The Hesketh 308C was a
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
racing car
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...
designed by
Harvey Postlethwaite
Harvey Ernest Postlethwaite (4 March 194415 April 1999) was a British engineer and Technical Director of several Formula One teams during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He died of a heart attack in Spain while supervising the testing of the aborted ...
and used by
Hesketh Racing
Hesketh Racing was a Formula One constructor from the United Kingdom, which competed from 1973 to 1978. The team competed in 52 World Championship Grands Prix, winning one and achieving eight further podium finishes. Its best placing in the ...
in the latter stages of the
1975 Formula One season. The car featured the rubber suspension which Postlethwaite had pioneered on the preceding
308B model and a
Ford-Cosworth DFV
The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. The name is an abbreviation of ''Double Four Valve'', the engine being a V8 development of the earlier four-cylinder FVA, which had fo ...
engine. In 1976, the car was acquired by
Wolf–Williams Racing
Frank Williams Racing Cars was a British Formula One team and constructor.
Early years
Frank Williams had been a motor-racing enthusiast since a young age, and after a career in saloon cars and Formula Three, backed by Williams's shrewd i ...
and rebranded as the Wolf–Williams FW05.
Racing history
Hesketh 308C
The 308C wasn't seen until the latter part of the 1975 season. Like the 308B on which it was based, the 308C was very narrow at the front, tapering out to wide and low sidepods, with the main radiators in front of the rear wheels. The rubber suspension was inboard, and operated by rocker arms.
It was entered by Hesketh Racing for Englishman
James Hunt
James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) ''Autocourse Grand Prix Archive'', 14 October 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007. was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in . After retiring from racing in ...
to drive. The 308C made its debut at the
Italian Grand Prix
The Italian Grand Prix ( it, Gran Premio d'Italia) is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been he ...
and Hunt finished fifth. For the final race of the 1975 season, in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
the Englishman finished fourth.
Wolf–Williams FW05
Before the start of the 1976 season, Canadian oil millionaire
Walter Wolf
Walter Wolf (born 5 October 1939) is a Canadian oil-drilling equipment supplier who in the early 1970s made a fortune from the North Sea oil business and decided to join the world of Formula One (F1) motor racing.
Life and career
Wolf was bo ...
bought 60% of Frank Williams Racing Cars and the team became Wolf–Williams Racing. However, Frank Williams was retained as team manager. soon afterwards Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite arrived as chief engineer. Simultaneously Wolf bought the assets of the Hesketh team that had recently withdrawn from F1.
The team was based in the Williams facility at Reading but used most of the cars and equipment once owned by Hesketh Racing. The team inherited the Hesketh 308C car used by
Hesketh Racing
Hesketh Racing was a Formula One constructor from the United Kingdom, which competed from 1973 to 1978. The team competed in 52 World Championship Grands Prix, winning one and achieving eight further podium finishes. Its best placing in the ...
during the final races of 1975, rebranding it as the Wolf–Williams FW05 and the Williams FW04 was similarly rebranded as the Wolf–Williams FW04, although it was only used in the opening race of the season, the
1976 Brazilian Grand Prix.
The team had two new drivers, for
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
Italian
Renzo Zorzi
Renzo Zorzi (12 December 1946 – 15 May 2015) was a racing driver from Italy who participated in seven Formula One Grands Prix between 1975 and 1977, for the Williams and Shadow teams. He began in Formula Three while working with Pirelli bef ...
drove the FW04 and Belgian Jacky Ickx drove the FW05. Zorzi outqualified Ickx (17th and 19th), and both cars finished the race with Ickx eighth and Zorzi ninth. After this race, Wolf–Williams had two FW05s at their disposal and so the FW04 was put aside.
However, Zorzi was replaced by Frenchman
Michel Leclère
Michel Leclère (born 18 March 1946 in Mantes-la-Jolie, Yvelines) is a former motor racing driver from France. He participated in eight Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 5 October 1975, and scored no championship points.
