3 replies to this topic

[Mat]

just read this at F1-Live.com,thought it was interesting enough.


http://www.f1-live.c...605112539.shtml

Jacques Villeneuve's first race...
with Honda! [05/06/01 - 11:25]




Jacques Villeneuve

ack in 1986, 15-year old Jacques Villeneuve, the son of legendary Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve, contested his maiden race behind the wheel of a racing kart that was powered – like his current BAR003 – by a Honda engine.


For the past two years, Villeneuve has been driving a Honda-motored British American Racing Formula 1 car. After a first season of apprenticeship in 2000, Villeneuve has finally climbed on the podium at the Grand Prix of Spain in May – stepping on the podium for the first time as a BAR driver. This weekend Villeneuve will contest his home Grand Prix – the Grand Prix Air Canada on the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal. It is quite ironic to note that 15 years ago, Villeneuve began his racing career with a Honda engine behind his back…



The story begins in 1985. Jacques - already a daredevil on skis - had shown interest in driving a race car. Richard Normand, who was at the head of the Gilles Villeneuve Museum at the time, recalled: “I first met Jacques in Europe in ‘85. In early ‘86, I received a phone call from the people of the Jim Russell Racing School based in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. They were interested in offering Jacques a driving course because his father Gilles had also taken this course back in the early ‘70s.” The details were quickly arranged and Jacques' mother Joann gave her approval but she insisted that no journalists would not be accepted at the track. In July 86, Jacques flew to Quebec from Monaco and discovered the thrill and excitement of driving a Formula Ford car on the gruelling circuit of Mont-Tremblant. On the third and final day, rain started to fall and the young star drove faultlessly. Jacques was hooked up on racing…



Jacques then spent some time with his uncle, Gilles' younger brother also named Jacques. Friends of the Villeneuve family in Berthierville decided to give Jacques Junior his first race start. They prepared him a racing kart powered by a four-cycle, 5.5-horsepower Honda engine similar to those that power the rental go-karts. In Canada, four-cycle kart racing has always been extremely popular due to the low costs of preparation and maintenance. Villeneuve was entered in a club race to be held at the St. Hilaire karting facility located near Montreal. The morning of the race, the word spread at the speed of light in the paddock that Jacques Villeneuve – the son of Gilles – was to race with us!

Jacques, only 15 at the time, had never contested a motor race before... “By sending me to a private boarding school in Switzerland, my mother made sure that I would be physically away from motor sport,” Jacques told me a few years later. So, Villeneuve showed up in the paddock early that morning, wearing a T- shirt, a pair of training pants and old running shoes. He had no racing gears whatsoever, so his uncle provided him with one of his red CART Nomex suits and a helmet, painted yellow and green to the uncle's colour scheme.



Villeneuve was very sky and introverted. To make things worse, people of his entourage kept him away from the onlookers and the other competitors. He seemed to be distant and but he was extremely intimidating despite his tender age. When he asked you a question, he looked at you straight in the eyes, forcing you to come up with a quick, sharp, short and accurate reply. Very few talked to him that day. He was treated like a star by his closely knit entourage. “Jacques was pretty lazy and did not want to get his hands dirty,” said Richard Spenard, the famed racing instructor who headed the Spenard-David Racing School when Villeneuve took his driving course one year after his kart race. “Jacques was a spoiled kid from Monaco who knew very little from the outside world. He was just discovering racing at that time.”



Back to the kart race. Jacques slipped in the racing suit and sat into the No. 3 kart. He quickly discovered the quick line around the St. Hilaire track. Despite his evident lack of experience, Jacques made very few mistakes that day. The starting positions were decided by a draw, not by qualifying times. Jacques started the race from one of the front rows. The field took the rolling start and he stepped hard on the throttle. Villeneuve sliced through traffic with indisputable determination. However, spectators standing in the paddocks could ear that the tone of his engine was slightly higher than the others... His engine was effectively revving slightly higher on the straightaways. And he was quicker. Jacques was totally unaware of this and he drove superbly to capture victory. Unfortunately, the motor was found to be illegal at technical inspection and Villeneuve was excluded from the final results. “Let's say that the engine was a little too strong,” smiled Clem Duriez, the owner of the karting facility. “Jacques had a very powerful engine that day! But he didn't need that. Friends who altered the motor probably had good intentions; they probably never expected young Jacques to be a front-runner. They simply wanted the kart to be a little faster than normal...”



Today, as the Formula 1 circus moves to the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal, Junior Villeneuve looks forward to winning his first Formula 1 race with a Honda engine.



Exclusive feature by :
René FAGNAN
CAPSIS International

[Chris G.]

Interesting read. JV "spoiled" - who would have thought?

If this had been Michael Schumacher's first race, we'd never hear the end of it...

[BARnone]

Oh please give me a break Chris G. Everyone knows that Villeneuve didn't come up to Formula 1 through the traditional European route via karting and other Formulae and led a sheltered life provided by his mother. Lets not get into that debate.

We also all know how Michael got to be such a wonderful driver because he was into karts at such an early age... blah blah blah.

BARnone.

[Chris G.]

Originally posted by BARnone
Oh please give me a break Chris G. Everyone knows that Villeneuve didn't come up to Formula 1 through the traditional European route via karting and other Formulae and led a sheltered life provided by his mother. Lets not get into that debate.

We also all know how Michael got to be such a wonderful driver because he was into karts at such an early age... blah blah blah.

BARnone.

Really, I liked the article and also like JV. Most of the F1 drivers are pampered babies from the start and neither MS or JV is an exception. JV proved himself on the spot quick when it came to CART and F1 and didn't need years of development.

As far as the MS comment, JV hasn't endured the constant cries of "cheating" as does Ferrari and MS.

So, no offense to JV...he just better not slam into someone at the hairpin again. I'm paying good money and want to see a podium for JV in Canada.