JAMES HUNT GRABS EVERYONE’S ATTENTION
1972, OULTON PARK
7Two-litre engines were introduced to F2 in 1972, and the Ford BDA unit was universal.
The Oulton Park Gold Cup in mid-september was the final of the British F2 Championship. Six from F1 arrived, headed by John Surtees (winner of the non-championship F1 Gold Cup at Oulton for the previous two years), Graham Hill, Ronnie Peterson, Peter Gethin, Tim Schenken and F1 rookie Niki Lauda. Gethin's engine blew during practice, leaving five for the F2 boys to aim at.
Peterson and his works March took pole by 0.4s from a guy new to F2 driving a one-year-old March: Hesketh Racing's James Hunt.
Surtees put his TS10 on row three, with Hill's Brabham on row four.
Jody Scheckter grabbed an early lead from row two to head Peterson, as Surtees retired with electrical gremlins. Schenken's Rondel Brabham moved up to second, but Scheckter stretched his lead until his Mclaren's clutch failed on lap 16 of 40, leaving Schenken in charge.
The Australian did not last much longer thanks to a broken petrol pump pulley wheel. Now it was Peterson from Hunt and Lauda, while John Watson fought through to fourth and closed on the leading trio until low oil pressure halted his Chevron. That left Peterson to fend off Hunt, with his future F1 sparring partner Lauda in close attendance.
With four laps left and despite a sagging rear wing, Hunt outbraked Peterson at Knickerbrook. At Esso the determined Swede forced him to the outside onto the dirty surface and an excursion, the recovery dropping Hunt 14s behind Lauda.
Lauda followed his team leader home, both recording 112mph race averages, with a disappointed Hunt in third. The first three plus Watson shared fastest lap equal to the pole time; veteran Hill finished 10th.
It had been a thrilling race involving past, present and future F1 stars whose racing careers would span 35 years. Hunt's huge reception included the crowd chanting his name. He had an old car with a wonky wing, yet he still led the F2 clan home. With Hunt having earlier trashed his F3 season, Lord Hesketh kept faith with him – he'd now gone ‘from gutter to glory'.