Search - LeMans 2007 Official Film on DVD

Ironic

Wendy Monge | 12/08/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I have ordered every Le mans 24hrs dvd since 2002. I have all of them since the year 2002 as well as 1998 and the 1999 race. I must admit that the 2007 le mans dvd was shorter in length than the previous 5 dvd races. It is ironic because the 2007 le mans 24 hrs was reduced by an hour or two due to rain, the dvd goes through the race quickly and does not give detail information as the previous dvd's. Over all the race is exciting but the dvd should have been better!"

Great

Enrique | Miraflores Peru | 11/21/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Very nice done, very good resolution and very complete information. A must for car racing fans."

Not enough on-track action!

LANCE R LINDLEY | Yokosuka, Japan | 04/16/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The 2007 edition is a step backwards for the series, which had been getting better. This year includes more interviews, unfortunately at the expense of actual race footage. The cameras spend all their time in the pits -- whether it's during the preliminary test days or the actual race -- and what little on-track action they show is mostly shot from one single turn, with no context whatsoever, and is usually not more than a few seconds long before it's back to the pit crews. I can't emphasize this point enough: there is very little video footage of actual cars on the track, and what little there is, is so disjointed and random (other than shots of wrecks and spin-outs), that it offers absolutely nothing in terms of understanding what's happening in the race. Of course, what happens in the pits is germane to the race itself, but pit stops at LeMans are not the 12-16 second affairs you see in NASCAR; they are much more leisurely and visually uninteresting. Meanwhile, there is very interesting stuff going on out on the track, if you're a Le Mans fan, such as the debut of a new, closed Peugot diesel car, and the first-ever GT1 win by Aston-Martin over Corvette. The end of a 24-hour endurance race tends to be anti-climactic: barring any rare, last-minute drama, the winner usually has a dominating enough lead to actually slow down and cross the finish line standing up in the car, arms raised, steering with his knees. The producers of this DVD do nothing to try to increase any excitement about the finish, just as they rarely talked about who was in what place throughout the race. The finish line seems like a footnote to the two hours of pit stops you've just sat through. In fact, I had to point out to my son that the checkered flag was out, because right as the cars were approaching the finish, the view cut from the pits (of course) to the finish line, and the British narrator just casually said something like, "and the flags are out and the race is over," with no excitement in his voice (it almost seemed more like an "oh, thank God it's over" attitude). I prefer road races to oval tracks, but the European producers of the Le Mans series could learn a lot by watching NASCAR and INDY 500 coverage to see how to shoot a race in a way that captures the excitement and the things fans really want to see: THE CARS RACING! Can you imagine either of those series showing nothing but the pit crews and some interviews and virtually never even telling you who is in what place on the track, much less showing it? Why not include some aerial shots of the track every now and then, so viewers can appreciate the positions of the cars relative to one another and to the track as a whole, and thereby get a sense of speed and gain some frame of reference every now and then? I'll tell you why not: no budget, and the camera men are all in the pit areas, where it's dry and there is probably coffee."