Crash, boom, Gilles!

It’s 1976 at Mosport in Canada, and it’s Gilles Villeneuve’s first Formula Atlantic race. A violent crash, a wrecked car and a broken leg for Gilles… plus an honorable mention to the driver who stopped to help him out of his single-seater!

A mechanic from a rival team, Daniel Craig, remembers: “I was in turn 3 and on the previous lap, another competitor had made a mistake at turn 2 and damaged his steering column, which sent him straight into the wall at turn 3. A lap later, Gilles (Villeneuve) went off violently at the same spot, no oil on the track, just an over-attack, and his car came to a stop, destroyed, right next to it.”

Thus began the career of the legendary Gilles Villeneuve, who would soon dazzle spectators, as well as rival drivers, including James Hunt, at the Formula Atlantic Grand Prix of Trois-Rivières. His legend was born.