The two men landed in Milan. “Someone called Martara, a person close to Enzo Ferrari, drove us to Modena. We arrive at the property. A gate opened and we rolled in. We climbed out of the car and walked inside the office. It was a vast room filled with glass compartments that contained trophies. In the centre was a very simple table and five chairs. An electric bulb was hanging above the table. It looked like we were in an old Italian movie… Enzo Ferrari arrived with his translator and his accountant. We started talking. Gilles was so obsessed by the possibility of driving for Ferrari that he was going to say yes to everything. I had to calm him down.”
During the flight to Italy, Parent and Villeneuve discussed about the fact that Gilles wanted to pursue doing dangerous activities such as skiing, driving his pickup truck, piloting his boat and other toys.
“I told Mr. Ferrari that Gilles wanted to be the owner of his body,” Parent continued. “I guess I used the very wrong words! Enzo Ferrari looked at me and asked me if I was a lawyer. I said no. Ferrari asked Gilles if he was a lawyer. He said no. Ferrari asked me to repeat my question and I used the exact same words. He agreed. What Enzo Ferrari understood was that Gilles wanted to be the owner of his body and his racing suit – that he wanted the rights to negotiate personal sponsorship contracts. That’s not what we had in mind but we gained that point by total ignorance!”
Interestingly, there were no contract signed. “Enzo Ferrari showed us a letter of intent that had 19 points and which began by ‘As per verbal agreement’. Ferrari explained us there were no contacts in Italy because the Italian tax department requested that an amount of money equal to the value of the contact was put in guarantee. It meant that if Ferrari was going to pay Villeneuve $1 million, Ferrari had to give another million dollar to the tax department. And obviously, Ferrari would never get that money back. Despite his explanations, I still wanted a contract. Enzo Ferrari looked at me straight in the eyes and said ‘When I give my word, there are no problems. We don’t need a contract.’ So we left his office with the letter of intent.”
Parent continued his story. “Gilles drove the Ferrari on Fiorano’s test track the day after we signed the letter of agreement. The team’s chief engineer Mauro Forghieri was not confident in Gilles’ abilities to set up the car properly. On his third flying lap, Gilles lost control of his car and went off flying into the high grass. He rejoined the track and resumed his run. After one hour of testing, Gilles had smashed the track record. I could hear Ferrari and his business friends say between themselves ‘Il campion di mondo…’.
The day after, the two were to take a flight back to Montreal. “However, Alitalia had just been on strike the days before and it was total chaos at the Milan airport. We checked in at the counter and we were told there were no seats left on the next flight to Montreal. I called the Alitalia manager and we started discussing. He suddenly saw Gilles holding on to his new racing seat. He shouted ‘Villanova!’. He couldn’t believe he had the new Ferrari recruit right in front of him. Suddenly, everything was arranged and we were allowed three seats in the business class: one for myself, one for Gilles and one for his racing seat!” Parent recalled.
Gilles Villeneuve was treated like a king in Modena and Maranello. “In great secret, Gilles took Italian lessons at Berlitz. One day he arrived in Maranello and spoke Italian with the mechanics and the engineers. They were extremely impressed. When he was in Italy, Gilles was staying at the hotel Fini in Modena. He was a big star over there. He could do U-turns in the middle of the streets, drive up one-ways, drive on the sidewalks… it was crazy. One day he got stopped for speeding on the highway. He reached his bag and took out six photos of himself. He signed them and handed them to the police officer. And he got away like that!” Parent said of his days with Gilles Villeneuve.
During the flight to Italy, Parent and Villeneuve discussed about the fact that Gilles wanted to pursue doing dangerous activities such as skiing, driving his pickup truck, piloting his boat and other toys.
“I told Mr. Ferrari that Gilles wanted to be the owner of his body,” Parent continued. “I guess I used the very wrong words! Enzo Ferrari looked at me and asked me if I was a lawyer. I said no. Ferrari asked Gilles if he was a lawyer. He said no. Ferrari asked me to repeat my question and I used the exact same words. He agreed. What Enzo Ferrari understood was that Gilles wanted to be the owner of his body and his racing suit – that he wanted the rights to negotiate personal sponsorship contracts. That’s not what we had in mind but we gained that point by total ignorance!”
Interestingly, there were no contract signed. “Enzo Ferrari showed us a letter of intent that had 19 points and which began by ‘As per verbal agreement’. Ferrari explained us there were no contacts in Italy because the Italian tax department requested that an amount of money equal to the value of the contact was put in guarantee. It meant that if Ferrari was going to pay Villeneuve $1 million, Ferrari had to give another million dollar to the tax department. And obviously, Ferrari would never get that money back. Despite his explanations, I still wanted a contract. Enzo Ferrari looked at me straight in the eyes and said ‘When I give my word, there are no problems. We don’t need a contract.’ So we left his office with the letter of intent.”
Parent continued his story. “Gilles drove the Ferrari on Fiorano’s test track the day after we signed the letter of agreement. The team’s chief engineer Mauro Forghieri was not confident in Gilles’ abilities to set up the car properly. On his third flying lap, Gilles lost control of his car and went off flying into the high grass. He rejoined the track and resumed his run. After one hour of testing, Gilles had smashed the track record. I could hear Ferrari and his business friends say between themselves ‘Il campion di mondo…’.
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| Gilles Villeneuve, the day of his first try at Fiorano, aboard the 312 T2 Ferrari. (Photo Ferrari) |
The day after, the two were to take a flight back to Montreal. “However, Alitalia had just been on strike the days before and it was total chaos at the Milan airport. We checked in at the counter and we were told there were no seats left on the next flight to Montreal. I called the Alitalia manager and we started discussing. He suddenly saw Gilles holding on to his new racing seat. He shouted ‘Villanova!’. He couldn’t believe he had the new Ferrari recruit right in front of him. Suddenly, everything was arranged and we were allowed three seats in the business class: one for myself, one for Gilles and one for his racing seat!” Parent recalled.
Gilles Villeneuve was treated like a king in Modena and Maranello. “In great secret, Gilles took Italian lessons at Berlitz. One day he arrived in Maranello and spoke Italian with the mechanics and the engineers. They were extremely impressed. When he was in Italy, Gilles was staying at the hotel Fini in Modena. He was a big star over there. He could do U-turns in the middle of the streets, drive up one-ways, drive on the sidewalks… it was crazy. One day he got stopped for speeding on the highway. He reached his bag and took out six photos of himself. He signed them and handed them to the police officer. And he got away like that!” Parent said of his days with Gilles Villeneuve.