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27-467: Tony Gillet was a successful racing driver, winning the Belgian hill-climb championship in 1979 and 1980 and competing in two Dakar Rallies . In 1982 he became the Belgian importer for Donkervoort , a Dutch Lotus Super Seven -styled car. In January 1990 he broke the 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) record for production cars with a time of 3.85 seconds in a specially modified Donkervoort. The Vertigo held

54-499: A 0-100 km/h (a zero to 62 mph sprint time) acceleration in just 3.266 seconds. In 2002, Gillet developed the Vertigo Streiff, a model dedicated to Philippe Streiff , a former Formula One racing driver who got seriously injured at the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix after an accident during pre-season testing. The model purchased by Streiff was modified to be joystick-controlled and given an automatic transmission. Only 25 units of

81-414: A 2,340 mm wheelbase, building up the suspension and brakes with double wishbones and tweaked absorbers and springs in the front. To be similar to most race cars, Gillet also used AP Racing 4pot calipers with 330 mm vented brake discs in the fronts, bundling a set of 19-inch glossy multi-spoked alloy rims with 225/35ZR19 tires up front and 275/35ZR19 at the back. Gillet provides entire customization service for

108-662: A car based on the chassis of the Vertigo .5 at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este : the Zagato Maserati Mostro . In 2017, Albert II, Prince of Monaco visited the factory in order to show his support for Gillet. During the same year, Gillet had the opportunity to collaborate with the company Transnubel by producing 3,750,000 cubes in composite intended to the Belgian nuclear industry . In 2019, Gillet constructed

135-486: A record-breaking 177th appearance at a Grand Prix, and Gerhard Berger in the new Ferrari 640 , which featured the first semi-automatic gearbox in Formula One. For Patrese it was actually his first front row start since he started second at the 1983 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch , a gap of 81 races. On his debut for Ferrari, Berger's teammate Nigel Mansell qualified sixth. After the race Mansell joked that he

162-576: A rolling chassis of Zagato Maserati Mostro , which is the first in a series of five. Gillet is also active in motorsport with the racing version of the Gillet, named The Gillet Vertigo Streiff. Since 1998, the car has competed in the Belcar (Belgian GT Championship) and FIA GT Championship in the G2 Class for non-homologated cars. The Vertigo Streiff was originally developed with a modified version of

189-657: The 2007 Australian Grand Prix . It was also the first race ever to be won by a car with a semi-automatic gearbox. Mansell cut his hands on the trophy following the race. He was joined on the podium by McLaren 's Alain Prost and March's Maurício Gugelmin , making his first and only appearance on the podium. Johnny Herbert, still recovering from his horrifying Formula 3000 crash at Brands Hatch six months earlier, finished 4th on his Formula 1 debut for Benetton, 1.123 seconds behind Gugelmin and 7.748 seconds in front of teammate Alessandro Nannini who finished 6th. The hard luck of

216-483: The Alfa Romeo V6 engine , with 3.6 L and 360 PS (265 kW; 355 hp). Gillet increased the displacement to 3,990 cc (243 cu in) in 2006. A GT3 version, with a national homologation, raced briefly in the 2007 Belcar season. In the 2008 FIA GT season Renaud Kuppens raced using a Gillet Vertigo.5 with a Maserati 4,2l V8 engine tuned to Group N specification. Renaud Kuppens said that

243-510: The 0–100 km/h record for production cars at 3.1 seconds, but this has since been broken. The first Vertigo prototype was finished in 1991 and shown at the 71st Brussels Auto Show in January 1992. In the following two years the car was finalised for production. It was shown at the Paris and Geneva car shows in 1993. Two more cars were built: a second prototype to finalise production design and

270-511: The 1980s he built prototype cars for competitions including the Paris-Dakar rally . Tony Gillet founded Automobiles Gillet in 1991. It released its first car in 1994. This biographical article related to Belgian auto racing is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix The 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jacarepaguá , Rio de Janeiro on 26 March 1989. It

297-605: The Maserati engine develops the same amount of power as the V6 engine, but has more torque. The car came 26th in both the 2002 and 2003 Spa 24 Hours , and 13th in 2004 . It was entered into the 24 Hours of Spa race in 2005 , 2006 , 2007 and 2008 , but failed to finish on all occasions. In 2018, construction of a racing Vertigo with linen bodywork and participation to the famous Pike’s Peak race in Colorado with Vanina Ickx at

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324-456: The Onyx drivers a little way adrift at the bottom of the time sheets, having had little time to test their new car. Stefan Johansson was faster than his Belgian team-mate Bertrand Gachot , the other driver in the session to make his Formula One debut, but was still over seven seconds slower than Brundle's time. Ayrton Senna took pole position in qualifying ahead of Riccardo Patrese , making

351-429: The Vertigo Streiff were ever produced, each costing €103,000. The model had a carbon fiber body wrapped around an Alfa Romeo 3.6 liter V6 capable of 360 bhp, with a 0-62 mph time of 3.2 seconds. Since 2010, Gillet completely redesigned and dubbed the Vertigo.5 Spirit for sale. There were some changes in several sections: the 4.2-litre Ferrari/Maserati V8 replacing the 3.0 L V6 from Alfa Romeo, weighing around 2094 lbs with

378-569: The Vertigo.5 Spirit, and its basic price is $ 280,000 (around €260,000). Tony Gillet Tony Gillet (born 4 September 1945 in Marche, Belgium) is a Belgian former racing driver and founder of the Gillet sports car company. Gillet started racing in 1968 in provincial rallies, at the wheel of a Renault 4. In 1979 and 1980 he won the Belgian hill-climb championship driving a Formula 2 Renault previously driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille . In

