A new film has been released about Dave Madsen-Mygdal, a privateer road racer who began his journey at the TT in the early 1980s and has since achieved 149 race starts.
Now in his late 60s, Douglas-based Madsen-Mygdal's passion for road racing remains undiminished as he continues to prepare for the starting line on Glencrutchery Road this year.
The film, titled ‘Faster Than Life,’ offers an exclusive glimpse into the tight-knit world of road racing, highlighting family bonds, friendships, the highs and lows, and the involvement of multiple generations.
The film is not just focused on racing but the human aspect and created in a way that is accessible to viewers that might not be avid motorbike fans. The feature documentary follows Dave in 2019 through the two covid cancelled TT years and culminates in behind the scenes action of TT 2022.
Now available behind a paywall, viewers get an insight in to what it takes for a privateer to get onto the startline of the world’s pinnacle motorcycle race showing onboard and track shots of Dave as he races through the island’s towns and villages, over the Mountain and between the hedges and trees at 150mph in the Supertwin race.
The independent film has been produced by Felipe Costa and Chip Gulland who are based in the island and have worked on a number of projects together combining aerial filming and experience in the Brazilian film industry.
Their work has featured in short films, documentaries and national advertisements while filming in a run and gun style.
They said they wanted to make a film about a privateer TT rider that had been racing for decades, and someone who turned up every year.
Chip continued: ‘We heard Dave's story; him sharing podiums with Joey Dunlop, John McGuinness and others and also his generational involvement in road racing as well as him building his own bikes.
‘We got in touch with Dave and thankfully he agreed for us to start filming, he was also very natural on camera so after our first period of filming we knew we had something great to work on.’
Proceeds are still welcome and the producers say the support and participation of road racing fans will be greatly appreciated.
Centering around Dave, who’s described as ‘an old fashioned true road racer’, his fastest lap around the Mountain Course is clocked at 116.58mph.
A motor mechanic, David is married to Jill, who appears in the film.
His son, Mark Madsen-Mygdal, died in a Southern 100 crash in 2013 and the trailer for ‘Faster Than Life’ shows that his untimely death is discussed in the film. It was premiered at Victory Cafe last week and following that it’s been released behind a paywall.
You can purchase the film (access for two days) for £7.50 at https://fasterthanlife.uk/film/