There was a flurry of events in Italy to mark the 30th anniversary of Gilles Villeneuve’s death in a crash during qualifying for the 1982 Grand Prix of Belgium at Zolder. Probably the most evocative happened on May 8, when his son Jacques, the 1997 Formula One World Champion, drove his father’s 1979 Ferrari 312 T4 at Ferrari’s Fiorano track
That was preceded by Gilles’ old friend, Rene Arnoux, now 62 years old, driving the same car over seven kilometers of open public roads from Tazio Nuvolari’s hometown of Castel D’Ario to Erbè, headquarters of the first Gilles Villeneuve fan club. The exuberant driving style of Tazio and Gilles made them firm favorites of Enzo Ferrari’s. On hand to oversee the proceedings was Giulio Borsari, long-time Ferrari racing mechanic and now president of the F1 mechanics association. The car Rene drove, by the way, was the one with which he and his Renault RE10 had those famous two laps of wheel banging as the two fought for 2nd place in the closing stages of the 1979 French Grand Prix at Dijon.
Gilles’ widow Joanne and daughter Melanie travelled from Canada to attend the opening of the exhibition “Gilles Villeneuve, Man of Legend” at the Foro Boario at Modena, which closed June 10. The exhibition was organized by Antonio and Jonathan Giacobazzi, Villeneuve’s sponsors, and owners of the T4.
Also, the Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport has just published a 160-page book on the diminutive Canadian.
Why all the fuss 30 years after his death? Joanne probably got it right when she said the fans loved Gilles for the style and enthusiasm with which he raced. His victory was to be the fastest on every lap, and people loved that.
Enthusiasts who are old enough still vividly remember Gilles’ performance at the 1979 Dutch Grand Prix, when a slow puncture caused his Ferrari to spin, but he would not accept defeat and drove the limping car back to the pits at breakneck speed, often with only two tires touching the ground. The car was too badly damaged to continue, however, and Villeneuve was forced to retire. It is incidents such as these, however that explain why we remember him.
by Robert Newman