405-539: The collision involving the Zakspeed of Bernd Schneider that ended his race. Arrows actually had to modify Cheever's car after he failed the FIA safety check where a driver had five seconds to be able to exit their car. The new Ross Brawn designed Arrows A11 was a tight fit for the tall American and he had trouble fitting into the car before practice. Schneider, whose car carried the new Yamaha V8 engine , only got into

432-477: The first production car, which was used for certification, including the frontal crash-test, seat anchorage resistance and safety belts anchorage resistance tests. The production Vertigo differed from the first prototype in materials and design. The chassis was fabricated from carbon fibre and honeycomb materials (a technology directly borrowed from Formula One ), ensuring greater strength and stiffness, while saving 58 kg (128 lb) in chassis weight. The body

459-819: The podium ceremony he cut his hand whilst lifting the trophy. Several teams were required to participate in the Friday morning pre-qualifying sessions during 1989, in order to reduce the field to thirty cars for the main qualifying sessions on Friday afternoon and Saturday. At the midway point of the season, the pre-qualifying group was to be reassessed, with the more successful, points-scoring teams being allowed to avoid pre-qualifying, and unsuccessful teams being required to pre-qualify from mid-season onwards. At this first Grand Prix of 1989 in Brazil, five cars were allowed to progress. The AGS team had expanded from one car to two, and their first car, to be driven by Philippe Streiff ,

486-574: The race after Philippe Streiff's crash and the FIA had allowed five pre-qualifiers to enter the main field instead of four. Schneider did not qualify for another race until the season's penultimate round in Japan some seven months later. His new teammate Aguri Suzuki ultimately failed to qualify for all 16 rounds of the 1989 season. This was the last Formula One race at Jacarepaguá and in Rio de Janeiro. From 1990,

513-647: The second cars of the four teams expanding from one car to two for 1989, namely AGS, Coloni , Dallara and Rial . During the session, the two Brabhams of Martin Brundle and Stefano Modena were considerably faster than the other entrants, securing a comfortable 1–2. Third was the EuroBrun driven by debutant Swiss driver Gregor Foitek , and fourth was the Osella of Nicola Larini . The fortunate fifth fastest runner, who also went through to qualifying on this occasion,

540-440: The standard 4. The FIRST team withdrew before the event, as the car had failed a mandatory FIA pre-season crash test. This left thirteen cars participating in the session. They included the two Brabhams , as the team had not participated in 1988, and the new Onyx team with their two-car entry. Also included were the two Zakspeeds and the two Osellas . This left five other cars: the sole single-car entry from EuroBrun , and

567-422: The story of the race was Arrows driver Derek Warwick . There was a problem fitting a rear wheel during his second stop for tyres which lost him over 25 seconds. He eventually finished in fifth place, less than 18 seconds behind Mansell suggesting that the pit stop may have cost Warwick and Arrows their maiden Grand Prix victories. Warwick's Arrows teammate Eddie Cheever collapsed after exiting his car following

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594-400: The wheel. Gillet designed and completed the first Vertigo prototype with the 3.0-litre Alfa Romeo V6 engine for road use in 1991, and shown at the 71st Brussels Auto Show in January 1992. Its chassis was constructed completely of carbon fiber and honeycomb components, resulting in reduced overall weight to only 128 lbs. The Vertigo set a new 1994 Guinness-book record for speed in road cars with

621-572: Was Zakspeed's Bernd Schneider . Missing out in sixth was Alex Caffi in the Dallara, ahead of veteran Piercarlo Ghinzani in the other Osella. Another newcomer, German driver Volker Weidler was eighth in the Rial, with Pierre-Henri Raphanel 's Coloni ninth, ahead of Joachim Winkelhock , also competing in Formula One for the first time, in the AGS. Eleventh was the second Zakspeed of Aguri Suzuki , with

648-463: Was given more fluid lines with higher side windows and retractable headlights, making it closer to the first design drawings. Gillet introduced the Vertigo .5 at Brussels in January 2008. It incorporates features from the Vertigo race car used in the 2007 FIA GT race series. Famous Vertigo-owners are Prince Albert of Monaco and the French singer and actor Johnny Hallyday . In 2015, Zagato released

675-521: Was not required to pre-qualify. However, the Frenchman had been paralysed in a midweek testing crash at the circuit, which ended his career. He was not replaced for the Grand Prix weekend, allowing an extra car to progress from the pre-qualifying session, the only time during the pre-qualifying sessions from 1988 to 1992 that 5 cars would be allowed to partake in the main qualifying session instead of

702-453: Was so convinced of his new car's unreliability that he had booked an early flight home. Johnny Herbert ( Benetton ) and Olivier Grouillard ( Ligier ) both qualified for their first Formula One races. At the start, Nicola Larini was disqualified for an illegal start. Mansell became the first man since Mario Andretti in 1971 to win on his Formula One debut for Ferrari, a feat that was not matched until Kimi Räikkönen won for Ferrari at

729-440: Was the first race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship . The 61-lap race was won by Englishman Nigel Mansell , driving a Ferrari , with Frenchman Alain Prost second in a McLaren - Honda and local driver Maurício Gugelmin third in a March - Judd . It was the first time that a car with a semi-automatic gearbox won the race. Mansell had joked that he had booked an early flight home as he did not expect to win, and during

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