Running out of funds

Big progress for James Hunt and Team Hesketh in 1975. The Hesketh 308B designed by Harvey Postlethwaite was competitive and gave the Brit his first World Championship Grand Prix win in the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort (pictures above and under).

Hunt finished fourth in the Championship but by the end of the year, Lord Alexander Hesketh had run out of funds and did not find a major sponsor for his team. Hunt was desperately looking for a drive for the 1976 season, until (to the surprise of all) Emerson Fittipaldi left McLaren and joined his brother’s Wilson Copersucar-Fittipaldi outfit.

McLaren then swiftly signed Hunt to McLaren – in a deal brokered by Marlboro’s John Hogan – for the next season on a $200,000 contract. History was in the making.