Dave Makichuk review

1. Breaking news at calgaryherald.com Friday, May 11, 2012 F5Driving.ca
Just days earlier, I had shocked
my boss and quit my day job at a
Calgary financial firm, telling her
I planned to follow Gilles Ville-
neuve on the Grand Prix circuit as
a freelance photographer. From
the financial sector to F1 photog-
rapher, in one fell swoop. Yes, not
your typical career path.
Looking back on it now, it proba-
bly didn’t make a lot of (financial)
sense. Though it did get my foot
in the door, and I’m still kicking
around a newsroom three decades
later.
But such was the draw of this re-
markable French-Canadian driver
from Berthierville, Que., and this
was a once-in-a-lifetime oppor-
tunity. An opening in space-time
that I could not resist.
In those days, F1 coverage was
sparse, largely consisting of run-
ning to Billy’s News on 7th to get
the latest Grand Prix magazine. I
would read its glossy, colour pages
from cover to cover, marvelling at
the incredible work of the famous
motoring photographer, Bernard
Asset.
By some miracle, an amiable
sports editor who thought I had
promise — thanks Rocky, wher-
ever you are — agreed to accredit
me, in exchange for first right of
refusal, despite my limited front-
line experience. That could never
happen today, of course. Accredi-
tation to F1 events is now nearly
impossible.
And thus I was thrust into the
world of Grand Prix racing, afford-
ing me a unique opportunity of
watching Canada’s greatest race
car driver from the best vantage
point one could ever have.
This past week, May 8 marked
30 years to the day that Villeneuve,
then 32, was killed in a qualifying
accident at Zolder, Belgium.
While attempting to pass a
slower car, the wheels touched,
sending his Ferrari into a deadly
tumble. Villeneuve would be
thrown from the car and suf-
fer serious injuries. He never
regained consciousness.
The tragic sense of finality
of that day still cuts deep.
Yet, as the significance of
this day is remembered, I
would prefer to share some
thoughts and memories of
that dazzling, but all-too-
brief experience of follow-
ing a legend on the “circus,”
as some liked to call it.
My introduction to Vil-
leneuve came on a chilly
September day in Mon-
treal at the 1978 Canadian
Grand Prix. There, a crowd
of 72,000-plus half-frozen
spectators went absolutely
wild when Villeneuve’s Ferrari 312
T4 crossed the finish line to notch
his first F1 race on home soil.
Veteran auto journalist Gerald
Donaldson (author of Gilles Ville-
neuve: The Life of the Legendary
Racing Driver) would recount in
an interview that for the first time
in his experience, the roar of the
crowd actually drowned out the
noise of the engines.
I was there, as a spectator, and
can tell you that wasn’t an exag-
geration — and I was hooked.
The podium festivities were
topped off by Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau, who stylishly
arrived in a white Jet Ranger heli-
copter to make the presentation.
The celebrants also splashed Ca-
nadian beer, not Champagne.
Though I didn’t realize it at the
time, that made- in-Canada mo-
ment would eventually lead me to
the Zandvoort road course in 1981,
where I first had the pleasure of
meeting Villeneuve, one-on-one.
Such was the grandeur of that
encounter, I don’t remember
much of it now — I was too much
of a fan, totally in awe. I think I
asked him what challenges the
Zandvoort track offered, and he
indulged me in that regard, likely
sensing I was a rookie. I found
him friendly and polite, but to the
point. One could say, supremely
focused.
He was also none too happy
with his poor-handling race car,
but I would not find this out until
weeks later when that story broke.
The turbos had burst onto the
circuit that season, and while the
Ferrari 126C and its V-6 engine
was phenomenal in the straights,
the chassis was a beast.
A stiffer hydro-pneumatic sus-
pension meant the car was relent-
lessly being tossed around — even
worse on old tracks, where Gilles
called it “sheer punishment.”
Still, and inexplicably, he
had managed spectacular
wins at Monaco and Spain.
Witnesses to the latter say
it was entirely the driver,
and not the car that won at
Jarama, and perhaps only Vil-
leneuve could have pulled it
off. Somehow, he managed
to hold off four cars in a wild
game of close pursuit.
In other words, “bending”
the car to his will. Gilles
would call the race “perhaps
the best of my career.”
Two years earlier, in his
second full, meteoric sea-
son at Maranello, he would
grab the attention of F1
fans following a dramatic,
wheel-to-wheel battle at the 1979
French Grand Prix in Dijon, now
considered an epic moment in GP
history.
