by Tom Rubython
Hunt was frustrated for the whole weekend. On Saturday, he had a furious one-to-one heated argument with Teddy Mayer in which he called him a “non-believer”, implying he didn’t believe in talent. Hunt was still furious that Villeneuve had been lost to Ferrari. For Hunt, Villeneuve should have been made his teammate, and not the nice but slow Frenchman with whom he had been saddled. He also maintained that Mayer had tossed Ferrari a huge stick with which to beat McLaren. Hunt was in no doubt that Villeneuve would soon be out-qualifying his teammate Reutemann.
Hunt simply couldn’t comprehend Mayer’s decision and was incandescent as he walked round the dusty paddock muttering to himself about the team’s huge own goal. It was at Long Beach that he resolved to leave McLaren at the end of the season. Hunt told friends he couldn’t continue to work for someone whom he didn’t respect. He told Villeneuve the same, and that kicked off a chain of events that would see Hunt meeting Ferrari secretly later in the season.
A beautiful California day dawned for race day and around 75,000 fans showed up to the race. The start had been moved from Ocean Boulevard to Shoreline Drive in an effort to avoid any first corner accidents. It worked, and everyone got away more or less cleanly, although John Watson nearly took off Reutemann. This enabled Villeneuve to lead the field.
The order from the start was Villeneuve, Watson, Lauda, Reutemann, Andretti, Alan Jones, Hunt and Peterson. Villeneuve was driving superbly. But not so Hunt. On the sixth lap, he struck the wall before the pit straight and knocked off his right front wheel and was out. Hunt was distraught and blamed himself for making a “stupid error.”
It was the race that marked the ascendance of the new Williams team and showed off exactly what a talented car designer Patrick Head was. His new Williams-Ford FW06 was the class chassis, and Alan Jones could easily have won the race.
On lap 38 Villeneuve, the race leader, had a coming together with Clay Regazzoni’s Ensign-Ford car and was lucky to escape injury. Then Jones fell back after a front wing component failure and the leading contenders retired for one reason or another, leaving Reutemann to inherit victory from Andretti, who picked up some easy points in second. Jones still managed to set the fastest lap of the race on lap 27, underlining the car’s potential.
It was a whole five weeks before the Monaco Grand Prix on 7th May, and Hunt went home with Jane Birbeck to Marbella to get fit before the grind of the European season started. It was the calm before the storm.
The Formula One circus assembled in Monte Carlo unseasonably early on the first weekend of May, and 30 cars turned up to compete for the 20 grid slots available for the race.
With so many cars wanting to get in the race, qualification became a problem even for some of the better known drivers. On this occasion, notables like Clay Regazzoni and Jochen Mass failed to qualify.
On his Michelin radials, Carlos Reutemann was dominant in qualifying but was hounded by the two Brabhams. Hunt qualified well in sixth.
Hunt’s usual hedonistic activities were curtailed by his girlfriend’s presence, and John Hogan corralled him to do some promotional activities for Marlboro. Hogan needed Hunt to attend a reception at Prince Rainier’s palace on the hill, but Hunt wouldn’t be coaxed out of his t-shirt and shorts. Although Hogan finally got him to wear a blue blazer over the t-shirt, Hunt didn’t tell his girlfriend where they were going, and she too was dressed for the beach. Prince Rainier didn’t seem to mind, though, and Hunt remained typically oblivious to what other people thought – although Birbeck was mortified.
The Grand Prix was a tedious affair, as it often was over the narrow streets. Hunt made a good start but a suddenly slowing car forced his McLaren-Ford off the racing line and he brushed an Armco barrier lining the streets. He was forced into the pits and the M26 was patched up. But the suspension had been irretrievably damaged and it totally collapsed a few laps later, and he was out. The race was won by Patrick Depailler’s Tyrrell-Ford, with Lauda 22 seconds behind in a typical Monte Carlo procession to the chequered flag.
There was more lively action on the streets of Monaco later that evening. Hunt and Birbeck attended the famous Tip-Top bar along with John Watson. There were also some Formula One team mechanics there intent on some high jinks. The gathering spilled out onto the streets as the bar filled up.
