Gilles Villeneuve 25 Years RIP

As an F1 fan I was looking on the BBC Motorsport site and there was a feature about the late/great Gilles Villenuve being killed at Zolder Belgium on 8th May 1982. I remember watching the news as a kid when it happened and it was part of that dark phase when F1 drivers were going out like flies. Like Senna it was a tragic loss for F1 and Gilles was IMO the greatest F1 driver to never have been a World Champion and could you imagine Schumacher, Alonso, Raikkonen etc. still racing in the lead with 3 wheels on their cars like Gilles did in 1979. I just hope the current crop of F1 drivers give us as much entertaiment as Gilles did but the season at the moment is wide open and interesting unlike the Schumacher fests of the last few years and Lewis Hamilton is an emerging talent who hopefully wont get built up to be knocked down like Button etc. has been. Cheers!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/1934994.stm

Alan Paul Kitching wrote: As an F1 fan I was looking on the BBC Motorsport site and there was a feature about the late/great Gilles Villenuve being killed at Zolder Belgium

on 8th May 1982. I remember watching the news as a kid when it happened and it was part of that dark phase when F1 drivers were going out like flies. Like Senna it was a tragic loss for F1 and Gilles was IMO the greatest F1 driver to never have been a World Champion and could you imagine Schumacher, Alonso, Raikkonen etc. still racing in the lead with 3 wheels on their cars like Gilles did in 1979. I just hope the current crop of F1 drivers give us as much entertaiment as Gilles did but the season at the moment is wide open and interesting unlike the Schumacher fests of the last few years and Lewis Hamilton is an emerging talent who hopefully wont get built up to be knocked down like Button etc. has been. Cheers!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/1934994.stm

Yeah i saw that at work, really sad stuff. Actually 13 years since Senna died last week too, which doesnt seem possible.

RIP Gilles

Gilles Villeneuve was a legend, loved his story about starting off racing on snow-ploughs or something (its been years since i read his biography) also loved the story of how he used to remove his race helmet, he always removed it from the back by pulling it forward so he could brush his hair forward to disguise his baldness.... his son obviously followed in his footsteps, in the racing and the lack of hair.

Sad its been so long, even sadder that so many people dont remember what a star the man was.

Liv xxx

Cars zoom around and go vroom.

Was watching the FIA '82 review the other day, Clive James, oh so flippant comment, hits home.

"The little car threw Villeneuve away".

How Jacques ever went into racing after watching that I will never know, balls of brass.

The last two deaths have been innocents too, a marshall and a photographer. (albeit the marshall had it coming, being an italian, and therefor refusing to stay behind the barriers which blocked his view of the Red Cars, one of which caused the accident that killed him).

But Footie's a man's game

Twenty-five years ago?! I remember it clearly!

Fuck me I am getting old...! :\ohwell:

Gilles Villeneuve was one of my first sporting heroes.

This was at the height of the FISA / FOCA war wasn't it? All the FOCA cars had withdrawn from the previous round at San Marino, and there had been a pact amongst the FISA drivers that they would make up for the lack of cars on the grid by putting on a show of duelling and overtaking to impress the crowd. Villenueve had got to the first corner first, and the supposedly the arrangement was that whoever did so would be allowed to win - but in the meantime do something entertaining. As it was, his team mate Didier Pironi didn't let him past him on the last lap and 'stole' the win off him. Villenueve vowed never to speak to Pironi again as long as he lived...

Pironi had a big accident later that season too and smashed up his legs. I think he ended up dying in a powerboat accident.

Edd wrote:

Yeah i saw that at work, really sad stuff. Actually 13 years since Senna died last week too, which doesnt seem possible.

RIP Gilles

I was in San Marino a couple of years ago,and a lot of folk were wearing Brazil t shirts,never really knew why,until we got to the big sports centre,and there was a bust of Senna,and a commemeration plaque,guess that sort of explained it