Petrol heads will get a rush from watching Fastest, writer-director Mark Neale’s profile of multiple world motorcycle racing champion Valentino Rossi and his fierce rivalry with Jorge Lorenzo.
But they’ll need to be quick: the documentary will screen in Australian cinemas for just four days, starting November 10.
As for those of us who aren’t MotoGP fans, the doco may satisfy your curiosity if you’re wondering why so many young men (older guys burn out or retire) risk life and limb by hurtling around a track at speeds of up to 321 km (200 miles) per hour.
The short answer: They’re driven by a manic desire to win at all costs, and the very best earn tens of millions of dollars.
The danger is palpable: the film contains footage of numerous spills, some of which are sickening to this lay viewer, and it refers to two fatalities, one in 2003 and the other in 2010. The death of 24-year-old Italian rider Marco Simoncelli, whom Neale interviewed, at the Malaysian MotoGP in October is a reminder of the extreme risks of the sport.
Still, narrator Ewan McGregor asserts serious accidents are rare thanks to improvements in track safety and competitors’ protective equipment over the past 20 years.
It’s Neale’s third film delving into the world of MotoGP following 2003’s Faster and 2006’s The Doctor, the Tornado and the Kentucky Kid, neither of which I’ve seen.
In the introduction, McGregor helpfully explains for the benefit of the non-cognoscenti that the typical MotoGP race (the premier class of Grand Prix motorcycle racing) sees the competitors complete 25 laps, a distance of 112 km, in about 45 minutes.
The first event covered is the Catalunya, Spain GP in 2009 when the Italian-born Rossi, then aged 30 and nicknamed The Doctor, was being challenged by his Yamaha teammate, 21-year-old Spaniard Lorenzo. McGregor refers to them as 'bitter" rivals but Lorenzo talks respectfully about Rossi who in turn is gracious about the younger man.
Confusingly, the doco isn’t chronological as Neale goes back and forth from events spanning multiple continents from 2003 to 2010.
Neale interviews Valentino’s father Graziano, a former GP racer, and his mother, but almost nothing is revealed about the champ’s personal life or his passions and interests outside the sport.
The filmmaker visits Rossi’s home town of Tavullia where he is idolised. A middle-aged woman perhaps sums up the sport’s appeal for many fans when she says, 'When he races, we all dream. When he races, everything changes."
The segment on Australian Casey Stoner, the 2008 world champ, is especially illuminating. Stoner clearly harbours a grudge against Rossi after an incident in a race in California, declaring there are moments when 'he seems to leave his brain somewhere else and he’ll just plant into the side of someone. I don’t think that’s correct; it’s not a contact sport."
Rossi denies touching Stoner’s machine.
The doco shows how illness forced Stoner to withdraw from competition in 2009 and he was later diagnosed with lactose intolerance which caused fatigue. 'I’m 100 percent now," he says.
Petrol heads will savour the extensive race footage, the most dramatic filmed from cameras attached to the bikes, and behind-the-scenes interviews. Others may be bored by the sight of blokes whizzing around a track from any angle.
