Review: Dakar Rally 2010 DVD
The Dakar Rally’s second trip to South America was once again a resounding success. Yet there are still purists out there who argue that while the brand is the same, the actual product is not. They’ll harp on that unless it finishes in a city that bares its name, that it won’t be a patch on previous years.
All twaddle, of course. The challenge is still as intense and importantly, the racing remains a thrill to watch, no matter how, no matter where. But those damn naysayers will continue to moan. In which case, I suggest they be forced to watch this year’s highlights package from Duke Video. That should do the trick.
Dakar 2010 has managed to cram this year’s event into a 53-minute DVD, featuring all the action from the cars, bikes and trucks. Of course, condensing a fortnight’s worth of action into less than an hour means that some moments have been left on the cutting room floor, but overall, what has been committed to disc is of significance and tells the story of this year’s adventure very well.
The footage is at times exceptional. With sequences captured on-board the vehicles and by helicopter cameras, the latter having caught one of this year’s pivotal moments during stage 11, when Carlos Sainz’s biggest threat, team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah, took a wrong turn and adopted a more rugged route to hound down the Spaniard. Watching this from a bird’s eye view is nothing short of brilliant.
It’s a shame then that it’s not in high definition as something like the Dakar Rally, which ventures through some spectacular landscapes, would complement the technology rather well. Not a fault of Duke Video’s per se, but fingers-crossed that organisers ASO will capture next year’s event in HD – though I imagine the logistics involved would be nothing short of a nightmare...
The only real issue I have with Dakar 2010 is perhaps with its format. Don’t get me wrong, an hour or so is fine for one sitting. But in that hour, the viewer is never given any background information into the event or its participants. Fine for fans of the Dakar, but for novices, it could put them off as there’s no real glide path into proceedings. It’s literally press play and on to the first stage of the event.
I do believe that the highlights package could have been just a touch longer, interspersed with the occasional interview or feature. If not only to break up the proceedings and introduce some variety, but to also educate the viewer as to the whos, whats and wheres.
There are some extra features available which offer extended coverage of stage 1, 10 and 14, but in truth, these are the same pieces of footage that were seen on Eurosport during the event itself. Nothing particularly wrong with that, it certainly offers some much needed background information (from the time), but given the highlights package is made in hindsight, they do feel a little bit out of place.
But that aside, Dakar 2010 does a thorough job of conveying one of motorsport’s greatest adventures. I expect fans will have bought their copies already, and if they haven’t: what’s stopping you, eh?
Rating:
Dakar Rally 2010 is out now, priced £16.99 and is available from leading video outlets or direct from Duke Video: visit www.dukevideo.com online.
Review: Overdrive – Formula 1 in the Zone
To an outsider, a Formula One driver’s success rests entirely on their machinery. While there is some truth in this, other factors such as physical fitness and mental strength are also necessary for any driver competing at the highest level. But what if this wasn’t enough? What if there was something else that could make the difference between winning and finishing second?
Well there is. Most drivers will stumble upon this tiny extra boost at some point in their racing careers, but the problem is that 'it' is largely unexplained.
When a driver (or any sports person for that matter) claims to have reached "the zone", they’re said to be engulfed by a sense of inner peace, were everything comes easy, bordering on invincibility. The effects range from bending time and space to out of body experiences.
Overdrive – Formula 1 in the Zone by Clyde Brolin (a non de plume?) focuses on this phenomenon and attempts to explain how a trip to "the zone" is more than just a cliché that is often spouted post-race by an overjoyed racing driver.
Beginning with Ayrton Senna’s infamous qualifying run for the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix, Overdrive takes the reader on a journey through the minds of some of the greatest sporting legends that are alive and present today.
A decade in the making, Brolin has managed to conduct a seriously impressive amount of interviews with a vast array of top flight drivers and sports folk who all recount experiences of entering the unfamiliar areas of the neurological and astrophysical. All without any reluctance through fear they may be seen as barking mad.
In practice, this means that every facet of information Brolin gives on the subject is cross-referenced by a quote from someone who has encountered the euphoria from being “in the zone.” As a result, a topic which would normally be seen as mumbo jumbo, becomes truly fascinating and easy to relate to, due in part to well-known drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso recalling their experiences and making it easy to digest.
Overdrive has clearly been a labour of love for the author and his passion for the subject shines through on every page. The full extent of this phenomenon is thoroughly examined, with no stone left unturned, but importantly, nor does it come to any conclusion on how one might be able to enter such territory at any given time.
You could complain that towards the end things become a little repetitive, but that would be missing the point a bit. As Brolin explains: “it hopefully shows this effect is available to everyone,” and you know what? He’s probably right. We as humans are capable of much more than we’re given credit for and we all have access to another level thanks to our subconscious.
