Gilles Villeneuve Gets a New Tribute Fit for a Legend

New book Wow Gilles! expertly melds the intensity of track competition with off-track anecdotes and images from the racer’s life and career.

You can almost smell the diesel fuel emanating from the pages of Wow, Gilles! Villeneuve, the Undying Legend, a fantastic — and long overdue — new coffee table book that chronicles the career of late legendary Formula 1 driver Gilles Villeneuve. The hardcover tome comes approximately 35 years after Villeneuve’s tragic death on Belgium’s Zolder race track in 1982 and traces five years of his short but stellar racing career that began in 1977, when he made his F1 debut.

To provide the narrative for Wow, Gilles!, the book’s publisher, Skira Editore, collaborated with two F1 luminaries: celebrated Formula 1 photographer Ercole Colombo and longtime F1 reporter Giorgio Terruzzi, who both covered Villeneuve’s success, and a few infamous crashes, as they happened. Visually exciting and smartly told, Wow, Gilles! presents a solid narrative that expertly melds the intensity of track competition with off-track anecdotes and images from the racer’s personal life. Members of Villeneuve’s immediate family, including his Formula 1 champion son, Jacques Villeneuve, share insider stories that make Wow, Gilles! a truly unique and personal tribute to the French-Canadian racer. There are also exclusive stories from luminaries from the racing and automotive world, including the legendary Enzo Ferrari, who helped Villeneuve launch his professional racing career, and three-time Formula One World Drivers’ Championship winner Niki Lauda.

Packed with incredible, rare photographs that comprehensively chronicle Villeneuve’s life and career, Wow, Gilles! is a captivating read from cover to cover, sporting a clean, simple design that seamlessly melds the images and text in a way that moves the story along nicely without ever seeming like you’re reading a textbook.

Villeneuve’s story is strategically told in a series of short snippets scattered throughout the chapters. The brief bits expertly showcase the best moments of the racer’s career without overreaching to pack in every statistic. The simple, straightforward approach to celebrating the life and times of one of racing’s greatest drivers lets you enjoy Wow, Gilles! in one sitting. However, the timeless images will have you cracking open the cover again and again long after you’ve read it. Wow, Gilles! Villeneuve, the Undying Legend is available in the U.S. via Amazon.

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David Ciminelli

Los Angeles-based journalist David Ciminelli has covered everything from high-profile Lexus and Toyota reveals to reality TV show competitions focusing on custom automotive mods. He considers the "Droptops & Dirt" event in Malibu, “Luftgekühlt” and Sunset GT among his favorite automotive events to cover.

He has also interviewed artists like Megadeth and Jennifer Lopez, handled red carpet interviews at the MTV VMAs, and covered rock icons Rush getting a star on Hollywood Boulevard for media including The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, Out Magazine, IN Los Angeles and more. His byline has also appeared in Billboard, Ad Week, Backstage and Art Voice.

Currently, David contributes to over a dozen automotive websites, including Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Club Lexus, Rennlist, Chevrolet Forum, Corvette Forum, Team Speed and Harley-Davidson Forums.