Gordon Coppuck (b. 8 December 1936, Fleet, Hampshire)^[1] is a British racing car designer who was chief designer for McLaren and later worked for March and co-founded Spirit.

Born in December 1936, he attended Queen Mary's School for Boys before becoming an apprentice at the National Gas Turbine Establishment (NGTE).^[2] In 1965 he followed his ex NGTE colleague Robin Herd to McLaren, working as his assistant.^[3] In 1971 he became chief designer at McLaren, responsible for various models including the Indianapolis 500 M16 and world championship winning M23.^[3] When McLaren merged with Ron Dennis's Project Four in 1980, Coppuck departed, rejoining Herd at March.^[3] The following year he founded Spirit with March's Formula Two team manager John Wickham.^[3] Sprit raced in Formula Two and then Formula One before Coppuck returned to March.^[3][4] Coppuck's son Frank Coppuck is also a racing car designer.^[3]

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010)

Bruce McLaren Born (1937-08-30)30 August 1937 Died 2 June 1970(1970-06-02) (aged 32) Formula One World Championship career Nationality  New Zealander Active years 1958 - 1970 Teams Cooper, McLaren, Eagle Races 104 (100 starts) Championships 0 Wins 4 Podiums 27 Career points 188.5 (196.5)[1] Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 3 First race 1958 German Grand Prix First win 1959 United States Grand Prix Last win 1968 Belgian Grand Prix Last race 1970 Monaco Grand Prix 24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1959, 1961-1967 Teams Cooper Car Company Briggs Cunningham Aston Martin Ford Motor Company Shelby-American Inc. Best finish 1st (1966) Class wins 1 (1966)

Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970), born in Auckland, New Zealand, was a race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor.

His name lives on in the McLaren team which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, with McLaren cars and drivers winning a total of 20 world championships. McLaren cars totally dominated CanAm sports car racing with 56 wins, a considerable number of them with him behind the wheel, between 1967 and 1972 (and five constructors’ championships), and have won three Indianapolis 500 races, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring.

Early life[link]

McLaren attended Meadowbank Primary School. As a nine year old, he contracted Perthes disease in his hip which left his left leg shorter than the right. He spent two years in traction, but later often had a slight limp.

His parents, Les and Ruth McLaren, owned a service station and workshop in Upland Road, Remuera, Auckland. Bruce spent all of his free hours hanging around the workshop.

Career[link]

Les McLaren restored an aging Austin 7 Ulster which 14-year-old Bruce used in 1952 when he entered his first competition, a hillclimb. Two years later he took part in his first real race and showed promise. He moved up from the Austin to a Ford 10 special and an Austin-Healey, then an F2 Cooper-Climax sports. He immediately began to modify and improve — and master - it, so much so that he was runner-up in the 1957–8 New Zealand championship series.

Driving career[link]

Grand Prix[link]

His performance in the New Zealand Grand Prix in 1958 was noted by great Australian driver Jack Brabham (who would later invite McLaren to drive for him). Because of his obvious potential the New Zealand International Grand Prix organisation selected him for its 'Driver to Europe' scheme designed to give a promising Kiwi driver year-round experience with the best in the world. McLaren was the first recipient, to be followed by others later including Denny Hulme.

McLaren went to Cooper and stayed seven years. He raced in F2 and was entered in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in which F2 and F1 cars competed together. He astounded the motor racing fraternity by being first F2, and fifth overall, in a field of the best drivers in the world.

McLaren joined the Cooper factory F1 team alongside Jack Brabham in 1959 and won the 1959 United States Grand Prix at age 22 years 80 days, becoming the youngest ever GP winner up to that time. He followed that with a win in the Argentine Grand Prix, the first race of the 1960 Formula One season, and he would finish runner-up that season to Brabham. (Forty three years later, another Kiwi racer, Scott Dixon, would become the youngest ever winner in any major open-wheel racing formula anywhere in the world when he won the CART Nazareth (Pennsylvania, USA) 225 when 20 years, 9 months and 14 days old.)

McLaren won the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix, eventually finishing a fine third in the championship that year. The next year he founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd, which remains in the Formula One championship simply as Team McLaren. McLaren continued to race and win in Coopers (including the New Zealand GP in 1964).

McLaren left Cooper at the end of 1965, and announced his own GP racing team, with co-driver and fellow Kiwi Chris Amon. Amon left in 1967 to drive for Ferrari. In 1968, McLaren was joined by another fellow Kiwi Denny Hulme, who had become world champion in 1967 with Brabham. McLaren took his fourth career win racing his own McLaren car at Spa in 1968, achieving the team's first Grand Prix win. Hulme won twice in the McLaren-Ford. The 1969 championship was also a success, with McLaren finishing 3rd in the standings despite taking no wins. In tribute to his homeland, McLaren's cars featured the "speedy Kiwi" logo.

