Here's the story behind the idea, the design and the construction of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 1978 (just months before the first race in October of that year)
How Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was born in a half-hour
We interviewed Roger Peart, a British-born engineer living in Canada at the heart of the circuit's beginnings.
driving.ca
May 26, 2019
Thirty minutes: that’s the length of the decision-making process that would turn Montreal’s Île Notre-Dame into Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Late 1977. Roger Peart, then in his mid-forties, receives a call from the president of the Fédération Automobile du Québec. The Labatt beer company, then the title sponsor for the Canadian Grand Prix held at Mosport near Toronto, Ontario, wants to know if Montreal can host a Formula One race.
“Great question,” says Peart, who then asks for a little time for reflection—30 minutes’ reflection to be precise.
“I first thought of Île Notre-Dame. Then, I looked at a route that would start and end at the Olympic Stadium, but that would have been devilishly complicated to implement. I had other options in mind, I even looked at building a track in Laval.”
But “we did not have to go far down those roads,” says Peart. “The first idea was always going to be the best.”
So, after 30 minutes, he confirmed that yes, Montreal could accommodate a full-fledged Grand Prix, and that the best venue was Île Notre-Dame – a man-made island originally built to host Expo 67 a decade earlier – if for no other reason than its excellent Metro access...