19 minute read
DRIVE: Racing rebel Jacques Villeneuve gets candid about life behind the wheel
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BEING JACQUES
Skiing taught him everything he knows. His father’s sudden death was the making of him. And no, he doesn’t care for pushy racing dads.
WORDS : Mark Gallagher
If Netflix had existed in 1996, it’s not hard to imagine a Drive to Survive–style series documenting the Formula 1 rivalry between Williams teammates Jacques Villeneuve and Damon Hill. Both happened to be sons of famed fathers who died early deaths — Gilles Villeneuve while driving for Ferrari in 1982; Graham Hill in a plane crash shortly after the two-time world champion ended his F1 career.
Having finished runner-up to Damon in 1996, the younger Villeneuve, then 25, would go one better the following year, clinching the world championship title despite Michael Schumacher’s cynical attempt to take him out in the season finale at Jerez in Spain (an attempt that would result in Schumacher being disqualified entirely from the championship).
It has been 25 years since Villeneuve claimed his Formula 1 title, but he hasn’t stopped racing. Most recently, he reigned victorious during the final two rounds of the 2021 NASCAR Euro Series.
At home in Milan, Italy — not far from where his father, Gilles, entered the annals of F1 history as one of Ferrari’s most celebrated drivers — Jacques reflects on how it all started: with his dad. In Damon Hill’s autobiography, Watching the Wheels, Villeneuve’s former teammate writes candidly about growing up in the shadow of a famous father. Damon was often introduced as “Graham Hill’s son” rather than by his own name. Villeneuve, comparatively, never gave the impression that he carried the weight of his father’s F1 legacy.
“No, I never did,” he says. “I think I was under a shadow as long as he was alive. It was a di erent era, when fathers loved their daughters but were proud of their sons. It was tough to be a son back then. All I wanted was love, but that didn’t happen because I was sent to school in the mountains, living in someone else’s home, away from my family and away from my dad.”
But Gilles’ death during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder allowed 11-year-old Jacques to emerge from that shadow. “The fact that he died saved me, I think in that aspect, psychologically, which is a terrible thing to say, but it gave me freedom,” Villeneuve says. “When I went to boarding school after he died, it allowed me to grow up. I went from last in class to first within a month. And I was ski racing. Suddenly I became me.”
On skis, the French Canadian discovered the satisfaction of pure competition. “What I did in skiing, I brought into racing,” he says. “If we would go and jump some cliffs, I would make sure I would jump a cli that nobody else could jump, just for the sake of it.”
As with many drivers, Villeneuve’s move into car racing began with karting. He took a course at the Jim Russell Racing School at Mont-Tremblant in Canada. Outings in Italy in a Group N Alfa Romeo followed, and eventually, he landed a seat with Prema Racing in Italian Formula 3.
Then came some decisive moves, starting with selecting a manager. He appointed Craig Pollock, a former teacher from Collège Alpin Beau Soleil in Villars-surOllon, Switzerland. Pollock would remain at Villeneuve’s side for a decade and a half.
The shift to Japan to drive with Cerumo was a turning point in terms of on-track performance. Villeneuve then moved into the North American Toyota Atlantic series, in which he finished third in 1993 with Forsythe-Green Racing. The faith in Villeneuve displayed by team co-owner Barry Green and engineer Tony Cicale proved to be a catalyst. “That was super important because Barry and Tony, the two of them together, had my back,” Villeneuve says. “Barry believed in what I could do.”
Green so supported Villeneuve that he was prepared to risk losing their Player’s
••• Jacques Villeneuve was an unconventional and mercurial F1 talent who this year celebrates 25 years since becoming world champion.
••• Below: Jacques Villeneuve and his Williams crew celebrate winning the 1997 World Drivers Championship. Right: Gilles Villeneuve poses with his wife, Joanna, and children, Jacques and Melanie, during the 1978 Italian Grand Prix.
2. DRIVE
sponsorship if the tobacco giant insisted on supporting another driver. That ultimately resulted in Green’s split with Jerry Forsythe and the creation of Team Green.
In 1994, Villeneuve’s debut Champ Car season, the driver was crowned Indy 500 Rookie of the Year and scored his first race win with a closely fought victory over Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr. at Road America. The following season, Villeneuve won the championship with four outright victories, one of which was the Indy 500.
Suddenly, everyone was paying attention to “Villeneuve Jr.,” including Formula 1 executive Bernie Ecclestone. With his help, Pollock pulled together a deal with Frank Williams, who o ered Villeneuve a test at Silverstone. “The test went well,” Villeneuve recalls. “Driving the car was not really complicated. It was easy to adapt. The F1 cars had less horsepower than the Indycars at the time, but the car was lighter, much more nervous and nimble. It was reacting more like a go-kart compared to an Indycar, plus it had more G-force and was braking a lot later.”