Can-Am Series[link]

It was in powerful sports car racing where McLaren's design flair and ingenuity were graphically demonstrated. Just as the Can-Am began to become very popular with fans in Canada and the U.S., the new McLaren cars finished second twice, and third twice, in six races.

In 1967 they won five of six races and in 1968, four of six. The following year McLarens proved unbeatable, winning 11 of 11 races. In two races, they finished 1-2-3. (McLaren, Hulme and Mark Donohue).

In 1966 he and co-driver Chris Amon won the prestigious 24 Hour race at Le Mans in a Ford GT40.

Career as a Constructor[link]

Bruce was a competitive driver but in many ways his legacy, the McLaren Racing Team, is testimony to his abilities as an analyst, engineer and manager that contributed much to the success of the cars that bore his name. In the early days of the McLaren sports cars Bruce was testing and as he drove out of the pits he noticed the fuel filler access door was flapping up and down as he drove. The current aerodynamic thinking was that it should have been pressed more firmly in place as the speed of the car increased. Instead, it bounced more vigorously as the speed increased. Instantly his frustration at the sloppy work changed and he had an insight. Stopping in the pits he jumped from the car, ran to a mechanics tool box, grabbed a pair of shears and started cutting the bodywork away behind the radiator. Climbing back in the car he immediately began turning lap times faster than before.

Later he explained,

I was first angry that the filler door hadn't been properly closed but then I began to wonder why it wasn't being pressed down by the airflow. The only answer was that there had to be a source of higher pressure air under it than over it.

From that session came the "nostrils" that have been a key McLaren design feature, even in the McLaren F1 road car, since that day.

Bruce McLaren noted that his team's cars were marginally less innovative than the Chaparral Cars of rival driver/designer Jim Hall but their superior reliability was rewarded by race and championship victories. Long after his death that culture prevailed and when Ron Dennis bought the team was reinforced by the lessons learned in his early career as a race mechanic.

Death[link]

Bruce McLaren died (aged 32) when his Can-Am car crashed on the Lavant Straight just before Woodcote corner at Goodwood Circuit in England on 2 June 1970. He had been testing his new M8D when the rear bodywork came adrift at speed. The loss of aerodynamic downforce destabilized the car, which spun, left the track and hit a bunker used as a flag station.

Motorsport author Eoin Young has noted that Bruce McLaren had "virtually penned his own epitaph" in his 1964 book From the Cockpit. Referring to the death of team mate Timmy Mayer, McLaren had written:

The news that he had died instantly was a terrible shock to all of us, but who is to say that he had not seen more, done more and learned more in his few years than many people do in a lifetime?

"To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one's ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone."

Legacy[link]

• Bruce McLaren Intermediate School in West Auckland was named after him shortly after his death. It was originally going to be called Henderson South Intermediate.
• In 2000 Motorsport NZ and the Prodrive Trust created The Bruce McLaren Scholarship to help up and coming New Zealand racing drivers.
• Inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.
• Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991.
• Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995.
• The Bruce McLaren Trust, based in Auckland, New Zealand, perpetuates his memory and runs a small museum from the flat where Bruce grew up (above a petrol station in Remuera)
• On 20 January 2007, at New Zealand's round of the A1 Grand Prix series, it was announced that there is to be a movie made about Bruce McLaren.^[2]
• The University of Auckland Formula SAE team use Bruce's racing number 47 as their car number in memory of Bruce.

Complete Formula One World Championship results[link]

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

* McLaren was ineligible to score points in the 1958 German Grand Prix because he was driving a Formula Two car.

Non-Championship results[link]

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

References[link]

Related Books:

• From the Cockpit by Bruce McLaren
• Bruce McLaren: Racing Car Constructor by George Begg
• McLaren - The Man, Cars & Team by Eoin Young
• Eoin Young's McLaren Book
• The Last Season - The Life of Bruce McLaren by Jeanne Beeching
• The Golden Era of New Zealand Motor Racing by Graham Vercoe

A list of further such volumes can be viewed at http://www.bruce-mclaren.com/about-bruce-mclaren/historical-books.html.

External links[link]

• Bruce McLaren Photos
• Bruce McLaren Trust official site
• New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame

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

Prof. Gordon Murray^[1] (born 1946 in Durban, South Africa), is a renowned designer of Formula One race cars and the McLaren F1 road car.

Early life[link]

Born to Scottish immigrant parents, Murray was born and grew up in Durban, South Africa. His father was a motorcycle racer and later prepared racing cars. Murray studied mechanical engineering at Natal Technical College (now Durban University of Technology, which made Murray an Honorary Professor in 2002 and an honourary doctorate in 2011). He built and raced his own car, the IGM Ford, in the South African National Class during 1967 and 1968.

