Gilles Villeneuve

[Gordonwr]

Tomorrow it is 25 years since Gilles Villeneuve sadly lost his life in a practice accident at Zolder trying to overtake Jochen Mass. Having worked at the circuit for the last 15yrs my first job was to visit the memorial at the outside of the corner and tidy it up as it was always in a sadly neglected condition. It has now been changed with a longer lasting stone in place, although it is not in a spectator area. For years a copy of his helmet was on a plinth alongside the podium but this was removed a few years ago, whilst his signature is still on the wall in "Ottos bar"
 I will be there again for the 24hr race to see if the memorial has survived all the changes that have been recently made to the circuit.

[Pilgrim]

I'd certainly hope that a driver like Gilles Villeneuve would be given the respect that his memory and achievements deserve.

RIP Gilles.

[Boorish Grobian]

I remember May 8,1982 like it was yesterday.  Was watching when CBS Sports Spectacular came on that Saturday afternoon, was half paying attention when the announcer mentioned "a tragedy this morning in the world of Formula 1 racing".  I was absolutely stunned, all day long the TV networks continued replaying the footage of Gilles being ejected from the shattered Ferrari.  As I said, I was stunned, but to be honest, we could all see it coming.  Gilles just stepped over the edge too often.  Over the years some people have tried to blame Didier Pironi for what happened, which is utter nonsense.  GV's accident was eventually going to happen somewhere, he was on his in-lap when the shunt took place, Mauro Forgheri had already given him the in sign the lap before.  I was very fortunate to have seen race GV race many times during his Formula Atlantic days, some of the battles he had with the likes of Keke Rosberg, Bobby Rahal, Tom Gloy, etc. are etched in my memory.  My Uncle was standing with me along the fencing watching GV during practice once, he looked at me and said, "that Villeneuve kid will be a helluva driver, if he lives long enough".  That instantly came to mind the afternoon of May 8, 1982.
Fax