Documentary: The Real James Hunt
- 6 years ago
The Real James Hunt is a documentary about the life of James Hunt, a racing driver and Formula One World Champion who today is remembered as one of the great characters from the golden era of grand prix racing.
Oftentimes people focus on James’ iconic playboy lifestyle but behind all of that he was one of the most naturally talented drivers of his era. His battles with Niki Lauda were immortalised in the 2013 Ron Howard movie Rush (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1979320/), in this documentary you’ll see a lot of behind the scenes footage as well as interviews with those who knew the man best – making it an excellent insight into what Hunt was really like.
James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in 1976. After retiring from racing in 1979, Hunt became a media commentator and businessman.
Beginning his racing career in touring car racing, Hunt progressed into Formula Three, where he attracted the attention of the Hesketh Racing team and soon came under their wing. Hunt's often reckless and action-packed exploits on track earned him the nickname "Hunt the Shunt" (shunt as a British racing term means "crash"). Hunt entered Formula One in 1973, driving a March 731 entered by the Hesketh Racing team. He went on to win for Hesketh, driving their own Hesketh 308 car, in both World Championship and non-Championship races, before joining the McLaren team at the end of 1975. In his first year with McLaren, Hunt won the 1976 World Drivers' Championship, and he remained with the team for a further two years, although with less success, before moving to the Wolf team in early 1979. Following a string of races in which he failed to finish, Hunt retired from driving halfway through the 1979 season.
After retiring from motor racing, he established a career commenting on Grands Prix for the BBC. He had a reputation for tactical knowledge, technical insight, a dry sense of humour and criticism of drivers who, he believed, were not trying hard enough, which in the process brought him a whole new fanbase.
Hunt died from a heart attack aged 45. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hunt
Oftentimes people focus on James’ iconic playboy lifestyle but behind all of that he was one of the most naturally talented drivers of his era. His battles with Niki Lauda were immortalised in the 2013 Ron Howard movie Rush (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1979320/), in this documentary you’ll see a lot of behind the scenes footage as well as interviews with those who knew the man best – making it an excellent insight into what Hunt was really like.
James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in 1976. After retiring from racing in 1979, Hunt became a media commentator and businessman.
Beginning his racing career in touring car racing, Hunt progressed into Formula Three, where he attracted the attention of the Hesketh Racing team and soon came under their wing. Hunt's often reckless and action-packed exploits on track earned him the nickname "Hunt the Shunt" (shunt as a British racing term means "crash"). Hunt entered Formula One in 1973, driving a March 731 entered by the Hesketh Racing team. He went on to win for Hesketh, driving their own Hesketh 308 car, in both World Championship and non-Championship races, before joining the McLaren team at the end of 1975. In his first year with McLaren, Hunt won the 1976 World Drivers' Championship, and he remained with the team for a further two years, although with less success, before moving to the Wolf team in early 1979. Following a string of races in which he failed to finish, Hunt retired from driving halfway through the 1979 season.
After retiring from motor racing, he established a career commenting on Grands Prix for the BBC. He had a reputation for tactical knowledge, technical insight, a dry sense of humour and criticism of drivers who, he believed, were not trying hard enough, which in the process brought him a whole new fanbase.
Hunt died from a heart attack aged 45. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hunt