Gilles

[fatboy69]

Reading an article tonight in the latest 'Car' regarding Gilles.

This Sunday is the 30th anniversary of the race that ultimately cost Gilles his life. Not the time to cast bad vibes towards Didier as he did what he thought was best for him at the time.

Maybe.......


Time to head over to You-Tube i think for some re-runs of Gilles' greatest moments of which there are quite a few

Lucky enough to see him race twice - at his GP debut at Silverstone in 1977 when i recall him telling Nigel Roebuck that when he spun the McLaren he knew he had reached his limit at that particular corner....

& saw him again at Silverstone in 1981. I was in the grandstand at the old Woodcote Corner when he stuck his Ferrari in the catch fencing after clouting the chicane.

Anyone else would have left the car where it ended up.

Gilles?

He drove the wreck to Becketts until he decided to park it up!

Gone but he will never be forgotten.

I also see that Jacques is to drive at 126C2 at Marenello on 8 May, the 30th anniversary of Gilles' death.

I hope that footage of him driving the car will be released for those of us who remember the great little French-Canadian.

[Animal]

There's a feature on him in this month's (May) MotorSport.

[fatboy69]

Read that as well.

Seems that even now his legend lives on. I always used to enjoy reading the Nigel Roebuck columns in Autosport back in the day when he used to re-count some of the stories that surfaced regarding what Gilles got up to.

His stories of Gilles' journeys from Monaco to Maranello with a certain Mr Scheckter are legendary although i'm not sure what Jody thinks even now!

I also recall some stories regarding Gilles & his helicopter.....

They dont, sadly, make them like Gilles anymore.

[Redlake27]

I intend to visit Zolder on my way home from the Spa 1000kms in early May.


Just to pay my respects to the driver who turned me on to motorsport as a child

[JMC1]

Totally agree with fatboy69 he was amazing. Back in the day Giles and Alan Jones were my two favourite drivers when I was a kid, so Monaco 1981 had me glued to the tv not knowing who to cheer for.

There was a few times when these two raced wheel to wheel and where as Jonesy would get rough with Piquet he always raced fairly with Giles as Giles did with everyone sometimes to his detriment but he was all the better for it.

The 126c2 was a great looking F1 car as was the 312T3 that Giles won his first race in.

I will always love F1 but my favourite times were from 1976 through to 1996 in which Giles was a shinning star from 1977 to 1982.

If you like statistics then you will love Schumacher if you love the passion of a driver trying to go faster than is possible then it is Giles all the way.

[JMC1]

[JMC1]

[Redlake27]

JMC1 said:

Wonderful. That's such a bad car, it suited his style.


I always felt that the worse the car, the better he was. If he'd ended up in something like a Williams, I wonder if his style would have suited a car that required neatness. Instead, his career coincided with some dreadful handling Ferraris and a legend was born!

[matt3001]

Animal said:

There's a feature on him in this month's (May) MotorSport.

Is this out yet? I don't normally drop 5 into a magazine but I may make an exception in this case.

[heebeegeetee]

matt3001 said:

Is this out yet? I don't normally drop 5 into a magazine but I may make an exception in this case.

It's bloody good.

[Mr_Thyroid]

fatboy69 said:

This Sunday is the 30th anniversary of the race that ultimately cost Gilles his life. Not the time to cast bad vibes towards Didier as he did what he thought was best for him at the time.

Bull crap. If you didn't want to bad mouth Pironi then you should've just waited two weeks until the actual 30th anniversary.

It's a romanticism of the rivalry between these two greats that leads people to this conclusion and it's utter rubbish.

[fatboy69]

I didn't bad mouth Pironi at all so not sure where you are going with your comment.

[Mr_Thyroid]

fatboy69 said:

I didn't bad mouth Pironi at all so not sure where you are going with your comment.

Then why did you mention his name when he wasn't involved in the incident that killed Villeneuve and why are you two weeks early for the 30th anniversary of the race that ultimately cost Gilles his life?

And before you reply with the usual nonsense I know the reason, hence my earlier comment.

Both were great, both were flawed, both died tragically early without fulfilling their true potential. Respect to the memory of these brave and talented men.

[fatboy69]

Because it is relevant to his death & because I had just read the article. Had i not read the article I probably wouldn't have made the posting.

I am fully aware of what happened over the two weeks before GIlles' death & I have no intention of casting any aspertions towards DIdier either now or in the future.