Career
After winning ...
for the remaining first half of the season because the Italian's sponsorship funds ran out. At
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
the Belgian outqualified the Frenchman (19th and 22nd), and both cars finished the race with the Frenchman 13th eighth and the Belgian 16th. Both Drivers failed to qualify for the
United States Grand Prix West
The United States Grand Prix West was a race held at Long Beach, California, as a Formula 5000 race in 1975 and a Formula One World Championship event from 1976 to 1983 held in the same location throughout those years.
History
There had been a ...
because the
Formula One Constructors Association had decided to limit the field to twenty starters for safety reasons, because of the narrow concrete canyons necessitated by the street layout.
At
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
Ickx outqualified Leclère (21st and 23rd), and both cars finished the race with Ickx seventh eighth and Leclère tenth. The Belgian failed to qualify for his home race, the
Belgian Grand Prix
The Belgian Grand Prix (French: ''Grand Prix de Belgique''; Dutch: ''Grote Prijs van België''; German: ''Großer Preis von Belgien'') is a motor racing event which forms part of the Formula One World Championship.
The first national race of ...
and the Frenchman qualified 25th and finished 11th. Ickx failed to qualify for
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
and Leclère qualified 18th and finished 11th, Wolf–Williams had only one car for the
Swedish Grand Prix as Ickx was busy winning the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
with
Gijs van Lennep
Gijsbert van Lennep (born 16 March 1942, in Aerdenhout, North Holland) is a Dutch racing driver who competed in eight Formula One races. However his main achievements were in sports car racing. He is a member of the untitled Dutch nobility.
Ca ...
in a
Porsche 936
The Porsche 936 is a Group 6 sports prototype racing car introduced in 1975 by Porsche as a delayed successor to the 917, a five-litre Group 5 Sports Car, and the 908, a three-litre Group 6 Prototype-Sports Car, both of which were retired by ...
, The Frenchman qualified 25th and retired with engine failure. Ickx returned for the
French Grand Prix
The French Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de France), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF (Automobile Club de France), is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championsh ...
and outqualified Leclère (19th and 22nd), and both cars finished the race with Ickx tenth eighth and Leclère 13th.
Wolf–Williams had reduced their efforts to one car for
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
because Leclère left the team, Ickx failed to qualify and was fired after the race.
Ickx was replaced by Italian
Arturo Merzario
Arturo Francesco "Art" Merzario (born 11 March 1943 in Civenna, Como) (erroneously registered as Arturio on his birth certificate) is a racing driver from Italy. He participated in 85 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting at the ...
and the team still only had one car, The
German Grand Prix
The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in R ...
saw Merzario qualify 21st and the race was red flag on the second lap because
Brett Lunger
Robert Brett Lunger (born November 14, 1945 in Wilmington, Delaware) is an American racecar driver.
Lunger was educated at the Holderness School, and Princeton University. He dropped out of Princeton after three years to enlist for service in V ...
's
Surtees
The Surtees Racing Organisation was a race team that spent nine seasons (1970 to 1978) as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2, and Formula 5000.
History
The team was formed by John Surtees, a four-time 500cc motorcycle champion and the ...
and
Harald Ertl
Harald Ertl (31 August 1948 – 7 April 1982) was an Austrian racing driver and motorsport journalist. He was born in Zell am See and attended the same school as Grand Prix drivers Jochen Rindt, Helmut Marko and Niki Lauda.
Ertl sported an 'Impe ...
's
Hesketh both hit
Niki Lauda
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian Formula One driver and aviation entrepreneur. He was a three-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, winning in , and , and is the only driver in Formula ...
's
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
.
Guy Edwards
Guy Richard Goronwy Edwards, QGM (born 30 December 1942) is a former racing driver from England. Best known for his sportscar and British Formula One career, as well as for brokering sponsorship deals, Edwards participated in 17 World Champion ...
's
Hesketh managed to avoid the Ferrari. All three drivers stopped and tried to get Lauda out of the flames and they were joined by Merzario, who stopped the Wolf–Williams after seeing the wreck. The Italian managed to make the restart but retired on lap three because of brake failure. Merzario retired in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
with crashes.
The
Italian Grand Prix
The Italian Grand Prix ( it, Gran Premio d'Italia) is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been he ...
qualifying session on Friday was wet, so the dry session on Saturday was to provide the field with their best times. After this session, Brett Lunger's Surtees, Merzario and
Otto Stuppacher's privately entered Tyrrell had failed to qualify.
