Film/Tv Automotive Technical Director
With the action packed and fast paced world of automotive its no surprise that this has been captured on the silver screen. Movies such as The Fast and Furious, Ford vs Ferrari and Mad Max have cemented them as cult classics and will be for many years to come but getting it wrong can potentially mean a failure at the box office.
Finding that line between fact/fiction and entertainment can be tricky at time’s, and depending on the production could be a make or break. With Cody’s life time of automotive experience including but not limited to Mechanical repairs, engineering and race car driving over a large range of vehicles you’ll know that hell be the right person to call with all your automotive queries.
Some examples or errors in automotive based films:
The Gran Turismo movie launched in 2023 giving an action packed movie based on the popular racing game of the same title, and a movie with a large base of die hard racing supporters it was crucial to get everything 100%, but two things stood out more than anything else
Le mans circuit used incorrectly - Iconic shots of the Le mans 24 hour circuit are everywhere in the world of motorsports, so it came as a large shock when the circuit Hungaroring in Hungary was used with banners of the Le mans circuit instead. Whilst close up shots can be forgiven using large drone shots to show a different layout to Lemans to people that have been playing the game for over 20 years now would come as s shock.
Brake Glazing - One thing that has not been replicated in racing simulators or games is brake glazing or even brake failure. In the scene with our main character Jann an accident occurs when hard into the braking zone, with brake glazing being the cause of fault, he was able to describe this as he had felt it in the game previously. If a failure like this cant happen in the game then it would be wring to suggest it can in the movie
Ford vs Ferrari released in 2019 and in my opinion be one of the most accurate and entertaining movies when it comes to automotive stories, so whilst it pains me to say there would be one scene I think could be done better to really excite the audience.
During the early stages of the movie as our lead character Ken miles races his Corvette at Willow Springs, some fantastic shots are delivered right on the bumper whilst in the middle of some hard pack racing but one thing that lets it down is the engine sounds. Whilst yes the engine sounds are from the correct engine it does lack an aggressive over revving v8 sound, feeling like it is more around the 2500rpm mark instead of 5-6000rpm. Recording the engines at a higher RPM is the difference between a Sunday drive and making your hairs stand up on your skin with shared adrenaline.
If you are interested in having Cody involved with your next production to give you accurate details from the automotive world, get in touch on the link below