• Gilles Villeneuve: Maybe the greatest, or maybe not...but we'll never k

    From Alan@21:1/5 to All on Mon May 9 09:21:20 2022
    40 years ago today, one of the greatest drivers to ever compete in F1
    left far too soon.

    Nigel Roebuck:

    "Gilles was the one bloke who made you go and look for a corner in a
    practice session, because you knew that where everybody else would go
    through it as if on rails, Gilles would be worth watching. That day in
    the rain at Watkins Glen was almost beyond belief. It truly was.

    "You would think he had 300 horsepower more than anybody else. It just
    didn't seem possible. The speed he was travelling at didn't bear any
    relation to anybody else. He was 11 seconds faster. Jody was next
    fastest and couldn't believe it, saying he had scared himself rigid! I
    remember [Jacques] Laffite in the pits just giggling when Gilles went
    past and saying, 'Why do we bother? He's different from the rest of us.
    On a separate level'."

    <http://en.espn.co.uk/f1/motorsport/story/6630.html>

    Yes, you read that correctly:

    He was eleven seconds faster than the next fastest driver, who was his teammate, Jody Scheckter.

    ELEVEN SECONDS

    In his first ever grand prix, he set the 5th fastest lap of the race...

    ...in LAST YEAR'S CAR.

    If you haven't seen it already (and it, watch the last 4 laps of the
    1979 French Grand Prix at Dijon:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogTx_7a9A90>

    Perhaps the best wheel-to-wheel duel between two drivers I have ever
    seen. The last lap is epic.

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  • From Sir Tim@21:1/5 to Alan on Mon May 9 16:39:49 2022
    Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> wrote:
    40 years ago today, one of the greatest drivers to ever compete in F1
    left far too soon.

    Nigel Roebuck:

    "Gilles was the one bloke who made you go and look for a corner in a
    practice session, because you knew that where everybody else would go
    through it as if on rails, Gilles would be worth watching. That day in
    the rain at Watkins Glen was almost beyond belief. It truly was.

    "You would think he had 300 horsepower more than anybody else. It just
    didn't seem possible. The speed he was travelling at didn't bear any
    relation to anybody else. He was 11 seconds faster. Jody was next
    fastest and couldn't believe it, saying he had scared himself rigid! I remember [Jacques] Laffite in the pits just giggling when Gilles went
    past and saying, 'Why do we bother? He's different from the rest of us.
    On a separate level'."

    <http://en.espn.co.uk/f1/motorsport/story/6630.html>

    Yes, you read that correctly:

    He was eleven seconds faster than the next fastest driver, who was his teammate, Jody Scheckter.

    ELEVEN SECONDS

    Yes, Gilles had fantastic car control, especially in the wet.

    Another great wet weather driver was Pedro Rodriguez. I was at the BOAC
    1000 kilometers at Brands Hatch in 1970 - it was streaming with rain and Rodriguez won by 5 laps. Chris Amon remarked, “they forgot to tell Pedro it’s raining” :-)



    --
    Sir Tim

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  • From Alan@21:1/5 to Sir Tim on Mon May 9 14:47:38 2022
    On 2022-05-09 9:39 a.m., Sir Tim wrote:
    Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> wrote:
    40 years ago today, one of the greatest drivers to ever compete in F1
    left far too soon.

    Nigel Roebuck:

    "Gilles was the one bloke who made you go and look for a corner in a
    practice session, because you knew that where everybody else would go
    through it as if on rails, Gilles would be worth watching. That day in
    the rain at Watkins Glen was almost beyond belief. It truly was.

    "You would think he had 300 horsepower more than anybody else. It just
    didn't seem possible. The speed he was travelling at didn't bear any
    relation to anybody else. He was 11 seconds faster. Jody was next
    fastest and couldn't believe it, saying he had scared himself rigid! I
    remember [Jacques] Laffite in the pits just giggling when Gilles went
    past and saying, 'Why do we bother? He's different from the rest of us.
    On a separate level'."

    <http://en.espn.co.uk/f1/motorsport/story/6630.html>

    Yes, you read that correctly:

    He was eleven seconds faster than the next fastest driver, who was his
    teammate, Jody Scheckter.

    ELEVEN SECONDS

    Yes, Gilles had fantastic car control, especially in the wet.

    Another great wet weather driver was Pedro Rodriguez. I was at the BOAC
    1000 kilometers at Brands Hatch in 1970 - it was streaming with rain and Rodriguez won by 5 laps. Chris Amon remarked, “they forgot to tell Pedro it’s raining” :-)




    The very first race in my FF, I was already faster in the rain than at
    least one regular at the circuit who was also a racing instructor. It
    was right then that I realized I just might be able to do this.

    :-)

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  • From texas gate@21:1/5 to Alan on Mon May 9 14:53:04 2022
    On Monday, May 9, 2022 at 3:47:41 PM UTC-6, Alan wrote:

    The very first race in my FF, I was already faster in the rain than at
    least one regular at the circuit who was also a racing instructor. It
    was right then that I realized I just might be able to do this.

    doesnt matter
    you are still a fucking idiot

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From geoff@21:1/5 to Alan on Tue May 10 10:32:20 2022
    On 10/05/2022 4:21 am, Alan wrote:


    If you haven't seen it already (and it, watch the last 4 laps of the
    1979 French Grand Prix at Dijon:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogTx_7a9A90>

    Perhaps the best wheel-to-wheel duel between two drivers I have ever
    seen. The last lap is epic.

    Scary how little bodywork there was in front of those drivers !

    geoff

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  • From Alan@21:1/5 to geoff on Mon May 9 21:53:02 2022
    On 2022-05-09 3:32 p.m., geoff wrote:
    On 10/05/2022 4:21 am, Alan wrote:


    If you haven't seen it already (and it, watch the last 4 laps of the
    1979 French Grand Prix at Dijon:

    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogTx_7a9A90>

    Perhaps the best wheel-to-wheel duel between two drivers I have ever
    seen. The last lap is epic.

    Scary how little bodywork there was in front of those drivers !

    geoff

    Different days, different assumed risk.

    There's a racer who's recently returned to my class after suffering a
    major cardiac problem in his 1984 Van Diemen RF84...

    ...and he is way further forward than I am in my RF98 model.

    Have you ever seen a shot of a '70s F1 car with the upper body work off;
    one of the pre-carbon fibre monocoque cars?

    The driver looks like he's sitting in bathtub with his whole upper body
    just behind a thin shell of fibreglass.!

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  • From texas gate@21:1/5 to Alan on Mon May 9 22:17:16 2022
    On Monday, May 9, 2022 at 10:53:06 PM UTC-6, Alan wrote:

    There's a racer who's recently returned to my class after suffering a
    major cardiac problem in his 1984 Van Diemen RF84...

    ...and he is way further forward than I am in my RF98 model.

    doesnt matter
    you are still a fucking idiot

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  • From texas gate@21:1/5 to geoff on Mon May 9 22:20:22 2022
    On Monday, May 9, 2022 at 4:32:31 PM UTC-6, geoff wrote:

    Scary how little bodywork there was in front of those drivers !

    yet you are not scared of unprotected gay sex

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  • From bra@21:1/5 to Sir Tim on Sat May 14 09:52:16 2022
    On Monday, May 9, 2022 at 9:39:52 AM UTC-7, Sir Tim wrote:


    Yes, Gilles had fantastic car control, especially in the wet.

    Stuffy old Motor Sport magazine chose Gilles as the only possible cover to express 100 years of motor sport.

    --
    Sir Tim

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