Apart from Ribbs being a highly engaging and charismatic racer, the story of this film is about one black man’s fight against the racism ingrained in a whole sporting culture.
Despite death-threats, less-than-welcoming colleagues and his cars even being sabotaged by his own team, Ribbs managed to forge a successful career in the US.
The film is propelled along by contemporary interviews with Ribbs, the San Jose-native leaning in to whisper at key moments and add dramatic effect to what is an already great story.
Other contributions from key figures – such as Bernie Ecclestone, who handed Ribbs a Brabham test opportunity, illustrate what a unique journey the American’s was.
With a compelling narrative and plenty of archive footage, the film strikes a more upbeat tone than many of the more wistful documentaries on similar subjects.
Ribbs was a true trailblazer, making Uppity certainly worth the watch.
The Gentleman Driver
What started out as one of motorsport’s defining features has now shrunk to a sporting niche: the gentleman driver.
A handful of professional categories still rely on amateur drivers to make their operation go round and the World Endurance Championship is one of these.
The series follows four entrepreneurs as they follow their latent dream of achieving a (reasonably) high level of motorsport success, by virtue of providing serious funding to the teams they race for.
As team-mates to professional drivers, the rich business tycoons race haphazardly bomb round at 200mph, possibly whilst considering spreadsheets and budget forecasts.
While no doubt an interesting subject, whether it’s one that is fascinating enough for an 1hr 20min documentary is up for debate.
The 24-Hour War
Motor sport fans were recently treated to a dramatic portrayal of Ford taking on Ferrari at Le Sarthe with Le Mans 66.
Three years prior to the Hollywood blockbuster came the well-received 24 Hour War documentary on the same subject.
