James Hunt

Born	(1947-08-29)29 August 1947
Died	15 June 1993(1993-06-15) (aged 45)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	British
Active years	1973-1979
Teams	Hesketh, McLaren, Wolf
Races	93 (92 starts)
Championships	1 (1976)
Wins	10
Podiums	23
Career points	179
Pole positions	14
Fastest laps	8
First race	1973 Monaco Grand Prix
First win	1975 Dutch Grand Prix
Last win	1977 Japanese Grand Prix
Last race	1979 Monaco Grand Prix

James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993)^[1] was a British racing driver from England who won the Formula One World Championship in 1976. Hunt's often action packed exploits on track earned him the nickname "Hunt the Shunt." After retiring from driving, Hunt became a media commentator and businessman. Never one to take himself too seriously, Hunt endeared himself to the British public with his charisma and charm and in the process brought a whole new fanbase to the sport of Formula One.

Beginning his racing career in touring car racing, Hunt progressed into Formula Three where he attracted the attention of the Hesketh Racing team and was soon taken under their wing. 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 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. However, following a string of races in which he failed to finish, Hunt retired from driving half way through the 1979 season.

He is latterly remembered for his commentary career for the BBC, which he took up following his retirement and maintained until his death in 1993.

Early career[link]

The son of a successful stockbroker, James Hunt was born in Belmont, Sutton, Surrey and educated firstly at Westerleigh School in Hastings, East Sussex and later Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire, and originally professed the intention of becoming a doctor. But just before his 18th birthday he was taken by a friend to see a motor race and Hunt was instantly hooked.

James Hunt driving a Brabham BT21 in the Guards Trophy F3 race at Brands Hatch, 1969.

Hunt's own racing career started off in a racing Mini, before graduating to Formula Ford and Formula Three. Hunt was noticed as a fast driver with an aggressive, tail-happy driving style, but one prone to spectacular accidents, hence his well-earned nickname of Hunt The Shunt. Hunt was involved in a controversial incident with Dave Morgan during a battle for second position in the Formula Three Daily Express Trophy race at Crystal Palace on 3 October 1970. Having banged wheels earlier in a very closely fought race, Morgan attempted to pass Hunt on the outside of South Tower Corner on the final lap, but instead the cars collided and crashed out of the race. Hunt's car came to rest in the middle of the track, minus two wheels. Hunt got out, ran over to Morgan and furiously pushed him to the ground,^[2] which earned him severe official disapproval.

Hunt's career continued in the works March team, but in May 1972 it was announced by the team that he had been dropped from the STP-March Formula 3 team and replaced by Jochen Mass. This followed a period characterized by a series of mechanical failures, and which culminated in a decision by Hunt, against the express instructions of March director Max Mosley, to race at Monaco in a March from a different team, unexpectedly vacated by driver Jean-Claude Alzerat, after Hunt's own March had first broken down and then been hit by another competitor in a practice lap.^[3]

After the termination of his racing relationship with STP-March, Hunt joined the Hesketh team, where he was seen as a kindred spirit. The team initially entered Hunt in Formula Two with little success but Lord Hesketh announced that they might as well fail in F1 as in F2, as it wasn't significantly more expensive.

Formula One career[link]

Beginnings with Hesketh[link]

Hunt's Hesketh 308 from 1975 being driven by his son, Freddie, in 2007

Hesketh purchased a March 731 chassis, and it was developed by Harvey Postlethwaite. The team was initially not taken seriously by rivals, who saw the Hesketh team as party goers enjoying the glamour of Formula One. The Hesketh March proved much more competitive than the works March cars, and their best result was second place at the 1973 United States Grand Prix. For the 1974 season Hesketh Racing built a car, inspired by the March, called the Hesketh 308, but an accompanying V12 engine never materialised. The Hesketh team captured the public imagination as a car without sponsors' markings, a teddy-bear badge and a devil-may-care team ethos, which belied the fact that their engineers were highly competent. Hunt's season highlight was a victory at the BRDC International Trophy non-Championship race at Silverstone, against the majority of the regular F1 field.

