Petrolicious Has Won The Jalopnik Film Festival

Petrolicious has won the third annual Jalopnik Film Festival! To the judges—and to you—thank you.

We’ve been blown away by the response to Building a Dream, and from the moment we learned of Peter Giacobbi’s story, we’ve been so excited to tell it. A homebuilt Ferrari? Yeah, it really is that awesome.

Interestingly, one of the other selections was a Petrolicious parody video—and we’re sincerely flattered (and found it hilarious). If you find Function Factory’s video funny, check out the one we put together few years ago for April Fool’s!

Back to Building a Dream: from the moment comments started pouring in, it was clear that this story has captivated people in a way that we don’t often see, with near-universal praise for Giacobbi’s homage to his heroes. 

Here’s a short Q&A with the director, Miguel de Olaso:

What’s the first thing that stood out when you met Peter for the first time?

His passion. Despite his age, he sounds like a teenager when he talks about his cars. Someone who can live with that passion for so many years is really an inspiration.

The bench shot of Peter tuning the engine is exceptional. How did that scene come about? Does he have multiple engines for this car?

We first met with Peter a week before he put the engine back in his car. He had been restoring it for the last few months, so he had it on a bench. I asked Peter if we could move the engine into the middle of the garage for a “more dramatic” effect under our lights.

You would think the engine would be loud…well, we had earplugs and still that thing was so freaking loud that it hurt. The kind of loud that wakes up babies 3 miles away and shocks elderly people wearing pacemakers.

What should we know about Peter and this car that we don’t see in the video?

You wouldn’t believe how fast, loud and raw the car is in real life. The video doesn’t do justice to the crazy acceleration you can experience in the car. The segment where we see Peter onboard, driving on a winding road doesn’t come close to what you can really experience inside that car.

He’d put to shame many modern sports cars. 400 horsepower in a car that’s probably around 2300 lbs is pretty wild. And he is using “bicycle” tires…you get the idea.

What gear did you use to shoot this video?

The film was shot on a Samsung NX1 that I borrowed from a friend, and a couple zoom lenses. Very minimal gear so we could move fast. We used a SmartSystem slider for the exterior shots. A gimbal for some of the moving shots. And a big prototype soft LED light that my friends are developing.

What are you most proud of about this video?

Getting on board shots was really complicated. The car does not have a single straight surface that you can attach suction cups. And the matte aluminum finish does not help. On top of that, vibrations in the body were huge. So that was a bit of a nightmare that required some re-shoots.

I think capturing Peter’s passion and how these cars drove in the past is what moves people the most. Who wouldn’t like to be like him and be able to build and drive the cars you always dreamed of?