1.
Formula One
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Formula One is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile. The FIA Formula One World Championship has been the form of racing since the inaugural season in 1950. The formula, designated in the name, refers to a set of rules, the F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held worldwide on purpose-built F1 circuits and public roads. The results of each race are evaluated using a system to determine two annual World Championships, one for drivers, one for constructors. The racing drivers are required to be holders of valid Super Licences, the races are required to be held on tracks graded 1, the highest grade a track can receive by the FIA. Most events are held in locations on purpose-built tracks, but there are several events in city centres throughout the world. Formula One cars are the fastest road racing cars in the world. Formula One cars race at speeds of up to approximately 375 km/h with engines currently limited in performance to a maximum of 15,000 RPM, the cars are capable of lateral acceleration in excess of five g in corners. The performance of the cars is very dependent on electronics – although traction control and other driving aids have been banned since 2008 – and on aerodynamics, suspension, the formula has radically evolved and changed through the history of the sport. F1 had a global television audience of 425 million people during the course of the 2014 season. Grand Prix racing began in 1906 and became the most popular internationally in the second half of the twentieth century. The Formula One Group is the holder of the commercial rights. Its high profile and popularity have created a major merchandising environment, since 2000 the sports spiraling expenditures and the distribution of prize money favoring established top teams have forced complaints from smaller teams and led several teams to bankruptcy. On 23 January 2017 it was confirmed that Liberty Media had completed its $8 billion acquisition of Delta Topco, the Formula One series originated with the European Grand Prix Motor Racing of the 1920s and 1930s. The formula is a set of rules that all cars must meet. Formula One was a new formula agreed upon after World War II during 1946, the first world championship race was held at Silverstone, United Kingdom in 1950. A championship for constructors followed in 1958, national championships existed in South Africa and the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Non-championship Formula One events were held for years, but due to the increasing cost of competition
2.
Jackie Stewart
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Sir John Young Jackie Stewart, OBE is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the Flying Scot, he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers Championships, and twice runner-up, over nine seasons. In the United States, he worked as a commentator on television broadcasts at the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500. He has also been a spokesman for Ford, Rolex and Moët, between 1997 and 1999, in partnership with his son, Paul, he was team principal of the Stewart Grand Prix Formula One racing team. Stewart was born in Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, a village 15 miles west of Glasgow, Stewarts family were Austin, later Jaguar, car dealers and had built up a successful business. Jackie attended Hartfield primary school in the town of Dumbarton. Stewart was unable to continue his education past the age of 16. He was not actually diagnosed with dyslexia until 1980, when his oldest son Mark was diagnosed with the condition. He has said, When youve got dyslexia and you find something youre good at, you put more into it than anyone else, you cant think the way of the clever folk, so youre always thinking out of the box. At the age of 13 he had won a clay pigeon shooting competition and then went on to become a member of the Scottish shooting team, competing in the United Kingdom. He won the British, Irish, Welsh and Scottish skeet shooting championships and he competed for a place in the British trap shooting team for the 1960 Summer Olympics, but finished third behind Joseph Wheater and Brett Huthart. He took up an offer from Barry Filer, a customer of his family business, for 1961, Filer provided a Marcos, in which Stewart scored four wins, and competed once in Filers Aston DB4GT. In 1962, to if he was ready to become a professional driver, tested a Jaguar E-type at Oulton Park. He won two races, his first in England, in the E-type, and David Murray of Ecurie Ecosse offered him a ride in the Tojeiro EE Mk2, then their Cooper T49, in which he won at Goodwood. For 1963, he earned fourteen wins, a second, in 1964, he again signed with Ecurie Ecosse. Jackie came down for the test at Goodwood, taking over a new, soon Stewart was bettering McLarens times, causing McLaren to return to the track for some quicker laps. Again, Stewart was quicker, and Tyrrell offered Stewart a spot on the team, in 1964 he drove in Formula Three for Tyrrell. His debut, in the wet at Snetterton on 15 March, was dominant, within days, he was offered a Formula One ride with Cooper, but declined, preferring to gain experience under Tyrrell, he failed to win just two races in becoming F3 champion
3.
