new painting; Brazilian gp 1980

Hello again, its been a while I know, but here is a new picture I have been working on. It depicts the start of the 1980 Brazilian GP where Villeneuve gets a flying start to challenge the front row into turn 1 of the awesome old Interlagos layout.

Acrylic on canvas 16"x12".

http://www.cheall.co.uk/f1paints/JabVilPir.jpg
more details here;
http://www.cheall.co.uk/f1paints/f1paintsInter80.htm

"A staggered "one-by-one" start line up was
employed at Interlagos, just as it had been in
Argentina, so Jabouille's Renault had a slight
advantage before the starting signal was given.
But the French turbo car was tardy getting off the
line and Pironi was alongside it as they drew
alongside the pit wall. But both Frenchmen's
efforts were eclipsed by the never-say-die
Villeneuve who is quickly gaining a reputation for
the best starts in the Grand Prix business- His
Ferrari came rocketing up between the Renault
and the Ligier, diving into the left hander after
the pits well in the lead. Jabouille initially
dropped back to fourth behind the two Ligiers,
but he powered back into second place as they
hurtled down the first long straight and was right
with Villeneuve as they came up through the
infield loops and out onto the start/finish straight
to complete their opening lap. Third was Pironi
with Laffite right on his tail and the remainder of
the field already spacing out after that hectic five
mile opening lap. Already there was one casualty,
Reutemann's Williams having broken a driveshaft
as the Argentinian snatched second gear
accelerating off the grid. He limped round a single
slow lap before pulling in to retire, just in time to
meet a rather flustered Mario Andreiti walking
back to the pits after spinning his Lotus 81 off
through the catch fencing at the first corner at the
start of the second lap. The Lotus tipped onto two
wheels during its crazy excursion and the
American feared briefly that it would tip over—
fortunately it landed on its wheels, but very much
the worse for wear.

Jabouille closed up on Villeneuve as they went
into lap two. passing the Ferrari at the end of the
long straight and streaking away as the French
Canadian eased up suddenly, dropping back
quickly as he sensed something was wrong with
his car's handling. On lap five Pironi, who had
dropped back behind his team mate. came into
the pits to investigate a violent understeer
problem which made him suspect that one of his
Ligier's skirts had stuck up. By the time he
stopped the skirt had fallen down again, so his
team softened up his front rollbar and sent him
back into the race lor a game chase back through
the field. Further back in the field Regazzoni's
Ensign was fading after a promising start,
dropping away with acute understeer and a
misfiring engine, while Villeneuve was soon back
to sixth place in close company with team mate
Scheckter. Arnoux was up to third ahead of de
Angelis and then came Jones's ill-handling
Williams in fifth position, the Australian racing as
best he could despite his problems." AH. MOTORSPORT Magazine

the race was eventually won by Arnoux, his first and Renault's second victory.

Stunning John, just stunning.

I believe it is the 25th anniversary of Gilles' death this year too......

Very nice work, it really has the F1 racing feeling in it.

Man the racecars of these days looked like toy cars...

Very nice work John. The compostition with the staggered start is quite eye appealing. If I could make one suggestion, darken the shadows under the cars to attach them to the track a little better. The original shadows might have been light but by darkening them it will set the car down much better and also make the car pop out.
gbritnell