Hunt's first World Championship win came in the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. He finished fourth in the Championship that year, but Lord Hesketh had run out of funds and could not find a sponsor for his team. With little time left before the 1976 season, Hunt was desperately looking for a drive until Emerson Fittipaldi left McLaren and joined his brother's Copersucar-Fittipaldi outfit. With no other top drivers available, the team management signed Hunt to McLaren for the next season – he was one of the cheapest World Champions ever (Keke Rosberg in 1982 similarly found a drive at the last minute). Hunt immediately caused a stir by refusing to sign a clause in his contract which stipulated he wore suits to sponsor functions. Hunt wore t-shirt and jeans and was often barefoot for sponsor-led functions with world leaders, chairmen of businesses and media moguls.

World Championship year[link]

1976 was Hunt's best year; the season proved to be both dramatic and controversial. He drove the McLaren M23 to six Grands Prix wins. After a slow start in which rival Niki Lauda pulled out a vast points lead, Hunt was disqualified and later reinstated as the winner of the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix for driving a car adjudged to be 1.8 cm too wide. Victory at the British Grand Prix was disallowed after an accident at the first corner that Hunt was involved in. At the Italian Grand Prix, the Texaco fuel that McLaren used was tested and although apparently legal, the Penske cars, running the same fuel, had a much higher octane level than allowed and subsequently both teams were forced to start from the rear of the grid.

Lauda's near-fatal accident in Germany, which caused him to miss the following two races, allowed Hunt to close the gap to the Austrian. As they went to the final round in Japan Hunt was just three points behind. The Japanese Grand Prix was torrentially wet, and Lauda retired early on in the race, unable to blink because of facial burns from his accident in Germany^{[citation needed]}. After leading most of the race Hunt suffered a puncture, then had a delayed pitstop and finally received mixed pit signals from his team. But he managed to finish in third place, scoring four points, enough for him to win the World Championship by one point.

Decline and retirement[link]

Hunt in the 1978 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch with McLaren M26.

The 1977 Formula One season did not start well for Hunt. The McLaren M26 was problematic in the early part of the season, during which Niki Lauda and Mario Andretti took a considerable lead in the Drivers' Championship. Towards the end of the year Hunt and the McLaren M26 were quicker than any rival combination other than Mario Andretti and the Lotus 78, and Hunt won in Silverstone, Watkins Glen and Fuji. He finished fifth in the World Drivers' Championship.

In the 1978 season Hunt scored only eight world championship points. Lotus had developed effective ground effect aerodynamics with their Lotus 79 car, and McLaren were slow to respond. The M26 was revised as a ground effect car midway through the season but it did not work, and without a test driver to solve the car's problems, Hunt's motivation was low. His inexperienced new team-mate Patrick Tambay even outqualified Hunt at one race.

James Hunt was greatly affected by Ronnie Peterson's fatal crash in the 1978 Italian Grand Prix.^{[citation needed]} At the start of the race there was a huge accident going into the first corner. Ronnie Peterson's Lotus was pushed into the barriers and burst into flames. Hunt, together with Patrick Depailler and Clay Regazzoni, rescued Peterson from the car, but Peterson died one day later. Hunt took his friend's death particularly hard and for years afterwards blamed Riccardo Patrese for the accident. Video evidence of the crash has since shown that Patrese did not touch Hunt or Peterson's cars, nor did he cause any other car to do so.^[4] Hunt believed, however, that it was Patrese's muscling past that caused the McLaren and Lotus to touch, but Patrese argues that he was already well ahead of the pair before the accident took place.^[4]

For 1979 Hunt moved to the initially very successful Walter Wolf Racing team for what would be his last, brief, Formula One season. The team's ground effect car was uncompetitive and Hunt soon lost any enthusiasm for racing.^{[citation needed]} His private life was also becoming increasingly turbulent. After failing to finish the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix, the race where six years previously he had made his debut, Hunt made a statement to the press announcing his immediate retirement and walked away from F1 competition.

Personal life and later career[link]

Hunt was notorious for his unconventional behaviour on and off the track, having drugs and sex often minutes before a race.^[5] Having been part of Formula One when the series was consolidating, and when it was conquering the attention of the motor sport press, Hunt became the epitome of unruly, playboy drivers and was celebrated for his English eccentricity (which included dining with his pet Alsatian dog, Oscar, at expensive Mayfair restaurants). He also was a great womaniser, sleeping with over 5,000.

