Remembering Gilles at play
Discussion
A very poignant little piece here...
http://www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk/2010/05/06/rem...
For us old'uns around at the time, it's just impossible not to get very sad at what we lost that day. Apart from anything else, we were cheated out of years of watching a wonderful driver.
http://www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk/2010/05/06/rem...
For us old'uns around at the time, it's just impossible not to get very sad at what we lost that day. Apart from anything else, we were cheated out of years of watching a wonderful driver.
Possibly the greatest natural F1 driver we have ever had, he put that undrivable 'sh*tbox' Ferrari (as Alan Jones described it) on podiums it just didn't deserve. He also claims one of the biggest if not the biggest practice time differences, Watkins Glen in the torrential wet, Gilles was 13 seconds faster than any other driver! Was he more natural than Jim Clark, difficult to say, he certainly didn't have the machinery under him that Clark had.
OK he crashed a few cars, but he never gave up racing, to him first was all important, not just a points finish. A great loss to motorsport. Having been to Zolder several times, it is very sad to his helmet on display near the pits.
As described by others 'Gilles had a rage to win', but he was absolutely fair, if he thought you had the corner he would let you go, but if he didn't he would fight tooth and nail for it, search for Villeneuve v Arnoux on You Tube. Crossed by a deceptive team-mate he went to his grave troubled by his team-mate realtionship breakdown.
OK he crashed a few cars, but he never gave up racing, to him first was all important, not just a points finish. A great loss to motorsport. Having been to Zolder several times, it is very sad to his helmet on display near the pits.
As described by others 'Gilles had a rage to win', but he was absolutely fair, if he thought you had the corner he would let you go, but if he didn't he would fight tooth and nail for it, search for Villeneuve v Arnoux on You Tube. Crossed by a deceptive team-mate he went to his grave troubled by his team-mate realtionship breakdown.
Love reading all the inside stuff about Gilles. He was one of my all time favourite drivers just for his racer style if nothing else, but he was also clearly a genius. I put a list together of my personal most outstanding talents in F1 and he is firmly in that list:
Nuvolari - 30 - 48
Fangio - 50 - 57
Clark - 59 - 66
Stewart - 68 - 73
Peterson - 75 - 78
Villeneuve - 79 - 82
Senna - 84 - 94
Schumacher - 94 - 05
Hamilton - 07 -
Nuvolari - 30 - 48
Fangio - 50 - 57
Clark - 59 - 66
Stewart - 68 - 73
Peterson - 75 - 78
Villeneuve - 79 - 82
Senna - 84 - 94
Schumacher - 94 - 05
Hamilton - 07 -
I know he was quick- a racer, but looking back and watching him ( I dont remember him live, so to speak) he made some daft mistakes. With a cool head, he probably could have achieved more then the raw statistics show. I've always thought wathcing him back in the way would be very frustrating: "...all he needed to do was finish, yet he pushed his tyres too far and..."
DavidY said:
Possibly the greatest natural F1 driver we have ever had
I would agree and add the fastest.DavidY said:
he was absolutely fair
Which is why I rate him well above of Senna, Schumacher etc.Nigel Roebuck has many good stories about Gilles, one of my favorites is when Gilles had an off.
It went something like this:
NR - You were sideways there. Did you run out of road?
GV - No, I ran out of lock!
The Wiki on Gilles has this, which says it all:
At the funeral in Berthierville former team-mate Jody Scheckter delivered a simple eulogy:
"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."
RIP Gilles,
heebeegeetee said:
A very poignant little piece here...
http://www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk/2010/05/06/rem...
For us old'uns around at the time, it's just impossible not to get very sad at what we lost that day. Apart from anything else, we were cheated out of years of watching a wonderful driver.
Very nice little vignette is that link.http://www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk/2010/05/06/rem...
For us old'uns around at the time, it's just impossible not to get very sad at what we lost that day. Apart from anything else, we were cheated out of years of watching a wonderful driver.
Personally, I've not read that much about Gilles but I've watched enough clips on 'tube to convince me that you're right HBGT; us motorsport fans were robbed of a huge talent much too early.
One of a kind. I don't think there has ever been a driver quite like Gilles Villeneuve.
No Gilles Veilleuve thread would be complete without this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl2tIFxSEGA
No Gilles Veilleuve thread would be complete without this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl2tIFxSEGA
Edited by Jungles on Saturday 8th May 01:16
williamp said:
I know he was quick- a racer, but looking back and watching him ( I dont remember him live, so to speak) he made some daft mistakes. With a cool head, he probably could have achieved more then the raw statistics show. I've always thought wathcing him back in the way would be very frustrating: "...all he needed to do was finish, yet he pushed his tyres too far and..."
I'm not sure he could have achieved much more... sure, had he looked after his tyres he might have finished fifth, and at that i'd agree he was not so good. But then balance that with the two wins in the 126C - I've just read Wikipedia on Gilles: "Harvey Postlethwaite, designer of the 126C, later commented "That car...had literally one quarter of the downforce that, say Williams or Brabham had. It had a power advantage over the Cosworths for sure, but it also had massive throttle lag at that time. In terms of sheer ability I think Gilles was on a different plane to the other drivers. To win those races, the 1981 GPs at Monaco and Jarama — on tight circuits — was quite out of this world. I know how bad that car was."His career is interesting too - skidoos, one year in FF with a two year old car, Formula Atlantic, and then F1 for Ferrari (almost
). He was, it has to be said, very inexperienced to begin with. There was a story in MotorSport a while back about how JV was a compulsive risk taker and used to put just enough fuel in his helicopter to get him to wherever he was going. One time as he came in to land in a circuit paddock the engine cut out while he was still four feet off the ground 
Rouleur said:
There was a story in MotorSport a while back about how JV was a compulsive risk taker and used to put just enough fuel in his helicopter to get him to wherever he was going. One time as he came in to land in a circuit paddock the engine cut out while he was still four feet off the ground
And his motorway games with Jody and Didier of "see how long you can keep flat out for and the passenger can't flinch!"I think it was Carlos Reutemann who said that it really hit home that Gilles had died when he got in his car after the '82 Belgian GP and the only vehicle left in the paddock was Gilles' helicopter.
Mazda Baiter said:
Rouleur said:
There was a story in MotorSport a while back about how JV was a compulsive risk taker and used to put just enough fuel in his helicopter to get him to wherever he was going. One time as he came in to land in a circuit paddock the engine cut out while he was still four feet off the ground
And his motorway games with Jody and Didier of "see how long you can keep flat out for and the passenger can't flinch!"Rouleur said:
Mazda Baiter said:
Rouleur said:
There was a story in MotorSport a while back about how JV was a compulsive risk taker and used to put just enough fuel in his helicopter to get him to wherever he was going. One time as he came in to land in a circuit paddock the engine cut out while he was still four feet off the ground
And his motorway games with Jody and Didier of "see how long you can keep flat out for and the passenger can't flinch!"
that would be good to read.After the race on Sunday, I dialed up the 1979 French GP footage on Youtube just to cheer up. Even my girlfriend, hardly a gearhead of any proportion, got excited watching Gilles and Arnoux pass and repass on the last lap.
Really too bad all that horsepower and downforce made things so uncompetitive. Glad we got rid of all that. Much better now with the highly regulated cars.
Really too bad all that horsepower and downforce made things so uncompetitive. Glad we got rid of all that. Much better now with the highly regulated cars.
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