Monday, January 15, 2007
Jacques Villeneuve to drive Peugeot
Most, if not all, of the people reading this probably won't care about the following, but for someone who has followed Jacques career since he entered Indycar long ago, this is good news. First, a brief history lesson...
Jacques Villeneuve was once a prodigy. The son of racing legend Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques made a substantial mark of his own by becoming the youngest Indy 500 and Indycar champion in 1995. Subsequently, he was pegged by Frank Williams to race for Williams-Renault for the 1996 Formula One season. To everyone's surprise, Villeneuve took pole and nearly won his inaugural race! He would go on to finish second behind teammate Damon Hill that season. He even managed to outpace the vastly more experienced Briton several times during the season. 1997 would see JV win the driver's championship, taking 7 race victories from 17 races, thereby cementing the Villeneuve legend and his own legacy in Formula One.
Unfortunately, Villeneuve's fortunes would quickly take a turn for the worse. 1998 saw Williams in the unfamiliar role of heavy underdog, and the team was plagued by mechanical, as well as personal, issues. Renault, who had supplied Williams with incredible racing engines for most of the 90s, left the sport as a full-time supplier. The team's lead aerodynamicist, Adrian Newey - something of a legend in his own right - left for McLaren-Mercedes the year before. Williams was struggling mightily and the future began to look bleak, as Villeneuve's relationship with the team became strained. It was right around this time that Jacques' manager was putting together a partnership that would ultimately make British American Racing, or BAR, a reality. Villeneuve would jump ship to race for the startup team, making huge amounts of money in the process, but he would not ever see the sort of success he had experienced with Williams. After several seasons, BAR sold to Honda, Jacques moved on to Sauber and eventually out of F1 altogether.
And here we are. Villeneuve will be driving the Peugeot 908 HDi at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. The car is a brand new design, meant to compete with Audi's R10 diesel/biofuel cars. A tall order, as the Audis have looked unstoppable since their introduction and figure to get even better for 2007. Why should anyone care? Well, both cars are biofuel powered, which means zero environmental impact. Seeing racing cars making 650hp+ for hours on end burning the high grade equivalent of vegetable oil is pretty fecking impressive. On top of all that, Villeneuve has an opportunity to become the first racing driver to win the Indy 500, Indycar, Formula One, and 24 Hours of Le Mans championships. Pretty cool stuff, if you ask me.
Anyway, I'd had enough of all the emo/woe-is-me BS I've been posting lately and wanted to write about something I enjoy. Your mileage may vary. :)
Labels: cars, racing, villeneuve
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I really, really tried to care. But in all honestly it just made me really sleepy. But you'll probably feel the same way reading my blog... an ode to Lifetime stalker movies.
Yeah, it's not for everyone, but I'm sick of the other stuff and I was beginning to sound like a whiny pansy, which is not at all acceptable. :)