Tuesday marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of the great Gilles Villeneuve. He will be remembered today with a commemorative drive by his son, Jacques, in Gille’s race car from the day. This will take place at the Ferrari test track in Italy.

Gilles is remembered by all of us as a tenacious competitor and a genuinely nice guy. He is still sadly missed.

I remember that day so clearly.  But I prefer to remember Montreal in '78, watching Canada's first Grand Prix win with a bunch of Quebecois who didn't speak any English.  We all went berserk when Jarier stopped coming around and we realized Gilles was in the lead.

A little more on Gilles (I had never seen either of these previously).

http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formula1/News/Specials/Pages/who-was-villeneuve.aspx

http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formula1/Multimedia/Pages/Multimedia.aspx?serverid=e88adc0e-8980-440f-865d-4310eb7a03bc

Courtesy of the Canadian Motorsport History Group.

Some more tributes, with thanks to CMSHG:


http://autoracesponsor.co.uk/2012/05/08/video-a-tribute-to-gilles-villeneuve-rip-18-jan-1950-8-may-1982/

Tedd, I was there also that day in Montreal with a racer friend from PQ who had invited me for the wknd.  It was cold and damp, and we were probably the only 2 Anglais in our grandstand, but it wasn't long before a bottle of Remy Martin was passed around to help keep us warm.  

I was also at the Glen in 79 when he went out for practise in the rain and was 10 seconds a lap faster than anyone else.

Robert Barg

Autosport magazine is full of GV tributes this week.
I was at the 'Glen' for that famous practice session, I didn't see you Robert!
I was the only one in the stands sitting in the pouring rain waiting for something to happen, I had no idea that what I was about to witness would be a legendary practice session that motor racing jounalists would write about for the next 30 years!!!
What a performance that was, the worlds best drivers most of them not even attempting a lap, some trying and falling off all over the place and Gilles 10 seconds a lap faster than all of them. He was something special, he had such passion just for driving, the reason he is still remembered today.

I was not as fortunate as you guys.....I watched it on the tele. I think I saw Keith in the stands though, in the rain. However, I do possess some very cool photos of that memorable w/e. A local photographer, Robert Fenyo from Lions Bay has given us some of the photos of that and other F-1 week ends as he regularly traveled the circuit, had paddock access, met and new most of the teams and drivers and consequently allowed him some fantastic one off pictures. To some, they are just pictures, and to others they are realistic memories.

I had the good fortune to see Gilles when he arrived on "the scene". That would be the Canadian Runoffs in Edmonton in '73, I think. He was really rough then having just made the transition from snowmobiles to cars, but the obvious talent was recognizable. I saw many of his West Coast F/A races at either Edmonton or Westwood and was present at the Long Beach GP, which he won.

A fantastic driver!! But a very quiet, family man off the track. He spent a lot of time just plaing with his two kids.

Maybe he was just a kid at heart. I don't know. I do know we won't see his like again.

Check out the OldRacingCars.com website for the Atlantic results.

1974 was very much a learning year for GV.

Robert Barg

Bob_Williams wrote on May 9^th, 2012 at 7:50am:

I think I saw Keith in the stands though, in the rain.

No, that was James Hunt.

The man who 'discovered' Gilles and got him his first drive in F1 for McLaren!