Early in their careers Hunt and Lauda shared a one-bedroom flat in London, and were close friends off the track. Lauda, in his autobiography To Hell and Back, described Hunt as an "open, honest to God pal." Whilst living in Spain as a tax exile, Hunt was neighbours with Jody Scheckter, and they also came to be very good friends, with Hunt giving Scheckter the nickname Fletcher after the crash prone bird in the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Another close friend was Ronnie Peterson. Peterson was a quiet and shy man, whilst Hunt was exactly the opposite, but their contrasting personalities made them very close off the track. It was Hunt who discovered Gilles Villeneuve, whom he met after being soundly beaten by him in a Formula Atlantic race in 1976. Hunt then arranged for the young Canadian to make his Grand Prix debut with McLaren in 1977.

Hunt's lifestyle was as controversial as some of the events on track: he was associated with a succession of beautiful women; he preferred to turn up to formal functions in bare feet and jeans; he was an extensive user of alcohol, and also cocaine and marijuana;^[6] and he lived an informal life near the beach in Marbella. He was regularly seen attending nightclubs and discos, and was generally the life and soul of the party. Hunt was an expert ball game player, and regularly played squash and tennis. He also played on the F1 drivers' cricket and football teams and appeared on the BBC's Superstars more than once.

He was married twice: first, to model Suzy Miller, who left him for the actor Richard Burton. His second marriage, to Sarah Lomax, resulted in two children.^[7]

Soon after retirement, in 1979 Hunt became a television commentator for the BBC, alongside Murray Walker on the BBC 2 Formula One racing programme Grand Prix, a position which he continued for the thirteen years until his death. Viewers were regularly exposed to his knowledge, insights and dry sense of humour during broadcasts, bringing him a whole new fanbase. He was famous for 'rubbishing' drivers he did not think were trying hard enough – he once described René Arnoux's comments that non-turbo cars didn't suit the Frenchman's driving skills as "bullshit", while live on the BBC.^[8] He also had a reputation for speaking out against back-markers who held up race leaders^[9] and not holding back on any of his commentaries - in sharp contrast to the gentlemanly Walker.

He briefly considered making a comeback to F1 in the mid-1980s, and even tested privately for Williams setting competitive lap times, but eventually changed his mind.^{[citation needed]}

Hunt fought depression and alcoholism and despite severe financial setbacks in his business life, approaching his mid-40s it seemed that he had overcome many of his demons (particularly alcohol and tobacco) and had finally achieved happiness. Happiness to Hunt included his new partner Helen, his clean health, his bicycle, his casual approach to dress, his two sons and his Austin A35 van.

Hunt made a brief appearance in the 1979 British silent slapstick comedy "The Plank", as well as co-starring with Fred Emney in a Texaco Havoline TV advertisement. He also made an appearance on ITV's Police Camera Action! special Crash Test Racers in 2000; this was one of many interviews to be aired posthumously.

Hunt died in 1993 at the age of 45, of a heart attack at his home in Wimbledon, only hours after proposing marriage to Helen.^[10] He was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium.

Hunt's son Freddie Hunt competed in his first car race on 29 October 2006, and finished fourth overall. It is said he used the race to evaluate if he wished to become a racing driver professionally.^{[citation needed]} After competing in the ADAC Formel Masters series in Germany in 2009, Freddie decided to retire from motor racing. Hunt's younger brother, David, also pursued a racing career, competing in British Formula Three and International Formula 3000 in the 1980s.

In early 2007, Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen entered and won a snowmobile race in his native Finland under the name James Hunt. Räikkönen has openly admired the lifestyles of 1970s race car drivers such as Hunt.^[11] During his comeback year to Formula One in 2012, Kimi Räikkönen sported a James Hunt painted helmet during the Monaco Grand Prix.^[12]

Hunt will be portrayed by Chris Hemsworth in the 2013 Ron Howard film Rush about the 1976 Formula One season.