With the Renault of Jean-Pierre
Jabouille well in front, all eyes
turned to his teammate, Rene
Arnoux and Villeneuve in the
Ferrari, as they duelled fiercely
for second place over the last two
laps, swapping leads in dramatic
fashion — neither man
refusing to give an inch.
Keep in mind, this is
when racing, was still
racing, when the driver
mattered more than the
technology.
Thanks to YouTube, “ce
grand moment” — raw
and unfettered — is there
for all to see. Watch it for
yourself and count the
lead changes. See who
wins, and by how much.
Savour it, because it is
nothing short of remark-
able.
It is said that Arnoux
cried the day Villeneuve
died, and the day after
— such was the depth of their
respect.
Whether it was racing snow-
mobiles in Quebec, or in Formula
Fords where he first caught the
eye of Grand Prix talent scouts,
for Villeneuve, there was no other
way but full out, even if the car
wasn’t up to the task. Even if it was
falling apart!
Yet another spectacular mo-
ment I was lucky to witness would
come at the Ile Notre Dame cir-
cuit, this time at the Canadian
Grand Prix in 1981, where, in a
heavy downpour Villeneuve kept
going, despite having his front
spoiler slowly disintegrate, lap af-
ter lap, until it finally blew off.
I was expecting him to be black-
flagged, but it never happened.
Instead, wheels spinning as he
skidded around rain-drenched
corners, on the edge and barely
keeping control, he would take
third, behind winner Jacques Laf-
fite in the Talbot Ligier and John
Watson’s Marlboro MP4. What an
amazing finish!
Laffite, who was well liked on
the circuit, would later reflect a
befitting epitaph: “I know that no
human being can do a miracle.
Nobody commands magical prop-
erties, but Gilles made you won-
der. He was that quick.”
I would get to see him race on a
few more occasions: at the Italian
Grand Prix in Monza, where he
was literally worshipped by the
fanatical “tifosi;” at the ‘81 season
ender at Caesars Palace in Las Ve-
gas — a race held in the casino’s
massive parking lot; and lastly at
Long Beach in ‘82, in the vastly-
improved Harvey Postlethwaite-
designed 126C2, just weeks before
the tragic events at Zolder. (Ironi-
cally, that car would go on to
win the Constructor’s cham-
pionship in 1982 and 1983.)
And while each one of
those races is a story on its
own, there is one lasting im-
age, one unique moment that
stands above all the rest. One
that was worth it all.
A practice session, in a
light drizzle at Zandvoort.
Just me, Villeneuve and his
Ferrari mechanics working
away in the pits. The won-
derful smell of the rubber
coming off those smoking
qualifying tires as he sat in
the car, looking over his lap
times, waiting to go out on
the track again. Just me, this
larger-than-life hero and an odd
stillness, broken only by the sound
of my Nikon motor-drive.
These would be my best pic-
tures, the ones I would treasure
for a lifetime.
But, if I am to leave you with
one lasting image — that for me,
captures Villeneuve’s enduring
character — let it be this: a story
told by motorsport columnist Pete
Chapman in a Canada Auto Sport
piece from 1982.
It went something like this:
Somewhere, on a snowy morning,
the journalist met Villeneuve and
his business partner, Gaston Par-
ent, at an airport. They shared the
same destination and the same
car, so the subject of who was go-
ing to drive came up.
Chapman flipped the keys to
Villeneuve, who mildly protested
— he was tired after flying in from
Paris, and would rather not.
Eventually, he did agree, and off
they went. It is then, no surprise,
that very soon they were travel-
ling at warp speed, and then some.
Chapman could then hear mum-
bling, and thought it could be Par-
ent, saying something to the effect
of: “Shouldn’t have let him drive,
shouldn’t have let him drive . . .”
Somehow, they made it to their
destination safely. But Chapman
would admit, he wasn’t sure how.
Villeneuve handbraked the car
into the last parking space, with
elan, and returned the keys.
Chapman concluded: “Was I
worried? Not in the least. Will I let
Gilles drive again? Of course. But
you can bet your last penny that
I’m going to spend every Sunday
between now and then in church.”
gilles: Duel at Dijon an epic moment
Nobody
commands
magical
properties,
but Gilles
made you
wonder.
He was
that quick.
Jacques
Laffite
Photos, courtesy, Dave Makichuk
From top: Gilles Villeneuve in the
No. 27 Ferrari gets a good start
at Caesars in the Nevada desert;
quiet contemplation in the pits
at Zandvoort; speaking to the
media after qualifying in Mon-
treal; preparing to retake the
course during a practice session
at Zandvoort; and, undaunted in
the rain, at Montreal.
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