Besides The Usual Plethora Of ‘Forza Gilles’ And ‘Viva Villeneuve’ Banners Around The Track,

Charles congratulating Oscar on his overtake on Charles was definitely a proud dad moment

POR UNA CABEZA

“Everytime you look back on what you’ve achieved, I think it’s more the path that took you to your destination. It’s the story you tell, how you got there. In the end it’s a lot of small steps that you have to take.” — Sebastian Vettel

Always There, Women in Motorsport: The fast women of la belle époque

Women's history in motorsport is rich, and that has always been the case. Most of these stories however aren’t well known and aren’t spoken about enough. Women have always been in motorsport and always will be.

Three French women, Hélène van Zuylen, Camille du Gast, and Anne de Rochechouart de Mortemart are some of the fastest women from France’s La Belle Epoque (circa 1880-1914).

In 1898 Anne de Rochechouart de Mortemart (1847-1933) (also known as the Duchess of Uzes) became the first woman in France to obtain her driver’s license. While getting out of the car she announced with delight that woman had just overcome a new barrier. Not long after she also became the first to be caught speeding for which she had to pay a five franc fine.

in 1926 she founded the first female Automobile Club, L'Automobile Club féminin de France (ACFF)

The Duchess of Uzes in 1927

Hélène van Zuylen (pictured on the cover image) was a French author but also the first woman to compete in an international auto race. Baron Etienne van Zuylen, her husband, was the President of the Automobile Club de France

She entered the 1898 Paris–Amsterdam–Paris using the nickname Snail, while her husband used the nickname Escargot. She successfully competed the trail and entered the Paris-Berlin race in 1901 but was stopped by technical failure.

That year Hélène, a lesbian, would meet Renée Vivien with whom she would have an affair. Vivien's letters to a confidant revealed that she considered herself married to Hélène. Most of Vivien's work is dedicated to "H.L.C.B.," the initials of Zuylen's first names.

Just over a decade before she died, Hélène van Zuylen created the Renée Vivien Prize, Honoring the woman she loved and intending to give encouragement to female writers.

Hélène van Zuylen - Nouvelle Revue internationale illustrée, December 1908

Camille du Gast (1868-1942) finished 33rd (19th in class) out of 122 participants in the 1901 Paris-Berlin race. Du Gast, achieved the results despite driving her husband's 20CV Panhard-Levassor which was not designed for racing. She had to start the race in last because she was a woman. The race did mark 2 female competitors with du Gast and van Zuylen. She loved several extreme sports such as mountaineering, parachuting and frencing.

In 1902 she competed in the Paris-Vienna race and also wanted to compete in the New York-San Francisco but was refused entry because she was a woman.

In 1903 she would start the Paris-Madrid race. Which she would enter with a proper racing car, a works 5.7-litre de Dietrich car. It was a chaotic race with 207 competitors which unfortunately saw several deaths. Camille started in 29th and gained 9 positions in the first 120 km. She had climbed up to P8 before stopping to give medical aid to a fellow driver, Phil Stead (also driving a de Dietrich) involved in a near-fatal crash.

Camille du Gast in her 30 hp De Dietrich with starting number 29 during the 1903 Paris-Madrid Race

Later one of the leading drivers at that time, Charles Jarrot said that if Camille had not stopped Stead likely would have died. After an ambulance arrived she continued the race eventually finishing 44th or 45th in the shortened race.

The French government would stop the race at Bordeaux, as over half of the field (275 cars) had either crashed or retired and several drivers and spectators had died.

Open road racing was banned, so in 1904 Camille wanted to participate in the French elimination trial for the Gordon Bennett races, as the Benz factory team offered du Gast a race seat. But the Autosport Club France (ACF) banned women from racing. Du Gast published a letter in protest but the ban was defended as the ACF could not risk a woman getting injured or killed in a racing event.

Because of this she ventured to boat racing. One of those races was caught by a big storm which saw most competitors either abandon their ship or they sank. She was rescued and later declared the winner of that race.

Eventually she had to put a halt to her adventurous life when she survived an assassination attempt by her daughter. Nothing was ever the same for her after that. From that point she devoted herself to animals. She would serve as president of the 'French Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals'

NEXT UP > More female racing drivers from the early 1900s

Some information and lore about Gilles Villeneuve

During the driver's strike, Gilles played some joyful tunes, like music by Scott Joplin, he knew on the piano before it was used to barricade the door

He also played romantic music on the piano for Didier Pironi when Didier took some ladies out on a date

Alain Prost and Gilles Villeneuve shared a bed together during the driver's strike, and Patrick Tambay said if a baby came because of this, the rest of them might as well give up

Someone was snoring so loudly during the drivers sleepover that Gilles put a blanket over them to muffle it

Gilles once flew his helicopter near Niki Lauda's window at a hotel as he tried to land it. It woke Niki up from his sleep and Niki glared at him through the window

Enzo Ferrari saw Gilles like a son, and there were only a few drivers that Enzo was particularly close to

Gilles Villeneuve was discovered by James Hunt when Gilles raced against him. James and Gilles became quite close

He got nicknamed the 'Prince of destruction' at one point

Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi got up to lots of fun together, including a game where they competed to see who could crash their rental car the best. They even got Alain Prost involved

