What better occasion than the holiday season to binge-watch the freshly-released docu-series by Iron Dames? If you love motorsport's behind the scenes, you don't want to miss "Racing Beyond Limits". Here's our review.
"Iron Dames - Racing Beyond Limits" is a new documentary project that has very little to envy to some big productions that are currently available on the most popular video streaming platforms that have this year become the main source of consumption for multimedial content.
In its journey of 6 episodes - all lasting between 15 to 20 minutes each - this web series freshly released on YouTube takes us round after round behind the scenes of the 2020 European Le Mans Series, the sophomore racing season for the team conceived and created by visionary Deborah Mayer, which has quickly become one of the most interesting projects in today's motorsport: lining up three female racing drivers supported by a top team like Iron Lynx, "The Iron Dames" - like modern Neil Armstrongs - are writing important pages of our sport's history and are indeed paving the way for a future where gender equality will be a fundamental foundation of the motor racing environment.
Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Manuela Gostner are the three undisputed leading protagonists of a series that, with unprecedented behind the scenes access brings us right into the action and allows us to better understand the inner world of a professional race car driver, through its fascinating highs and equally powerful lows.
But "Racing Beyond Limits" is not all about the hectic moments of the race weekend: by opening the doors of their homes and private lives, we also have the opportunity to learn more and appreciate the human side of each one of these three trailblazers - through rather beautiful small moments of their everyday lives.
Three completely different personalities that, however, are very much complementary to each other and form a perfect team.
We've got Rahel - the Swiss lady with a huge international racing experience behind her, who's described by her teammates as the team leader; Michelle, the very talented Dane who, in addition to her skills behind the wheel also reveals her funny yet determined nature, as she tackles what she describes as her last chance to turn her passion into a professional career;
And what to say about Manuela, the missing element in this fine mix, whose essential contribution is the icing on the cake both from a performance and motivational standpoint.
The always-radiant Italian from South Tyrol perfectly takes on the role of Bronze-rated driver and has the amazing gift of always keeping up the team's morale even
through the hardships of the racing season.
The episodes start with the kickoff at Paul Ricard - first round of this 2020 ELMS campaign - then moves on to the legendary Spa Francorchamps circuit, before the series' return to the French venue or Le Castellet, described by the Iron Dames trio as their "lucky place".
A very special episode is obviously dedicated to the most awaited race of the year - the 24 Hours of Le Mans: a real dive into the most anticipated and physically demanding week that a race car driver can experience, as we are led to appreciate even more the immense work and dedication behind the preparation of such a race, where the whole team really needs to work as an orchestra. Rahel, Michelle - who also carries a stunning LM24 tattoo on her arm -and Manuela's dream of one day climbing that magical podium, may not be after all so far away.
The Monza and Portimao rounds complete their 2020 journey - a season that despite all the unfortunate developments and difficulties that we are all aware of, will nonetheless also be remembered as the year that confirmed Iron Dames as a winning project.
Because alongside the on-track achievements, being an Iron Dame is most importantly about being a strong, determined and inspiring woman figure, goal-oriented and able to encourage an even larger number of young girls to turn their dreams into reality.
The perfect holiday season docu-series has just landed on Youtube. You can watch "Racing Beyond Limits" here.
