James Hunt was famous for many things, including of course the 1976 Formula 1 World Championship – not to mention his preferred choice of breakfast.
But what might be less well known about the charismatic Englishman was his prowess as a rally driver. Back in 1973, the 26-year-old Hunt was competing in a blend of Formula 2, sports cars, and – almost by accident – Formula 1. According to his team boss Lord Hesketh, the only reason why the team was trying its hand at a partial Formula 1 campaign in the first place was “because we were no bloody good at Formula 2.”
In life as on the track, Hunt was willing to give anything a go at least once; the more outlandish, the better. And that’s how he found himself at the wheel of a Chevrolet Camaro, registration number JYK 555K (proof that 555 has always been an iconic number in rallying) at the start of the inaugural Tour of Britain on July 6.
It was just over a month after he had lined up on the Formula 1 grid for the first time, in Monaco – where he qualified 18th but worked his way up to sixth before the engine failed.
This would be another entirely new experience on a brand new event, which combined rallying and racing for the first time on a 1000-mile loop across Britain over four days, taking in races at venues like Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Snetterton, Oulton Park and Llandow, while the rally stages included Knebworth House and Dodington Park.
Hunt faced notable opposition: folk heroes of the stages like Roger Clark and Tony Fall, as well as fellow racers Graham Hill, Tony Lanfranchi, Gordon Spice, and Vern Schuppan.
Perhaps the man who had the least enviable task was former Autosport deputy editor Robert Fearnall, who had the honor of becoming the fiery Hunt’s very first co-driver. But he did a better job than the final one: when Hunt returned to the Tour of Britain in 1976, he was paired up with none other than Noel Edmonds. It’s fair to say that the dashing Formula 1 world champion and the eventual creator of Mr Blobby didn’t quite hit it off, disagreeing about whether or not to continue after crashing their Vauxhall Magnum on a special stage. It all became academic eventually, as the dynamic duo was ultimately excluded and ended up never speaking to each other again…
But 1973 was a very different story. Hunt was unbeatable on the circuits – this was the year that he won the RAC’s Campbell Trophy as British driver of the year, after all – and took a surprisingly measured and sensible approach to the stages, climbing progressively up the leaderboard as he gelled with the unassuming yet irrepressible Fearnell.
By the time the crews reached the finish – the headquarters of sponsor Avon Tyres near Melksham, Wiltshire – they had managed to beat the Ford Capri of Gordon Spice by 26 seconds, while the Alfa Romeo GTV of John Handley was another minute further back in third.
It was all jolly good fun, and the unique racing versus rally format made it a regular fixture for the following three years, attracting yet more big names from all branches of motorsport, including Ari Vatanen, Tony Pond, Jody Scheckter, and Denny Hulme.
The Tour has always been about pitting race and rally drivers against one another
But then, after 1976, funding for this unique event dried up – or maybe it was just the curse of Mr Blobby…
With the world feeling the financial pinch, the Tour of Britain laid dormant until a brief resurrection over a mammoth nine days in 1989 – won by Jimmy McRae in a Ford Sierra.
Since then… nothing.
But a new initiative, launched jointly by the British Automobile Racing Club (BARC) and Motor Racing Legends (MRL – the organizer of historic events across Britain and France) now aims to revive the restless spirit of this 70s original.
Rewind Tour Britain will take place from May 27-30 2027, with the aim of answering exactly the same question that was first posed more than 50 years ago: who are better, racing or rally drivers?
A rally driver has won four times. But maybe 2027 will change all that
Gratifyingly for rally fans, out of the five Tours of Britain held so far, a rally driver has won four times (courtesy of Roger Clark, Tony Pond, Ari Vatanen, and Jimmy McRae). But maybe 2027 will change all that.
The event will start and finish at Thruxton: the fastest circuit in the UK and home to BARC headquarters. During the four day itinerary, the all-asphalt route that loops round southern England and Wales takes in races at Thruxton and Castle Combe, as well as rally stages at Epynt, Caerwent and Blenheim Palace: described as the jewel in the event’s crown.
The total route takes in around 480 miles, and there’s a maximum capacity entry of 80 cars. Those cars will come from a wide variety of backgrounds: vintage cars at the head of the field followed by road-legal race and rally cars from the 1950s to 1980s, with FIA Appendix J and K historic regulations forming the technical framework. Perhaps most excitingly of all, there will even be an invitation class for Group B rally cars.
The idea is to have a selection of interesting machinery that reflects the evolution of motorsport throughout the years – with an equivalency formula being looked at to balance out performance. The basic rules are simple though: the crew with the lowest overall time through the stages and the races wins.
You need two people per car, but only one crew member will drive the car during the races – with the field split into groups of 20 for each race. Just as is the case on a normal rally, navigation plays a key role – with penalties for being late. The organizers want to keep the event accessible: each car has to run standard tires, just as was the case on the Tour in the past. It’s an event designed to test skill, strategy, and talent rather than depth of bank balance.
Competing cars are deliberately not oulandish in a bid to drive costs down
One man who remembers all this very well is Jonathan Ashman. The former FIA member, who has presided over events that range from the British Grand Prix to touring cars, took part in the 1975 Tour of Britain with an entirely standard Mercedes 280E: straight off the press fleet, back when he was working for the German manufacturer.
“I had absolutely no racing experience, my co-driver was Motoring News journalist David Gordon, and all we did to the car was put tape on the headlights and add a fire extinguisher,” recalls Ashman. “But we were still able to beat some of the racing drivers on the circuits, and ended up just three seconds off Tony Pond on one of the Epynt stages.
“Back then, of course, the event was very different: we had both gravel and asphalt stages and you saw everything from a Chevrolet Camaro to a Renault 5 competing – not to mention our completely stock Mercedes. The beauty of it was that everybody stood a chance, and you didn’t have to spend a fortune. It was brilliant fun, so it’s fantastic to see the name live again, albeit in a different format. I think it’s going to attract a lot of people.”
Already, there’s been plenty of interest flooding in from both the UK and beyond, taking in an eclectic variety of cars – some of which took part in the original Tour of Britain. One example is another Mercedes: the 450SLC driven in the 1976 event by Tony Fowkes that is now owned by touring car legend (as well as former British Historic Rally champion) Patrick Watts.
But it’s not all about a nostalgia-fest. The organizers are keen to stress that this is very much a contemporary interpretation of a classic sporting fixture, rather than a strict revival. As such there will be prizes for categories such as youngest crew, and spirit of the tour.
The icing on the cake, though, would definitely be the participation of a soon to be crowned British Formula 1 world champion, exactly 51 years after this last happened on the Tour of Britain.
Wonder if George Russell, Oliver Bearman, or Arvid Lindblad can swing four days off in May 2027?