Villeneuve’s first Formula 1 win came in the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in Germany. Three more victories followed in Britain, Hungary, and Portugal. It was in Estoril, Portugal, that Villeneuve produced an audacious overtaking maneuver in which his Williams swept around the outside of rival Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari at the Parabolica . That Villeneuve would never win another grand prix was down to several factors, starting with both Renault and Adrian Newey moving on from Williams. The 1998 season would net the driver only two podium finishes.
Then came the momentous decision to set up a Formula 1 team in partnership with Pollock, Reynard Racing Cars, and British American Tobacco.
Villeneuve remained with BAR through five seasons. His only regret is that he had an opportunity to leave after three years to join Renault — a contract was agreed to with then team principal Flavio Briatore — but the deal was never signed. Of course, things turned out OK for Villeneuve, because his eventual Formula 1 exit after the 2006 season propelled him to NASCAR.
“NASCAR, oh yeah!” he says, smiling. “F1 was amazing on the quali lap, to get that perfection with the team. But racing wise, when you get in the NASCAR, I have hardly ever had as much fun. I think that’s also because of the skiing — because the NASCAR is a big, heavy, soft car. You can drive around the problem. The way you lean on it and attack the corner, if you have some kind of issue, you’ll brake a bit harder or less, or you throw the car in. I love racing in NASCAR because it’s back to being a gladiator.”
These days, perhaps not surprisingly, Villeneuve often gets asked for advice by fathers looking to give their sons a chance to reach Formula 1. He is left cold by the pushy parents. “For me, that’s always been the worst approach you can have because you never know if the kid is really passionate. Does he really want to do it? Or will he say one day, ‘Dad, actually, I really don’t like what I’m doing ...’?”
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2. DRIVE 449
Brake Horsepower
369
Foot-Pounds of Torque 5 speed Manual Transmission
JOURNEY OF AN ICON
A car owner’s longtime insurance broker and confidante recounts his evolution from Countach buyer to seller.
WORDS : Dana Acabbo
Like countless enthusiasts in the 1980s, Anthony Battista was infatuated with exotic cars, but the Lamborghini Countach more so than any other motoring luminaries. “The first time I saw one in a magazine,” he remembers, “I said to myself, ‘I’m buying that car.’” Despite his relative youth, the 28-year-old from Connecticut was in the enviable position then to make that dream a reality, having saved enough to purchase one under the right circumstances.
Unfortunately, a new one was out of the question, given that none were available from local dealers without having to endure an interminable wait. Instead, Battista embarked on a search for a pre-owned specimen, which lasted almost two years, testing his patience and leading him to wonder if the right car would ever come along. Each month, he thumbed through the pages of Hemmings Motor News, but every time a listing caught his interest, he found that it had already sold. In 1988, however, an issue of duPont REGISTRY provided Battista with a promising lead.
Je Walther Dodge, located in Centerville, Ohio, was selling a 1985 Countach 5000S QV at an attractive price. After several long-distance telephone calls negotiating the terms, a deposit was paid, leading Battista and his father to purchase one-way airline tickets to retrieve the car from the dealer. “I was naïve,” Battista says. “It was advertised as a four-valve car, but when we arrived, I was told it was a two-valve model and didn’t know enough to care either way.”
The road trip back to New England was memorable, a 15-hour drive that neither father nor son would soon forget. Filling the twin fuel tanks required some skill to accomplish, but each stop for gas provided an opportunity to meet new friends. Complete
••• Thirty-four years ago, a young buyer discovered this 1985 Lamborghini Countach for sale in the pages of duPont REGISTRY. Now it’s your turn.
1985 LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH 5000S QV
ENGINE 5.2-liter V12
HORSEPOWER 449 bhp, 369 lb-ft of torque
TRANSMISSION 5-speed manual
DRIVE WHEELS RWD
0–62 MPH 4.8 seconds
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Go deeper to compare performance and explore other models.
strangers would approach them and ask to sit in the car, most of them women, which pleased the new owner to no end.
Driving the car home exceeded all expectations, although Battista recalls it was much di erent than it would have been in a Lincoln Town Car. “Everything was sti ,” he says, while “changing gears was tougher than expected.” Still, it was an incredible experience — driving a dream, with his father along for the ride.
Unfortunately, the throw-out bearing on the clutch failed two weeks later, which quickly taught Battista that exotic car maintenance is not for the faint-hearted. The engine-out procedure caused him to question the wisdom of the purchase, although the feeling faded once the car returned to the road. Over the next 14 years, he covered more than 6,000 miles, driving the Countach throughout the Northeast, including several trips to the beach.
But then, for the ensuing two decades, the Countach languished in storage. Battista considered restoring the vehicle, and that led him three years ago to We Are Curated in Miami, Florida, a well-respected firm in the exotic restoration community. The owner, John Temerian (a key figure in the International Lamborghini Registry), reviewed all the options with Battista, who remained uncertain of which path to follow. After taking the necessary time to think everything through — and with fastidious research into the recent rise in Countach values — Battista ultimately decided to sell the car, and Temerian agreed to purchase.
DRIVE
2.