Complete Formula One World Championship results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References[link]

External links[link]

• GrandPrix.com biography
• ConnectingRod article
• James Hunt appreciation website
• Fan website
• James Hunt statistics
• Video of James Hunt just after he won the 1976 British Grand Prix

v t e  McLaren Founder: Bruce McLaren McLaren Group: Ron Dennis (25%) | TAG Group (25%) | Mumtalakat (50%) Current personnel: Martin Whitmarsh | Paddy Lowe | Sam Michael | Neil Oatley Former personnel: John Barnard | Gordon Coppuck | Pat Fry | Norbert Haug | Robin Herd | Neil Martin | Teddy Mayer | Gordon Murray | Adrian Newey | Steve Nichols | Jo Ramirez | Nicholas Tombazis Race drivers: 3. Jenson Button | 4. Lewis Hamilton Test drivers: Gary Paffett | Oliver Turvey World Champions:  Emerson Fittipaldi |  Lewis Hamilton |  James Hunt |  Mika Häkkinen |  Niki Lauda |  Alain Prost |  Ayrton Senna Cars Formula One: M2B | M4B | M5A | M7A | M7B | M7C | M7D | M9A | M14A | M14D | M19A | M19C | M23 | M26 | M28 | M29 | M29F | M30 | MP4 (MP4/1) | MP4B (MP4/1B) | MP4/1C | MP4/1E | MP4/2 | MP4/2B | MP4/2C | MP4/3 | MP4/4 | MP4/5 | MP4/5B | MP4/6 | MP4/6B | MP4/7A | MP4/8 | MP4/9 | MP4/10 | MP4/10B | MP4/10C | MP4/11 | MP4/11B | MP4/12 | MP4/13 | MP4/14 | MP4/15 | MP4-16 | MP4-17 | MP4-17D | MP4-18 | MP4-19 | MP4-19B | MP4-20 | MP4-21 | MP4-22 | MP4-23 | MP4-24 | MP4-25 | MP4-26 | MP4-27 Formula Two: M4A | M21 Sports cars: Zerex Special | M1A | M1B | M1C | M6A | M6B | M6GT | M8A | M8B | M8C | M8D | M8E | M8F | M8FP | M12 | M20 | F1 GTR USAC/IndyCar: M15 | M16A | M16B | M16C | M16C/D | M16E | M24 F5000/Libre:  M3 | M10A | M10B | M18 | M22 | M25 Development cars: M2A Road cars: F1 | F1 LM | SLR (for Mercedes-Benz) | MP4-12C Engines: M838T

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Murray Walker OBE
Walker in 2009
Born	Graeme Murray Walker (1923-10-10) 10 October 1923 (age 88) Hall Green, Birmingham, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Commentator
Years active	1948-2001, 2005- (occasional work)
Employer	BBC Sport (1976-1996, 2009-) ITV Sport (1997-2001)
Title	OBE

Graeme Murray Walker, OBE (known as Murray Walker; born 10 October 1923,^[1] Hall Green, Birmingham, England) is a former Formula One (F1) motorsport commentator. For most of his career he worked for the BBC, but when it lost the contract for F1 coverage to the company ITV, Walker continued his commentating after the change of broadcaster.

He has a distinctive, enthusiastic commentary style. Since 1978, British television commentary of the Formula 1 seasons has been used by other broadcasters right around the world, including Australia and Japan. He is known for comments in the heat of the moment that could have a humorous interpretation; for example, it has been stated that as a car arrived for a pit stop during a race he uttered a Spoonerism by saying "...I'll stop the startwatch!". Of an injured, absent driver "He's watching us from hospital with his injured knee." "That Williams is unique, except for the car in front, which is identical!. When Nigel Mansell's tyre blew in the closing stages of the final race of the 1986 World Championship in Adelaide, depriving Mansell of a chance to win the title, he exclaimed "...And look at that!...".

He was an exponent of the commentator's curse, noting in an interview that he might say how well a driver was racing or that they would probably win the race, only to have them retire or crash out of the race shortly thereafter, hence his catchphrase "...Unless I'm very much mistaken..." which might lead shortly after to a correction "...I am very much mistaken..." to introduce the correction of the foregoing comment if it turned out in the event to be incorrect.

He is known for his gentlemanly and considerate conduct, seeing the best in drivers who had attracted controversy. He rarely criticised drivers and preferred to give the benefit of the doubt in attributing blame for incidents; he did not, for instance, criticise Michael Schumacher after his controversial collision with Damon Hill in Adelaide in 1994.

Life outside commentary[link]

Walker's father Graham was a despatch rider and works motorcyclist for Norton Motorcycle Company, who participated in the Isle of Man TT and was Sales competition Director at the Rudge-Whitworth Motorcycle company. Walker attended Highgate School and in World War II he graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Royal Scots Greys. He went on to command a Sherman Tank and participate in the Battle of the Reichswald with the 4th Armoured Brigade. He left the army having attained the rank of captain and then worked in advertising for Dunlop and Aspro. He was then employed by the Masius advertising agency, with clients including Mars,^[2] Vauxhall Motors and British Rail. He did not retire from this until the age of 59, long after he was famed as a commentator. He also briefly competed in motorcycle races himself.

Walker is often wrongly attributed with having invented the famous slogan "A Mars a day helps you work rest and play": "[it] was something that I administered, but I never invented it. I'll tell you how it got ascribed to me. It got put into an obituary file, maybe all of my obituary files, and I can't get rid of it. It's amazing the way it sticks."

Walker did, however, create the slogan "Trill makes budgies bounce with health" - a famous advertising slogan for bird seed in the 1960s as well as the slogan "Opal Fruits, made to make your mouth water." ^[3]

Career as a commentator[link]

Walker made his first broadcast at Shelsley Walsh hillclimb in 1948.^[4] By 1949 he was commentating on races alongside Max Robertson, although it wasn't until the late 1970s that each Formula 1 race was given extensive coverage on British television. He did occasional Formula 1 commentaries during the 1970s, going full-time for the 1978 season. He commentated on Formula 1 through to the 2001 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis.

His first regular work was on radio coverage of the Isle of Man TT, initially alongside his father. After Graham's death in 1962, Murray took over the lead role. He covered motocross (initially for ITV) during the 1960s and rallycross in the 1970s and early 1980s. He occasionally commentated on motorcycle racing and rallying. Walker also covered the BTCC for the BBC between 1988 and 1997, and the Macao event for Hong Kong TV on nine occasions.^[1]

On Formula One coverage from 1980 to 1993, Walker struck up a surprisingly successful double act with 1976 world champion James Hunt. Initially they did not get on, as Hunt's interests, personality, and private life appeared to have little in common with Walker's. However, the pair were to work together for more than a decade at the BBC, until Hunt's sudden death from a heart attack the day after the 1993 Canadian Grand Prix. When in the commentary booth together, Walker would provide his typically animated descriptions of the action, with Hunt bringing in his expert knowledge - and opinionated nature - in his co-commentary role.

After Hunt died, Jonathan Palmer joined Walker in the commentary box until the end of 1996. The following year, the television rights for the UK coverage transferred to ITV, and Walker followed. His co-commentator from the 1997 season onwards until his retirement from commentating was Martin Brundle. There were few Grands Prix between 1978 and 1996 that Walker did not commentate on while employed by the BBC. Some of these including the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix (Simon Taylor), 1981 German Grand Prix and 1984 German Grand Prix (both commentated by Barrie Gill), the 1985 German Grand Prix (Tony Jardine) and 1988 Hungarian Grand Prix (Simon Taylor).

He also wrote a series of annuals for the Grand Prix season, Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year, for Hazelton Publishing from 1987 to 1997.

Walker's final Formula One television commentary was the 2001 United States Grand Prix which was also the second F1 race held at Indianapolis, United States. Upon his retirement, Walker was awarded an original brick from "The Brickyard" (the Indianapolis Motor Speedway) by track president Tony George, an honour very rarely bestowed on anyone other than the winning driver of a major race at the venue.

In November 1997, Walker was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters Degree from Bournemouth University.^[5] He was later honoured, in July 2005, with an Honorary Doctorate from the Middlesex University, London.

Later years[link]

Murray Walker's star on the Birmingham Walk of Stars

In October 2005, it was announced that Walker would be returning to the microphone as the BBC's voice of the new Grand Prix Masters series.^[6] After providing the commentary for the inaugural race in South Africa, in January 2006 BBC Radio 5 Live announced that Walker would be part of their team for their coverage of subsequent races.

Years of exposure to loud engines and age-related hearing problems left Walker with hearing loss in both ears. In 2006 he became chief ambassador for David Ormerod Hearing Centres, the high street Audiology chain that fitted his hearing aids.

In March 2006, the Honda Racing F1 Team, formerly British American Racing, announced that Walker would become its team ambassador for half of the 2006 season's 18 Grands Prix, starting with the San Marino Grand Prix in April.^[7] Walker welcomed Honda Racing's VIP guests and entertained them with his F1 commentary.

In March 2006 Walker returned to the microphone for the Clipsal 500 V8 Supercar round in Adelaide and in April he commentated on the Australian Grand Prix for Australia's Formula One broadcaster Network Ten. He was also Sky Sports' commentator for their coverage of Grand Prix Masters.

In March 2007 Walker again returned to the microphone for the Clipsal 500 V8 Supercar round, and was awarded a Lifetime Infinite Pass to the event by organisers at a ceremony on pit straight, shortly before the main race. In March 2007 he was again part of Network Ten’s commentary team for the Australian Grand Prix.

In June 2007 Walker visited the Isle of Man to celebrate the Centenary of the Isle of Man TT and work on a DVD documentary about the event, TT: Centenary Celebration with Murray Walker, which was released later in the year.

In July 2007 Walker commentated on the European Grand Prix for BBC Radio 5 Live. This was a one-off in place of regular commentator David Croft who was on paternity leave.^[8]

On 28 June 2008 Walker was honoured by the people of his hometown and presented with a "Star" on the Walk of Stars on Broad Street in Birmingham.

In November 2008, Walker's presence in the BBC's recovered coverage of F1 - as a website columnist - was confirmed.^[9] Earlier that year, while being interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live, Walker was asked if he'd consider a return to the TV commentary box. He answered, "Never say never".

Now in his late eighties, Walker still remains in the public eye and contributes to the sport that is synonymous to his name, although appearances and contributions are a lot less frequent.

On 5 June 2011, a documentary entitled 'Life in the Fast Lane' premiered on BBC 2 that looked into his life, particularly his shaping of the sport we are accustomed to today. The programme itself featured him re-living his tank commander past and rides on classic scramble bikes. Memorable moments of his commentating career are also re-lived, and the documentary also accompanies Walker, aged 87, to Australia to experience the thrills he once faced at the opening race of the season.^[10]

On 9 July 2011, he returned to BBC F1 on BBC Five Live and BBC One as a co-commentator for Free Practice 3, and appeared on the Qualifying show along side Jake Humphrey, Eddie Jordan, David Coulthard and his former co-commentator Martin Brundle as well as 5live F1 special and occasional commentary on the race on BBC Radio Five Live.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Murray Walker at the 2010 Goodwood Festival of Speed

See also[link]

• Colemanballs

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Murray Walker

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Murray Walker

• Murray's F1 Video Blog
• Murray Walker Agent
• Murray Walker quotes
• Murray Walker at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Murray Walker: Life in the fast lane

Barry Sheene
Barry Sheene winner
Nationality	British
Born	11 September 1950
Died	10 March 2003 (aged 52)
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1970 - 1984 First race 1970 125cc Spanish Grand Prix Last race 1984 500cc San Marino Grand Prix First win 1971 125cc Belgian Grand Prix Last win 1981 500cc Swedish Grand Prix Team(s) Suzuki, Yamaha Championships Formula 750 - 1973, 500cc - 1976, 1977 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 102 23 52 18 20

Barry Stephen Frank Sheene MBE (11 September 1950 – 10 March 2003) was a British World Champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.^[1][2]

Early life[link]

Sheene was born in London, the second child of parents Frank (resident engineer at the Royal College of Surgeons) and Iris. He grew up in Queen's Square, Holborn, London.^[3]

Racing career[link]

He became the British 125cc champion aged just 20, and finished second in the World Championships for that class a year later.^[2] Sheene won the newly formed Formula 750 European championship for Suzuki in 1973.^[4] A spectacular crash at the Daytona 200 in the 1975 season threatened to end his career, breaking his left thigh, right arm, collarbone and two ribs, yet he recovered and was racing again seven weeks afterwards.^[3][5]