Formula One Career[link]

Brabham: 1969–1986[link]

Murray moved to England in 1969, hoping to find a job at Lotus Cars. But Murray was offered a job at Brabham after coincidentally meeting then Brabham designer Ron Tauranac. When Bernie Ecclestone took over the Brabham team, he appointed Murray Chief Designer. There Murray designed many Grand Prix cars, some of which were World Championship winners. These designs include the extraordinary BT46B, also known as "the Brabham fan car", as well as the World Championship winning BT49 and BT52. Murray developed a reputation for an innovative approach to design, applied not only to car concepts and details but also to race strategy.^[2]

Between 1973 and 1985 Murray’s Brabhams scored 22 Grand Prix wins, finished 2nd in the Constructors' Championship in 1975 and 1981,^[3] and gave Nelson Piquet Drivers’ Championships in 1981 and 1983.^[4] In 1986, Murray designed the radical and highly ambitious low-line Brabham BT55 in an effort to lower overall ride height. But the car was not a success, and the year proved disastrous for Brabham.

McLaren: 1987–2006[link]

After leaving Brabham, Murray joined McLaren as Technical Director. Learning from his low-line Brabham experience, Murray led the design team which produced the 1988 Honda-powered McLaren MP4/4 which won 15 of the 16 Grands Prix, and gave Ayrton Senna his first Drivers' Championship. In the Constructors' Championship McLaren's points score of 199 was (at that time) an all-time high. Over the period 1988–91 the McLaren team won four consecutive Constructors' and Drivers' Championships: Alain Prost won the Drivers' Championship in 1989, Senna won further Drivers' Championships in 1990 and 1991.^[5]

McLaren Cars[link]

From 1991–2004, Murray headed up the off-shoot McLaren Cars team to design road-going supercars: the McLaren F1 and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.

Gordon Murray Design[link]

In July 2007 the Gordon Murray Design consultancy was established, and released initial details regarding its upcoming T.25 (Type 25) prototype city car along with mention of a future lightweight, economical supercar project.^[6][7] The T25 will be smaller than a Smart Fortwo.^[8] In November 2009 Gordon Murray Design and Zytek Automotive announced plans to develop an electric-powered version, the T.27.^[9]

On 17 November 2008 Gordon Murray won the ‘Idea of the Year’ accolade at Autocar magazine’s annual awards ceremony for the manufacturing process proposed for the T.25.^[10]

The car, dubbed T27, will be the product of a partnership between Murray’s company and British-based technology company Zytek, who will build the powertrain.^[11]

Other projects[link]

In 1981, Murray was involved in improvements to the Midas Cars

Light Car Company 'Rocket'

Murray also independently designed the Rocket, an ultra-lightweight, open cockpit roadster powered by a 1-litre motorcycle engine, which has an appearance similar to that of a 60's era Grand Prix car. Looking like a pure single-seater, it actually could accommodate a passenger in tandem with the driver. This seat was located beneath a removable cover. The Rocket was built by former racing driver Chris Craft at the Light Car Company.

Murray is also contributing editor for American Road & Track.^[12]

Portrait of Murray[link]

Murray agreed to sit^[13] for sculptor Jon Edgar in 2009 as part of his Environment Series^[14] of terracotta heads, on the strength of his developing vision for small car design.^[15]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website of Gordon Murray Design
• ROAD & TRACK magazine: "Anatomy of a Supercar" – An article where Murray gives his opinion about the Bugatti Veyron.
• (CNN) Former F1 Engineer Unveils New City Car --retrieved 28 June 2010
• Channel 4 web site – Gordon Murray's ultra-lightweight microcar: first details.

v t e Motor Racing Developments Founders: Jack Brabham | Ron Tauranac Personnel: Bernie Ecclestone | Gordon Murray World Champions: Jack Brabham | Denny Hulme | Nelson Piquet Cars Formula One: BT3 | BT7 | BT11 | BT19 | BT20 | BT23 | BT24 | BT26 | BT33 | BT34 | BT37 | BT39 | BT42 | BT44/B | BT45 | BT46/B/C | BT48 | BT49/C/D | BT50 | BT51 | BT52 | BT53 | BT54 | BT55 | BT56 | BT58 | BT59/Y | BT60Y/B Indianapolis 500/USAC: BT12 | BT25 | BT32 Formula Two: BT10 | BT16 | BT18 | BT23 | BT23C | BT30 | BT36 | BT38 | BT40 Formula Atlantic: BT23F/G | BT29 | BT35A/B | BT38B | BT40 Formula Three: BT9 | BT15 | BT16A | BT18A | BT21 | BT21B | BT21X | BT28 | BT35C | BT38C | BT41 Formula Junior: BT1 | BT2 | BT6 Other single seaters: BT4 | BT7A | BT11A | BT14 | BT18B | BT21A | BT21C | BT22 | BT23A | BT23B | BT23D | BT23E | BT30X | BT31 | BT35X | BT36X | BT43 Sportscars: BT5 | BT8A | BT17

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

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]