Team Lotus
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Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in motorsport series, including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar. The Lotus name returned to Formula One in 2010, as the name of Tony Fernandess Lotus Racing team. In 2011, Team Lotuss iconic black-and-gold livery returned to F1 as the livery of the Lotus Renault GP team, sponsored by Lotus Cars, colin Chapman established Lotus Engineering Ltd in 1952 at Hornsey, UK. Lotus achieved rapid success with the 1953 Mk 6 and the 1954 Mk 8 sports cars, Team Lotus was split off from Lotus Engineering in 1954. A new Formula Two regulation was announced for 1957, and in Britain, the following year, the Lotus 12 appeared. Driving one in 1958, Allison won the F2 class in the International Trophy at Silverstone, beating Stuart Lewis-Evanss Cooper. As the Coventry Climax engines were enlarged in 1952 to 2. 2-litres, Chapman decided to enter Grand Prix racing, running a pair of Lotus 12s at Monaco in 1958 for Graham Hill and these were replaced later that year by Lotus 16s. By then, the success had caused it to expand to such an extent that it had to move to new premises at Cheshunt. The first Formula One victory for Team Lotus came when Innes Ireland won the 1961 United States Grand Prix, a year earlier, Stirling Moss had recorded the first victory for a Lotus car at Monaco in his Lotus 18 entered by the independent Rob Walker Racing Team. There were successes in Formula Two and Formula Junior, the road car business was doing well with the Lotus Seven and the Lotus Elite and this was followed by the Lotus Elan in 1962. In 1963 Clark drove the Lotus 25 to a remarkable seven wins in a season and won the World Championship. The 1964 title was still for the taking by the time of the last race in Mexico but problems with Clarks Lotus, however, in 1965, Clark dominated again, six wins in his Lotus 33 gave him the championship. While very innovative, Chapman also came under criticism for the fragility of his designs. In Dave Friedmans book Indianapolis Memories 1961–1969, Dan Gurney is quoted as saying and we had several structural failures in those cars. But at the time, I felt it was the price you paid for getting something significantly better, a switch to the new Ford Cosworth DFV, designed by former Lotus employee Keith Duckworth, in 1967 returned the team to winning form. Although they failed to win the title in 1967, by the end of the season, the Lotus 49, however, for 1968 Lotus had lost its exclusive right to use the DFV. The season-opening 1968 South African Grand Prix confirmed Lotuss superiority, with Jim Clark and it would be Clarks last win
4.
Ford Motor Company
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The Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16,1903, the company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand and most luxury cars under the Lincoln brand. Ford also owns Brazilian SUV manufacturer, Troller, and Australian performance car manufacturer FPV, in the past, it has also produced tractors and automotive components. Ford owns an 8% stake in Aston Martin of the United Kingdom, and it also has a number of joint-ventures, one in China, one in Taiwan, one in Thailand, one in Turkey, and one in Russia. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is controlled by the Ford family, Fords former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover, acquired in 1989 and 2000 respectively, were sold to Tata Motors in March 2008. Ford owned the Swedish automaker Volvo from 1999 to 2010, in 2011, Ford discontinued the Mercury brand, under which it had marketed entry-level luxury cars in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Middle East since 1938. During the financial crisis at the beginning of the 21st century, it was close to bankruptcy, Ford is the second-largest U. S. -based automaker and the fifth-largest in the world based on 2015 vehicle production. At the end of 2010, Ford was the fifth largest automaker in Europe, Ford is the eighth-ranked overall American-based company in the 2010 Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues in 2009 of $118.3 billion. In 2008, Ford produced 5.532 million automobiles and employed about 213,000 employees at around 90 plants, the company went public in 1956 but the Ford family, through special Class B shares, still retain 40 percent voting rights. The Ford Motor Company was launched in a factory in 1903 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, most notably John. During its early years, the company produced just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack Avenue and later its factory on Piquette Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Groups of two or three men worked on car, assembling it from parts made mostly by supplier companies contracting for Ford. Henry Ford was 39 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company and it has been in continuous family control for over 100 years and is one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world. The first gasoline powered automobile had been created in 1885 by the German inventor Carl Benz, between 1903 and 1908, Ford produced the Models A, B, C, F, K, N, R, and S. Hundreds or a few thousand of most of these were sold per year, in 1908, Ford introduced the mass-produced Model T, which totalled millions sold over nearly 20 years. In 1927, Ford replaced the T with the Model A, Ford launched the first low-priced car with a V8 engine in 1932. In an attempt to compete with General Motors mid-priced Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Henry Ford purchased the Lincoln Motor Company in 1922, in order to compete with such brands as Cadillac and Packard for the luxury segment of the automobile market. The creation of a laboratory in Dearborn, Michigan in 1951, doing unfettered basic research
5.
