Racing for Britain

The British Lord, Alexander Hesketh, brightened up the Formula 1 scene in the mid-1970s with his eccentric but successful team that was built around the talents of designer Harvey Postlethwaite and driver James Hunt. Hesketh himself projected the image an of an aristocratic dilettante and his team remains the only one to have included a grand piano as part of its race weekend cargo. The team had a short life, and to many outward appearances it was a merry one. Behind the glitter there was a serious team, but the high life attracted popular publicity and was counter-productive when sponsors were needed to keep the team racing.
The team started in 1973 with March 731 in which Hunt scored 14 points. The first Hesketh 308 followed. The car was notable for its clean aerodynamics. The 1974 record was good, 15 points for sixth place in the Constructors' Championship. 1975 was even better, 33 points and fourth place, including Hesketh's only Championship race victory in the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. But it was close to the final hurrah.
Even a Lord didn't have money to burn indefinitely and, with no significant commercial in the British Grand Prix of thatbackers. For 1976 Hesketh decided to pull out. Part of the team continued under the team manager Anthony "Bubbles" Horsley. The team released Hunt and Postlethwaite and resorted to running pay-drivers. The 308C was upgraded to 'D' specification and run through 1976. The two 308Cs had been sold to Walter Wolf's new team. Harvey Postlethwaite also joined Wolf, and the cars were revised to have conventional springing and strenghthened chassis, for a fruitless 1976 season.
For 1977 Frank Dernie designed the 308E, and five cars were built for clients, and run to no great effect in that season or in 1978 before the team pulling out completely.

Drivers
1974 James Hunt, Ian Scheckter
1975 James Hunt, Alan Jones, Brett Lunger, Harald Ertl, Torsten Palm
1976 Guy Edwards, Harald Ertl, Alex Ribeiro, Rolf Stommelen
1977 Harald Ertl, Rupert Keegan, Hector Rebaque, Ian Ashley
1978 Divina Galica, Eddie Cheever, Derek Daly