James Hunt. A Biographical Summary (Part1)

With an Englishman again wearing the F1 crown, David Parkinson looks back to the 1970's when another young Englishman with a very different background wore it. Here is Part1 of a multi-part article telling the story of James Hunt.

Spending quite a few nights in hotels and often eating by myself in restaurants I get through a number of books in any given period. Being a poor, financially rather than quality, racing driver, opinions might vary, I find the cost of new books, even paper backs, extortionate for the time it takes to read them. (I’m also possibly a bit on the tight side though I’m sure many people would argue this. Well, maybe one.). So. For the last twenty years or so I have tended to frequent market stalls, Oxfam, my tailor, and Help the Aged shops etc. The latter being that if you can’t beat them, you have to join them. Damn. I’ve just dribbled on my shirt.

So, as a consequence, whilst many people are reading the latest novel by Stephen King or an account of the Iraq/Afghanistan military operations, I have just started on the third Neville Shute novel and am engrossed in the Washing of the Spears. An account of the Zulu wars in 1879. In explanation I always tend to read two books at a time. One fiction which is light reading and can probably be read in two or three hours, there are exceptions, and one non fiction which generally are a bit heavier and take a little bit longer. The exceptions normally fall into two distinct categories. The first, being a really exceptional novel. I can’t think of one at the moment. Pause for several minutes. Perhaps, Shogun by James Clavell. The second being some book that you think will get better as you read more but never does and as you’ve bought it you’re determined to finish it. However, I digress. I’ve now forgotten what I was thinking of. Oh. Yes.

One of my recent forays into the second hand book shops discovered a biography of James Hunt. Most of you, other than the fourteen year olds who race with us, will remember that he was the Formula 1 World Champion in 1976. Some years later he became the F1 joint commentator with Murray Walker on BBC television and became infamous for his sometime outrageous remarks on all aspects of the sport.

So, to get to the point of this scribble, I thought I’d do a kind of book review on the lines of that which our esteemed editor, Patrick, often does. Particularly as there is not much on either Startline or the Forum at the moment. I will not be commentating on writing styles, comparisons with other authors or indeed if the book is good, bad or indifferent. I propose only to select the funny, the tragic and the noteworthy, within the framework, that in my opinion will be of interest to other racing drivers. (This was the original idea. It has turned out to be a summarisation of the biography. Perhaps it might be compact enough for those amongst us who never read books).

The book was written by Gerald Donaldson and published by Collins in 1994. The price in paperback was then £5.99 and might now be obtained, if you’re lucky, from any major charity shop for approx. 50 pence. Alternatively, I could always put on my Dermot hat and sell or lease it to you for a nominal sum.

JH was born on the 29th August in 1947 to become part of a well off, though not rich, family. From a young age he was a difficult child with particularly stubborn traits. He was shipped off to public school, Wellington, in Berkshire, at the age of 13 and showed more interest in individual sports than academic studies. He was at Wellington for five years during which time he discovered girls, stumbled on drink and cigarettes, secured a place at St. Bartholemews Teaching Hospital, passed his driving test, one day prior to his eighteenth birthday and the same day attended his first motor race at Silverstone where a friends brother was competing in a self prepared Mini. This was on the 28th August 1965.

On his return from Silverstone JH declared to his parents that he’d sorted out his career. He was going to be a racing driver and would win the Formula 1 world championship. He further proposed that as Medical School would have cost his parents some five thousand pounds they could give him two and a half thousand pounds towards his first car and he would call it square. They refused. They advised that there would always a home for him and food on the table but they would not pay for him to start racing. They did, to try and build in some safeguards, pay for a racing course at Brands Hatch, thinking that this might get it out of his system. It didn’t. He left Wellington, advised St. Barts that he would not be taking up his place and got a job as a messenger boy to earn some money to buy a car.

He was employed in a number of different positions over the following two years which included supermarket shelf stacker, delivery boy, ice cream vendor, hospital cleaner and a salesman with a telephone rental company. These were the jobs that allowed him to put together a Mini for his first meeting at Snetterton in the summer of 1967. The car failed scrutineering. They didn’t like the exhaust system which finished at the engine manifold. Or the deck chair which was the passenger seat. Or the worn out slicks that James had cut some treads on to. Eventually three lacklustre races were contested in the mini before it was sold.

For 1968 James ordered a brand new Russell-Alexis Mk14 FF chassis for £345 down and £30 per month for three years. The engine was obtained on the same basis. Most weekends in 1968 he was off racing somewhere and his results gradually improved until he had his maiden win at Lydden Hill. Armed with this result he was able to pick up minor sponsorship from a car dealer in Beaconsfield. He was then fortunate enough to obtain the backing of Gowrings of Reading who ordered a new Merlyn Mk11A car for him to complete the 68 season and fully contest the 69 championship. This was just as well as the Russel-Alexis was totally destroyed in an accident at Oulton Park when avoiding a spinner he and the car finished up in the lake. It would take a further two years to pay for the wreckage that remained. An interesting point is that these cars had no seat belts and JH was convinced that if belts had been fitted he would have drowned.

