forty years, thank goodness. This is not a movie for the squeamish.These old clips, together with voiceovers by living and lost experts, fellow drivers and surviving wives and girlfriends (‘mostly girlfriends!), make for a rapid but engaging overview of what it was like to drive for the emotionally-suspect Enzo Ferrari - the puppeteer who pulled the strings of the Ferrari team (‘scuderia’) drivers. We get snippets and soundbites of the man, but if you really want to know about Enzo, then I’d direct you to Richard William’s brilliant biography – ‘A Life’.I do agree with an earlier reviewer that the title does seem to have been chosen for its marketing potential rather than its appropriateness – ‘Mon Ami Mate’ or something conveying danger would have been better. However, the bottom line is that I’m delighted this film has been made (even though it doesn’t explore any one character in any depth) – and is a worthy tribute to the sacrifice a lot of talented young drivers made for their ‘sport’.

Very enjoyable film telling it like it was. Tends to dwell on the crashes. The title is a little misleading as the film concentrates on certain drivers with the emphasis on Hawthorn and Collins. Exellent archive film some of which is blended with modern material. Sometimes I wished for a little more from the commentary such as a mention that Moss effectively did himself out of the 1958 title by giving evidence in favour of Hawthorn when the latter could have been disqualified for pushing his car against the traffic in the last race. Recommended.

Although I already know a lot about the history of Ferrari having read a good number of books published over the years on the subject, I found that there was quite a lot of film material that I had never seen before. Although some was pretty graphic and shocking - that was the way it was in that era, the drivers lived and died racing. This was a real eye opener and we must applaud the efforts of people such as Jackie Stewart and Professor Sid Watkins for making Grand Prix racing as safe as it is today. Of course it can never be entirely accident free, that is the nature of the beast, but really serious and fatal accidents are certainly no longer the norm.

As a lifelong Ferrari supporter I was keen to see this DVD. It concentrated on the 50s and the friendship & rivalry between Mike Hawthorn & Peter Collins, also the deaths of several other Ferrari drivers in that decade. This just missed the accident in 1961 at Monza which unfortunately killed the charismatic Count Wolfgang von Trips who was on the point of becoming the first German World Champion.The one & a half hour programme gave a very good flavour of top class motor racing in that era. The team politics which put driver against driver, the lack of circuit safety, driver support and the character and skill of these gentleman drivers which has been so tragically lost. One was left with an overwhelming feeling of sadness that so many great drivers died so young and so unnecessarily. It makes Grand Prix racing today, where top drivers earn millions but are highly dependant on team support and a technical back up of hundreds a poor comparison.

A superb film outlining the tragedy and triumph of the Ferrari racing drivers of the 1950s. Amazing film history of a truly remarkable decade of motorsport. You don't have to be a Ferrari fan, or older generation of viewer to appreciate this film, it is just a stunning evocation based upon contemporary film, now brought up to date (not grainy) of an amazing era of Formula One.

It is very emotional as it goes through all the tragedies