On this very day thirty years ago came to an end the life of one of Formula One's most perduring legends. A man who embodied the concept of motor racing in its purest, most romantic form.
It's hard to think of anything that hasn't been said already about Gilles Villeneuve. A man devoid of fear, who never gave anything other than his very best whatever the circumstances often capable of achieving breathtaking feats often in the face of impossible odds. We hear often the words "taking the car into positions it has no right to be in" about drivers who out-perform their machinery when they display impressive form. That expression could have been invented for Gilles, for whom the heroic was a matter of routine. Heroic feats he was made to perform, and he had to more often than he should have had, having found himself in the cockpit of two of the worst cars Ferrari ever produced in F1.
"Why try? He's different to the rest of us. Just different". J Laffite, Watkins Glen 1979
It speaks volumes of his enduring legend that the tales of his exploits continues to capture the imagination of those who like myself weren't even around during his short career.
Here are a few choice pictures in a sort of photo tribute from his days on snow to Formula Atlantic through to the Ferrari cockpit:
... and of course, THAT battle with Arnoux:
It's hard to think of anything that hasn't been said already about Gilles Villeneuve. A man devoid of fear, who never gave anything other than his very best whatever the circumstances often capable of achieving breathtaking feats often in the face of impossible odds. We hear often the words "taking the car into positions it has no right to be in" about drivers who out-perform their machinery when they display impressive form. That expression could have been invented for Gilles, for whom the heroic was a matter of routine. Heroic feats he was made to perform, and he had to more often than he should have had, having found himself in the cockpit of two of the worst cars Ferrari ever produced in F1.
"Why try? He's different to the rest of us. Just different". J Laffite, Watkins Glen 1979
It speaks volumes of his enduring legend that the tales of his exploits continues to capture the imagination of those who like myself weren't even around during his short career.
Here are a few choice pictures in a sort of photo tribute from his days on snow to Formula Atlantic through to the Ferrari cockpit:
... and of course, THAT battle with Arnoux:
