James Hunt ?????????

[Crank Case]

I watched a documentary on the real James Hunt the other day. He wasn’t portrayed very well in the documentary at all the impression I got of him was a womanizing, drug taking, alcoholic hooray henry who was lucky to get a drive never mind win a championship.
Bearing in mind I was only around 9 years old when James Hunt was around this was a bit of a surprise to me I got the impression he was almost worshipped by some.
He doesn’t sound like the kind of person or Formula 1 driver I could support never mind worship.
Murray Walker was on the documentary saying some not so nice things he has since slated the documentary http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.cfm?id=15896&series=5
What is the forums view of James Hunt? (and the documentary for those who saw it )

[TimD]

I'm glad that Murray has felt it necessary to go on the record about this, because there was a lot that I was unhappy with over the portrayal of James Hunt. The interview with Murray seems very carefully edited, and yet there's still a sense of "well, at the start I didn't approve, but later.... *snip*".

Despite sharp cutting and selective soundbites, I think it still comes through.

James had a lot of re-focusing to do after he left the jet-set, and for sure he had many demons to deal with. But everything I have heard about him suggests that he took them on and was defeating them when the heart attack took him. In some ways, I am told, the straitened circumstances of his life were a blessing. For sure the 6.9 litre Mercedes was up on blocks, but his daily car was a little Austin A35 which he delighted in driving because he could find the "limit" on any given corner at 25mph...

I wish more people could see the obituary which was shown as part of the 1993 French GP broadcast. Poor Murray is very nearly in tears at the end of it, and throughout the show, everyone from Ayrton Senna to Niki Lauda paid tribute to the man.

Niki Lauda. I think that sums it up. They were bitter rivals, and the greatest of friends, even in the intensity of 1976. James used to tell the story of Niki trying to psyche him out on the day of the deciding race by banging on the door of his hotel room, and turning up already wearing his crash hat in the middle of the night, announcing "Good Morning, James, today I shall be ze vorld champion!".

Can you in a million years imagine Michael and Mika getting up to the same antics?

And speaking well of each other for twenty years or more too?

[economy_waffle]

it was a good documentary, wasant there at the time but james hunt seemed a james bond style carachter!!!

[Nicholas]

In one of the interviews with Niki Lauda he was saying how Eddie Irvine is nothing like Hunt and is a very good boy

[Lola]

Isnt that what being a F1 racing driver all about?
The playboy life style, women , fast cars.........
What a life style
Just very unfotunate that it caught up with him so young

[francis]

I was very dissappointed in the documentary. It was good to see the old footage but it was all very unbalanced. Sure - it was right to show James's problems but to completely ignore the fact that he was a very good, informed and witty co-commentator with Murray Walker for ( I can't remember exactly) about 8 years, was a top class squash player, and to mention the re-started race at Brands which he won, but not to mention that he was subsequently stripped of the win by FISA for dubious reasons, wass just plain bad programme making.

James was a very fast and very courageous driver, flawed - but with a lot of REAL friends. Interesting to note that his brother refused to have anything to do with the programme

[economy_waffle]

theee best bit however was the bit when the narrator goes "and once, the dutch reporter joanne bloggs went to interview him for a dutch magazine..." then she goes "yeah we had sex" now would eddie irvine the pixie leprechaun/actor/snow white do that?

[TimD]

Oh - that bit.

Well, I should mention that the magazine in question was a top-shelf magazine that had hired this "reporter" to interview famous people and do exactly the same thing to them as she did to James Hunt.

Hunt's comment afterwards was that he didn't like the wait for the magazine to come out to see what his score was....

Not one of the most edifying moments in international journalism.


Again, it wasn't the worst documentary that has ever been made, but it certainly didn't come close to being "good". It smacked of a story that the writers had decided to tell, squeezing bits and bats of interview and footage in where it fitted in with what they wanted to say.

Francis, you're quite right about the BBC work. A thirteen year career completely ignored? And it can't be for any refusal to have anything to do with the BBC in making the show, because the 1974 International Trophy footage is straight out of the BBC archives. Indeed, I am surprised that the classic Formula 3 race at Crystal Palace where Hunt got his "shunt" nickname wasn't shown. The footage exists, it has been shown in modern times, and it is truly spectacular.

The researcher ought to have been strung up for missing that.