The immaculately-tailored and uniformed Monegasque Police usually left the Formula One fraternity to get on with it on Grand Prix weekend, but on this occasion felt the need to intervene. They formed into a tight group and charged down the road with their truncheons extended to break up what they viewed as an unruly mob.
Hunt called it the ‘Battle of the Tip-Top’ and recounted to his biographer Gerald Donaldson what happened next: “Without any warning, [the police] charged down on the assembled throng, hitting out with rubber truncheons in the most disgraceful display of public brutality I have ever witnessed. If they had wished to disperse us, they had only needed to ask. But to hit girls standing with their backs to them over the head and in the face is the sort of behaviour that incites riots.” People were trampled underfoot and a girl was thrown bodily over the guard rail by a policeman. Hunt was inside at the bar when it happened and Birbeck caught the brunt of it, receiving a black eye. Rushing out, Hunt lunged at the policeman who had hit her but was held back by his mechanics, who made a tactical withdrawal with their irate driver and Jane, with an ice pack on her eye.
It was a bad weekend for Birbeck, who also suffered terrible blisters from walking round Monaco in new shoes. She returned to Marbella in some pain.
Between Monaco and Belgium there was a test day at Brands Hatch when the new Formula One medical delegate Professor Sid Watkins was introduced to the drivers. It was the first formal meeting between Watkins and Hunt and they immediately began a great friendship, as Watkins remembers: “I met all the drivers then and James, of course. He was a remarkable chap, a gentleman, an absolute gentleman, a perfectly mannered guy.” Watkins can’t really explain what drew him to the Englishman but he admits that in all his time in Formula One, he only got really close to three drivers: Hunt, Ayrton Senna and Jody Scheckter. Watkins says: “I don’t know really, it’s one of things I suppose. I had it with Jody and of course I had it with Senna and James.”
At the Belgian Grand Prix two weeks later, on 21st May, 30 cars tried to qualify for this race. Mario Andretti finally got his hands on the new Lotus 79, a totally integrated ground effects car, and the game was up for the rest of the field. Andretti took pole and obliterated any challenge from Reutemann and Lauda. Once the Lotus 79 took the field, the championship really was over. Peterson followed Andretti home second in the old Lotus 78, and Reutemann and Villeneuve trailed in after them. Hunt had by now realised that he was going to be out of it in 1978. He qualified sixth and retired on the first lap after his first brush with Ricardo Patrese, whose Arrows car hit him in the rear at the start. Hunt’s McLaren was launched into the air and crashed back down all askew. Fittipaldi and Lauda also went out in the incident.
After Belgium, Peter Hunt did his first big deal away from his brother. Olympus Cameras, which was represented by Collett Dickenson Pearce’s David Gray, was desperate to become more involved with Formula One and sponsor a team. Then it was spending US$90,000 a year as one of Hunt’s personal sponsors. A team deal with McLaren was impossible because of a clash of colours with Marlboro; Olympus colours were black or very dark blue, and John Hogan would not allow that on his red and white car.
Ironically, John Player Special, which was part of Imperial Tobacco, had told Lotus’ Colin Chapman that it wanted to withdraw halfway through 1978. It was a strange decision as the cigarette company had already paid half its sponsorship fee and was having a very successful season. Gray remembers: “John Player wanted to pull out because I think it had budget problems. Colin Chapman said it couldn’t pull out if he could find no one to replace it.”
Chapman asked Peter Hunt to help, and he called David Gray. Gray and Hunt quickly did a deal with Barry T
aylor and Olympus’ European managing director, Werner Teuwfel, and signed it at a Hertfordshire hotel on the last day of May. Olympus Cameras paid US$400,000 for a half season and shared billing with John Player Special. Gray got in his car and raced back to London. Olympus was due to debut on the car at the next race, the Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama a few days later, and he had plenty of work to do. So did Peter Hunt, who collected a commission on the deal. Hunt was very happy for his brother.
With the Spanish Grand Prix coming up, Hunt was scheduled to meet formally with King Juan Carlos. With that in mind, he asked Jane Birbeck to make sure she could come. Birbeck didn’t need much encouragement. She had finally read some of the press coverage of her boyfriend’s antics in South Africa and had resolved to accompany him to more races that year.
