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HUNT, JAMES

Born 8/29/147, Belmont, near Sutton, Surrey

Deceased 6/15/1993, Wimbledon, London, England

Starts:92

Points: 179

Wins:10

Poles:14

Fastest Laps:8

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In 1970/1971, James Hunt was a fast Formula 3 driver, with a terrible reputation for untidiness on the racetrack, witness his nickname, “Shunt”. He would be considered not only unlike world champion material, but also unlikely not to kill himself  in the top levels of racing. As I have said it before, judging a race driver’s future as a GP driver based on his Formula 3 performance, is a dangerous thing. Sure, guys like Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher had outstanding careers in Formula 3. However, others like Jan Magnussen, Johnny Dumfries and Dave Walker were stupendous Formula 3 drivers, but failed immensely in Formula 1, while James Hunt and Nigel Mansell were not very good Formula 3 drivers, but excelled. I guess it takes a crazy nut to see genius where everybody sees lack of talent and foolishness, and in Hunt’s case it came in the form of a rotund British nobleman called Lord Alexander Hesketh, who decided to take Hunt under his wings and bought him a Formula 2 for the 1972 season. Hunt did not excel by any standards, yet, Lord Hesketh decided to go up a notch, and bought Hunt a ride in a Surtees for the Race of Champions, in 1973. He did not do an outstanding job in this race but Hesketh was enthused enough to decide to field a private March for James in the world championship. There was nothing in the 1973 March that would indicate much competitiveness, but by then March was the only manufacturer willing to provide cars to whoever paid the bill, so that is what Hesketh bought his driver. Hunt did not do badly in his Monaco debut, qualifying 18th and retiring, still classified 9th. The real surprise came in the second race, at Paul Ricard, when Hunt qualified a bit better and scored an excellent 6th place with the Harvey Postlethwaite engineered device.  The surprises kept on popping up at ever greater degrees, when Hunt qualified 11th for the British Grand Prix, finished 4th, and scored fastest lap.  As if this were not sufficient, one race later he qualified in the top ten for the first time (7th) and got a podium for 3rd! Suddenly, former “Mr. Shunt” was the darling of the Grand Prix community.  All the craziness was gone, and he was able to extract speed from at best an average car. There was a bit of a slump in Austria, Italy and Canada, with no points, but then, in the United States, Hunt surprised again. He qualified 5th, scored fastest lap, and finished 2nd, a little more than a second behind Ronnie Peterson, reckoned to be the fastest driver of the season! Hunt’s season was stellar, and much was expected of him for 1974. He began the year qualifying 5th in Argentina with the old March, which he used in a couple of races. Then, for South Africa, Hesketh debuted its own car. It took a while for the Hesketh to show speed, but by Sweden Hunt scored his first points of the season, with a 3rd place. For the rest of the year Hunt qualified in the top 10 (except at the German Grand Prix) and he would score two more 3rd places (Austria and USA) and one 4th place, in Canada. Sure he disappointed many, but then again, he qualified on the front row in the USA, which was an achievement among the large number of ill conceived and run debutant marques that year. For 1975, Hunt started on the right path, finishing second and scoring fastest lap in Argentina, and finishing 6th in Brazil. Five retirements followed, but then, in Holland, everything came together and Hunt achieved his maiden Grand prix victory. This was followed by a 2nd in France, 4th in Britain, 2nd in Austria, 5th in Italy and 4th in the USA. At the end of the year, Hesketh announced the party as over. The Lord was wealthy, but not that much, and decided to disband. Suddenly, it appeared as if Hunt might be out of a job, until Emerson Fittipaldi came to the rescue, leaving the competitive McLaren team for much uncertain waters. This left one of the four best GP seats available, and Teddy Maier was quick to sign the Brit. Right from the start Hunt was fast, scoring poles in the first two races, finishing 2nd in South Africa. He would score many other poles that year, which was full of drama.  Niki Lauda appeared to be running away with the championship early in the year, and Hunt was involved in political imbroglios. His first victory for McLaren was disallowed, he was disqualified, but was later on reinstated. By Sweden,  Lauda was eons ahead, and Hunt got a 5th place. Then Hunt won in France and was first on the road in Britain, only to be disqualified again. Things seemed to be hopeless, until Niki Lauda had a dreadful accident at the Nurburgring. Hunt took that race, finished 4th in Austria and then won in Holland again. He was gaining up on Lauda, who miraculously returned in the  Italian Grand Prix, where Hunt retired. Hunt’s chances appeared slim at best, but Lauda was far from ideal form, and Hunt won the two North American races from pole. Then came Japan. Hunt qualified 2nd, ahead of Lauda, but had to hope the Austrian would perform much worse than him. A deluge fell over the Mount Fuji track, and then Lauda astounded the racing world by retiring after a couple of laps, claiming the conditions were way too treacherous. The last thing one could say of Lauda was that he was a coward: a few months before he was given last rites, his face totally damaged by fire, an he was back racing after all. He was a man of principles, and it appeared foolishness for him to survive such a horrible crash and race under such wet conditions. Eventually Hunt did what was necessary, finished 3rd in the race and won the championship by the scant margin of one point.  Hunt continued at McLaren in 1977, still racing the M23 early in the season, scoring three straight poles. The team was expecting the new M26, in the hopes it would be the right weapon to defend the title, as this was the M23’s 5th season. Hunt finished 2nd in Brazil and 4th in South Africa, debuting the M26 in Spain. Rather unfortunately, the car was not as good as the M23, which scored a pole in its debut in 1973, It took a while for the car to be sorted out, but still, Hunt managed to win in Britain. However, the M26 was not a wing car, so it was born outdated. Hunt ended up winning the USA and Japanese Grand Prix, but was very far from the competitive James of 1976. He remained at McLaren in 1978, but this was far from a competitive season. Hunt would score a mere 3 times during the year. His best qualifying effort was 2nd, there were no fastest laps, and there was a single, last podium in France (3rd). For 1979 Hunt was hired by the Wolf Team, as Jody Scheckter had left to go to Ferrari. The motivation seemed to be totally gone. His best qualifying was 8th, and the single finish in the black car an 8th in South Africa. By Monaco, the magic was gone and Hunt decided to call it a day, retiring at a very young age. He remained involved in the sport, as a commentator, but a life of hard partying took a toll on James, and he died of a heart attack a very young 46 years old, in 1993. A character indeed.              

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Last modified: February 12, 2007