In Quebec City at the end of the season Gilles was a little distracted because he had flown to Italy and back earlier in the week to negotiate his
F1 contract with
Ferrari. Between all the flying and the pressure to perform at that critical stage of his career, Villeneuve crashed two cars during practice and qualifying as he tried to wrap-up his second successive Atlantic championship. Gilles was able to win the race, taking the lead on a late restart and beating Bobby Rahal- who was as quick as Villeneuve and Rosberg that year - into second place. Rosberg led the opening laps in Quebec City but hit the wall twice and finished four laps down in twelfth place, while Gilles won the championship from Rahal and Bill Brack, with Rosberg tied with Price Cobb for fourth in points.
All these memories, and many others too, at places like the fantastic Mt Tremblant road circuit in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal, contribute to the warm feeling I have for racing in Quebec, and at the storied Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in particular. Montreal is a delightful four-hour drive from home in New Hampshire for me, headed northwest across the Green Mountains of Vermont. There’s little traffic, the roads are good, and the scenery is soothingly bucolic.
Just ten miles across the border into Quebec there’s a great little restaurant called La Suisse where I love to stop for lunch. It sets me in the right mood for a weekend in Montreal. From La Suisse, it’s less than an hour’s drive across the flatlands of the Eastern Townships, turning left just before St. Pie - home of the little Sanair tri-oval where CART once raced - and heading west toward the Champlain Bridge across the St Lawrence River into the city.