Jackie Stewart arranged a dinner for Formula One notables at the home of King Juan Carlos prior to the Spanish Grand Prix. As a mark of respect to the King, Hunt swapped his shorts for denim jeans but Birbeck, mindful of what had happened in Monte Carlo, dressed appropriately for a formal dinner. But when Hunt arrived in jeans, Stewart was mortified and went into a huddle with the King’s aides. Together, they decided to scrap the plan for a formal dinner and turned the occasion into a buffet supper by the swimming pool, for which Stewart deemed Hunt was more properly dressed. The King remained unaware of the original plans.
King Juan Carlos owned a pet cheetah, and the event was marked when the animal pulled off Birbeck’s dress with its teeth. Birbeck was wearing one of the fashionable Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dresses and the King was left staring at her in her bra and knickers. The dress was quickly recovered, with the King admonishing the cheetah. Hunt made some joke to the King about how Jane usually didn’t wear underwear, which luckily the King didn’t comprehend – much to Stewart’s relief.
At the track, both Andretti and Ronnie Peterson were equipped with new Olympus liveried Lotus 79s. As qualifying started on Thursday 1st June, the paint was still wet after ‘John Player’ had been sprayed over and the new Olympus stickers applied. David Gray remembers: “We had to pick the gravel off the side pods because the paint was still wet.”
Olympus got terrific value as Peterson and Andretti proceeded to smash the field in qualifying and in the race. It was no contest, with Jacques Laffite the best of the rest in his Ligier-Matra V12. Hunt qualified fourth and managed to finish sixth in the race after a pit stop to change blistering tyres.
Hunt had a lucky escape from a heavy qualifying accident after an impact with a steel Armco barrier pushed the left front wheel of his car right into the cockpit area. The tyre left black smears on his windscreen and left Hunt with a heavily bruised hand. It was a very narrow escape from serious injury.
With seven races already gone in 1978, Hunt had not managed to finish one race on the podium steps. The year was shaping up to be a disaster.
And Hunt knew what the problem was: 1978 marked a period of great change financially, logistically and technologically; a change that happens in Formula One every so often. Such change also happens invisibly and is often hardly noticeable. But when it does happen, it quickly becomes very apparent which teams have moved with it and which teams have not. Teddy Mayer had no clue the change was going on, and it was to mark the end of him as a serious force in the sport. Over the years, the phenomenon has destroyed many notable and top line teams including Cooper, BRM, Brabham, Lotus, Tyrrell and, currently, Williams. Ironically, only McLaren eventually managed to regroup and survive this culling; the others eventually disappeared.
Hunt laid the blame squarely at the feet of Teddy Mayer, and was beginning to believe he was a buffoon. He could not put the Villeneuve affair out of his mind. He had also lost some of the confidence he had in Alastair Caldwell.
In his head, Hunt had already resolved to leave McLaren at the end of the season. After he told Gilles Villeneuve, Villeneuve told Daniel Audetto, who then informed Enzo Ferrari. This culminated in Hunt and his brother Peter having a meeting with Audetto, who by that time was head of all Fiat’s motorsport activities, to discuss a Ferrari contract for 1979.
Audetto confided to them that Carlos Reutemann had been a disappointment and would be leaving the team at the end of the year. There and then, he offered Hunt a drive alongside Villeneuve for 1979. When Peter Hunt demurred, James leapt in and said he could consider it but he would want to earn the same number that Niki Lauda was getting at Brabham. Audetto was shocked, as it was twice the sum Ferrari had ever paid any driver. At least 30 seconds passed before Audetto slowly nodded his head.
Now, apparently, it seems that Peter Hunt wanted to accept right away, but it was his brother who paused. It seemed too easy. Hunt had heard horror stories from Lauda about what a monster Enzo Ferrari could be and how political the Ferrari team was. He had also heard about the venom of Italian journalists and knew he would be a target if he joined Ferrari. Hunt was not sure this was the environment for him.
Peter Hunt told Audetto they would get back to him. They never did, and Enzo turned his attention to Jody Scheckter, who he found wanted only US$500,000 a year to drive the car. Hunt had never been motivated by money alone and didn’t need Ferrari’s million dollars that badly.