John Player & Sons
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John Player & Sons, known simply as Players, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. Today it is a part of the Imperial Tobacco Group, in March 1820, William Wright set up a small tobacco factory in Craigshill, Livingston, West Lothian. This business expanded and earned Wright a comfortable fortune, John Player bought the business in 1877. He had the Castle Tobacco Factories built in Radford, Nottingham and he had three large factory blocks built, but initially only one was used to process and pack tobacco. The other two blocks were loaned out to lace manufacturers until the business had expanded enough to use the additional space, One of John Players innovations was to offer pre-packaged tobacco. Before this, smokers would have bought tobacco by weight from loose supplies and he also adopted a registered trade mark as a guarantee to the public that the goods could be relied on. The business was run later by Players sons John Dane Player, in 1901, in response to competitive threats from the USA, Players merged with the Imperial Tobacco Group. The largest constituent of Imperial Tobacco was W. D. & H. O. Wills, Players Medium Navy Cut was the most popular by far of the three Navy Cut brands. Two thirds of all the cigarettes sold in Britain were Players, in January 1937, Players sold nearly 3.5 million cigarettes. The popularity of the brand was mostly amongst the middle class and it was smoked in the north but other brands were locally more popular. A new factory was opened in the early 1970s on Nottinghams industrial outskirts, with road access and more effective floor space. On 15 April 2014 Imperial Tobacco announced that the Horizon factory would close in early 2016, bringing an end to cigarette and tobacco manufacture in Nottingham after over 130 years. The No 2 Factory, facing onto Radford Boulevard with its distinctive clock, John Players brands are well known in motor racing from their long association with the Lotus Formula One team, and Norton motorcycle racing team. Ford introduced the John Player Special limited edition, in March 1975, John Players sponsorship of Team Lotus began with the Lotus 49 in Gold Leaf colours in the 1968 Tasman Series. It continued with the Lotus 49 and Lotus 72 in Formula One, changed to the black and gold John Player Special colours in 1972 and ended in 1986 with the Lotus 98T. In Australia, JPS Team BMW competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship between 1981 and 1987, with Jim Richards winning the series in 1985 and 1987. In 1981 BMW released a road version of its 323i touring car in JPS colours to the Australian market. Players brands also sponsored the Forsythe Championship Racing team in Champ Car racing until tobacco advertising through Canadian brands was banned midway through 2003, John Player began sponsoring Norton motorcycle racing in November 1971
6.
Emerson Fittipaldi
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Emerson Fittipaldi is a semi-retired Brazilian automobile racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the Indianapolis 500 twice each and the CART championship once. Moving up from Formula Two, Fittipaldi made his debut for Team Lotus as a third driver at the 1970 British Grand Prix. After Jochen Rindt was killed at the 1970 Italian Grand Prix and he enjoyed considerable success with Lotus, winning the World Drivers Championship in 1972 at the age of 25, a youngest F1 world champion record that he held for 33 years. He later moved to McLaren for 1974, winning the title once again and he surprised the paddock by moving to his brothers Fittipaldi Automotive team prior to the 1976 season, being replaced by James Hunt. Success eluded him during his years in Formula One, with the Fittipaldi cars not competitive enough to fight for victories. Fittipaldi took two podium finishes, before retiring in 1980. Following his Formula One career, Fittipaldi moved to the American CART series, achieving results, including the 1989 CART title. Since his retirement from Indy Car racing in 1996, Fittipaldi races only occasionally, at age 67, he entered the 20146 Hours of São Paulo. Emerson Fittipaldi was born in São Paulo, Brazil and his grandfather Ivan Wojciechowski was an officer in the Tsarist army. He was named after American author and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson became a motorsports enthusiast at an early age. Fittipaldi is the brother of former Formula One driver and team owner Wilson Fittipaldi. He is the uncle of TUDOR United Sports Car Championship driver Christian Fittipaldi and he was married to Maria Helena from 1970 to 1982. They had three children together, Juliana, Jayson and Tatiana and he was married a second time, to Teresa, in the mid-1980s. They have one daughter, Joana, and a son, Luca, in early December 2012 he married economist Rossana Fanucchi in São Paulo after a partnership of eleven years. In his youth in Brazil, Emerson was known as Rato - mouse, by the end of his career he was most commonly known as Emmo in the United States and the UK. The plane lost power and plunged 300 feet to the ground, after recovering he became a born-again Christian. He was a friend of Beatles guitarist George Harrison and was with him shortly before Harrison died in November 2001, at age 14, Fittipaldi was racing motorcycles, and at 16, hydrofoils. While racing one day, his brother Wilson took off at 70 mph, afterwards, they both decided that although he had survived, they would no longer race hydrofoils, and moved onto racing karts
7.
