Gilles Villeneuve: 30 years already

On May 8th 1982, I was an 11 year old boy sitting in my room listening to the radio waiting for any kind of news of my hero who was qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix held at Zolder; live TV feeds of F1 races were few and far between back then, especially when the races were in Europe. Only I didn't hear about where Gilles placed; I heard about where and how hard he landed. I had lost my hero, but a legend was born.

Fast forward 30 years and Scuderia Ferrari paid Gilles Villeneuve quite an hommage, by letting his son Jacques drive the car which not only gave Gilles his highest placing in the World Championship, but which also participated in one of the greatest, if not THE greatest duel in motorsports history.

Salut Gilles, et merci Jacques.

o7

Mythical 27

This being the second big racing weekend in Montreal, I feel like doing another race related post. No worries, there will be a bit of EVE news at the end :)

In Quebec culture, two elements of sports are venerated almost to the point of religious fanaticism. The first is obvious, the Montreal Canadiens hockey team. 100 years of history, 24 Stanley cups, and names like Richard, Lafleur and Roy make sure of that. The second element is Gilles Villeneuve, who is celebrated as one of the greatest of the greats even by his own peers. On that dark saturday morning, the 8th of May 1982, Gilles' 126 C2 was wearing the number that have since become a token of success in racing, at least for us Quebecers: Number 27. I know it sounds stupid, but this number is seen almost as a good luck charm, even after it had been worn in one of the nastiest car crashes ever to occur in Formula One. Here is my little pictorial of the number 27 in Quebec racing history.

The car that started it

In 1982, Gilles Villeneuve was at the top of his game when in Belgium he got a bit too aggressive in qualifying, trying to beat his teammate Didier Pironi, and he hit Jochen Mass's slow-running March on the rear right wheel. The Ferrari's ground effects got unglued from the track and the car litterally took off, tumbled, and ejected Gilles. To this day I still think how awesome it would've been if Gilles had had better luck and survived to do battle with then up-coming Alain Prost, and a couple years later Ayrton Senna. There's your Holy F1 Trinity right there!

Like father, like son

This past May, just before the Indianapolis 500 race, I wrote a post about Jacques Villeneuve winning the race in 1995. Here's another picture of JV's Reynard-Ford, the car that could do 505 miles faster than the others could do 500.

Ferrari 412 T and No. 27... winning combo!

Limousine service provided by Michael Schumacher, no less

Only 2 short weeks after JV had entered racing history, the Canadian Grand Prix was taking place on the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. And it is here that Jean Alesi got his only win in his lenghty career. The fact that Alesi was a Ferrari driver, and that Montreal is very well-known for its Tifosi population ensured that the post race celebrations were nothing short of chaotic, with people storming the track as the cars were still on the finishing lap trying to get to the pits. Alesi's car didn't make it to the pits though, running out of gas a few turns after the finish line. Seeing Alesi stranded on the side of the track, a certain Schumi stopped by to offer limousine service for the victory lap, one of the greatest show of sportsmanship I've ever seen from him.

And the future? JV in a Sprint car sporting the Right Number

Why not! Andrew Ranger winning the NASCAR Canandian Tire 100 in Montreal

Although he's never run a full season in NASCAR, Jacques Villeneuve did manage to get in a few races, and not without a certain amount of success. In 2008, in a rain-soaked Montreal NASCAR 200, JV was litterally showing the NASCAR pilots why the track is named after his dad. The extreme weather caused his windshield to fog up during a caution lap and he unfortunately rear-ended another car. The weather was so bad the race had to be cancelled, and victory was given to Canuck racer Ron Fellows. At one point in the race 4 canadians were in the top 5: JV, Fellows, Patrick Carpentier and Andrew Ranger, all 4 making mince-meat of drivers who have never set 4 wheels on a wet track. It should also be known that JV has won in Montreal in 1993 Toyota Atlantic, and though he's hit the Quebec Wall twice he has had some good runs in F1. To come back to NASCAR, last year JV came in 4th at the Montreal race, and other Quebecers have also done good: Patrick Carpentier finished 2nd in 2007's inaugural race, and Andrew Ranger won the 2008 Canadian Tire 100, in none other than a car sporting the mythical Number 27. To get even crazier with this, in 2008 Jacques Villeneuve entered the 24 Hours of LeMans with the Peugeot Team and got 2nd place, beaten only by Audi. Audi's car was sporting the number 2. The Peugeot car, number 7. I tell you, mythical !!!

