May 8, 1982

[slngsht]

Gilles Villeneuve passed away

 

I was too young to watch him in action. My loss. RIP

 

I got these quotes from http://www.f1cartvideos.com

 

Some highlights

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?"

 

 

My favorite part in bold:

 

 

Gilles quote:

 

"I don't have any fear of a crash. No fear of that.

Of course, on a fifth gear corner with a fence

outside, I don't want to crash. I'm not crazy. But

if its near the end of practice, and your trying

for pole position maybe, I guess you can squeeze

the fear ..."

 

 

 

Jacques Laffite quote:

 

"I know that no human being can do a miracle.

Nobody commands magical properties, but Gilles

made you wonder. He was that quick."

 

 

 

Frank Williams quote:

 

"I was very proud of Alan that day. We had the

best car at the time, without a doubt, and the

only driver on the track we feared was that

little French Canadian ..."

 

 

 

Niki Lauda quote:

 

"Gilles was the perfect racing driver who knew

where to take which advantage where ..."

"Villeneuve had the best talent of all of us.

Whatever car that you put him in he would have

been quick."

 

 

 

Didier Pironi quote:

 

"When I joined Ferrari the whole team was so

devoted to Gilles. I mean he was not just

the top driver, he was much more than that.

He had a small family there. ... he made me

fit right in and I felt at home right away

overnight and Gilles made no distinctions

either ...I was expecting to be put in my

place, I was not number one. I was number

two. He treated me like an equal all the

way."

 

 

 

Jackie Stewart quote:

 

"Oh, I think he's superb, and I believe

he'll get better and better. At the moment

he still makes mistakes, misses the odd

apex, gets up on a curb, uses a little too

much road on the way out sometimes, but i'm

being hypercritical here. His level of

natural talent is phenomenal - there's real

genius in his car control."

 

 

 

Gilles quote:

 

"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

[kar120c]

The quotes are great!

But what these guy's can't say to the media is "Gilles was one crazy son of a bitch and he would have killed himself sooner or later".

Meaning he drove with TOTAL disreguard for personal safety, first place ... you won....................second place you failed (in his mind)

 

I saw him race in Montreal in the rain in the Ferrari where he just kept pushing for the lead, was told by the crew to hold back take 2nd and don't scrap the car, we'll take to points!!!!!

 

Guess what????????????????????

There must have been a comunication problem, him being french and the team being italian, he pushed on!

 

AND WON THE RACE, after the race it was reveiled that #27 had lost 1st ,2nd, and 3rd. as well as haveing no brakes left.

 

Haveing run the track,i have NO idea how he got a F1 car around this very small track with most of his gears gone, no brakes, AND IN THE RAIN

 

BTW the answer to how Gilles got signed, and more importantly why he did what he did is easy ( today) not so easy why back when there was no litttle black box sending instant info to the pits

 

Let's see back "in the day" there was no ECM, no traction control,, no launch control,no lift up-shift....etc...

 

WHY BACK' WHEN THE GUY IN THE CAR DROVE THE CAR, NOT THE CAR DROVE THE GUY

 

Sorry but that's my little bitching bit, and i think that's why F1 is going down, to much techno -no driver input:mad:

[slngsht]

TTT... another year...