Rene Arnoux vs Gilles Villeneuve

Reading time: about 1 minute | Written by Ben Branch | September 21st 2011

This classic Formula 1 battle is considered by many to be the best 3 laps in open-wheeled racing history, it features Rene Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve in a no holds barred street fight for second place at the 1979 French Grand Prix.

I’ve included twin videos for this battle, the top video is the original footage with original commentary and the lower footage is the Top Gear (UK of course) take, narrated by Jeremy Clarkson.

So grab a coffee, turn up the volume and spent a quality few minutes watching the pinnacle of Formula 1 history.

Ben Branch( Senior Editor )

Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.

Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.

Published by Ben Branch - September 21st 2011

Related Posts

This is a 1995 AC Brooklands, it’s a rare British sports car that was built in limited numbers, but the prices on them aren’t as high as you might expect, with auction prices typically…

This is a rare, original 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Twister Special, it’s one of the 96 Twister Specials built in 1970, with only 52 still known to exist – according to the official…

This is an original 1968 Dodge Charger R/T, it was factory-fitted with the largest engine the model could be ordered with – the 440 cubic inch (7.2 liter) Magnum V8 producing 375 bhp and…

This is the new Jurassic Park Jeep® Wrangler from Lego, each set consists of 1,924 pieces, and comes with the vehicle itself, a small jungle environment with sign, a Dennis Nedry minifigure, and some…

This is a first-year, first-generation Ford Mustang Mach 1 from 1969, and interestingly, it’s a rare S-code version with the 390 V8 and the 4-speed manual transmission. The Mach 1 would become an instant…

This is the Plymouth Fireball 500 by Barris Kustom, it was built as Frankie Avalon’s character’s hero car for the 1966 film also named “Fireball 500.” The car wasn’t just a show pony, when…