Allan De La Plante newly published his biographical hit: Villeneuve The Racing Legend. On this special occasion he gave this interview to f1.classic.blog.hu
– When did you first meet Gilles and what was your first impressions on him?
– The first time I saw Gilles was in 1973. He was racing a Formula Ford in a support race at Mosport. I was with the medical crew in the last turn before the pit straight and we laughed and delighted with his power slides through the corners we could see.
– How did Gilles handle the situation when he was invited to Maranello? How would you handle it?
– He nearly pissed his pants. He thought the call was bogus of course, but once he settled down he was just as excited a kid with a new toy! I suspect he was euphoric.
– After the shunts in 77 and early 78 almost everybody was against him, particulatrly the Italian press. What was the opinion on him in Canada?
– Canadian are out of the loop generally with car racing. Hockey is their game and it was tough to even get stories in the papers if there was not race on in our country. The French papers followed it more with Gilles there racing. There was the odd story in one of the English papers if Gilles got in a mess like Japan. The shunts in 78? There were several. I suspect you mean Long Beach. There was television footage of it so it got a bit more air-time. I guess you could say we just loved him and expected him to do well. Canadians don't 'blow their own horn' like Americans.
– How did your personal relation develope with the time?
– It got rolling around 1974. He and Joann came to a motor home I had at the time. It was parked behind the paddock at Mosport. I had been doing portraits of the drivers. I told him in the pits I had one I had done of him at Mount Tremblant. He came one night to see it. It was late and there was a knock at the door and there they were. I was about to go to bed. They came in and we had a chat and I showed him the portrait. There was actually two of them. He wanted one for his Father. He had no money and I knew this. I gave him one and he signed the other. I still have mine. Where his is I do not know. I did many others in the next few years. Many for advertisements, or magazine covers and the centre-fold for the program for the 1978 race in Montreal. One was also used on the Canadian commemorative stamp. They sold 40 million of them at 90 cents each! We became good friends and I certainly had a lot of laughs and the odd white-knuckled ride when he drove. We had already decided to do a book on Grand Prix racing. It was to be written by Len Coates. As things got bigger the book started to grow. It was to come out in 1982. The direction of the book changed after Zolder. Gilles and I never had a contract. We had a handshake. That was good enough for both of us. We both had Gaston as our advisor so things were comfortable for us both.
– Except 1979 Gilles never had a proper car which was up to his talent. How did he live together with this, specially in 1980?
– Actually many times the car was not too bad, but the tires often let him down. He'd qualify mid-pack then work his way up and have the tires go off forcing him to pit and then he'd be at the back again. This was the big thing in 1980. In 1981 the car was a rocket ship but would not corner well. Spain is a good example of just how the car would crab its way through a corner then take off like a scalded cat in a straight line.
– Opinion of many that Gilles was the fastest but not really a World Chamipion material. What do you think?
He certainly had World Champion written all over him. I think Gilles was just starting to mature as a driver. He was much like Jody Scheckter, who was a bit of a wild man when he entered F1. This resulted in mistakes. Gilles was just getting to the point where he considered the condition of the car more and knew enough to listen to his crew and to slow down to conserve the car. He still wanted that fastest lap, but knew the car had to finish first. Vettel is much like that now. He has to have the fastest lap and takes unnecessary risks when he is so far out in front. So far he has been lucky that the car is almost bulletproof.
GO FOR IT:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H0B7K1Y
MORE IN THE BOOK GILLES VILLENEUVE REMEMBERED - SOON IN 2014