He was often physically sick prior to racing. This had already commenced at this early stage in his career. He said at the time that it was not fear of being killed but the fear of breaking the car which he couldn’t afford to replace. (Thus he was truly an amateur driver who could have raced in Monoposto. Ed) . Nevertheless from mid 68 to mid 69 he competed in some 45 races. He never won in the UK in the Merlyn but commenced his international career with a third place in the newly formed European Formula Ford series at Zandvoort in Holland. A second place at Aspern in Austria followed. Competing at Vallelunga in Italy, he was not allowed to start as he’d failed to turn up with the necessary paperwork. This was the first FF race in Italy but he sabotaged the start by parking his car across the front of the grid. He said that if he couldn’t race no one else would. This on/off track bloody minded attitude was seen by some in the sport to be the ingredients of a champion and he was supplied a Merlyn by Motor Racing Enterprises to race at Lydden. He won. This and other results prompted MRE to move him into the Formula 3 category in a two year old Brabham BT21.

Formula 3 had been around since 1964 and was a feeder series to Formula 1. They ran 1000cc screamer engines and with up to 70 entrants for the race had heats to sort out the drivers who would compete in the final. Some of the drivers were amateurs who raced for fun but some of the more serious included Ronnie Peterson, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jack Laffite and Jean-Pierre Jarier. All future F1 stars. His first race, at Cadwell Park, in the Brabham netted him a fourth place.

Prior to the 1970 season he managed to obtain some funding from Molyslip. He also got a Lotus 59 from Lotus Components. The 1970 schedule comprised some 60 major F3 races all around Northern Europe. The Lotus deal supplied the car, full expenses for racing damage and engine rebuilds and a £1000 to assist with travel and general expenses. Start money and prize money was also paid at all of these rounds. Providing you started and achieved a good position. He lived in a tent and ate at the cheapest cafes but was often broke. He, at least once, had to resort to siphoning petrol from other vehicles to carry on. A highlight of the 1970 season was a televised meeting from Crystal Palace. A few weeks earlier he’d won his second Formula 3 race at Zolder and had notched a good third, in the rain, at Cadwell Park. So he was feeling confident for the televised meeting. He finished second in the qualifying heat and towards the final laps of the final was in third place but in a close group of six. On the last lap David Morgan tried an aggressive lunge to take the position from James. The result was both cars out. JH climbed out of his wrecked car and ran across to the luckless Morgan and downed him with a single punch. As the incident was on television the authorities were not overly happy (but it was entertaining spectating for the viewers and justice was metered out far more rapidly than resorting to a MSA or FIA tribunal. Ed)

In 1971 he decided to stay in F3 when many of his rivals moved up into F2 or even F1. F3 had now moved to 1600cc engines and March Engineering supplied his car, a March 713, for the year. Sponsors included Rose Bearings and Coca Cola. He did win four major races in the season but had numerous mechanical problems and even more spectacular accidents which earned him the “Hunt the Shunt” nickname. One of these was at Zandvoort where he finished up trapped in an upside down car.

In 1972, lacking the sponsorship to move into F1, he again contested F3. This time signing for STP March. The car, the 723, was not a success. It had a shortage of straight line speed and inconsistent handling characteristics. Results were not good and he was eventually fired to make way for Jochen Mass who was backed by Ford of Germany. Max Mosley, incidentally, was the M in the March name. Shortly after this he was introduced to Lord Alexander Hesketh. The good Lord supplied him with a car to continue in F3 but at the first race attended by the Lord, James destroyed it in front of him. As the only other car had also been demolished that was the end of that. He then decided to sue March for wrongful dismissal and sent a letter to Max Mosley informing him of his intentions. A good humoured Max admitted part liability and agreed to loan a March 712 chassis which was fitted with an 1850cc engine which Lord Hesketh paid for. The car arrived at Brands Hatch in late August to compete in the Rothmans 50,000. A race with a combined grid of F1, F2, F5000 and sports cars.

