What a dramatic climax to the year, eh? For much of the race, and the season, we were kept guessing as to who would eventually emerge winner and champion - anything could have happened. It's often a cliché with bizarre sports and news stories that it 'couldn't have been thought up by a Hollywood script writer.' But try thinking of a successful film about sport, be it fictional or fact based. Baseball and American Football are notable exceptions, but that can mainly be put down to the American home obsession with these sports - and, of course, the fact that commercial Hollywood caters almost exclusively for a home audience. In the next few weeks, the first 'big budget' US flick about golf, "Tin Cup", hits the multiplexes in the UK. It's the first film I can think of (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) that covers golf whilst being popular to the masses. I now read that there are two (that's right, two) films about the late, great Ayrton Senna currently in pre-production. It all got me thinking, and I borrowed a copy from a friend of the most successful, probably only, film about Formula One - Grand Prix.

Filmed in the late 1960s by director John Frankenheimer, the film follows a semi-fictional Grand Prix season as it travels round the world - semi-fictional, because the footage is a mixture of real race coverage and specially filmed, plot-based driving shots. It's a cunning idea, and adds a real bit of atmosphere to the film. Hearing the names of the fictional drivers intermixed with those of Jack Brabham, Jochen Rindt and Dan Gurney honestly makes you believe that the characters are the best in the world. In fact, keep your eyes peeled and you'll catch a few hints of Graham Hill playing a fictional driver who constantly seems to be chatting and intermingling with his rivals. Particularly amusing is the occasion when he congratulates the fictional 'Master of Monaco' on his multiple race wins at the principality - Hill was, in fact, the most winningest driver around the street circuit at the time.

But if the authentic backgrounds add to the atmosphere, then the four fictional characters themselves are superbly fleshed out, and cover almost all of the traits that you can see in the real drivers of every generation. Just try spotting your favourite drivers' characteristics from the fictional - Scott Stoddard: the English talent trying to emulate the success of his brother, killed several seasons earlier, whilst struggling with a difficult marriage and injuries sustained in a crash at Monaco; Pete Aron: ex team-mate of Stoddard, sacked after defying team orders and now challenging for the title in the new Japanese Yamura car; Nino Balini: the young and talented Sicilian Ferrari pilot who believes he is the best, both on the track and in the bedroom; Nino Balini: the French elderman of the top four, twice world champion, and now looking for a third drivers' title in his Ferrari.

If the drivers are well characterised, then the three top team managers are equally well written and acted. The British team, running BRMs, is owned by Geoff Jordan (!) - a talented but gruff principal who practically forces his injured driver back into the car, whilst sacking the unruly team-mate without a second's thought. The Ferrari commendatore is utterly ruthless, and plays petty politics and mind games with his drivers to urge them to go faster. Japanese boss Ito Yamura runs his team with stereotypical order and control - for him, respect and honesty with his drivers comes ahead of winning at all costs. The film is a classic - it offers a brilliant snapshot of life - the glamour, danger and tragedy - in a top F1 team of the time, and should be on the must see list for all F1 fanatics. It ends, typically, in a mixture of tragedy, romance and glory, but the plot twists are sufficiently entertaining that I shall not ruin the story for you here.

One story that we all know the finale to is the tragic tale of Ayrton Senna, and it's here where the crux of my piece lies. There has only been one commercially successful motor-racing film of recent times, and even that wasn't a particularly brilliant attempt. Days of Thunder was directed by the man responsible for Top Gun, and it shows. Dubbed 'Top Gun on wheels', the film is dramatic, but fails to engage the mind with its guts or glory tale of Nascar racing in the USA. The fact that most people outside the States know nothing about the Nascar series probably doesn't help, but it's undoubtedly a poor imitation of Grand Prix. It has all the ingredients, but fails to mix them in the proper proportions and hopes a bit of fancy icing will cover the mistakes. I fear Ayrton Senna: The Movie will be the same.

There's a number of problems - Who to play the Brazilian? Who plays the other champions of the time: Nigel Mansell; Alain Prost; Nelson Piquet; Michael Schumacher? How will they be able to re-create the variety of circuits, cars and atmospheres over the course of Senna's life, and stay within a budget that will probably only narrowly beat Ferrari's spending for a season? Is it fair to concentrate on Ayrton Senna? After all, Juan Manuel Fangio and Alain Prost have both won more World Championships, and are equally as lauded around the world. Surely it would be better to copy the semi-fiction style of Grand Prix. But the main question is: will the 'big' screen ever be able to capture the 'huge' character that Ayrton Senna was? If such a movie can somehow portray the triple world champion's life successfully, it will not, however, come anywhere near to re-creating the aura of tragedy and dismay surrounding his untimely death. The horrific events of Imola live clearly in the minds of all fans who witnessed them, and no Hollywood epic could ever match the emotion of that day: that real-life moving picture will always remain bigger than Hollywood's.