HUNT, LAUDA AND PETERSON ON THEIR BIKES

James Hunt is the YNBACA apogee. Even at your maximal cool, you’ll never be as cool as James Hunt tackling even the most menial of activities. Clearing the fluff from his tumble drier. Treating a nasty bout of athlete’s foot. Re-grouting his bathroom tiling.

So, sure, obviously James Hunt was always going to look cool riding a bike. Even while wearing kneesocks apparently borrowed from a Victorian schoolchild, and a helmet offering slightly less cranial protection than an empty crisp packet.

But even ignoring Mr Hunt, there’s no denying that the rest of the 1977 F1 grid are smashing this scene – a bike race around Brazil’s Interlagos circuit, literally no idea why – with way more style than it deserves. You might assume ordering a bunch of F1 drivers to slip on the spandex and pedal round a racetrack would be met with a less-than-enthusiastic reaction. These are, after all, soldiers of fortune paid to risk their very lives in the fastest, most dangerous machines on the planet. But look how happy they all are at the prospect of a two-wheeled wobble!

Quite why Niki, Ronnie and the rest are so excited by this assignment, YNBACA cannot say. Maybe it’s a relief to pilot something that, if you get it wrong, is likely to end with a badly grazed knee rather than being atomised and flung across most of western Brazil. Maybe, after all those hours crammed into a Nomex race suit, it’s just nice to get a bit of fresh air around the nether regions. Whatever the reason, who else could make

this much lycra look this good?