Ronnie Peterson
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Bengt Ronnie Peterson was a Swedish racing driver. Known by the nickname SuperSwede, he was a two-time runner-up in the FIA Formula One World Drivers Championship, Peterson began his motor racing career in kart racing, traditionally the discipline where the majority of race drivers begin their careers in open-wheel racing. Later that year he won the FIA European Formula 3 Championship and moved up into Formula One, racing for the March factory team. In his three-year spell with the team, he took six podiums, after seeing out his three-year contract at March, Peterson joined Colin Chapmans Team Lotus in the 1973 season, partnering defending champion Emerson Fittipaldi. During his first two seasons with Lotus, Peterson took seven victories, scoring a career-best 52 points in 1973, after a poor 1975 season, Peterson moved back to March and scored his final victory for the team at the 1976 Italian Grand Prix. After spending the 1977 season with Tyrrell, he moved back to Lotus for the 1978 season as number two driver to Mario Andretti, Peterson was born in Almby in the vicinity of Örebro, Sweden. He developed his style at a young age while competing in karting. After his karting years, Peterson entered Formula Three racing in the Svebe, superb results from the outset quickly attracted the attention of the ambitious Tecno company from Italy, who signed him in 1968. The pairing produced some results, and he won the 1969 Formula Three Championship. Even after his elevation to F1 status Peterson still drove in lower echelon racing series, Peterson made his Grand Prix debut in a March 701 for Colin Crabbes works-supported Antique Automobiles Racing Team at the 1970 Monaco Grand Prix. The limited budget of Crabbes privateer team allowed only minimal testing, Peterson was the only March driver to finish the race, in seventh place. In 1971 Peterson moved up to the full March works team, five Formula One Grand Prix second places earned him the position of runner-up to Jackie Stewart in that years World Championship. Within that year, Peterson drove in the World Sports Car Championship driving an Autodelta Alfa Romeo to win the Watkins Glen 6 hours, Peterson stayed at March until 1973, when he signed for John Player Team Lotus to partner Emerson Fittipaldi. Petersons first Grand Prix win was at the 1973 French Grand Prix, held at Paul Ricard, there were three more wins that year, in Austria, Italy and the United States, but poor reliability restricted him to only third place in the World Championship at seasons end. For 1974, the Lotus 76 was brought forth, the car, however, proved to be a complete failure, disliked by both Peterson and his team mate Ickx. 1975 was a bad year for Lotus, Peterson and Ickx were forced to drive with the now archaic 72 model, whose age was now really beginning to show. Peterson had signed for Shadow but Lotus owner Colin Chapman convinced him to stay with Lotus due to a promise Chapman made to accelerate the rate of development on the Lotus 77 and he drove the first race of 1976 in the Lotus 77 before rejoining March Engineering. Driving the March 761, he won the Italian Grand Prix and he also continued to drive sports cars, particularly for BMW in 1974 and 1975
8.