Meanwhile, back at the track, it was getting interesting. The Swedish Grand Prix on 17th June will be remembered for just two things: the debut of the Brabham-Alfa Romeo fan car and Professor Watkins taking over as Formula One’s official doctor. Watkins was permanently stationed right at the entrance to the pit lane at every race and Hunt started a tradition of saluting him every time he came into the pits, as Watkins recalls: “Every time he came in, he saluted and I got very, very fond of James.” Watkins started to hang out at the Marlboro motorhome with Hunt.
Neither Hunt, nor Watkins knew what to make of the new fan car. The Brabham BT46B was designer Gordon Murray’s quick answer to the dominance of the Lotus 79. Knowing it would take him a year to design and develop a proper ground effects car to challenge the Lotus, and also knowing that putting sliding brush skirts onto the existing cars was nonsense, Murray took a short cut and created the same effect artificially. He effectively created turbo charged ground effects.
Murray’s solution was to box in the engine with new bodywork. Then he fitted a large industrial fan mounted horizontally over the engine. The fan sucked air from under the car, creating a vacuum and extra downforce. Murray insisted the movement of the fan was a cooling device; otherwise it would have infringed an important rule that banned moving aerodynamic devices on Formula One cars.
The car was even cleverer than it looked as the fan was attached to the gearbox; and the higher the speed of car, the harder it sucked. As it went faster, the car gained road holding rather than losing it.
The legality of the car was immediately questioned, but when Lauda only qualified third and was slower than teammate John Watson in qualifying, no one was particularly bothered. Lauda would probably have done better without the fan and the other team principals reckoned the Heath-Robinson contraption on the back of the Brabham wasn’t working.
But Murray and Lauda knew just how quick the car was and were actually sand-bagging in qualifying to prevent the car from being disqualified before the race.
Hunt was totally bemused by Brabham’s innovation, and the sheer lack of it in his own team. By this time, his own team manager, Alastair Caldwell, was also fed up and was entertaining offers from the Brabham team to move there. Hunt qualified his car an abysmal 14th.
At the start, Lauda got ahead of Watson to chase leader Andretti. Lauda soon got by and Andretti quickly retired. Lauda’s fan car was then in a race of its own, glued to a track which was very slippery. When any oil got on the track, the Brabham remained unaffected by it. The fan sucked the car to the track so powerfully that it was virtually impossible to spin off. Lauda was entering and exiting corners at terrifying speeds. Lauda reined it back in the end and won by 34.6 seconds, followed by Patrese and Peterson. Hunt finished eighth.
Afte
r the race, the stewards had no choice but to rule the car was legal since the fan did contribute to cooling and could not be outlawed as the rules stood. But Colin Chapman was determined to get the car banned. He could see all his team’s good work with the Lotus 79 coming to nothing if the Brabham was allowed to race. Every team could quickly copy it and get around naturally aspirated ground effects in favour of turbo charged ground effects, which is effectively what the fan car was.
The FIA investigated the car and confirmed that the fan’s primary effect was to cool the car, meeting the letter, if not the spirit, of the rules. But the fan car never raced again and was voluntarily withdrawn by Brabham. It later emerged that Chapman had threatened Ecclestone that Lotus would leave membership of FOCA unless he withdrew the fan car voluntarily. Ecclestone had too much to lose and had realised that the idea was, in any case, easily copied and that the advantage would be fleeting, if at all, by the following race.
With that resolved, Formula One moved on to the French Grand Prix. Buoyed by the success in Sweden, the Brabham team’s confidence was sky-high as John Watson put his car on pole position. Lauda was third, and Andretti split them. Hunt qualified fourth, a performance that surprised him immensely, especially as he out-qualified Peterson’s Lotus 79 in the process.
His qualifying performance translated into third in the race and he only just managed to hold on. Once again, he couldn’t resist the pâté de foie gras and was ill for the third year in a row. He was sick in his helmet and only just made it to the finish line.
It turned out to be his best performance of the year, and his only first podium finish for 1978.
But it was much more significant than that. It would be his last trip to the podium ever and, even more sadly, those four points would turn out to be the very last points he ever scored in his career – which still had a year to run.