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Few people catch the imagination of a generation so much that they become legends in their own lifetime, but Gilles Villeneuve was just such a person. Over the course of his brief career he would turn in numerous performances that have passed into motor racing folklore.

Villeneuve's road to Formula 1 was far from orthodox. Whereas his contemporaries had their roots in four wheel competition, Gilles cut his teeth in the harsh world of Canadian snowmobile racing. Requiring great balance and deft throttle control, his experiences on ice would serve him well when he made the switch to cars.

It soon became obvious that Gilles had unequalled passion and desire to succeed. This even amounted to selling the family home in order to fund his racing career, a rather unpopular decision with his wife. He also had a penchant for spectacular accidents which would continue throughout his life. British Formula 1 driver James Hunt was the first to draw attention to Villeneuve's talent following a Formula Atlantic race in Canada where Gilles won by a distance, making a mockery of the assembled Formula 1 guest racers. Hunt's McLaren team handed Gilles his Formula 1 debut in the 1977 British Grand Prix. Driving an older model Gilles still managed to out-qualify Jochen Mass, Hunt's regular team-mate. In the race, but for a faulty gauge that forced him to pit, he would probably have finished fourth.

Incredibly, McLaren let the diminutive French-Canadian slip through their fingers and, by late season, Gilles was a Ferrari driver. His baptism with the team from Maranello was a difficult one. A collision with Ronnie Peterson in Japan resulted in an accident which killed some spectators. For 1978 he was teamed with the charismatic Argentinean Carlos Reutemann. The Lotus cars of Peterson and Mario Andretti were the class of the field but Gilles pushed hard all season and, fittingly, he claimed his maiden victory in his home Grand Prix.

For 1979 Gilles had a new partner, South African Jody Scheckter. That year saw two of Villeneuve's most memorable races. In France he had a titanic struggle with Rene Arnoux in the closing laps, resulting in both drivers being hauled in front of the stewards for dangerous driving. Arnoux would describe those few laps as his greatest souvenir of racing. In Holland Gilles had a deflating tyre while leading, which eventually caused him to spin. Despite only having three wheels on his car (only two of which were touching the ground), he drove almost a full lap

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