This is some pretty wild video from an era of Formula One which abounds with it. We’re headed to the 1979 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort and this video will feature the travails of French-Canadian racing hero Gilles Villeneuve and his Ferrari. The guy was a rock star on the rise and was known as one of the sport’s great talents right up to the point of his death at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix when he and Jochen Mass tangled at 140mph +. But we’re off the tracks.
In this video you will see Villeneuve involved in a big dice when during that action he loses the handle on his car and ends up spinning off the course, the right rear tire (as one would see it looking toward the nose of the car) fails and is basically torn almost all the way off the wheel. Sitting with the car in some loose dirt and clearly angry, Villeneuve seems to contemplate his next move as he has the vast majority of a lap to complete, very late in the race, to get back to the pits.
Throwing the car into reverse and hammering the gas, he gets himself back on course and then attempts to aggressively wheel his now three wheeled car around the course. After spinning again, he loosens the pace a little but additional craziness happens when the entire suspension comes off the corner and drags behind the car as he works around the course.
Watch him pull a “wheelie” for the crowd as he goes down the straight!
Murray Walker, the legendary F1 announcer is on the call here and he’s at his most incredulously high pitched greatness.