Once, Gilles was giving Jody Scheckter a lift back home in his helicopter, Jody noticed a red blinking light, but Gilles told him not to worry. Every so often, suddenly, the aircraft would free fall (as Jody put it), freaking Jody out before Gilles got it under control again. Jody grabbed the manual for the helicopter and looked up what the red light meant. It meant that the battery was overheating. He then realised Gilles was purposely shutting down the engine to let the helicopter battery cool and then carry on flying

"During the flight between Montreal and Milan, Villeneuve had told Parent that he wanted permission to continue doing risky activities like skiing, driving his 4x4, boating and the like. "I told Mr. Ferrari that Gilles wanted to be the owner of his body. You have to believe that I used unusual words! Because Ferrari looked at me and asked me if I was a lawyer. I told him no. Then he asked Gilles if he was a lawyer. No. Ferrari asked me to repeat my question, which I did using the same words. And he accepted. In fact, Ferrari understood, by mistake, that Gilles wanted to be the owner of his body, in fact of his racing suit! That Gilles wanted to negotiate his own personal contracts. This is not what we had in mind, but that we got by mistake!" Parent exclaimed

Quebec rock and pop band 'The Box' made a song 'Live on TV' inspired by Gilles televised death. A Italian rock band 'The Rock Alchemist' wrote the song '27' as tribute to Gilles Villeneuve #27 f1 Ferrari

A film based on Gerland Donaldson's book about Gilles Villeneuve, directed by Daniel Roby reportedly entered production in 2023. However there hasn't been much information on it since.

Feel free to reblog with any other information you know about Gilles Villeneuve <3

IL PREDESTINATO: THE PRINCE OF MONZA

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GILLES VILLENEUVE [1950-1982]

Mike Hawthorn including a photograph of his close friend, his mon ami mate, Peter Collins, in his book

I WANT ANTHEMS

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+ @nolansiegels THE FIRST ONE!

Vingegaard - Pogacar: a rivalry in numbers (updated).

118 race days together: 92 times Tadej finished ahead; 24 times Jonas finished ahead; 1 DNF for each one.

They raced in 4 GT together (Tdf '21, '22, '23 and '24). Tadej finished ahead two times, Jonas two times. They raced 4 one week races together. Tadej finished ahead 3 times, Jonas one.

Difference in time between them in the four TdF editions they compete together: 1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 01:25.

Difference in time between them in the seven ITT in TdF they compete together: 1st Jonas, 2nd Tadej, 00:06.

12 TdF Stages in which they finished first and second:

Stage 17 Tour de France '21, Sant-Lary-Soulan - Col du Portet (1st Tadej, 2ndJonas, 00:03). // Stage 18 Tour de France '21, Luz Ardiden (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 00:02) // Stage 7 Tour de France '22, La Super Planche des Belles Filles (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, same time) // Stage 17 Tour de France '22, Peyragudes (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, same time) // Stage 18 Tour de France '22, Hautacam (1st Jonas, 2nd Tadej, 01:04) // Stage 6 Tour de France '23, Cauterets - Cambasque (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 00:24) // Stage 16 Tour de France '23, Combloux (ITT) (1st Jonas, 2nd Tadej, 01:38) // Stage 11 Tour de France '24, Le Lioran (1st Jonas, 2nd Tadej, same time) // Stage 14 Tour de France '24, Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 00:39) // Stage 15 Tour de France '24, Plateau de Beille (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 01:08) // Stage 20 Tour de France '24, Col de la Couillole (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 00:07) // Stage 21 Tour de France '24, Nice (ITT) (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 01:03).

Stages in which they finished first and second (one week tours):

Stage 5 UAE Tour '21, Jebel Jais (1st Jonas, 2nd Tadej, 00:03) // Stage 4 Tirreno - Adriatico '22, Bellante (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 00:02) // Stage 6 Tirreno - Adriatico '22, Carpegna (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 01:23) // Stage 8 Paris - Nice '23, Nice (1st Tadej, 2nd Jonas, 00:33).

Most difference between them in a Tdf stage:

Stage 17 Tour de France '23, Courchevel: 05:45 ahead Tadej.

Stage 8 Tour de France '21, Le-Grand-Bornand: 03:25 ahead Jonas.

Stage 11 Tour de France '22, Col du Granon: 02:51 ahead Tadej.

Stage 15 Tour de France '24, Isola 2000: 01:42 ahead Jonas.

Climbing records (source climbing-records.com & @ammattypyöräily):

By Tadej: Planche des Belles Filles '20 (16:10), Puy de Dôme '23 (35:11), Col du Grand-Colombier '23 (44:32), Poggio '24 (09:26), Vallter 2000 '24 (31:28), Port Ainé '24 (46:10), Monte Grappa '24 (51:48), Galiber (from Lautaret) '24 (20:48), Pas de Peyrol '24 (07:22), Pla d'Adet '24 (25:08), Plateau de Beille '24 (39:58), Isola 2000 '24 (38:14), Col de la Couillole '24 (39:17).

By Jonas: Marie-Blanque '23 (20:58), Tourmalet '23 (from Luz-Saint-Sauveur) (50:54), Col de Pertus '24 (12:02).

Both: Cote de la Croix Neuve - Mende '22 (09:03), Tourmalet (from Campan) '23 (45:35), Les Bettex-Saint-Gervais '23 (18:25), Platzerwasel '23 (with Gall) (22:03), San Luca '24 (05:29).

images: Mont Ventoux '21, Galibier '22, Joux Plane '23, Plateau de Beille '21.