“Ford vs Ferrari” – looked, now we read

What would you most like to read about racing during the long weekend in May? There are many good books on motorsport, and I would recommend one to anyone, but we’ll get to that later.

But with world cinema, the picture is different: although in its history it has produced a completely inordinate amount of different kinds of products of different genres, the fingers of one hand are enough to list notable films about car racing.

Let’s make a reservation, we are talking about feature films, not documentaries, because many have already been made and more and more are added lately.

As for feature films that every racing fan should see, the list is short: Grand Prix (1966), Le Mans (1971), Days of Thunder (1990), Race (2013) – although the Russian version of the original name Rush is is doing. not seem very successful, and “Ford vs Ferrari” (2019).

Each is interesting in its own way, although some claim can be made for everyone, but the first and the last two made quite a favorable impression on the public and, most importantly, the global motorsports community.

The most profitable of these was “Ford v Ferrari,” which raised more than $225.5 million on a planetary scale, and I don’t think it’s coincidental. It’s a really good story, it’s told, it’s all great, and the main characters, Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles, played by Matt Damon and Christian Bale, are hard not to love.

We assume that everyone has seen this film and knows what it is about. The history of the confrontation between two car manufacturers, the American company Ford and the Italian Ferrari, when, in the 60s, still an independent company owned and virtually single-handedly controlled by Enzo Ferrari, is of course worth more than to be screened by Hollywood’s best forces.

In fact, it is strange that such a photo appeared only in the fall of 2019, although the excellent book on which it was created was written ten years earlier by the American journalist Albert Baym.

Actually, we are talking about this book, because the Moscow publishing house “Alpina Publisher” has just released it in Russian. The domestic version is called the same as the movie i.e. Ford vs Ferrari. There is also a subtitle: “The most violent confrontation in motorsport.”

Just in case two more words are added: “The real story.”

It seems that the book falls into the non-fiction category, and there is no need to explain that it is based on true events, but in fact this is an important note. When you start reading, the story immediately grabs you and you involuntarily get the feeling that if such a story hadn’t happened, it would be worth figuring it out.

Artistic cinema with its conventions and laws are still fairy tales, even though they are told by talented storytellers and look quite convincing. But a good author – ah Hey. jay. Baym is just one of them – he starts out completely authentic and at the same time emotional, which is facilitated by knowledge of the subject and the memories of the direct participants in those events, and many facts given in a very convincing interpretation. Most importantly, of course, Baym managed to convey the true intensity of passions – not just racing, but let’s say political and economic, which inevitably accompany the Great Races.

It makes sense that the film largely repeats the structure of the book, but in the cinema, despite two and a half hours of screen time, everything is somehow too compressed. Obviously the genre demands it, but the logic inevitably suffers, as many quite important points simply turned out not to be in brackets. The book follows this amazing story in every detail.

The reader gets a behind-the-scenes look at events that have taken place since the fall of 1960 at Ford’s Detroit headquarters, at the Ferrari factory in Maranello, on American and European circuits, in race team pits and sometimes even in the houses of the protagonists. In addition, some of these heroes are described in such detail and convincingly that you can even try to put yourself in the shoes of Henry Ford II or Enzo Ferrari, understand the logic of their decisions, even if you cannot accept them purely humanly, because they seem unethical to say the least.

In general, the story of how the Ford GT40 race cars came to be, which conquered Le Mans in 1966 in a grueling and dramatic clash with Ferrari, is told in such a way that at times it may seem to you that the roar of mighty engines, the screeching of rubber, you feel characteristic aromas of gasoline and hot oil. And of course, along with the heroes, you have to go through the bitterness of failures and the joy of victories.

The author introduces us not only to the already mentioned Henry Ford II and the great Commendatore, not only to the famous American racing car designer, but also to the former cool racer Shelby and the much lesser known Miles. Among the heroes of the book are many historical characters of varying degrees of legend, but they have all left their mark on the history of the global auto industry, or in racing, or both.

Of course it is very interesting to read about motorsport stars, and the author has put a lot of emphasis on stars like Phill Hill, John Surtees, Bruce McLaren, Gregory Masten, Dan Gurney – and this is not the whole gallery. But most of the information is about how, at the cost of enormous effort and expense, the car itself was created, the Ford GT40, which went down in motorsport history mainly because it was able to beat the previously invincible Ferrari.

In general, it is very interesting to read all this. Also because “Ford v Ferrari” provides answers to questions that remain after seeing the film of the same name.

Since we are talking about the Russian edition, it can be noted that the translation is generally not bad and the publishing house has done the right thing by letting people who understand the subject work on the text. But some points nevertheless escaped the attention of the editors, although these are mostly minor things, such as the clearly superfluous construction of “advanced innovations” (pleonasm).

Or when it comes to some dramatic racing episodes, instead of the usual word “accident” “crash” is used (an example from the category “false friends of the translator”): “Two Ford prototypes crashed.” Agree, this still comes from other spheres and environments – sea or sky.

However, we will not find a fault, because it practically does not affect the perception of the text. Although sometimes you really want to go to the original to see what Hey is saying there. jay. beim?

And I must also say that it is pleasant to hold the book, it looks good, it has been published with high quality and now it will take its place in the F1News.ru library. Besides, I want to see the movie…