The Gentleman Driver

While this documentary was not a thrill a minute it brought to light everything involved with being an amateur LMP driver, with interviews from several top "gentleman drivers" from the reasons they decided to become one, to the forces that drive them.. pun intended, lol just a deep dive into the minds of Gentleman Drivers

This movie is great for the casual motorsport fan as well as someone completely new to motorsports. For me, the most exciting part was listening and learning about the thought process behind some of the most successful business people and how their way of thinking translated to a very unique sport. Whether it's Ed Brown, Paul Dalla Lana, Mike Guasch, or Ricardo Gonzalez, each is massively successful and has a unique thought process that we can learn from to improve in business and our own working lives. The racing side makes it massively exciting and shows a very clear view of the exciting dynamics behind a sport that is oftentimes hard to touch & feel because of the many details involved and complicated technology.

In my opinion, documentaries should be about showcasing extraordinary things. Highlighting stories that not many people know about or a deep dive into an incredible event. There's nothing extraordinary about 4 rich guys buying their way into racing. I'd be more interesting in a origin story of any of the professional drivers featured than how the main group spent millions to pretend to be professional. It's a 5 from me on cinematography only.

Motor racing is not my thing but this film had me engrossed from start to finish. I loved the psychology inserts and the personal stories of the drivers were so genuine and interesting. It was a very slick production with great camera work and commentary that made it immersive in the racing and the business lives of the drivers.

(Flash Review)

For those who like auto racing, specifically European auto racing, that is where gentleman drivers are found. What is a gentleman driver? They are very good and very wealthy amateur race car drivers who race endurance races alongside the highly skilled professionals. They bring the lion's share of the funding for their teams in order to compete. There is some decent insight into that lifestyle and how they hone their skills to not embarrass the team during races as well as some good racing footage. Each gentleman driver interviewed talks about their background and how they can afford to race. Yet there is a bit too much of product or company plugging. But they are businessmen so I bet they angled for that. Cinematically, it is ok and informative yet not super creative.