Patrick Depailler

Today - August 1 - marks twenty two years since the great Patrick Depailler died in a Formula One testing accident at Hockenheim.

http://www.forix.com/iex/img/cap/Depailler+Patrick_0_cy_.gif

Patrick began his career in 1972 with Tyrell, the team that gave him his first victoy at Monaco in 1978.

He stayed at Uncle Ken's team until the end of that season, where upon the Frenchmen transferred to Ligier.

Patrick won a race for the team, but missed the last half of the season after breaking his legs in a hang-gliding accident.

He came back to F1 in 1980, with the struggling Alfa-Romeo squad. It was not a happy season, he failed to score in the first eight races. Then came that fatal test session at Hockenheim on the first day of August.

Working to improve the hopeless Alfa, Depailler was killed when his car was pitched into the barriers after a suspected suspension failure. After the accident, a chicane was installed at the corner of the crash - the Ostkurve - remaining in place until last year, albeit in a reprofiled form.

Unfortunantly, being born six years after his death, I never saw Patrick Depailler race. But I will never forget the incredible onboard footage from Montreal 1978 - Patrick man handling the Tyrrell around a wet circuit, just magic. He never won more than the odd race, didnt win the title and few today remember him, but he was a fine driver, talented, competent in the wet, and above all an enthusist.

Patrick André Eugène Joseph Depailler - 9 August 1944 to 1 August 1980 :(

http://www.forix.com/iex/imgz/_jmb/198005022_jmb_.jpg

Should I feel guilty for this???? *hides away*
I wanted to post this thread myself, but I thought it could be an irony....

Poor guy...he was younger than my mom and dad:(

One more reason for keeping the place the way it was....

DNQ, where did you take the profile from? I need it for my site!

RIP Patrick....
DQN where can we find this on board cams....
Thanks

Rha: I have the onboard camera, I can post it sometime maybe, it's actually a pretty good filesize, I'll see what I can do :)

Miss Hardt: I wrote all the words myself - feel free to reproduce them - the picture and helmet are from www.forix.com.

Scott

I saw Patrick racing. He was an excellent driver, like most of their comtemporaries. For me, he remains in the mythical pantheon together with Ronnie Peterson, Francois Cevert, Gilles, Jochen and some others...

Patrick was another one of those wonderful drivers who really only drove for the thrill of victory and for the competition and not for the pursuit of money and the other factors that most drivers seem to be thrilled with in todays circles.

His death was another tragic loss, a loss of another driver who always drove at 100%, always gave his best, never complained and deserved to be there, on the grid, fighting with the best.

The greatest tragedy, I feel, is that his two grand prix victories don't do justice to what was a wonderful talent. He could have so easily won more.......

Thanks for posting that DNQ.

Cheers.

This is my first post on this forum, and I feel this topic is really the first one that touched me.

The more I got into formula one (in the late 80's) the more I appreciated what Patrick Depailler represented. Being born in the same part of France as he was I always felt close to him, and later on as I met people who knew him and became friend with his family I realised he was really one of a kind. Not only as a driver but also as a human being.

I do not know if any of you had ever the chance to see the movie his friend Alain Boisnard, Adieu l'enfant, but it is one of the most touching tribute I ever saw.

He will always be for me one of the last true racing driver.

MrPedrito

Welcome MrPedrito. Have fun in this forum.

You'll find many fans of the 70's and 80's around here.

The first F-1 race that I ever watched was the 1978 Monaco Grand Prix, Depallier's first win. He was a favorite of mine from then on.

It doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but time stops for no man.

Gone 22 years, we still miss him...

The most unfortunate part of his tragic accident at Hockenheim was that the catchfencing that would usually have been up on the outside of the corner, was rolled up behind the guardrail on this day.

Which is why some argue it coulda been construed as a case for legal business.

Hi Mr. Pedrito *waves* Welcome...


OK, DNQ, so I can use it and add a link to your site?

