Hesketh Racing - The Post-Hunt Era

The Post-Hunt Era

However, early in 1976 Hunt was offered the lead drive at McLaren, replacing Emerson Fittipaldi, and left the team. Lord Hesketh was running low on money, having raced without sponsorship, and decided to call it a day. However, the Hesketh name would live on in Formula One, admittedly in less glamorous circumstances. Firstly, Postlethwaite took his upgraded 308C design to Wolf. Secondly, Horsley would upgrade the 308 to the 308D and continue as Hesketh Racing. Harald Ertl signed to drive the car, with the team's image landing Penthouse Magazine and Rizla as sponsors, with Guy Edwards joining in a second car from the Belgian Grand Prix, with Alex Ribeiro bringing in some funds later in the year. Ertl's 7th place at the British Grand Prix was the team's best result of the year.

Frank Dernie designed the new 308E chassis for the 1977 season, with Rupert Keegan driving alongside Ertl. Later in the season a third car was entered for Hector Rebaque, with Horsley simply trying to bring in money to the team. Ertl would leave, to be replaced by Ian Ashley, but by now Keegan's was the only entry that usually made it to the grid, and his 7th place at the Austrian Grand Prix would be the team's best finish of the year.

1978 saw the team slimmed down to a single car, with backing from Olympus Cameras. The car itself was barely upgraded, and Divina Galica unsurprisingly failed to qualify for the first two races. Eddie Cheever then managed to get into the South African Grand Prix, retiring with a fractured oil line. Derek Daly was the next to try the car, and at the wet International Trophy at Silverstone on his debut diced for the lead with James Hunt's McLaren before a stone cracked his visor and ended his race. However, in World Championship events he failed to qualify for the next three races, after which the team folded.