Remembering Gilles - May 8, 1982

[Liz]

Today is the anniversary of the death of the greatest of the Ferrari pilots, one of the most complex and yet simple men who ever lived and died in and for his racing. Although he cost Ferrari a fortune in destroyed cars, he was a joy to watch and is still revered among the tifosi as no other Ferrari pilot, bar perhaps Alesi, ever was or will be. Gilles raced because he loved racing, and he would rather have led one lap than won a race by being "cautious" and "saving the car"...he was what race fans used to turn out to see. He was done in by his assumption that other pilots were sportsmen as he was (Mario Andretti said that Gilles was the only pilot he absolutely trusted, and many others said similar or the same) - and by that prototype of TGF, who never admitted he stole that race deliberately, one Didier Pironi...and by his inability to forgive the collusion of Ferrari in backing up that lying little ... never mind, it was all a long time ago and perhaps they have sorted it out by now ...

Farewell, Gilles. Je me souviens....

[Maxmil]

Saw Gilles destroy a car at Watkins Glen in 1980 during qualifying. He just slid off the track at the head of the straight and came scraping along the outside wall in a huge cloud of dust shedding bits and pieces of the car as he came. When he finally came to a stop just across from his pits, the Ferrari mechs were already frantically removing the tarp from the backup car. Gilles jumped out of his car, ran across the track, jumped in the backup and had his tires all warmed up before they removed his first car and cleaned up the litter.

A truly fine driver, RIP.

[Faster]

Gilles was the one that made me LOVE racing, specially F1 and specially Ferrari. Today I was watching the images of his fight with René Arnoux at the final laps of the 79 French GP. Watching this videos was a homework that Senna, Prost and MS (OK, I wont write his whole name here) should have done before starting playing dirty tricks in past episodes. Shame'em...

There are not enough words to describe this great sportsman. I would like to paste a picture here that tells it all about Gilles, but I just don't know how to it... Nevermind...

Forever Gilles!!!

[Tristan]

Quite possibly the greatest Ferrari driver ever. Too young to have ever seen him race, nor am I a collector of videos. (may be I should invest? Where's the best place to go find?) But hey, the stats say it all......

[djb]

My memories of him are seeing him driving around in the rain in Montreal with his front wing all bent up, practically having to look around it to see where he was going.

A real regret is having misplaced a nice sharp black and white shot of him sliding around the hairpin (again Montreal, don't know if it was the same year). This would have been in 80 or 81, and probably during qualifying, and taken from a old bit of the expo site that was high enough to see over the fencing, but quite close, maybe 30ft, so the sound was just incredible!!!(the delicious downshifts coming into it too)

If only we could replay memories, or in my case, if only I could find that set of negatives. In all the moves since then, who knows where they went. I do, however, still harbour a hope that one day they will turn up buried somewhere in one parents house or another.....

As I have brought up once before, I can't not mention the very clear memory of being in my best friend's basement and seeing the news of the accident on the television. Sort of a JFK experience for me in terms of remembering where I was.

[senna12]

Gilles was a once in a lifetime talent, who was acknowledged by his peers as being on a different level than them. The Ferrari was not the best car at that time, and his victories were never easy, but always spectacular. I often wondered why his contract wasn't picked up by McLaren after his excellent debut for them in the British GP of 77. He was running 4th when a faulty gauge caused an unscheduled pit stop, and he no doubt would have been at least 4th had he finished. Gilles could never understand it either, since it was James Hunt who had been instrumental in him getting the drive in the first place. But things turned out differently.......R.I.P. Gilles

[R]

Without doubt a great driver. He was gone before I started watching F1, but based on what I've seen of old footage, and read and heard about him, I'm sure I would have loved him.

[AlteredGrizz]

I have two statements that descride Gilles very well, the first one is from Gilles himself:
"Finishing 2nd means your the 1st loser to cross the finish line".

The 2nd one is a story Jody Scheckter once told in a magazine I have here.
It was a rainy Friday practice and the track was extemely wet and Jody was the first to hit the track,his Ferrari was running well and he did a great time, he was struting around the paddock feeling mighty proud. Now Gilles hits the track , Jody is still feeling might happy with his effort only to see Gilles finish 11 seconds ahead of his time!

Jody also said "Gilles is the best teammate you could have"

[senna12]

Grizz, I think that particular event occurred during the U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, I believe in '79. It rained heavily all weekend. During Friday practice, it was pouring, and rivers of water were flowing across the track, standing water everywhere. A few of the drivers had the nerve to venture out, including Jody, who went pretty well. When the assembled veteran journalists saw Gilles getting ready, they all took off and took up viewing positions so they could witness the event. Which was spectacular to say the least, Gilles throwing the car around in the downpour, with a lap average of over 100 m.p.h. Jacques Laffite was heard to say "I don't know why we bother, he's just in a different league than us."
Truer words were never spoken.....
Qualifying was dry, but the race was wet, Gilles winning by almost 48 seconds.

"The duel with Gilles is something I'll never forget, my greatest souvenir of racing. You can only race like that, you know, with someone you trust completely, and you don't meet many people like him.
He beat me, yes, and in France, but it didn't worry me-I knew I had been beaten by the best driver in the world." Rene Arnoux remembering
Dijon, 1979

I remember exactly where I was at the time I heard about Zolder, despite strenous attempts to forget about it.....

[AlteredGrizz]

Senna12 , I was 19 when he died, I still have a hard time with it.
Nobody has come close to what this man could do with a car, his car control was simply amazing. I have about 200 photos of Gilles exiting corners and I think only 2 of those he is not sideways..lol