May 8th, 1982. Salut to the great man that passed away on this day. Jody Scheckter said it best.... "I will miss Gilles for two reasons. First, he was the fastest driver in the history of motor racing. Second, he was the most genuine man I have ever known. But he has not gone. The memory of what he has done, what he achieved, will always be there." I was not yet born when Gilles was around but looking at the videos, he was incredible!
I watched F1 in the seventies and still think it was the best era given the mix of driver talent and the vastly different car designs and innovation. I'm catching up on the previous two decades yet keep my belief that the seventies were the golden era. As for Gilles: it was fun watching him race, met him once in the pits in Hockenheim where he was waiting in his Ferrari: I still remember those piercing eyes, he looked at me but I could tell his mind was already doing 3 klicks through the forest
When I think about his integrity and conviction re: the Pironi affair, it makes SV/MW look like petulant children. That kind of character departed F1 a long time ago...
I forgot to add this quote of Gilles earlier... it is one of my faourite quotes of a Scuderia Piloti: If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula One, my third to drive for Ferrari - Gilles Villeneuve
I saw Villeneuve several times in person driving at Watkins Glen and Long Beach. in 79 he drove a fantastic race with Alan Jones at Watkins Glen in the rain. as it started to dry out the Williams was catching him then they dived into the pits for slicks - both came out in same positions but williams did not attache Jones's wheel right and lap later he was out and Villeneuve walked with the victory. He was my personal idol - he and Niki Lauda. I had a huge wall print of him in my bed room as a kid - I got it from the local Goodyear tire dealer that showd him in the pits at Longbeach in the 126c2. I remember clearly the local Pittsburgh TV station showing the news of a "horrific Race accident" in the clip - i saw it was a Ferrari before they even said the name. it was SHOCKING that the best driver in the world was dead! 82 was His year - car was great, they were at the front most of the year but alas it was not to be. Only saw him once out of the car - at Watkins Glen - he was so small with a giant head!
One of the greatest people to emerge from my hometown. It speaks volumes that Enzo erected a statue of him outside of the factory. He left his mark in history, no doubt.
I'll never forget that day. I'd just read an interview with Villeneuve in FORMULA (NE: RACER) Magazine which was a really great candid piece. No sooner had I put the magazine down and turned on the TV news to see the report of Villeneuve's crash in Belgium. BHW
+1 Another true giant of the sport taken far too soon. Murray Walkers highlight reel; [ame=http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B3Zdk2OW6Hk]Gilles Villeneuve - Murray's Magic Moments - YouTube[/ame] Cheers, Ian
He was simply the best...that´s all i can think off...In his days nobody else could compare, and to me he raced in the real golden age...Prost, Lauda, Sheckter, Arnoux, Lafitte...they all admited he was the best..by far.....as Arnoux pointed out after Gilles death.."from now on we all start on equal terms, Gilles had a talent beyond us"....when from some reason i see his accident i still get tears in my eyes, to me this was for sure the saddest day in f.1 history, f.1 would never be the same, and it will never be.
He wasn't. He was the fastest and probably most talented, but not the best. He blatantly ignored "to finish first, first you need to finish". Enzo called him "Prince of Destruction" and that he was to the bitter end, where he made a truly bad judgement call (mixing his tire sets to go on an all-or-nothing Kamikaze qualifying run just to beat Pironi). Calmer heads prevailed. Guys like Lauda, Prost and Schumacher weren't half as spectacular to watch, but they got the job done, which is winning the WDC. So true. People got all upset over the Seb thing as if that was the first time somebody ignored team orders.
The first Grand Prix I ever saw on TV was Zandvoort '79. Seeing Gilles still trying to race on three wheels had an immense affect on Me! From that day, F1 was the sport I wanted to watch the most, Ferrari was the team I wanted to see win every race and Gilles was the driver I wanted to win them! On May 8th 1982 I cried My eyes out! Even today, I can't watch the footage of his tragic accident without welling up! He was the last of the dare-devil drivers! - Finding the limit and then pushing on beyond it with car control that We mere mortals can only dream of! Salut Gilles! - And thank you for the passion that you left Me with, for the Sport and team you loved! Gilles Villenueve: Too young to die! - Too fast to live! R.I.P
Only in Italy! They drove Gilles F1 car through the streets today [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S4T1UWpXPM&sns=em]Ferrari 312 T4 Villeneuve a Modena - YouTube[/ame]
Thanks. Yes, those were the days. I went to the editor of our local newspaper and said, I'll do a story for you if you sign my letter here stating that I do this for you guys. The editor signed, he had nothing to loose. I drove to Hockenheim, press accreditation, they looked at it and said, yup, legit. Got full blown press credentials, which was a lot of fun: I also had access to the "Telex room" (remember Telex?) where all the real journos typed their reports. Also was invited to all press events, which kept me well fed. But of course the best was the access to the pits during any session. Back then you could freely mingle amongst the teams. I tried to keep my decorum and (against my deepest inner feelings) did not ask drivers for autographs...But I did take a bunch of pictures. Not enough in hindsight, but hey, I was a "poor" student and had to pay for my rolls of film. The next day I drove home and delivered a B/W roll of film to the newspaper. Sure enough they dedicated half a page to the event and printed a bunch of my shots. Completely unthinkable by today's standards.
He wasn't. Everyone has his own opinion, and to me he was....perhaps like Gilles, my interest in f.1 is diferent, and wining the championship does not define the best driver every time. Statistics don´t do much for me, if they did, i would say Damon Hill was better than Gilles!!! As it was, i wouldn´t even put him on the top 5 the year he was champion. Winning the championship is great but what i really care about is a good fight and a great race driven by a great driver driving a Ferrari....althoug i liked Shumacher, i apreciated so much more Alesi for his crazy driving!! Gilles was undoubtly the most talented driver ever to set foot on f.1 (both he and Jimmy) but as Sheckter said once " he was a smart guy, but imo he wanted the wrong things out of racing!!)..this doesn´t make him worst than the others, just diferent, and had he not been that diferent, we would never had seen spectacles like Dijon 79, Zandvoot 79 and so many other great races. Ps: congrats on that foto, i so much envy you (in a good way) for being that close to him!!
He's one of my Hero's. He went way to soon unfortunately. I've always maintained once I go racing I'll race under the number 27. I've no love for his son though, which is kind of weird.