LIKE NEW
The German high-performance tuning company Brabus recently became a Mercedes-Benz ClassicPartner.
WORDS : Gabriel Vega Cortés
Since opening its doors in the late 1970s, Brabus has become best known for its direct hand in tuning some of the most significant Mercedes-Benz models ever to roll o the assembly line. Thanks to 45 years of experience, the German tuner has officially become a Mercedes-Benz ClassicPartner, opening a new restoration and maintenance division dubbed Brabus Classic.
The central purpose behind Brabus Classic revolves around its 6-Star Restoration program. Dedicating sometimes upwards of 4,000 person-hours per vehicle, the technicians can completely tear down a project, restoring and reconditioning many original parts to retain the car’s authenticity. However, with its direct connection to Mercedes-Benz, the restoration division can replace any part as needed, leaving vehicles in “like new” condition. This work ranges from engine overhauls to paint, body reconditioning, and even EU conversion.
Beyond simply restoring these cars, Brabus Classic works with Classic Data, an organization that inspects classic cars and certifies their condition after the reconditioning work has finished. Through this certification, owners get the confirmation via a third party that the work done meets the organization’s high standards. Classic Data confirms with the accreditation that each restored classic is suitable for daily use.
After completing a project, Brabus Classic provides support on the maintenance side with an extensive parts catalog, keeping these classic cars on the road for decades to come. For example, in the case of soft-top convertibles, the division has access to original Mercedes-Benz materials to craft new components while retaining total authenticity.
While the restoration center specializes in upkeeping Mercedes-Benz’s most important classic models, the maintenance center will work with any of the brand’s classic cars, giving the same level of attention to a 300SL Gullwing as an enormous Unimog.
For owners who partake in rallies, Brabus Classic’s maintenance center o ers inspections to ensure the reliability of each vehicle before it undertakes a significant road trip.
Thanks to its new status as a Mercedes-Benz ClassicPartner, Brabus Classic stands as one of 24 o cial locations for restoration work across Germany. For owners in the United States, the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center, located in Irvine, California, is the primary restoration site.
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
To learn more about the German tuning company’s new division, Brabus Classic, and their designation as a Mercedes-Benz ClassicPartner, scan this code.
••• Drawing from 45 years of experience, Brabus Classic expends 1,500 to 4,000 person-hours on every project as part of its 6-Star Restoration program. Each restoration attempts to recondition and reuse as many original parts as possible to retain authenticity.
40+
Years of Experience
24
Number of Locations
1,500 - 4,000
Resotration Time (Hours)
THRILL OF THE HUNT
Keep your classic rolling with authentic OEM replacement parts.
WORDS : Jordan Aquistapace
As long as classic cars find fanfare in collector and enthusiast communities, restoration specialists will be on the hunt for parts. The process — search, procurement, installation — is misunderstood by most. Yes, there are challenges, and older models tend to require more upkeep when they’re on the road. But for the proud owners, the satisfaction that comes with restoring and driving a legend of the past could never be replicated with the latest and greatest sports car on the dealership lot.
While still keeping up with the advancements in design, technology, and performance that drive interest in new vehicles, industry-leading brands are staying true to their heritage by focusing efforts on manufacturing replacement parts for historic models. It’s a win-win: The pioneering chassis act as rolling marketing for a brand’s reliability while also bringing together individuals who share the same drive to collect classic automobiles.
The process of obtaining these hard-tofind replacement parts begins at your local dealership, where a knowledgeable parts department sta is available to search and order authentic OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts. In most cases, a vehicle’s VIN will decode the configuration of the build down to the nut and bolt, making it an e cient ordering process with minimal chance of human error.
Along with intelligent part sourcing systems, most dealerships are filled with employees who share the same passion for keeping classics on the road. A local parts counter employee could be just the connection you need to complete that dream build. Of course, these days, you can do it all yourself from the comfort of your own home thanks to innovative digital OEM parts catalogs with high-resolution images and detailed descriptions, ensuring the first choice is almost always the right one.
Owning and restoring a classic doesn’t mean forgoing modern comfort altogether. Contemporary parts, like touch screens and Bluetooth compatibility, can enhance the drive without losing the integrity of the build. Some manufacturers o er such accoutrements designed specifically for their legacy vehicles.
It all ties into the thrill of part-hunting, making the final, fully restored showpiece uniquely your own.
••• To preserve the authenticity of their historic vehicles, Maserati recently launched the Maserati Classiche program. Now, they are supplying spare parts that were not previously available on the modern market.
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LIVE
Expand your knowledge of car culture beyond the showroom, and supplement your lifestyle with vintage-inspired accessories and premium cocktails.
INSIDE p. 80—Watch brands including Omega, Breitling, and IWC re-create legacy pieces with modern-day movements and materials. p.90—These libations hark back to another era, however a few adjustments to the basic recipes ensure their flavor profiles will exceed expectations. p.96—Outfit the next cruise in your classic car with fine apparel and accessories designed with automotive heritage in mind.
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