Yes Miss Hardt, I have no problems with that at all :)
Do as you wish :)

Oops....yesterday I realized that you're actually a webmaster of a big great site......

*runs away, hides under the table and does not even try to peak*

I saw your (hi)story article....it's great! You might not have fanatically gathered as much info as me, but you wrote it in a real racing way.

No worries Miss Hardt - that article was actually written in a bit of a rush, so it may not be as good as I'd like.

Actually, my site is due for an overhaul soon, needs a bolder image, it feels a bit 'sticky taped' together at the moment.

I admire your Hockenheim tribute btw, great site, I have visited a few times to see what's new. I will add a link to your page some time.

You will????? Awww, that's wonderful! Guess it will help me, since it's still a new site.

I am also putting the screenshot of your signature there...I hope that doesn't need a credit, since I am not mentioning names for that sort of thinsg...or should I?

I do not know if this has been posted somewhere else on this forum, but today it is 24 years since the death of Patrick Depailler at Hockenheim. His childhood hero, Jean Behra was killed on 1 August 1959 at Avus.

Never saw him race, due to my age, but I've read and watched enough material about him to know he was a legend.

RIP Patrick.

Today he would have been 60 years.

I didn't see him racing either, but I know that he died in Hockenheim at Ostkurve. That place will be in the middle of the forest as years go by, just like place where Jim Clark died.

:(

Bleu

Thank you for the reminder. If my information is correct, Patrick's ex-wife, Michele, was born on the same day and year as Patrick, 9 August 1944.

Crowthorne - that's correct.

Where did you find this information about Depailler's date birth and his ex-wife Michelle ?

Mr Pedrito,
Can you tell me what kind of movie is "Adieu L'enfant" ?
There's a interview with Patrick ? or images of him with his family ?
Thanks..

Welcome csasml2007. :beer:

You've stumbled across an old thread. You could perhaps try sending a PM (private message) to Pedrito or an email, if those options are available. :beer:

Crowthorne (Andries) good to hear from you! Thanks for the info.
I first saw Patrick race in F3 over here in '71 or '72 I guess, think it was Mallory. It was obvious then he was going places, backed up by his speed in F2. I remember watching his great win at Monaco in '78, About 10 of us crammed in the back of the Royale truck at Snetterton watching on a black & white portable TV.
One of the many great characters back then, sadly lacking in F1 now.

I'm already did that, but seems that the last Mr. Pedrito's entry was in 2002.
Unfortunately an e-mail was not possibly only a PM

Thanks
Anyway..

Depailler's son Loic are a Journalist in Moto Revue, if i'm not wrong.
Somebody could made a DVD about him, there's a lot DVD biography
but not from Depailler.

It was a sad day. I was on holiday in the south of France when we saw the headline in the newspaper. We were just off on a coach trip, so bought the paper and struggled through the french to find out what had happened. Much missed - a great character and brilliant driver.

Csasml2007

I once read an article about Depailler which I got from a friend in which the fact about his birthday and that of his ex-wife was mentioned. If you are interested in the article, you are welcome to contact me. I am sure that with a little bit of searching I should be able to lay my hands on it again.

Andrew

Thank you for the information about Patrick Depailler especially about the 1978 Monaco Grand Prix. One can only wonder what could have happened had he not had his hang-gliding accident in 1979.

i'm very interested in this article. Can you tell me, if possible, in wich magazine (date, number) this was issue.

Thanks

I am mesmerised whenever I watch the amazing on board footage of him driving the Tyrrell. A sad loss.

There's a lot of "On Board" of him in a Home Page that made a tribute to Tyrrel P34.

csasml2007

The article appeared in the June 1998 issue of Motor Sport. Since my last reply I managed to find the article again. I also came across a couple of other articles about Depailler which might be of interest to you.

Wonderful tribute. Isn't Hockenheim the same place that Jimmy Clark was killed at? Jim Reed