Directing · Case study · Motorsport competition format

Braking Point

A motorsport competition format I created, produced and directed. Two crews from race team AMSPEED go head to head in 90s BMW touring cars, from a challenge in an aircraft hangar to a time-attack final at Brands Hatch, for one place on the finals grid.

Watch the full episode Watch the trailer

Two crews in black team shirts stand either side of an open hangar door, the host silhouetted in the light between them, two touring cars in the foreground — Braking PointThe teams meet the host

25 minPilot episode

4Shoot days

3Locations

25–30Crew

8Camera operators

£14kBudget

Shot 2024 · Screened at the BFI, 2025

The format

One team · four acts · one grid place

How it works

Braking Point is built like a sports entertainment series: a host, a world with its own stakes, and challenges designed to test a race crew in the workshop and on the track. Each episode follows one team whose drivers compete for a single place on the finals grid.

Act one

The series and the team. The host sets out the stakes and meets the AMSPEED crew.

Bicester Heritage

Act two

A documentary on AMSPEED in competition, from the day-to-day to race weekend.

Silverstone

Act three

The Touring Car Prep Challenge. Crews race to prepare a stripped car in a hangar laid out as a circuit.

Bicester Heritage

Act four

The time-attack final, head to head against the clock on the GP circuit.

Brands Hatch

Act one: the series

Bicester Heritage

Meet the team

The episode opens at Bicester Heritage, a former RAF bomber station. The host introduces the series and the prize, then meets the AMSPEED crew who will compete for the grid place.

Aerial view over Bicester Heritage, hangars and a control tower beside a grass airfield, with a Bicester Heritage, UK location title — Braking PointBicester Heritage

The host, a man with curly hair in a dark jacket, talks to camera in the hangar — Braking PointHost, Darryl Foster

Two AMSPEED team members, a woman with long curly hair and a bearded man, stand listening in the hangar — Braking PointThe crew

Two drivers in team shirts stand side by side listening, a rusted hangar wall behind them — Braking PointThe drivers

Act two: Silverstone

Documentary

AMSPEED in competition

A documentary on the team in competition, from the day-to-day work to race weekend at Silverstone Festival 2024 and the Historic Touring Car Challenge, run in torrential rain. They won. Touring car great Steve Soper was in the paddock.

Mechanics in black work around a white BMW touring car in a rain-soaked pit lane under the Silverstone gantry — Silverstone FestivalPit lane

Touring cars with headlights on throw up spray through a wet corner — Silverstone FestivalThe race

A driver in a white BMW race suit raises a silver trophy in the paddock — Silverstone FestivalThe win

A white-haired man leans in to the windscreen of a red and white BMW in the rain, a man holding an umbrella over him — Silverstone FestivalSteve Soper

A driver in a white race suit speaks to camera with his fist raised — Silverstone FestivalAfter the flag

A bearded team member in an AMSPEED shirt, lit against black for interview — Braking PointInterview

Act three: the hangar

Bicester Heritage

Touring Car Prep Challenge

Crews race to prepare a stripped touring car across a hangar laid out as a circuit. A traffic light controls each run: answer a motorsport question in the press zone, collect a part from the tool kit pit, take it back to the paddock. A wrong answer sends you back empty-handed.

A team member answers a multiple-choice question on screen, Who dominated BTCC in the early 1990s, in front of a branded backdrop — Braking PointPress zone

A mechanic carries a rear wing between LED zone markers, a red traffic light behind him — Braking PointTool kit pit

A team member sprints across the hangar floor — Braking PointGreen light

A BMW M3 in Monte Shell livery on axle stands with its wheels off — Braking PointThe car

The host and a team member watch as a mechanic works under the bonnet — Braking PointPaddock

A red-bearded team member in a team shirt, lit in blue against black for interview — Braking PointInterview

Two team members wearing chest cameras sit against a touring car and laugh at each other — Braking PointChest cams

Act four: Brands Hatch

Time-attack final

The final

The drivers take the cars out on the Brands Hatch GP circuit, head to head against the clock, with the host setting the stakes from the start line.

Aerial view of Brands Hatch with the GP circuit traced in a red-to-orange line and circuit facts down the left side — Braking PointCircuit graphic

The host in a pale shirt speaks on the track at Brands Hatch, two BMW touring cars parked behind him — Braking PointStart line

A red-bearded driver in a white race suit beside his car in the pit lane, helmet on the roof — Braking PointPit lane

A white and yellow BMW M3 touring car taken from a low chase angle through a corner at Brands Hatch — Braking PointOn track

A driver in a white race suit and helmet sits strapped into a stripped-out cockpit — Braking PointIn car

Two mechanics push a race car down the pit lane — Braking PointPit lane

How it was made

Creator · producer · director

Created the format, its world and its rules, and wrote the competitors' guide
Secured Silverstone Festival, Bicester Heritage and the Brands Hatch GP circuit
Cast the race team
Designed the challenges and directed a multi-camera shoot, with chest cams on the competitors
Led a crew of 25–30: eight camera operators with a DoP, lighting, sound, production coordinators, production managers and a floor manager
Graphics package by Cameron Mole, motion graphics by Mason Soleski, under my creative direction
Edited by Emmy-winning editor Adrian Beard

Josh, in an orange hoodie, and host Darryl Foster lean on the bonnet of a white BMW M3 in the hangar — On setWith host Darryl Foster

The competitors' guide

Development

Before the shoot I wrote a guide that sets out the world of the series, the stakes and the rules of each challenge, so cast and crew worked from the same page.

Competitors' guide cover: Braking Point title over a close-up of a racing tyre — GuideCover

Guide page titled The Show, listing the pilot, cast, host and locations — GuideThe show

Guide page titled Challenge 1, Race Prep Circuit, setting out the rules over an empty hangar — GuideChallenge 1

Making something with a format, a host or a race team at its heart? Let's talk it through on a call.

Contact

joshdouglasfilm@gmail.com

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