Remembering Gilles

There was a flurry of events in Italy to mark the 30th anniversary of Gilles Villeneuve’s death in a crash during qualifying for the 1982 Grand Prix of Belgium at Zolder. Probably the most evocative happened on May 8, when his son Jacques, the 1997 Formula One World Champion, drove his father’s 1979 Ferrari 312 T4 at Ferrari’s Fiorano track

That was preceded by Gilles’ old friend, Rene Arnoux, now 62 years old, driving the same car over seven kilometers of open public roads from Tazio Nuvolari’s hometown of Castel D’Ario to Erbè, headquarters of the first Gilles Villeneuve fan club. The exuberant driving style of Tazio and Gilles made them firm favorites of Enzo Ferrari’s. On hand to oversee the proceedings was Giulio Borsari, long-time Ferrari racing mechanic and now president of the F1 mechanics association. The car Rene drove, by the way, was the one with which he and his Renault RE10 had those famous two laps of wheel banging as the two fought for 2nd place in the closing stages of the 1979 French Grand Prix at Dijon.