In amongst all the overtaking* during Sunday's MotoGP Italian Grand Prix, sharp-eyed viewers may have spotted Kenny Roberts running with Venture Petroleum decals.

In reality, the company is fictitious, and the decals were in place because a film company is making a movie (Velocity) based around the MotoGP series.

A few years back, Sylvester Stallone spent a season following the Grand Prix circus with the intention of making a movie based around Formula One. However, due to various 'difficulties' the Rocky creator experienced - rumoured to be far more daunting than anything his alter ego John Rambo encountered - Stallone opted to change formulae and base his movie on Indy Racing. The end result being Driven.

With movies such as Days of Thunder having given NASCAR a serious image boost, and encouraging a new generation of fans, it has to be said that Formula One could also benefit from the exposure it would receive from Hollywood.

In recent years, Hollywood stars have attended races, particularly Monaco, to plug their latest movies, it seems odd that F1 cannot overcome the difficulties and use Hollywood to sell the Grand Prix dream. It worked in the mid 60s, when a whole generation was turned on to F1 by John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix, surely the time is right for another attempt.

If MotoGP can spot the benefits why not F1?

* Overtaking: Verb. Catch up with and pass while travelling in the same direction. Manoeuvre in motor sport where rivals pass one another (on track) for track position. See... MotoGP.