Pre Production - The Motive Behind The Project

With any documentary, it’s important to understand why this is being made now as well as voicing my reasoning as to why the topic is so important to me. This knowledge allows the documentary to have more meaning and allow us as storytellers to dig deeper and create a documentary with multiple layers of emotion and story.

Why Now?

British Motorsport is in it’s prime with Lewis Hamilton set to win a 5th F1 World Championship and younger British drivers are winning many of the lower categories. The interest in motorsport in the UK is very high, with 2.33 Million People watching this year Spanish Grand Prix (F1 Broadcasting)
As there is such a large audience for motorsport currently, I feel that this documentary will help the general public understand what being a motor racing driver really is, even if our documentary is focusing on a motorsport on a smaller scale to F1.

This documentary aims to show the issues they may have faced on their journey in motorsport and what kept them motivated. This will enable the general viewer to understand the sacrifices and dreams of racing drivers and what makes them risk their lives for their job. Our aim is to produce a documentary that is for the masses, focusing on "what it is like to achieve your dreams", we do not want to produce a How-To Guide for motorsport as that is not for a wide audience and does not interest me.

It is a perfect time to illustrate this topic as many young motorsport fans in Britain will be intrigued by the success of our top athletes, this documentary will give perspective on what the journey is really like, if on a smaller scale. The idea of following your dreams is a subject that is always relevant as everyone always strives to improve and try new things in life. This documentary will be the catalyst of viewers questioning their dreams and what they need to do to achieve them.

F1 Broadcasting Reference: https://f1broadcasting.co/2018/05/14/channel-4s-f1-highlights-coverage-draws-record-audience/

The Motive Behind This Project

I am fascinated by people who risk everything to achieve their dreams. When you get to understand about someone who loves something so much, they dedicate their life to it, it makes for a very special story. However, most people are not blessed with the money or resources to focus solely on their dream, as they may have a job or a family. I want to achieve one of my dreams and I saw the creation of this documentary as a good time to give it a go.

Ever since I can remember I have been a fan of motorsport. When I was 5 or 6 years old my father would watch motorsport on the TV and I would watch it with him. I started watching more and more and in 2004 my Father decided we should go to our local racing track, Brands Hatch, to watch a race. I still remember to this day, driving into the circuit and being deafened by the noise of Formula 3 cars. It somewhat shocked me as a young kid at how loud these cars were, but also made me love the sport. I distinctly remember some of the cars I watched that day, the Formula 3 cars which are not that much slower than F1 Cars. I also saw Porsche's, TVR's, Moslers, basically some of the fastest cars in the world. From that moment onwards I knew this was one of my passions.

In 2008, after Lewis Hamilton won his first F1 championship, I went with my sister and parents to our local go-kart track for the first time. From that moment onwards I was hooked. I have set up on own championship with friends and family so we can make our karting sessions a little more competitive. 2008 was the first time I had ever been on a go-kart track, most professional racing drivers started racing seriously at the age of 4 or 5. I knew I could never have a career in motorsport because I had no money and I started late. However, this never stopped me from wanting to give it a go. This will be explored heavily in my documentary, drawing on the emotional side of not being able to follow my dream as a child.

I tried for a number of years to try and talk to companies about sponsoring me to race go-karts but it never happened. For a few years after that, I did start to think that I would never have the chance to live my dream. I continued to race in the championship I set up between friends and family but the dream was always to race at a slightly higher level. I started a YouTube channel in 2011 which revolved around motorsport which enabled me to have many great opportunities around motorsport. It was a different route to what I had wanted but this got me closer to the sport than I had ever dreamt.

I was lucky enough to get even closer to the sport I loved throughout 2017. I got to visit some large motor races as press which enabled me to speak to professional drivers and get much closer to the action and drama. I absolutely loved it. The passion for motorsport had taken a hit after I realised I would not be able to live the life of a racing driver that any child dreams of. But when you grow up you realise some things are just meant to be. After going as media to multiple events, it got me thinking, could I drive in a motor race, if I put the money aside? These thoughts led to the creation of this documentary.

Money, A License and Skill are things you need to even start racing on a low level, but as soon as I realised it could be a possibility, I wanted to make it happen. I was struggling to come up with an idea for the 3rd-year major project, but then I thought, could I not just film this? Of course all of the technical details of how/where/when needed to be sorted out before I could film it, but it looked like it would work.

You can now see why I have a passion for motorsport. You can see why it is a dream of mine to drive in a motor race. Now the story is coming together and how I want the documentary to look is being finalised, this is actually happening. It actually gives me goosebumps writing this. Recalling how this all started does seem a little crazy, but the journey I have been on has enabled this to be a possibility, and I want to make the most of it. The team and co-driver are sorted, the budget is nearly complete and we have a good idea of where we may be filming. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I know I have a great team around me which will allow me to focus on the race when it happens. Now, just the nervous countdown.