18 replies to this topic

[GMiranda]

http://www.motorraci...trick-gaillard/

 

This is my brand new work and, as this driver hasn't any thread dedicated to him, I opened one. I think he was a prettu good driver who made some wrong choices and had also some bad luck with the timing he arrived at the teams. What do you think?

[eldougo]

I think he was a HUGE talent from French and it was a pity that ELF would not back him,  like lots of other French drivers of the time.

A class thing that happens in France.Had looks ,spoke good english and very talanted.

I was working in UK and European F3  series and he had a great reputation from other drivers and we all thought he would be one of those

that might make the big time F1.

The Monaco race when he was taken out by Elio De Angelis ,I spoke to him and he was completed disheartened 

by the move and it real got to him.

He was a lovely man racing all over the place along with his girl and their Mercedes Van,they did it hard ,he got a break with Ensign and the rest is history as the say.

Great MAN great driver and another that slipped through the net .

Hopefully he is enjoying retirement some were in the world.

Edited by eldougo, 24 January 2017 - 08:16.

[john aston]

My one  memory of PG is his Ensign team filling balloons with - acetylene ? - and making stupendously loud bangs in the pits the night after first practice at Silverstone in 1979. We were just normal spectators but in those happier times we could wander freely in and around the pits in the evening. I have  a vague memory of PG being involved too but it is, sadly, a very long time ago now.

[Mallory Dan]

I also rated Gaillard, that was a very bad thing De Angelis did to him at Monaco 1978. Shades of Senna moves/cheats to come....

[2F-001]

Around that time, one of the attractions of the big meetings at Silverstone was being able to roam, pretty much unrestricted, around the paddock first thing in the morning and again after the race - and team personal and drivers would talk to you.

 

One memory I have of Patrick G was his putting Andé Chevalley's (spelling?) Group 6 car on the front row for the Silverstone 6hrs/1,000km (whichever it was at that time); it was a car (quite a striking machine) and team I had, previously, been wholly unaware of. The car was, I recall, fast but unreliable and don't think it was ever successfully developed. I wonder what became of it.

 

I don't recall the de Angelis/Gaillard incident; that'll be my homework for today then...

Edited by 2F-001, 24 January 2017 - 08:40.

[GMiranda]

Thanks for sharing all those memories. Indeed, the ACR was very fast, but unreliable, and the team ha dno money to develop it

[arttidesco]

Remember readimg about Super Frog in Autosport back in the day, I too was unimpressed with what happened at Monaco, but something similar and equally pointless had happened some time earlier in a British F3 final a year or two earlier. With hind sight it is easy to see how improvements in safety and smaller and smaller differemces in performance the incident was a sign of what was to come.. Loved the graceful ACR shame it was another underfunded project.

[eldougo]

 Thanks for that reminder John Aston .I was in the Rebaque motorhome behind the pits that night it went off a BIG bang...

 

The old acetylene bombs were all the rage for a few years in F1 .The Ligier ,Ferrari,McLaren,and the Brabham boys  were good at it 

I remember Ensign team filling a balloon that was attached to a batter powered car and the drove it into the tent of Ligier one

night and bang, all the deaf mechanics came running out.Bloody funny.

 

And i bet Patrick G was behind that one.

[GMiranda]

Remember readimg about Super Frog in Autosport back in the day, I too was unimpressed with what happened at Monaco, but something similar and equally pointless had happened some time earlier in a British F3 final a year or two earlier. With hind sight it is easy to see how improvements in safety and smaller and smaller differemces in performance the incident was a sign of what was to come.. Loved the graceful ACR shame it was another underfunded project.

It was Keegan vs. Giacomelli in 1976 I think

[ensign14]

Perhaps the only driver whose helmet design was modelled on that of Alan Jones. 

[GMiranda]

I also rated Gaillard, that was a very bad thing De Angelis did to him at Monaco 1978. Shades of Senna moves/cheats to come....

 

I confess I think de Angelis was known as quite correct, it was a bold move that day, but nevertheless regrettable.

[GMiranda]

I think he was a HUGE talent from French and it was a pity that ELF would not back him,  like lots of other French drivers of the time.

A class thing that happens in France.Had looks ,spoke good english and very talanted.

I was working in UK and European F3  series and he had a great reputation from other drivers and we all thought he would be one of those

that might make the big time F1.

The Monaco race when he was taken out by Elio De Angelis ,I spoke to him and he was completed disheartened 

by the move and it real got to him.

He was a lovely man racing all over the place along with his girl and their Mercedes Van,they did it hard ,he got a break with Ensign and the rest is history as the say.

Great MAN great driver and another that slipped through the net .

Hopefully he is enjoying retirement some were in the world.

 

Yes, I saw everywhere he is recalled with his Mercedes van from the familiar business, his girlfriend - then wife - and the moustachoed mechanic.

[MCS]

Absolutely no disrespect, GMIranda - - especially as I have enjoyed so many of your previous biographies - but you really need to re-check the details regarding Formula Three and Chevron. 

[GMiranda]

Absolutely no disrespect, GMIranda - - especially as I have enjoyed so many of your previous biographies - but you really need to re-check the details regarding Formula Three and Chevron. 

Oh, that's no disrespect at all!!!! Why you say that?

I am young, I have so much to learn, it's almost impossible that everything I write is historiclaly accurate. May you tell me what's wrong and some more facts about F3 and Chevron??

I don't know if there are more mistakes, but I post the articles to have more feedback and learn always more. An historian, like any other profession, always has to know that the most he think he knows, there are even more he has to be conscious that has to be learnt,

[eldougo]

Thanks once again G Miranda for your thread ,i can't remember the moustached mechanic name,Jean seem to ring a bell longtime ago and your info is great full to all of us      .

[GMiranda]

Hello to all!!!

 

Here is the last version os Patrick Gaillard's article: http://www.motorraci...wrong-decision/. As you know, the website underwent some changes and will go through more to be more attractive for the readers soon.

[Sterzo]

What a fantastic article, GMiranda. I enjoyed every word. I remember Gaillard as a fast driver in F3; fascinating to hear his full story.

[GMiranda]

What a fantastic article, GMiranda. I enjoyed every word. I remember Gaillard as a fast driver in F3; fascinating to hear his full story.

 

Many Thanks!!!!!!!!! Hope peole enjoy, and if there are any who followed that period and know interesting stories, I'd love to hear them.

[Tim Murray]

Posted on behalf of Weaverbird:

Patrick and his wife at Pau F2