To tie in with EVE Online, I will admit that as a great fan of Gilles Villeneuve, all my Claw interceptors are called GV27. And I have had some luck with 'em! Speaking of EVE, yesterday was my big night of hauling in preparation for the corp switch, which should be done this coming Sunday. So this is officially my last post as a member of Letrange's ChaosStorm Coporation. It's not like I'm leaving the alliance though so I'll be seeing him around (plus he lives like 15 minutes from my place!). The new corp (which will be announced after all is said and done of course) is starting to concentrate its assets in one place, and soon we should start doing roams and hopefully racking up kills. It's been a long time since I rockn'rolled :))

Remember, speed is everything.

Fly fast.

o7

Post race edit: No. 27 prevailed again as Ranger won the CT 100 once more, and track heir JV got 3rd place in a chaotic 200.

Good job les gars !!!

The Greatest Spectacle in Motorsports

Yes, another nothing-to-do-with-EVE post. But I can't help it, I love racing too much :)

We are just over a week away from the race that has almost as much history as cars, flight and radio. If the title of this post didn't give it away then know that it is the Indianapolis 500. Thirty-three guys and gals going balls-out (those girls have balls too... call 'em steel ovaries) on a rectangular and extremely tricky track to get the chance to drink a big jug of milk. To give an idea of how crazy this is, remember that these cars go fast enough and produce enough downforce to theoretically be able to run upside down, but unlike F1 cars that pressure is on full time for about 3 hours, and unlike other super-speedway races where the cars can just run flat-out because of the banked oval tracks, Indianapolis has very slight banks compared to other speedways, making the 90 degree turns anywhere from "tricky" to "oh shit I'm in the wall". Yes, the Indy 500 deserves its nickname very well, thanks.

Why do I love this race so much? Because there's just nothing like it. The only way to top it would be to have the equivalent in the air, but I don't think 33 pilots with almost identical planes would be crazy enough to try it. I've mentioned before that I've been a Gilles Villeneuve fan basically since birth, and even back in those days when GV was in F1 and JV only a paddock brat, I was already a fan of Rick Mears, Gordon Johncock, Bobby Rahall, AJ Foyt Jr, and all those nut-cases who each year spent the month of May giving Death the middle finger. A few people lost that gamble over the years though; the Indy 500 has more than its fair share of drama. So all the Indy 500s I had watched have been extremely exciting. Then came 1994.

The young paddock brat had grown up and proved in Japanese F3000 and Formula Atlantic that he had The Right Stuff. The year after he won his home race, on the track wearing his dad's name, JV made the jump into CART and not only qualified for the Indy 500, but excelled in it, finishing a close second thanks to a yellow flag finish and earning the Rookie of the Year award. Side note: even if you're a known Old Hand at racing, when you race your first Indy 500 you're a rookie. Never had a rookie finished so strong. And it was only starting.

In 1995, Team Forsyth/Green had created "The Car". To paraphrase Lightning McQueen, a fine instrument of speed and aerodynamics. After JV had won his first CART race at Elkhart Lake the previous year, he was now in a position to win not only the championship, but also the mythical race. The month of May was a good one because JV started 5th on the grid, but what followed was one of the most chaotic Indy 500 ever, with tons of penalties, crashes and yellow flags. But out of all the chaos JV went out and did something worthy of his dad: he came back from a 2-lap penalty to fight for the win with canuck comrade Scott Goodyear. And on the very last restart Goodyear did the unthinkable by getting black-flagged for passing the pace car before it even started getting back into the pits. Jacques Villeneuve had just won the very first Indy 505!

With the perfect number too !!!

It wouldn't be until 2009 before Quebecers started being successful again at the Brickyard. Patrick Carpentier had had a chance a few years before in the Cheevers/Red Bull team but the car's performance was less than stellar. But last year Alexandre Tagliani qualified for the race by the skin of his teeth, starting the race 33rd on grid, the last spot available, but earned the Rookie of the Year award by finishing 11th. And now here we are in 2010. Tag and a bunch of Montreal race freaks and business people started a new team called FAZZT, and with some solid starts earlier in the season things are looking good for the Indy 500 where Tag is now heading towards a Top 10 on the starting grid. Will he become the second canadian AND quebecer to win one of the most grueling tests for man and machine? On May 30th, we shall find out.

Speed. Is. Everything.

o7