Fascinating as it is thought provoking; Overdrive is no ordinary sports book. Such dedication and painstaking research in collating hundreds of descriptions on a topic that is mostly beyond words should be rewarded. So go buy it.
An essential purchase.
Rating:
For more information on Overdrive - Formula 1 in the Zone, head on over to the book's official website: www.overdrivef1.com.
Review: Rally Champions of the 80s
For the World Rally Championship, the 1980s was a decade of drama, controversy, triumph, tragedy and, most importantly, champions. In this action-packed DVD we meet every WRC champion from a turbulent time, as well as the cars they drove.
With a running time close to 60 minutes, Rally Champions of the 80s features plenty of archive footage from famous events like the RAC, Monte-Carlo and 1000 Lakes rallies, and charts the road to victory of the seven men who would reign supreme in the 1980s – showcasing their impressive skills, rivalries and fierce competition which made this possibly the greatest decade of the WRC.
Each title battle is covered in great detail, with plenty of footage from the special stages of the world showing rallying greats such as Walter Rohrl, Stig Blomqvist, Timo Salonen and Juha Kankkunen at their best. Rally Champions of the 80s does an impressive job of displaying how these legends overcame the odds to claim championship glory.
In this golden era of rallying, it wasn’t just the drivers who were the stars, and Rally Champions of the 80s shows you why. The archive footage features numerous iconic vehicles, including the Audi Quattro, Toyota Celica and the rather delicious Lancia Delta, plus Group B monsters like the Peugeot 205 T16 and Ford RS200, all popping and banging out of your TV speakers.
Whilst Rally Champions of the 80s is a feast for the eyes, the narration does leave a lot to be desired. Voiced by Richard Nichols, it is a times a relentless, monotone, bombardment of facts and statistics that make one of the most exciting periods of rallying sound rather dull.
Apart from that, and the lack of any additional features, Rally Champions of the 80s does a decent job of conveying what was a decade of massive change, monster machines, spectator madness, tragedy and some of the closest WRC battles ever seen. A must for rally fans.
Rating:
Rally Champions of the 1980s is out now, priced £12.99 and is available from leading video outlets or direct from Duke Video: visit www.dukevideo.com online.
Review: The World’s Greatest F1 Cars
Reviewing a DVD that has already been available for the best part of a decade? What’s that all about then?
Well there is some relevance in deciding to scrutinise The World’s Greatest F1 Cars, because thanks to a promotion between F1 Racing and Duke Video, it can be yours for the princely sum of £2.49. Not a massive amount, but hey, these are tough economic times and you need to watch every penny that you spend.
I can therefore confirm that, for less than the price of a pint of beer, The World’s Greatest F1 Cars is worthy of a place on your shelf.
There you go, review over.
Oh, you need more convincing?
Well your £2.49 gets you what is essentially a video encyclopaedia that covers the first 50 years of Formula One racing. The World’s Greatest F1 Cars begins with tales of the Bugatti T51 and the Delage GP and works its way through to the more sophisticated cars that featured at the turn of the millennium, such as the Ferrari F12000 and the Williams FW22.
The two hour main feature somehow manages to describe over 100 cars that have been driven into history. An impressive amount, and yes, it is very comprehensive. But it does suffer from information overload, something that's not helped by the narration which is rather flat and wouldn't sound out of place in a wartime documentary on the Yesterday TV channel.
It’s rather reminiscent of a really dull history lesson, one in which your attention begins to wander after just ten minutes. Frustratingly, you can't help but feel that with someone like Murray Walker behind the mic, things would have been very different.
It also becomes rather monotonous seeing the same footage, albeit different car, swooping round Luffield at an historic meet at Silverstone, or working its way up St. Devote in Monaco. First time is novel, but it does become rather repetitive thirty times later.
Unfortunately, if it’s not a case of seeing a car navigating around the same piece of tarmac, it’s looking at a one parked up instead, leaving a lot to be desired. It would have been nice to see more footage of each car in action during the eras in which they dominated.
All of which makes The World’s Greatest F1 Cars sound like a load of old bobbins, and it would be, were it not for the fact you don’t have to actually sit through the entire main feature.
Thankfully some bright spark has made it possible to go straight to the footage of each of the grand prix cars that are highlighted. Not a revolutionary option in this history of DVD navigation, but it is something that stops this from becoming a glorified coaster in the process. Never before have I been so grateful for the wonders of chapters on a DVD.
As a trip down memory lane, The World’s Greatest F1 Cars does an amicable job. It follows the evolution of the F1 car very well, and providing you consume it in small doses, gives a good history lesson on the machinery that has made F1 what it is.
Rating:
The World's Greatest F1 Cars is available to buy from Duke Video for £2.49
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