The Hubert Aquin Grand Prix

“I say to myself: either I make a revolution, or I make 6500 revolutions per minute.^⁠1 — Hubert Aquin, 1966

In December 1962, the world of sports in Quebec was taken with astonishment and excitement: a young French Canadian, esteemed for several years for his work in the media, launched an ambitious project with an international flavor, that of founding a first Grand Car prices in Montreal.

Hubert Aquin was then little known in sporting circles, despite his marked interest in sport, particularly car racing. After spending five years at the Société Radio-Canada, he worked since 1959 at the National Film Board (ONF) where he produced some notable works, including sports and people^⁠2, whose commentary is written by the French semiologist Roland Barthes. An entire segment is dedicated to the racing driver’s quest for speed, competing against the total enemy of time; the images value speed, deplore downtime. He also began, in the spring of 1962, the production of fast man^⁠3, a short film directed by his friend Guy Borremans. The frenetic and meditative images of the film show a pilot who becomes one with his single-seater and who defies the forces of inertia.

Mobility, speed, is modernity. However, in 1962, Quebec wanted to be fully modern. For several years, and especially since the election of the government of Jean Lesage, society has been in full transformation: French Canadians are taking their economy, their culture and their education into their own hands, a wind of national pride is blowing along the Saint- Laurent, which comes with an unshakable confidence in the future. In Montreal, under the reign of Mayor Jean Drapeau, it was time for major projects: construction of Place Ville Marie, Place des Arts and the Montreal metro (the plans for which were drawn up in 1961).

It is in this context, marked by deep enthusiasm, that the idea of ​​the “Grand Prix de Montréal” was born.

The Press mentioned the project as early as December 5, 1962 in an article^⁠4 where you can see a first version of the circuit established by Aquin and his brother Richard, who is an engineer. Also participating in the company Norman Namerow, the journalist Jacques Duval and the lawyer Wilbrod Gauthier. The planned location is Île Sainte-Hélène, in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, access to which is facilitated by the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. The City of Montreal is already involved, in particular the director of the Parks Service, André Champagne, who will submit a report favorable to the Grand Prix at the end of December. However, it will be necessary to develop the circuit and put in place infrastructures that can accommodate between 50,000 and 100,000 spectators. The deadlines are short, since the date of the first Grand Prix is ​​fixed for September 22, 1963, a Sunday.

Aquin has significant support. During a visit to Montreal in the spring of 1963, Luigi Chinetti, three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and representative of the Ferrari house, praised the project and urged the organizers to persist in its realization. About the chosen site, Île Sainte-Hélène, he is full of praise: ” [C]It’s beautiful, it’s the best I’ve seen in North America” ^⁠5. The daily newspapers of Quebec share his enthusiasm: “Few are those who initially had confidence in seeing the project come to fruition, but since then it has been unanimously approved by the executive committee of the city of Montreal, and the race will take place as planned [sic] on September 22, on a course of 2.1 miles^⁠6. The stakes are high: to include Montreal in the Formula 1 circuit, the vast majority of whose events take place in Europe.

But the pitfalls are also significant. While Mayor Drapeau is open to the idea of ​​organizing international events in Montreal, important questions are raised: there is concern above all for the safety of spectators because of the speed of the racing cars. The written press of the time also informs us that the president of the executive committee, Lucien Saulnier, was circumspect, even reluctant at various stages of the project.

In mid-May 1963, the organizers published a press release: the Grand Prix was postponed to the following year… but in fact, the project was about to be abandoned.

The banal and implacable reason given by the authorities? The Provincial Highway Code, which would prevent excessive speed on public roads, including the Île Sainte-Hélène ring road!

As journalist André Trudelle pointed out: “ [D]n the province of Quebec, we know that it is not easy to overcome an obstacle of the kind^⁠7 »… In fact, we will never succeed in modifying the law in question, if only for a single day of Grand Prix.

Most likely disappointed with the turn of events, Aquin put the Grand Prix de Montréal on ice and continued his literary and political activities instead. The first edition of the Grand Prix of Canada will not take place until 1967 in Ontario, on the Mosport Park circuit. The following year, it was presented on the Mont-Tremblant circuit, in Saint-Jovite. It was not until 1978 that it finally took place in Montreal, but on Île Notre-Dame, right next to Île Sainte-Hélène as envisaged by Aquin.

The filmmaker Claude Fournier recently launched the idea of ​​naming a portion of the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit in the name of Hubert Aquin. That would be a great honor for the person who was the first to imagine its curves.

* Nino Gabrielli is a librarian. Hubert Aquin and the media — Volume I: 1949-1962 will be published next fall, by Leméac; François Harvey is a professor at Cégep Édouard-Montpetit.

1. Normand Cloutier, “Literature in the state of racing car”, Maclean’s Magazine, flight. 6, n^oh. 9, September 1966, p. 42

4. André Trudelle, “The Grand Prix Automobile de Montréal on September 23? », The Press, December 5, 1962, p. 41

5. “A car racing track built on Île Sainte-Hélène”, The sun, May 16, 1963, p. 63

6. “The Montreal Grand Prix on Île Sainte-Hélène”, The Press, April 3, 1963, p. 46

7. André Trudelle, “The short history of the Grand Prix de Montréal”, The Press (extra charge The Press Magazine), June 15, 1963, p. 31