The first strike by the Skiroule team came on the week end of January 24-25 , 1976 at Lancaster , NH. Gilles Villeneuve made a clean sweep of all Super Mod classes at the 12th Annual International Grand Prix Kilkenny Cup races.
Younger brother Jacques took the reins the following week-end at the Paul Bunyan International Open in Bangor , Maine by passing all 3 Team Arctic drivers in turns 1 & 2 to win the Super Mod 250 class. Skiroule had it's first major Sno-Pro win !
Februaury of 1976 brought more accolades to the Skiroule Sno-Pro team as Gilles won 6 of the 8 Sno Pro events held that week end in Quebec City & Montreal. The 1976 season wrapped up with Gilles finishing 3rd overall in the Sno-Pro points standing.
Hopes were running high for the 1977 model year with Skiroule's wins in the '76 Sno Pro races & rumors of a liquid cooled Laser consumer model being in the works, but it was not to be. Skiroule's owners , HMK Group, used the company for a cash cow , went bankrupt and production ceased in the spring of 1977. The Skiroule Sno-Pro racers were sold off during the liquidation of assets , Gilles Villeneuve went on to further his Formula I auto racing career and Jacques would show up on the Kawasaki Sno Pro for the 1977 season.
That brings us to the story at hand. It 's fortunate for us that the Skiroule Sno Pro sleds survived. It is known that some of the Skiroule's saw oval action in 1977 with the Cote Racing Team out of Ontario.
I don't know how many of the racers were purchased at auction by the late Fern Cote , but the unofficial story is that it was more than one and the sleds were sold off following Fern's passing.
After spending time in the hands of various race teams on a number of different race venues , the existing Skiroule Sno-Pro's were acquired by the father & son team of Doug & Scott McLlwain.
The Gilles 250 is in the Bombardier Museum 
