- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJames Simon Wallis Hunt
- Nickname
- Hunt the Shunt
- Height6′ 1″ (1.86 m)
- James Hunt was known as Hunt The Shunt for his many accidents in lower formulas. He started his F1 career in 1973, driving for the maverick Hesketh team. Known for its wild parties and eccentric attitude, Hesketh wasn't taken too seriously by rival teams, but after competitive outings in 1974 and 1975, including a win in the Dutch Grand Prix and another in a non-championship race, Hesketh and Hunt were now a force to be reckoned with.
James joined McLaren for 1976 after the Hesketh team folded, and after a controversial and dramatic season, which saw him disqualified twice and re-instated as the winner in one race, his friend and rival Niki Lauda nearly being killed in the German Grand Prix and a run of bad luck in the early part of the season, James snatched the title in the dramatic final race in Japan in torrential rain, to the delight of Britain.
James had two more season at McLaren in which he won another 3 races, but by 1979, his interest and motivation was waning. He tried to save Ronnie Peterson from his burning Lotus in the 1978 Italian Grand Prix, but his friend died that night. He and Niki Lauda had both decided that enough was enough (Lauda was to change his mind and make a comeback in 1982, however) and both retired before the 1979 season was over. Their mutual friend Jody Scheckter gave up at the end of 1980 for the same reason.
James became a controversial and very entertaining commentator for BBC's Grand Prix show, winning him a whole army of new fans, but on 15 June 1993, his life was cut short, and he died from a heart attack. He was just 45 years old.
James had two sons, Tom and Freddie.
- IMDb mini biography by: Baz Taylor
- SpousesSarah Lomax(December 17, 1983 - November 1989) (divorced, 2 children)Susan Hunt(October 18, 1974 - 1976)
- Children
- ParentsWallis Glynn Gunthorpe HuntSue Hunt
- RelativesDavid Hunt(Sibling)
- He proposed to his girlfriend Helen Dyson one day before he died.
- He once shared an apartment with his rival Niki Lauda.
- Played by Chris Hemsworth in Rush (2013).
- Formula 1 driver. He won ten of his 92 Grand Prix races during a seven-year F1 career (1973-1979) and took the world title in a McLaren in 1976.
- Before becoming a racing driver, he training to be a doctor.
- Speaking in 1990: "I have a problem ... well I don't have a problem, but Brands Hatch for example have a problem with company days, because every time I go there I take passengers round in one of their sports racers, I reduce my own passenger lap record - and they go hairy because it's wearing their car out. But I can't drive any other way, and I never have been able to. If I get into a car on a circuit I drive as fast as I can, that's it!"
- [Stirling Moss: James, they've changed the regulations concerning the air boxes and the wings and yet you're still extremely fast. How do you do it?] Big balls. [Moss (laughing): Oh forget it.] Can't you print that? [...] But it's true!
- [to fellow F1 driver Patrick Depailler] The first thing you must do is bloody well learn how to drive!
- [on routinely throwing up before races] I was sick with tremendous nerve pressure. But that was basically because I was driving my own car and if I crunched it then I was out of money and there was no way I could repair the car. So it was fear of my future on the financial side and on the job-security side. Nothing to do with danger.
- [interviewer asking what his Silverstone win means to him] Nine points, 20,000 dollars and a lot of happiness. And can I grab that cigarette off you?
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