“The Universal documentary feature ‘Ferrari: Race To Immortality‘ revolves around five Formula 1 drivers of the late 1950s (Eugenio Castellotti, the Marquis Alfonso de Portago, Luigi Musso, Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn) who all, extraordinarily, died tragically within just twenty-two months of each other,” archive researcher Richard Wiseman says. “Four of the five died at the steering-wheel of a Ferrari, whilst the fifth was killed on the public road, having just won a World Championship for the Scuderia. Individually and collectively, their life-stories are overwhelmingly unknown to 21st century audiences, and one of the reasons for this is that very little footage of them on film was thought to exist.”
A new member on Archive Valley’s early beta platform, Wiseman was quick to push the boundaries of his search, using Archive Valley’s footage request engine to connect with new archive footage sources.
“Archive Valley was enormously helpful in terms of being able to open up various sources for me in territories where I had no prior personal connection, and also couldn’t speak the language favoured by the library involved,” he said. “From Portugal to Morocco, Archive Valley[…] helped me to uncover footage that I never previously knew existed.”
“In particular, footage of the crucial 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix was thought not to exist, but Archive Valley’s connection with Portugal’s national film library in Lisbon helped to uncover both black-and-white news-reel footage never seen outside that territory, and also colour home-cine under their care, originally shot by a paying spectator, and then donated to the nation as a legacy.”
‘Ferrari: Race To Immortality’ will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on November 6th, and across Europe shortly afterwards.