In 1973, he won the Formula 750 World Championship. In the 1976 season, he won five 500cc Grands Prix, bringing him the World Championship.^[2] He repeated as champion in the 1977 season with six victories.^[2]

Sheene on the 1980 Akai Yamaha

Sheene's battle with Kenny Roberts at the 1979 British Grand Prix at Silverstone has been cited as one of the greatest motorcycle Grand Prix races of the 1970s.^[6][7] After the 1979 season, he left the Heron-Suzuki factory team, believing that he was receiving inferior equipment to his team-mates. He shifted to a privateer on a Yamaha machine, but soon started receiving works equipment. In 1981, Kenny Roberts was the reigning World 500cc Champion for the third time, and Barry Sheene, now on a competitive Yamaha, was determined to regain the championship. Ironically, Sheene and Roberts battled all season and let Suzuki riders Marco Lucchinelli of Italy and American Randy Mamola beat them for the top two spots. Roberts finished third and Sheene fourth for the 1981 championship. A crash during the 1982 season largely ended Sheene as a title threat, and he retired in 1984. He remains the only rider to win Grand Prix races in the 50cc and 500cc categories.^[8]

Sheene was known for being outspoken in his criticism for what he considered to be dangerous race tracks, most notably, the Isle of Man TT course, which he considered too dangerous for world championship competition.^[1][9] He was a colourful, exuberant character who used his good looks, grin and Cockney accent to good effect in self-promotion, and combined with an interest in business was one of the first riders to make a lot of money from endorsements.^[3] He is credited with boosting the appeal of motorcycle racing into the realm of the mass marketing media.^[10] He also tried his hand as a TV show host, including the ITV series Just Amazing!, where he interviewed people who had, through accident or design, achieved feats of daring and survival (including the former RAF air gunner, Nicholas Alkemade, who survived a fall of 18,000 feet without a parachute from a blazing Avro Lancaster bomber over Germany in March 1944). Sheene and his wife Stephanie also starred in the low-budget film Space Riders.^[3]

Personal life[link]

In 1975 while on crutches, Sheene met fashion turned glamour model Stephanie McLean, who was Penthouse Pet of the Month for April 1970 and Pet of the Year in 1971, while they were working together on a photoshot for Chrysler. After she had divorced her first husband, the couple married in 1984, and had two children, a son and a daughter.^[3]

Emigration to Australia[link]

The Sheene family moved to Australia in the late 1980s, in the hope that the warmer climate would help relieve some of the pain of Sheene's injury-induced arthritis, moving to a property near the Gold Coast.^[3] He combined a property development business with a role as a commentator on motor sport, first at Nine Network with Darrell Eastlake, then moving with the TV coverage of the motorcycle Grand Prix series to Network Ten.^[3]

In later years, Sheene became involved in historic motorcycle racing.^[1]

Death[link]

He died in 2003 aged 52 of cancer of the oesophagus and stomach, and is survived by his wife Stephanie and two children.^[3][11]

Honours and awards[link]

Following reconstruction of the Brands Hatch Circuit in England for safety concerns after requests by the F.I.M., the Dingle Dell section was changed for safety, and shortly after Sheene's death the new section was renamed Sheene's Corner in his honour. The FIM named him a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2001.^[12] At the 2004 season, V8 Supercars Australia made a memorial medal, calling it the Barry Sheene Medal. A memorial ride from Bairnsdale, Victoria to Phillip Island is held by Australian motorcyclists annually, before the MotoGP held at the island.^[13]

In popular culture[link]

On a side note, the obscure Eric Idle song "Mr. Sheene" which describes "Mr. Sheene's riding machine" appears to be about Barry Sheene.^{[citation needed]} It was released as a B-side of the 1978 single "Ging Gang Goolie" and is credited as released by Rutles-offshoot duo "Dirk and Stig." He is also featured on one of Artist Grayson Perry's Vases My Heroes (1994).

Motorcycle Grand Prix results[link]

The following is a list of results achieved by Sheene.^[2][14]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)