Member Article

Gala Performance to release fly-on-the-wall documentary

Rotherham-based motorsport supplier follows race team to Silverstone for 24 hour race to catalogue highs and low

The team of Manvers-based retailer Gala Tent’s motorsport brand Gala Performance has followed their company directors to the illustrious home of British motorsport, Silverstone, to capture their experiences as they competed in a gruelling twenty four hour endurance race behind the wheel of a Citröen C1, which has been turned into a 45 minute documentary that the company intends to release free-to-view on Friday August 6th at 8pm.

Directed by Bethany Liversidge and Samantha Davison, THE RAC1NG LINE delivers an up-close-and-personal look at the highs and lows of emotion on show in a pit garage during an endurance race, and was inspired by such high-profile documentaries as Gentleman Driver and Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive.

Gala Tent Marketing Manager, and the film’s narrator, Ryan Bracha said, “This isn’t the first twenty four hour race we’ve tried to capture with the guys. Back in 2019 they took part in the record-breaking event where 99 Citroen C1s were on the starting grid. We followed them down for that race but they suffered a major crash quite early on and unfortunately we didn’t have a Plan B. This time, the plan was to stay in the garages and just follow the people there instead of what was happening on track. There were some very tense moments, which might not have been great at the time but they help to make for better viewing. Beth and Sam have done incredibly well to deliver such a high quality film.”

Now in their 4th season of competitive motorsport, Mark Thompson and Andrew Scott of Gala Performance Racing enlisted prestigious help in the form of high profile racing drivers Max Coates (Clio Cup / Mini Challenge), Christian England (European Le Mans Series champion) and Rhys Lloyd (Welsh Saloon Champion) to complete their team, with the vehicles being managed by GT Cup champion Rob Gaffney’s Amigo Motorsport, and with those kinds of names, they were more than entitled to feel confident about their chances of success. A small team hung around their garage and captured around a hundred hours of footage, which was then edited down to a more accessible 45 minutes.

Director and racing driver Andrew Scott said, “The last time we were there, it was such a disappointing end to our first ever experience of competitive racing at Silverstone, following in the footsteps of some real legends. We’ve had very little racing over the past eighteen months due to the pandemic, so for our first race of 2021 we were adamant that it wouldn’t end like that again, despite us having very little time to be able to prepare because of the lockdowns.”

The film will be launched free-to-view via the Gala Tent TV platform on the company’s website as well as via their YouTube channel, but the team are hopeful that they can get the film picked up for inclusion on a streaming platform to be seen by a global audience.

One of the films directors, Bethany Liversidge, said, “We’re really proud of how it turned out. I can’t give too much away about what happens, you’ll just have to watch it, but there was more than enough drama on the track and in the garages for us to create something which is genuinely a great watch, and the guys on the race team should be very proud of their achievements too.”

THE RAC1NG LINE: A Gala Performance Racing Story will be launched via GTTV at 8pm on Friday 6th August and on the Gala Tent YouTube channel where the team will also host a live Q+A session with viewers tuning in to watch.

Founded in 2016 after a lucrative sponsorship deal of Le Mans stalwarts United Autosports by marquee and gazebo specialists Gala Tent, Gala Performance has carved out a reputation for supplying high quality paddock tents and garage flooring amongst other products to the motorsport industry, supplying to professional teams competing across Europe. The company also works alongside renowned names such as the British Drift Championship and well-known racing driver Max Coates, and has been the primary sponsor of Gala Performance Racing since its inception in 2018.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James Lead .