The Hesketh badged car finished an impressive fifth. Behind three F1 cars, the winner driven by Emerson Fittipaldi, and one proper F2 car with a 2 litre engine. The £2,500 prize money enabled James to compete in more European races and he performed well at the Salzburing in Austria, Albi in France and Hockenheim in Germany. But his best performance was at Oulton Park at the final round of the 1972 F2 championship. Entries included John Surtees, Graham Hill, Ronnie Peterson, Jody Scheckter, Roger Williamson and Nicki Lauda. He qualified the elderly March in second place and immediately pulled in to let the others pound round the circuit. He had only one engine and could not afford to blow it. In the race he was fourth after the first lap but moved into first when he overtook Peterson with four laps to go. A charging Peterson put him into the nettles and he finally finished third behind Peterson and Lauda. Hesketh was delighted with this result and determined to contest the 1973 F2 European championship. 1972 was finished off by competing in a three race championship in Brazil. This South American tour was memorable more for the parties and nightlife than the racing according to many journalists, mechanics etc.

In 1973 Hesketh Racing announced that they would not only run James in the European F2 series in a new Surtees TS15 but would also debut him in F1 in a Surtees TS9B to garner experience for a full season of F1 in 1974. Early 1973 commenced badly when James broke his arm whilst fooling about. The press were quite happy with that as they were at the season opener at Mallory when a front wheel fell off putting him out of the race. He had always had a reputation as a hooray henry and now driving for Hesketh, who gave champagne parties for all his friends at each event, he became the target for many of the less knowledgeable press.

James made his F1 debut a week later at Brands Hatch in the Race of Champions. He qualified 13th out of 29 cars and admitted that the car was faster then he was. Getting to grips with the car as the race went on he eventually finished third in front of the cheering Hesketh supporters and the slightly taken aback F1 management. The next few races in F2 did not go well. Mechanical problems took their toll and Lord Hesketh decided that they would drop F2 and concentrate on F1. They were ready for Monaco and had purchased a brand new March 731. Hesketh headquarters were on board the 162ft yacht Southern Breeze whilst transportation was by means of a Bell Jetranger helicopter, a Rolls Royce Corniche, a Porsche Carrera and a Suzuki motorcycle. James later stole the Porsche and Hesketh never did get it back. A new recruit to the team at this time was Dr Harvey Postlethwaite. When asked why he’d joined such a strange team he explained that they had got him drunk. James finished ninth in the race though he had been as high as sixth. He explained that he was not fit enough to drive an F1 car for that length of time in the Monaco heat. He threw himself into a rigorous training routine after this first grand prix and actually used to train with the Chelsea football club. (The Brands Hatch race was a non championship event). His second grand prix was at Paul Ricard circuit in France where he finished sixth to secure the last championship point. Points were only awarded to the first six in those days.

He was invited to take part in the 1000 mile tour of Britain. A mixture of rally and race. He won the event in a Chevrolet Camaro.

The next grand prix was at Silverstone but problems in testing/qualifying saw him start the race in eleventh place. A first lap accident, caused by a Jody Schecker spin, caused the race to be stopped as nine cars were involved. He finished fourth after the race had been restarted.

At Zandvoort for the Dutch grand prix James started from a seventh grid position. He was up to fifth on the eighth lap when he passed a burning car, upside down, at the side of the track. It burnt for a while as the remaining cars roared by lap after lap. Then the marshals extinguished the fire and covered the wreckage with a tarpaulin. James finished third to get his first F1 podium but he and Jackie Stewart, the winner, and second place man Francois Cevert were not in a happy mood when they discovered that the tarpaulin that had covered the burnt out car also hid the body of Roger Williamson.

A breakdown and a crash put him out of the Austrian and Italian Grand Prixs whilst a seventh place was gained at the Canadian Grand Prix. The last grand prix of the year was at Watkins Glen in the United States. Francois Cevert was killed in a horrible accident during the Saturday qualifying which prompted Jackie Stewart to retire from racing immediately. James finished the race in second place. 0.6 of a second behind the winner. Ronnie Peterson. Though only competing in eight of the fifteen championship races, James finished eighth in the world championship for the 1973 season.

The cover of the Gerald Donaldson written biography. Apparently it's being re-published in 2009.

Part of Wellington College where JH went to school.

Alexis Mark14 FF, a current shiny restored example from motorbase.com

1969 F3 Guards Trophy, Brands Hatch, Brabham BT21 (wikipaedia). Chances are this car or bits of it raced in Mono.

Hunt's Brabham BT21, Mike Keen's Tecno (38) and Harry Stiller's Merlyn Mk14, again the 1969 Guards Trophy. (F3History.com)

Roger Williamson's March leads Claude Bourgoignie, Dave Walker and James Hunt. (asag.sk)

Hesketh-owned Dastle Mk9 F2 ran at Rouen and Monaco. (pic:Dastle)

A Surtees TS9B F1 car, here driven by Tim Schenken (F1-facts.com)

Hunt & Fearnall at Dodington (it says) in the Camaro on the Tour of Britain (Motoring News)

Many thanks to the various websites from whom we have taken the illustrations for this piece.