The Gentleman Driver

(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.

If you're into sports car racing or anything automotive this is a really interesting watch. It follows four entrepreneurs who essentially pay to race in some of the worlds most challenging races right alongside some of the worlds best drivers. They cover how the entrepreneurs came to be, mistakes made along the way and how they got into racing. The footage & production is excellent, as well. A really fascinating documentary!

This film is about so much more than the sport of racing. It's an inside view into the minds of four powerful men and the things that drive them to win races are the same drivers that put them into a stratosphere of success most will never know. Great documentary to be enjoyed by race and non-race fans alike.

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.

Thought this would be more about how challenging it is to drive a race car as amateurs.

Instead there was about 45+ minutes footage of some extremely wealthy men getting to plug their businesses and how driven and determined they are, and how everything is about winning and making money etc etc. Pretty loathsome stuff.

It's really dull listening to people you can't relate to, bragging about how amazing they are.

I hoped it would reveal how they have to train physically and practice in sims etc. This documentary didn't suggest it was very hard at all, except you need to have money and turn up to the races on time.

Not a good image for motorsport unfortunately.

The phrase "gentleman drivers" is very outdated as well. If a young girl was watching this documentary it's hardly promoting a sport that is accessible to them.

I know it's not these guys' fault that they're called gentleman drivers, but still, it's the 21st century and I think this sort of documentary will just alienate more people from motor racing than it will do to promote it.