Autodromo Nazionale Monza
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The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is a race track located near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it is the worlds third purpose-built motor racing circuit after those of Brooklands, the circuits biggest event is the Formula One Italian Grand Prix. With the exception of 1980, the race has been hosted there since the seriess inception, the circuit is generally flat, but has a gradual gradient from the second Lesmos to the Variante Ascari. Since both maximum power and minimal drag are keys for speed on the straights, only competitors with enough power or aerodynamic efficiency at their disposal are able to challenge for the top places. In addition to Formula One, the hosts a endurance event, the 1000 km Monza, which has been run as part of the World Sportscar Championship. Current major events are races of the World Touring Car Championship, the Monza circuit has been the site of many fatal accidents, especially in the early years of the Formula One world championship, and has claimed the lives of 52 drivers and 35 spectators. The first track was built from May to July 1922 by 3,500 workers, the initial form was a 3.4 square kilometres site with 10 kilometres of macadamised road – comprising a 4.5 kilometres loop track, and a 5.5 kilometres road track. The track was opened on 3 September 1922, with the maiden race the second Italian Grand Prix held on 10 September 1922. In 1928, the most serious Italian racing accident to date ended in the death of driver Emilio Materassi and 27 spectators at that years Grand Prix, the accident led to further Grand Prix races confinement to the high-speed loop until 1932. The 1933 race was marked by the deaths of three drivers and the Grand Prix layout was changed, with two chicanes added and the longer straights removed. There was major rebuilding in 1938–39, constructing new stands and entrances, resurfacing the track, moving portions of the track, the resulting layout gave a Grand Prix lap of 6.300 kilometres, in use until 1954. The outbreak of World War II meant racing at the track was suspended until 1948, Monza was renovated over a period of two months at the beginning of 1948 and a Grand Prix was held on 17 October 1948. In 1954, work began to revamp the circuit, resulting in a 5.750 kilometres course. The two circuits could be combined to re-create the former 10 kilometres long circuit, with cars running parallel on the main straight, the track infrastructure was also updated and improved to better accommodate the teams and spectators. The Automobile Club of Italy held 500-mile Race of Two Worlds exhibition competitions, intended to pit United States Auto Club IndyCars against European Formula One and sports cars. The races were held on the oval at the end of June in 1957 and 1958, ecurie Ecosses three Jaguar D-type sports cars used their Le Mans-specification tyres with no ill-effects, but were completely out paced. Two heats in 1957 were won by Jimmy Bryan in his Kuzma-Offenhauser Dean Van Lines Special, Formula One used the 10 kilometres high speed track in the 1955,1956,1960 and 1961 Grands Prix. Stirling Moss and Phil Hill both won twice in this period, with Hills win at Monza making him the first American to win a Formula One race
9.
McLaren M23
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The McLaren M23 was a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Coppuck, with input from John Barnard, and built by the McLaren team. It was a development of the McLaren M16 Indianapolis 500 car, a Ford Cosworth DFV engine was used, which was prepared by specialist tuning company Nicholson-McLaren Engines. This helped push the DFVs horsepower output to around 490 bhp and it was introduced for the 1973 season, and scored pole position with Denny Hulme on its very first outing. Hulme and Peter Revson took three wins between them that season, while rookie Jody Scheckter nearly added a fourth. Scheckter was responsible for one of the biggest accidents Formula One has ever seen, at the 1973 British Grand Prix, emerson Fittipaldi joined McLaren from Lotus in 1974. His knowledge of the Lotus 72 helped McLaren develop the M23, most of these changes were adopted for the M23 and its successor, the McLaren M26. At the end of 1975 Fittipaldi left the team to join his brothers Copersucar-sponsored Fittipaldi Automotive team and he was replaced by James Hunt, who went on to win a dramatic and controversial 1976 season with the final evolution M23, the M23D. The M23 was also modified for use in Formula 5000 racing, Australian driver John McCormack drove a Leyland powered M23 to win the 1977 Australian Drivers Championship. McCormack also put his M23 on pole for the 1978 Australian Grand Prix. *12 points in 1973 scored using the M19A and M19C*39 points in 1977 scored using the M26* All points in 1978 scored using the McLaren M26 F1 Racing magazine, January 2001 Motor Sport, August 2002
10.
