44 years after his untimely passing, Gilles Villeneuve remains an icon of Formula One lore. Before competing in F1, however, he was trying to make his name—and a living—in snowmobile racing. Much of his snowmobile action came in a red #13 Alouette Sno-Pro, with which he won the 1974 World Championship Snowmobile Derby.

A replica of the Alouette was built by BRP Inc. for the new biopic Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend. Titled Villeneuve: l’ascension d’une légende in French and starring Rémi Goulet as the titular driver, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

BRP Inc. is located in Valcourt, approximately 65 miles away from Villeneuve’s hometown and fellow Québécois city Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.

While the exterior is virtually identical to Villeneuve’s Sno-Pro, the underlying components—which viewers obviously don’t see in the film—come from modern snowmobiles like BRP’s Ski-Doo line. For example, the replica’s engine is a two-stroke, 130-horsepower Rotax 600RR E-TEC used in the Ski-Doo MXZ X-RS, whereas the original had a 650cc unit that was lighter and smaller with just 105 horsepower. This meant the replica had to be 10% larger to accommodate.

Other parts were custom built like the skis and exhaust.

“During the 1970s, the snowmobile racing industry was in full swing,” started BRP’s design vice president Christopher Rudwal. “The boldness of manufacturers and racers knew no bounds, which gave rise to, among other things, Gilles Villeneuve’s famous twin-track Alouette snowmobile, affectionately nicknamed the ‘bibitte’ in Quebec. This era shaped the snowmobile industry and led us to where we are today. As a global leader in the powersports industry, it is an immense source of pride to honor a Quebec legend who contributed so much to our sport.

“It was very emotional to see our replicas run on the Valcourt ice oval for the very first time. The project brought together multiple teams and expertises within BRP. It’s a remarkable team effort of which we are immensely proud.”

Featured image credit: Jean-François Leclerc