Remembering Number 27

Here a couple of my shots:

Hockenheim 1979: Alan Jones won the race.
Hockenheim 1981: Gilles in the garage

In 1980 Jones won the title and inherited #1 from Jody Sheckter and gave the (new) team leader of Ferrari his #27. That's how Gilles ended up with the now famous #27 in 1981.

Just pointing this out as apparently not everybody knew the story: A couple of years ago somebody asked that question to the editor of Prancing Horse and I had the (nerdy) pleasure of explaining it.
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Wow; very sobering on this Mother's Day. I saw Gilles at Watkins Glen a few times; he was amazing.
I remember watching the footage of his accident on one of the 3 news stations at the time. Can't remember if it was wide world of sports or not....

 

He knew no fear. For better or worse.

 

In the excellent autobiography about Gilles, Gerald Donaldson wrote that Gilles and Pironi would race from Monaco to the factory, and who ever kept their foot down the longest in 5th Gear in their 308's would win. Walter Wolf commented that he asked Gilles to bring his Boxer back from the factory to his house in Monaco after undergoing repairs, and when the car arrived it needed to go back for more work thanks to Gilles driving. Of course Wolf said this in an endearing way towards Gilles.

I don't think we will ever see another Gilles, and he was an awesome driver.

 

This means it's the 29th Anniversary of my first F1 race. Gilles was always my favorite.

 

Did Jean Alesi ever race with the number 27?

 

Yes, 92-94.

After Gilles' death Ferrari tried to "retire" #27 but the FIA wouldn't budge.

 

I was fortunate enough to see him race in person. Salut Gilles!
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Awesome shots!

 

plus 27!!!

 

Nice shots Kurt, what film were those on? What format?

I can think of only one guy since Gilles that has had the 'no fear', he's dead also, and it's not Senna. I have not seen anyone drive like Stefan Bellof. JMO

 

Kurt, excellent photos of Gilles, thank you for posting them.

Franco, I know what you mean about Bellof, the guy was an amazing talent as well. I have the clip where he died at Spa in 1985 colliding with Jacky Ickx at Eau Rouge. Hollywood could not have scripted it better.

 

I remember the day he died. I heard about it on the noon news... back in those days it had to be a huge deal for F-1 to be on regular TV...I remember seeing the footage before the announcer was on... just a sickening feeling... could not beleive he was gone!

I saw him at Watkins Glen in the rain in 79, it was magical... also back in 78 he was driving a huge race! ... HE WAS A JUST A GREAT GUY!

 

Thanks guys. They are all 35mm. The color are probably Kodachrome. Nothing makes Ferrari red pop like Kodachrome. The B&W was probably Tri-X. I rarely shot B&W back then. I was just playing around when I shot that. I took it from the top of a grandstand with my 600mm cat lens.

The head-on shot was also taken with the 600mm while standing on top of a trash can to get a view over the chain link. That's one of my favorite photos. The scan is actually of a print that I was able to have Gilles sign. One of my prized possessions.

Cheers,
Kurt O.

 

Pardon my ignorance folks, please. I found this thread as I searched for answers to the #27. Am I correct in understanding the #27 came from Alan Jones who then passed it to Gilles by default, if you will, because Jones had won the world title and the subsequent #1? If my thinking is correct, may I ask why/how Jones first used #27 and the significance of the number before it was displayed on a Ferrari? Thank you for any help.

 

Here is a detailed history of number 27, the text is in Spanish but it has a photo of all the cars and drivers who used the number.

https://www.motorpasion.com/formula1/el-numero-27

 

I can't say where Jones got it from, and yes it is true that he passed it on to Gilles by default.

 

Thank you!

 

in 1979 Ferrari won the World Championship for Manufacturers. during the season Scheckter was 11 and Villeneuve was 12. in 1980 they were 1 & 2. the following season Jones carried 1 as he was World Champion in 1980 and Ferrari took over 27 28. Villeneuve was 27. that is where the number gets attached to Villeneuve. Before 1979 - you usually had your official numbers as part of your entry to the CSI also known as FISA ( FIA today). after 1980 Concorde agreement race numbers for the season were designed on your finish in the constructors cup - with #1 assigned to Champion and #2 to the 2nd car.

Prior to 1980 - your race number was based on when you signed the CSI's annual race commitment that started in 1973. up to then each race assigned race numbers other than #1. Ferrari were numbers 11 &12 to sign on for CSI's annual race commitment that affirmed you would provide 2 cars for X number of races and in exchange you would get x portion of start money for showing up and bulk air freight. This was partly by Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosely and Prince Metternich who ran the CSI - the deal was that they could get more $$$ by banding together. Bernie then took the same idea to TV - in late 75 & by the end of 76 he had bought all the TV rights for F-1. He offered each team ( 10 of them at the time ) an equal share for $100K US at the time in 1975. ... most teams thought that was crazy! the rest is history. By then race numbers became tied to the team and not the driver other than #1 & 2.