Lotus 72
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The Lotus 72 was a Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe of Lotus for the 1970 Formula One season. The shape made for better air penetration and higher speeds, in a back-to-back test with the Lotus 49, the 72 was 12 mph faster with the same Cosworth engine. Chapmans efforts produced one of the most remarkable and successful designs in F1 history, taking the stressed engine layout technique from the Lotus 49 and adding advanced aerodynamics produced a car that was years ahead of its rivals. Once the suspension was modified, there were no further problems, the car caused a sensation amongst the media and fans, with many people clamouring to see the remarkable car in action. The car was introduced partway into the 1970 season, driven by Jochen Rindt, Rindt made the car successful, winning the Dutch, French, British and German Grands Prix in quick succession. Rindt was almost certainly going to win the championship but was killed in a qualifying crash at Monza. His replacement, Emerson Fittipaldi, won the United States race, rindts and Fittipaldis combined points for the season helped Lotus to its fourth constructors championship. The car was developed during 1971 by Tony Rudd who had worked at BRM. He worked especially on redesigning the rear suspension and modified the rear wing to produce more downforce, Fittipaldi struggled during the season but scored good results and finished a respectable sixth, whilst the following season was much better. The development work done behind the scenes helped him become the youngest world champion in F1s history in 1972 winning five races in the 72, whilst Lotus again won the constructors championship. The car now sported a striking paintscheme of black and gold, Imperial Tobacco had introduced a new brand, Lotus was now sponsored by John Player Special cigarettes. The 1973 season saw new rules introduced to increase car safety and this included mandatory deformable structure to be built into the sides of the cars, causing the 72 to be further updated with integrated sidepods, larger bodywork and new wing mounts. Fittipaldi was joined for 1973 by Swede Ronnie Peterson, Peterson fell in love with the 72. Fittipaldi left for McLaren in 1974, to drive a car based on the 72. This left Peterson as team leader, while Jacky Ickx joined the team to partner him. The 72 was meant to be replaced by the Lotus 76, intended to be a lighter and leaner version of the 72, but the technology proved to be too ambitious. Lotus turned to the venerable 72 for the 1974 season, a further update to the car, increasing the front and rear track kept the car competitive. Peterson won another three races and challenged for the championship in a closely contested season, ably supported by Ickx who turned in solid performances
11.
James Hunt
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James Simon Wallis Hunt 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, 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. Hunts often reckless and action-packed exploits on track earned him the nickname Hunt the Shunt, 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, following a string of races in which he failed to finish, Hunt retired from driving halfway through the 1979 season. After retiring from racing, he established a career commenting on Grands Prix for the BBC. Hunt died from a heart attack aged 45. He was inducted into the Motor Sport Hall of Fame on 29 January 2014, James Hunt was born in Belmont, Surrey, the second child of Wallis, a stockbroker, and Sue Hunt. He had a sister, Sally, three younger brothers, Peter, Timothy and David, and one younger sister, Georgina. Hunts family lived in a flat in Cheam, Surrey, moved to Sutton when he was 11, before his 5th birthday, Hunt was enrolled at a nursery class at Ambleside. He was then educated at Westerleigh School in Hastings, Sussex from 1955, as a youngster, Hunt became a proficient sportsman. He played for the Westerleigh School cricket team, and played in goal at football for two years, at the age of 12 he entered an under-17s tennis tournament, and lost to a 16-year-old in the final. Rather than congratulate himself, he cried for hours. He later competed at Junior Wimbledon, and also became a keen squash player and golfer, as a child, Hunt was fascinated with animals and birds, and professed an intention of becoming a doctor, which his family supported. He was prone to violent tantrums, as an adult, he acknowledged that he was quick tempered, Hunt passed his driving test one week after his 17th birthday, at which point he said his life really began. Hunt also took up skiing in 1965 in Scotland and made plans for further ski trips, before his 18th birthday, he went to the home of Chris Ridge, his tennis doubles partner. Ridges brother Simon, who raced Minis, was preparing his car for a race at Silverstone that weekend, the Ridges took Hunt to see the race, which began his obsession with motor racing. Hunts racing career started off in a racing Mini and he graduated to Formula Ford in 1968. He drove a Russell-Alexis Mk 14 car which was bought through a hire purchase scheme, in his first race at Snetterton, Hunt had lost 15 hp from an incorrect engine ignition setting but managed to finish 5th. Hunt took his first win at Lydden Hill and also set the lap record on the Brands Hatch short circuit, Hunt later raced in Formula Three in 1969 with a budget provided by Gowrings of Reading which bought a Meryln Mk11A
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