Fast cars, emotion, tension and hours of motion: Except mood music, that's the makings of a feature film-to be fair, one that had been made, and also one that might be just as successful if filmed again with the exact same cast.
That cast is Level 5 Motorsports, the team featured in "Daytona Dream," the 2011 Drive Videos feature film that chronicled the emotional, action-packed journey of the Scott Tucker-owned team to the Grand-Am series Rolex 24 at Daytona, an institution in American culture beyond racing circles.
However, this point, the film could be about the same team's 2011 season, one that has effectively exploded the success and publicity surrounding Level 5 Motorsports. The fact is that, "Daytona Dream" was shown as a webcast on the team's website, Level5Motorsports.com, on Aug. 12 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of its debut.
Following its theatrical debut in summer 2010 together with a successful run at film festivals, Discovery Communications purchased the rights to the project for domestic and international television broadcasts, a major leap for not just the film and the team as well as the endurance racing industry in the scope of the Discovery Channel's viewership. The crazy thing is that the stats continually posted by endurance racing teams don't merit their own personal mainstream cable channel or feature films all the time-emotion, drama, tension and action have been at record highs for Level 5 Motorsports this season, and mood music has nothing to do with it.
a major began with the film-topic Grand-Am Daytona series. Level 5 entered the Rolex 24 at Daytona with a win-only mindset; but that optimism and determination was crushed when the Microsoft Office-sponsored No. 95 entry got caught in a stackup in the notoriously narrow lanes. The team drove impressively through out the race, but it ultimately finished Eighth.
The anticipation surrounding Tucker's seemingly impossible schedule would be a crowd pleaser; the 2006 rookie entered in not one or two but three series for the 2011 season. The next race of the year was the very first of the ALMS and the team's first in the LMP2 class, following the LMP championship Level 5 won last year. With a new LMP2 car, the team found themselves at the top of the podium, a huge win at their class debut in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
As with every excellent story, the momentum built for Level 5 Motorsports as it went on to take second at the Long Beach, Calif. street circuit, and Tucker made podium at Infineon Raceway and Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway in the Ferrari Challenge series. But, trouble befell the team. When Tucker caught wind of the new Honda Performance Development/Wirth Research cost-capped prototype, he reserved the first two models. With the car still in development for much of the summer, Tucker along with his team withdrew from a major ILMC competition, the Silverstone in England, because the car wasn't ready. The risky decision cost the team an opportunity for points and a big showing at an ILMC event, and the team was sidelined through ALMS races at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut and MoSport in Ontario, Canada. Additionally for those races, the team had hardly any LMP2 competition, so they focused on the ILMC and ALMS championships ahead, specifically on making sure that the new HPD ARX-01g was ready to drive. The suspense built; would the car be worth the wait? Will it be enough to secure an LMP2 championship?
The Lola-Honda chassis made its race debut at the team's return to the ALMS series with the ModSpace American Le Mans Series at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. The team finished fourth overall and first in points for the LMP2 class, which secured drivers' championships for Tucker and co-driver Christophe Bouchut.
Endurance racing is naturally excellent material nearly any feature film. But add to the typical suspense, emotion and action Scott Tucker's improbable schedule-and improbable career, for that matter-and you've got a story for the ages. The "Daytona Dream" season was impressive in and of itself, but the way Level 5 Motorsports has spent 2011 so far, and the excitement sure to follow with Petit Le Mans and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in China still to come, prove how exciting endurance racing truly can get.
That cast is Level 5 Motorsports, the team featured in "Daytona Dream," the 2011 Drive Videos feature film that chronicled the emotional, action-packed journey of the Scott Tucker-owned team to the Grand-Am series Rolex 24 at Daytona, an institution in American culture beyond racing circles.
However, this point, the film could be about the same team's 2011 season, one that has effectively exploded the success and publicity surrounding Level 5 Motorsports. The fact is that, "Daytona Dream" was shown as a webcast on the team's website, Level5Motorsports.com, on Aug. 12 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of its debut.
Following its theatrical debut in summer 2010 together with a successful run at film festivals, Discovery Communications purchased the rights to the project for domestic and international television broadcasts, a major leap for not just the film and the team as well as the endurance racing industry in the scope of the Discovery Channel's viewership. The crazy thing is that the stats continually posted by endurance racing teams don't merit their own personal mainstream cable channel or feature films all the time-emotion, drama, tension and action have been at record highs for Level 5 Motorsports this season, and mood music has nothing to do with it.
a major began with the film-topic Grand-Am Daytona series. Level 5 entered the Rolex 24 at Daytona with a win-only mindset; but that optimism and determination was crushed when the Microsoft Office-sponsored No. 95 entry got caught in a stackup in the notoriously narrow lanes. The team drove impressively through out the race, but it ultimately finished Eighth.
The anticipation surrounding Tucker's seemingly impossible schedule would be a crowd pleaser; the 2006 rookie entered in not one or two but three series for the 2011 season. The next race of the year was the very first of the ALMS and the team's first in the LMP2 class, following the LMP championship Level 5 won last year. With a new LMP2 car, the team found themselves at the top of the podium, a huge win at their class debut in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
As with every excellent story, the momentum built for Level 5 Motorsports as it went on to take second at the Long Beach, Calif. street circuit, and Tucker made podium at Infineon Raceway and Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway in the Ferrari Challenge series. But, trouble befell the team. When Tucker caught wind of the new Honda Performance Development/Wirth Research cost-capped prototype, he reserved the first two models. With the car still in development for much of the summer, Tucker along with his team withdrew from a major ILMC competition, the Silverstone in England, because the car wasn't ready. The risky decision cost the team an opportunity for points and a big showing at an ILMC event, and the team was sidelined through ALMS races at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut and MoSport in Ontario, Canada. Additionally for those races, the team had hardly any LMP2 competition, so they focused on the ILMC and ALMS championships ahead, specifically on making sure that the new HPD ARX-01g was ready to drive. The suspense built; would the car be worth the wait? Will it be enough to secure an LMP2 championship?
The Lola-Honda chassis made its race debut at the team's return to the ALMS series with the ModSpace American Le Mans Series at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. The team finished fourth overall and first in points for the LMP2 class, which secured drivers' championships for Tucker and co-driver Christophe Bouchut.
Endurance racing is naturally excellent material nearly any feature film. But add to the typical suspense, emotion and action Scott Tucker's improbable schedule-and improbable career, for that matter-and you've got a story for the ages. The "Daytona Dream" season was impressive in and of itself, but the way Level 5 Motorsports has spent 2011 so far, and the excitement sure to follow with Petit Le Mans and Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in China still to come, prove how exciting endurance racing truly can get.
Post a Comment