John Watson's Penske and the
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
's of
James Hunt
James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) ''Autocourse Grand Prix Archive'', 14 October 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2007. was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in . After retiring from racing in ...
and
Jochen Mass
Jochen Richard Mass (born 30 September 1946) is a German former racing driver.
Life and career
Born in Dorfen, Bavaria 50 km (31 mi) from Munich, Mass participated in 114 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 14 Jul ...
qualified in eighth ninth and tenth positions, but their times were later disallowed due to fuel irregularities.
This meant that their Friday times counted for their grid positions. As a result, these three drivers were the three slowest and were deemed not to have qualified, allowing Lunger, Merzario and Stuppacher on to the grid. Stuppacher had already left the circuit and flown back home to Austria, so could not take his place on the grid. This promoted Hunt back into the 26 qualifiers. Merzario withdrew due to brake problems) and promoted Mass, and later Guy Edwards Hesketh also decided to withdraw in order to let Watson race.
For
Canadian Grand Prix
The Canadian Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix du Canada) is an annual motor racing event held since 1961. It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, as a sports ...
Wolf–Williams turned up with New Zealander
Chris Amon
Christopher Arthur Amon (20 July 1943 – 3 August 2016) was a New Zealand motor racing driver. He was active in Formula One racing in the 1960s and 1970s, and is widely regarded as one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championship Grand ...
in a second car but after a spin he was hit by Harald Ertl's Hesketh and both cars seriously damaged. Amon suffered bruising to his legs and choose not to take part in the race and the Italian qualified 24th and retired with a crash.
Amon was replaced by Australian
Warwick Brown
Warwick Brown (born 24 December 1949 in Sydney) is a former racing driver from Australia.
Racing career
Brown participated in a single Formula One Grand Prix, on 10 October 1976. He drove a Wolf–Williams Racing car at the 1976 United States ...
for the
United States Grand Prix East, He qualified 23rd and finished 14th, Merzario qualified 25th and retired with a crash.
For the final race of the 1976 season, in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
Brown was replaced by Local man
Masami Kuwashima
is a former racing driver from Japan. After some experience in the Japanese lower formulae, he made an attempt at Formula One.
A deal to drive in the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix with the RAM team came to nothing, but Kuwashima found a seat with t ...
, He took part in the first practice session for the race, but proved rather slow. In any case, later that day his sponsors withdrew their financing of the Wolf–Williams deal, and
Frank Williams promptly replaced Kuwashima with Austrian
Hans Binder
Hans Binder (born 12 June 1948 in Zell am Ziller, Tyrol) is an Austrian former Formula One driver who raced for the Ensign, Wolf, Surtees and ATS teams.
He won the European Formula Ford Championship in 1972 and moved into Formula 2 in 1976. Du ...
for the second practice session and the race itself. In qualifying Merzario 19th and Binder 25th, Both men retired in the race Merzario with a broken gearbox and Binder with a wheel issue. However the problem with the FW05 was the car turned out to be overweight.
At season's end, Wolf decided to restructure the team, removing Frank Williams from the manager's job. Disillusioned, Williams left the team altogether, to set up
Williams Grand Prix Engineering
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded by former team owner Frank Williams and automotive engineer Patrick Hea ...
with
Patrick Head
Sir Patrick Michael Head (born 5 June 1946) is a British motorsport executive who is the co-founder and former Engineering Director of the Williams Formula One team. For 27 years from Head was technical director at Williams Grand Prix Engineer ...
in 1977. Wolf brought 100% of Wolf–Williams Racing after buying the 40% share from Williams and the team became
Walter Wolf Racing
Walter Wolf Racing was a Formula One constructor active from 1977 to 1979, which won the first race the team entered. It was owned and run by Canadian Walter Wolf. The team was based in Reading, UK but raced with the Canadian licence.
Histo ...
.
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
)
* 5 points scored with the 308C; remaining points scored with the 308B
Non-championship results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
)
References
{{F1 cars 1976
Hesketh Formula One cars