Daily James Hunt

Serving Hunt | daily side blog by Clary @seafoampearlygirl | RBs with additions are very welcome!

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Welcome to Daily James Hunt!

Photos | Lore | Videos | James's Championship Year Recap - On This Day

It's not complicated around here. Every day I post something related to James Hunt, mostly photos, but sometimes videos, interviews, quotes, book extracts, press clippings or lore.

DMs and asks are open, I'm happy to take requests or questions, and I follow from @seafoampearlygirl

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James Hunt with his second wife Sarah Lomax Hunt and Stirling Moss, at a film premiere in 1987. Photographer not known

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James Hunt looking quite happy to meet a woman (name unknown) at the Brazilian Grand Prix, January 1978. Photographer unknown, image from Avuspeed Motorsport

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James Hunt at the Argentinian Grand Prix, Buenos Aires, 15th January 1978. Photographer not known

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Hi~ hope you had a good day!!

Favorite picture of James in shorts??

That's a tough one because there are SO many!

I think this is the most iconic. This *is* James in The Shorts.

But my own favourite is probably this one. Partly because it features Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite, Certified Snack (that's his tag on this blog btw, minus punctuation), partly because James looks great but mostly because, it's a garage, James, and everyone else is dressed, what are you at?

[fujokafka]

we need to bring back old school tumblr communication and im so serious. sending an ask to a mutual just to say hello. seeing three different asks in your inbox all asking how your dentist appointment went. seeing a post you think one of your mutuals would enjoy and tagging them/sending it to them in the dms. nowadays its just silently liking a post or (if youre feeling extreme) replying under posts. WHAT HAPPENED TO US!! we used to be a proper community!!!! #LetsBringWhimsyBack

[andthelaw]

reblog if you want ppl to send you random lil' asks

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James Hunt at a tyre test for Wolf Racing, May 1979. Photographer not known

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James Hunt with Alexander Hesketh. Date, location and photographer unknown, 1974 or 1975

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James Hunt with Harvey Postlethwaite and Teddy Meyer, at the British Grand Prix in 1976. Photographer unknown, photo from LAT Images

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James Hunt's Long Term Partners

Model and actress Suzy Miller Hunt

Model and gym-owner Jane Birbeck

Interior designer Sarah Lomax Hunt (later Sarah Hunt Jeffrey)

Artist Helen Dyson

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JAMES: FIFTY YEARS A CHAMPION

Race 9: British Grand Prix, Brands Hatch, 18 July 1976

The British Grand Prix was one of the most controversial in a very controversial season.

James Hunt with Jody Scheckter and Roger Penske

James had become a huge star in Britain. He had just been driving Noel Edmonds in the six-day Tour of Britain, and he'd just performed at the Grand Prix Night of the Stars. In the book Against All Odds, cowritten by James and journalist Eoin Young in the months following James's title win, Young writes:

Brands Hatch drew a capacity crowd to see the battle between Hunt and Lauda. It was years since a Grand Prix crowd in Britain had been so charged with enthusiasm, so eager to see a British driver with a chance of winning on home ground. Jackie Stewart had been able to do just that but [...] Hunt was different, he wore jeans and he drank beer: the crowd could identify with that.

The crowd support was going to be important.

Lauda qualified on pole, and made a good start, but a first corner incident involving Clay Regazzoni hitting Niki's rear wheel, and then getting tangled into a crash involving James, Jacques Laffite and others. The race was stopped, and the teams with drivers who had damaged their cars started getting the spare cars ready. The stewards then said that only drivers who were still in their original cars and who had completed the first lap, could take the re-start. This excluded James, Clay and Jacques, who had all gone back to the pits at the end of the first lap.

The crowd started to chant "We Want Hunt" and throw bottles and whatever they could find on to the track.

There were concerns about maintaining order, so James, Clay and Jacques did take the re-start, with James in his original car (McLaren prepped the spare car and repaired James at the same time). Ferrari and Ligier decided to just re-start, and see if their results would be allowed to stand. After almost an hour, the race re-started.

(It helped that the original call to stop the race was now being questioned because the track was cleared very quickly).

Niki had a great start again, and held his lead for 45 laps until he had a car issue, when James overtook for the lead. He said later that he was sorry Niki didn't fight harder, but that Niki was in some ways the more professional driver. In James's view, Niki had assessed that he was under no threat from behind and driving safely to finish with six guaranteed points (Niki was criticised for this a lot in his career, especially in his last title-winning season against Prost in 1984. James at least managed to make it sound like a compliment, or at least a humblebrag about his own never-stop-pushing ethos).

The aftermath

In the end, James took an unstressful win, with Niki second and Jody Scheckter third. Ferrari, Tyrrell and Fittipaldi (team, not driver) appealed the result, but for now, the championship standings were 58 points to Niki, with James in second on 35. He gave this memorable interview after the race.

There was a three-hour meeting on the day, and the result stood. James wrote to Autosport magazine to thank the fans.

Interestingly, it is possible or likely that James's second wife, Sarah Lomax, was in the crowd that day. She later recounted going to a British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, deciding to support Hunt because he was good-looking, while the boys she was with supported Divina Galica because she was a woman. Sarah believed she was 16, which would have been 1974, but Divina didn't race in a British Grand Prix until 1976. Sarah took home a sticker that said 'I LOVE JAMES HUNT' and stuck it in her chequebook, then forgot James Hunt existed until she met him in Spain after he retired from racing. She found the sticker later and remembered he had technically been her schoolgirl crush.

She may have been wrong about her age, the identity of the female racer, or just not remembered the chaos and protests (which she didn't mention), but it also may have been a different year. There's no way to be sure (especially now that Sarah has died) but it was a huge day in James's career and possibly also in his future marriage.

Fun fact: this was the only F1 race ever with two female entrants - Lella Lombardi and (Olympic skiier, just saying) Divina Galica.

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James Hunt with his girlfriend Jane Birbeck at the US West Grand Prix at Long Beach, April 1977. Photo by David Phipps

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James Hunt with his girlfriend Jane Birbeck at the US West Grand Prix at Long Beach, April 1977. Photo by David Phipps

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James Hunt with Murray Walker in Monaco, 1981. Photographer unknown

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James Hunt with Nigel Mansell at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, 29th August 1992. Photo by Glenn Campbell

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James Hunt at the 1976 US Grand Prix West at Long Beach. Photo by Oleg Konin

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James Hunt with fellow racing driver and Olympic skiier Divina Galica, at the British Racing Drivers' Club Ball in the Dorchester Hotel in London. Galicia recieved a Grovewood Special Commendation Award. December 1976, photo by Geoffrey White