The Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal rejoined the FIA’s World Championship for Formula One calendar this year after a one-year hiatus, and among the events supporting the featured contest on Le Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was an appearance by the cars and drivers of Historic Grand Prix.
HGP’s members present cars from F1’s first 3-liter era—between 1966 and 1983—and always draw the attention of contemporary racers wherever they go, many of the onlookers having worked on these cars “back in the day.” In Montreal HGP satisfied a huge Saturday crowd with a large grid of 27 entries, with special attention paid to a pair of Ferraris (left) once driven by the circuit’s namesake, Gilles Villeneuve.
One of these is a 312T4 owned by Bob Baker and regularly handled by his son, Danny. It was driven by Villeneuve in 1979, the year he won three GPs, finished 2nd to teammate Jody Scheckter in the World Championship, and enjoyed the fabulous duel with Rene Arnoux during the closing laps of the French GP that continues to stir the passions of anyone who sees the video. The other is Bud Moeller’s 312T5 from 1980, a car in which Gilles was unable to achieve a similar level of success the following year.
The race itself was won by Californian Dan Marvin in Phil and Kathy Reilly’s ex-John Watson Brabham BT44-Cosworth. Marvin—whose other regular ride, Norman Racing Group’s ex-Villeneuve Formula Atlantic March 76B, was our cover feature in July—topped runner-up Mike Fitzgerald (ex-Keke Rosberg Williams FW08-Cosworth) by just over 20 seconds, with Hamish Somerville bringing his ex-Alan Jones Williams FW07B-Cosworth home 3rd to fill out the podium. In the class for cars from 1973 or before, John Delane took top honors with his Tyrrell 006, running 11th overall. For complete results and an extensive photo gallery from the event, please visit www.historicgrandprix.com
