25 years ago, may 8

[baker]

Retirement after winning the '82 title? I can't see it myself. The title was not the reason Gilles went racing, and winning it wouldn't have stopped his simple love of racing.

I agree. Like you say Gilles was a racer and given the chance I'm sure he would have continued. One of the articles talks about the repeated offers from Ron Dennis to Gilles to drive for McLaren in '83. Fascinating to think about if he would have gone and, if so, what he might have achieved. Sadly, however, purely hypothetical.

[D-Type]

What can I add - "Gone but not forgotten" is a cliche but it fits

[Mifune]

the peoples champion indeed

[pino]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl2tIFxSEGA

[ShiftingGears]

1981 French Grand Prix
Qualifying at Dijon:


During practice at Dijon in 1981, Gilles crashed
at the Courbe de Pouas, an undulating, flat-in-
fourth right hander, with no run-off worth
mentioning. During the lunch break I found him
dabbing a cut on his jaw: "Bloody catch pole
cracked my helmet and broke the visor ..."

"You overdid it ?" I asked. "Just ran out of
road?" "No, no," he grinned. "I ran out of lock!
"The car is really bad through there - an
adventure every time. Go and have a look this
afternoon and you'll
see what I mean." I did. I watched the Cosworth-
engined Williams and Brabhams droning through on
their rails, and waited.

At its clipping point, at the top of a rise, the
Ferrari was already sideways, its driver winding
on opposite lock. As it came past me, plunging
downhill now, the tail stayed out of line, further
and further, and still Gilles had his foot hard
down. As he reached the bottom of the dip, I knew
the position was hopeless, for now it was
virtually broadside, full lock on,
Villeneuve's head pointing up the road, out of the
side of the cockpit.

Somehow, though, the Ferrari did not spin, finally
snapping back into line as it grazed the catch
fencing, then rocketing away up the hill. For more
than a hundred yards, I swear it, the car was
sideways at 130 mph. "That's genius," said David
Hobbs, watching with me. "Are you seriously
telling me he's won two Grand Prix in that?"

Nigel Roebuck's wonderful Grand Prix Greats
(1986)

"To Gilles, racing truly was a sport, which
is why he would never chop you. Something
like that he'd look on with contempt. You
didn't have to be a good driver to do that,
let alone a great one. Anyone could do that.
Gilles was the hardest ******* I ever raced
against, but completely fair. If you'd
beaten him to a corner, he accepted it and
gave you room. Then he'd be right back at
you at the next one! Sure, he took
unbelievable risks - but only with himself -
and that's why I get pissed off now when
people compare Senna with him. Gilles was
a giant of a driver, yes, but he was also a
great man."

- Keke Rosberg


"I love motor racing. To me it's a sport,
not a technical exercise. My ideal Formula
One car would be something like a McLaren M23
with a big normally aspirated engine, 800 hp,
21 inch rear tyres. A lot of people say we
should have narrower tires, but I don't agree
because you need big tyres to slow you down
when you spin. And you need a lot of
horsepower to unstick big tyres, to make the
cars slide. That would be a bloody fantastic
spectacle, I can tell you. We would take
corners one gear lower than we do now, and get
the cars sideways. You know, people still
rave about Ronnie Peterson in a Lotus 72, and
I understand that. I agree with them.
That's the kind of entertainment I want to
give the crowds. Smoke the tyres ! Yeah !

I [care about the fans], because I used to
be one of them ! I believe the crowd is
really losing out at the moment, and that's
bad."


“I never think I can hurt myself-not seriously. If you believe it can happen to you, how can you do this job? If you’re never over eight-tenths, or what ever, because you’re thinking about a shunt, your not going as quick as you can. And if your not doing that, you’re not a racing driver. Some guys in Formula One…well, to me, they’re not racing drivers. They drive racing cars, that’s all. They’re doing half a job. And in that case, I wonder why they do it all.”

- Gilles Villeneuve

[Garry Walker]

Retirement after winning the '82 title? I can't see it myself. The title was not the reason Gilles went racing, and winning it wouldn't have stopped his simple love of racing.

Indeed. windsor at it again. unbelievable guy.

Gilles was a great driver. Great and sad loss to Racing. It takes a special kind of person to win only 6 races and yet be more remembered and loved than drivers with far more wins and titles.

[jens]

It would have been magnificent to see battles between Villeneuve and Senna. I suppose Gilles would have continued also in the second half of the 80s.

[AAReagles]

... I suppose Gilles would have continued also in the second half of the 80s.

I reckon so as well. I mean why not ? He was only 32 then. And with his desire for the sport, I could see him easily doing like Andretti:

Staying in GP till his late 30's/early 40's (more like), then perhaps to CART later on, or assist his son's efforts in the sport. Whatever his endeavors would have translated to after GP, I feel almost certain he would have been related to racing somehow.



Interesing note about that fateful year 1982. Qualifying tires:
Gilles being regarded as (at the very least) one of the fastest drivers at that time, was the most outspoken about those dodgey 1-2 lap qualifying tires. Stating in one article I can recall from an On Track Mag, that he felt compelled to engage in "banzai" manuevers while performing his qualifying attempts.

[futuretiger9]

I agree. Like you say Gilles was a racer and given the chance I'm sure he would have continued. One of the articles talks about the repeated offers from Ron Dennis to Gilles to drive for McLaren in '83. Fascinating to think about if he would have gone and, if so, what he might have achieved. Sadly, however, purely hypothetical.

It's intriguing to speculate how Gilles would have fared in the Ron Dennis environment at McLaren. There was also speculation just before Zolder that a new team would be built around Gilles, with a major sponsorship from a tobacco company.

[ShiftingGears]

Windsor raises an interesting point - although I don't agree with it...I think Gilles was tiring of all the excessive politics in the 80's and it would not have not any better as it progressed towards the 90's. Although I think he would have loved the turbo, non ground effect era.