It will be the 30th anniversary of the death of Gilles Villeneuve exactly one month from yesterday, and his memory is still vivid and alive in the minds of many at Maranello.

May 8th, 1982 – Zolder, Belgium

There are three dates that I will always remember in a lifetime spent enjoying Formula 1 – the tragic losses of Jim Clark, 7 April 1968 (Hockenheim, Germany), Gilles Villeneuve, May 8th, 1982 (Zolder, Belgium), and Ayrton Senna, 1 May 1994 (San Marino, Italy).

I’ve since visited the fateful spots where Clark and Senna lost their lives, but I’ll try and visit Zolder in this memorial year, to pay my respects to Ferrari’s most likeable and talented driver.

His talent, his speed, his bravery which bordered on recklessness, all go to make his name still hugely popular with Ferrari fans, even among those too young to have watched him race.

To commemorate the date in a special way, Ferrari has decided to reunite the Villenueve name and his famous race car at the venue where it all began, Ferrari’s Fiorano track in Maranello.

It seems a fitting way to evoke the memory of a man who has, and always will, have a special place of honour in the history of Ferrari.

His son Jacques went on to become Formula 1 World Champion in 1997 whilst driving for Williams Renault F1, a title that his father would surely have claimed several times over, before leaving the sport in 2006.

Jacques never drove for Ferrari in Formula 1, but he did get to taste his dad’s 312 T4 at the 2004 Goodwood Festival of Speed, so it will be a special feeling to get behind the wheel again at Ferrari’s home track.

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Where are they now? – Jacques Villenueve

In recent years, Jacques has been competing in the Andros Trophy with Team Skoda and will return to circuit racing in 2013 in the inaugural i1 Super Series – competing for a prize fund of $2 million USD in Radical sports cars. T

he series featuring 9 teams of 18 drivers will be run across 5 venues including Sepang, Malaysia; Sakhir, Bahrain; Losail, Qatar; BIC, India and Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi.

Jacques will be competing against a cast of top ex-F1 drivers including Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jean Alesi, Giancarlo Fisichella, Karun Chandhok, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Mika Salo, Neel Jani and Alex Yoong.

Photo credits: Ferrari, Jacques Villeneuve, Victor Varela (Remembering Gilles Villeneuve)

“It is an honour for Lotus to host Martin Brundle, one of the most respected and popular names in motor sport. It was an incredible opportunity to demonstrate our exciting array of vehicles and the work of our talented employees to one of the most esteemed analysts in the automotive arena and I am delighted with his positive responses,” said Dany Bahar, CEO of Group Lotus.

Whilst he was at Hethel, Brundle also took a look around Lotus’ state of the art manufacturing facilities and sampled the Lotus Evora for the first time around the famous Lotus test track.

Brundle comments, “I remember first visiting Hethel in the 1960s, when my Father drove a Lotus Cortina. I am equally impressed now as I was then and as a Norfolk man, I am delighted Lotus is performing so well. I was pleased to see my old friend Gino Rosato and after hearing more about the future plans from Dany Bahar and his team, I am looking forward to the forthcoming products to come out of Hethel.”

Martin Brundle and his son Alex (Photo courtesy of: alexbrundle.com)

After returning from a stint around the track in the Lotus Evora, Brundle said, “I was especially keen to drive the Evora after reading so many positive magazine reports. On a wet track, the cornering grip and particularly the braking performance deeply impressed me. It’s a quality sports car.”

Alex Brundle is one of the rising stars of British Motorsport, having competed initially in T-cars, then progressing into Formula Palmer Audi in 2007. He finished sixth in the championship in 2008 before moving up to Formula Two in 2009.

He used his visit to catch-up with old friends and the 1997 Formula 1 World Champion was presented with a chronicle of Lotus’ rich history, from its founding years with a tour of Colin Chapman’s first workshops, to a session in the firm’s latest offering, the award winning Evora, on Lotus’ own test track.

It was a rare chance for Clive Chapman (son of Lotus’ founder Colin Chapman) to share with Villeneuve some of his father’s much loved projects and the two exchanged stories of the days they respectively shared with their fathers when they were competing in Formula 1.

It was a great moment for the Lotus workforce to see Villeneuve passing through the manufacturing facility often stopping to take in the detail of the process and to pose for photos and autographs. Recently appointed CEO of Group Lotus, Dany Bahar, was keen to stress the importance of this exciting visit to boost morale saying, “Jacques’ visit is an honour for Lotus and Lotus is a team. Our people are a blend of talent and expertise combined with passion for our brand. Our highlights are theirs, so this is a special day for us all.”

Villeneuve was delighted to have spent the day at the home of Lotus, “It has been a great day for me to catch-up with my friend Gino Rosato in his new role at Lotus and to see where the magic of Lotus comes from. My first toy car as a child was a replica model of Emerson Fittipaldi’s Lotus 72, I could say his name before I could say my dad’s! I really enjoyed watching them racing when I was a boy. It has been a really fun trip for me, and to see the people working to build the Evora was particularly nice.”

Following Villeneuve’s drive of the Evora he shared his impressions with the engineering team responsible for developing the car. Villeneuve, impressed with the performance of the car, concluded “It’s a really nice car, fun and comfortable to drive”.