Imperial’s electric super car adventure is made into a documentary
22 December 2010
Fourteen countries in 140 days, 26,000 kilometres on the road and hundreds of hours of footage – a documentary about the journey made by the Racing Green Endurance team reveals an epic adventure of how an Imperial engineered all-electric car travelled the Pan-American Highway.
As Imperial alumni and students of the Racing Green Endurance team sped the length of the Pan-American Highway, a film maker followed their every move. Claudio von Planta was originally approached to carry out some filming of the journey by Alex Schey, the team’s project manager and Mechanical Engineering undergraduate. Alex had evaluated the skills of various documentary makers before settling on Claudio:
“I had met Claudio a year before, and I invited him to come and see the car while it was at Imperial. He met the team, got an understanding of the project, and made a video about it on the spot. We were so impressed that we asked him to join us straight away! Also, his previous work is among the most impressive in the industry, so we knew we had a good guy on board.”
Claudio travelled alongside the team as they drove their all-electric Radical SRZero supercar from Alaska, down the Pan-American Highway, finishing at Ushuaia in Argentina, the world’s most southerly city. Alex recalls how having a camera on board could be quite tiring:
“Initially it was quite difficult as even when we were exhausted with a million other things to think about, we still had to compose ourselves and make ourselves coherent in front of camera.”
However Alex thinks that Claudio’s character made them feel at ease: “The team became very natural around the camera and never said anything or behaved differently than we would have otherwise. I also think Claudio’s very natural demeanour made those being filmed feel comfortable and at ease.”
The documentary, which will be shown in eight parts over eight weeks on BBC World News from 1 January 2011, is being broadcast to a very large audience. Each episode will be broadcast 28 times per weekend in 220 countries across the world. Alex hopes that the documentary will raise awareness about low carbon vehicle technologies:
“Having the documentary shown to such a large audience is fantastic, as it’s exactly what we set out to achieve nearly two years ago. This is not for personal fame or recognition; far from it. Making people aware of electric cars, and inspiring children, has driven us to get this documentary so far out there.”
Alex and his team are impressed with what they have seen of the documentary so far: “We are amazed how much one man and a camera can do on an extremely limited budget. The footage and story comes across so brilliantly, and it’s amazing for us to watch, even though we were a part of it. It has truly been, from start to finish, the most unique, epic and incredible experience we ever could have hoped for.”
—Emma Chesterman, Communications and Development
Tags: Alumni, Racing Green Endurance, Students
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