Sometimes you have an idea floating around in your head for days, weeks or even months, but in the case of documentary film Steve McQueen – The Man & Le Mans it was more like years. As a journalist and broadcaster for 50 years I’ve had my fair share of story ideas, but rarely has any proved so tricky to bring to fruition. I suppose some would simply have given up – but this tale was simply too good for that. We got there in the end and the result should be in a cinema near you this winter.

You have to understand that the film industry is not my business. Many years ago I was Motor Sport’s assistant editor, after which I spent three decades in the sports marketing, sponsorship and PR business while enjoying a parallel career as both a TV commentator and, later, producer.  I continue to work as a pit reporter for Fox Sports on the Tequila Patron Endurance series in the States as well as working for the same channel at Le Mans – which brings us back to the film.

My first Le Mans was in 1965  and I have worked at the race almost every year since, simply because of its electrifying atmosphere, ancestry and enormity. The event also captured the imagination of Steve McQueen, which is why he made his Le Mans film back in 1970/71. At the time McQueen was the highest-paid movie star in the world and had just forged a hugely lucrative production company deal.