Formula One: How Hunt Cracked It at Dawn

Thirty years ago on Tuesday, British interest in Formula One rocketed even though the event in question was taking place 6,000 miles away in the pouring rain at some unearthly hour of an autumnal morning at home. James Hunt was about to become world champion, thus defying odds that at one stage during the 1976 season had seemed as long as the chances of anyone surviving this final race in Japan. The weather was so bad that Niki Lauda pulled out after the first lap even though his withdrawal would quite possibly hand the title to Hunt. It encapsulated the relentless drama of a season that had seen Hunt elevated from a down-at-heel Brit to a dashing hero. Media coverage of motor sport has not looked back since.

When the 28-year-old with the plummy accent joined McLaren in 1976, columnists wrote with increasing enthusiasm about this blond-haired Englishman doing battle with an apparently arrogant Austrian in a red Ferrari. The only problem was, the man from Vienna appeared to be winning.

Lauda led the championship after victories in Brazil and South Africa. Even when Hunt won in Spain, his car was disqualified for being 1.8cm too wide. By the time Lauda had mopped up in Belgium and Monaco, he had 51 points. Hunt had six. Then Lauda retired in France and Hunt won. When an appeal court reinstated Hunt as the winner in Spain, he had 25 points to Lauda's 52. The British Grand Prix was next.

A first-corner collision between Lauda and his Ferrari team-mate, Clay Regazzoni, resulted in Hunt's McLaren being tossed into the air. The steering was damaged and Hunt would have been out of the race had officials not decided to stop it. When Hunt climbed into the spare McLaren on the grid, word emerged that this was not permitted.

'The crowd went completely hooligan,' said Hunt when referring to slow handclapping that soon accelerated into booing and an uncharacteristic cascade of beer cans on to the track. As harassed officials argued, the McLaren mechanics worked feverishly on the original car to have it ready for the restart. When Hunt then overtook Lauda to win, he would recall the tumultuous reception on the slowing-down lap as the most memorable moment of his career.

The season may have developed an edge, but it was nothing compared to what came next. Lauda was given the Last Rites after being severely burned in the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, only to make an extraordinary comeback six weeks later. Hunt had reduced the deficit to two points, but the gap opened again when a protest by Ferrari against his British win was upheld. There were three races left.

Hunt responded by driving with barely controlled aggression to win in Canada and the United States. That made it Lauda 68 points and Hunt 65, with only the Japanese race remaining. The sports world suddenly woke up to the fact that Britain might have a new champion. The BBC, in particular, went into overdrive.

Television exposure was limited to the British and the Monaco Grands Prix and precious little else. It was, therefore, quite a step to organise coverage from Fuji. BBC Radio's Barrie Gill was given the role of television commentator on the delayed broadcast.

Meanwhile, Simon Taylor, a former editor of Autosport magazine, received a call from BBC Radio asking if he could fly immediately to Japan to replace Gill. The plan was to provide uninterrupted live coverage on Radio 2, an exceptional development that Taylor, whose broadcasting experience had been limited to the occasional news bulletin, was delighted to embrace.

'The interest generated by James and this championship was quite extraordinary,' recalls Taylor. 'The BBC didn't really understand motor sport but they suddenly realised this was a major story. The race should have started at something like 5am UK time, but there was a delay of about two hours because of the rain. This brought us into conflict with a religious programme at that hour - but the live motor racing coverage went ahead.'

Searching for another voice to assist with commentary during a race that would last for almost an hour and three-quarters, Taylor found Barry Sheene, whose main priority was to find somewhere to shelter from the rain. The reigning 500cc motorcycle world champion had no broadcasting experience but his cheeky, chatty manner, coupled with Taylor's authoritative eloquence, made a formidable combination.

Listeners more accustomed to hymn signing at that hour did not agree. But, to the BBC's subsequent delight and astonishment, the ratings were massive. BBC Radio 2 was the only live point of contact with Fuji. Scrutineering at a race meeting at Brands Hatch was delayed because officials remained in their cars listening to the progress of a charismatic sportsman fighting tooth and nail while drawing new fans to the sport.

'James was quite a guy,' says Lauda. 'He had a great zest about him and was always surrounded by a bevy of beautiful girls. He got away with things that the rest of us did not simply by having a lot of charisma. However, he certainly was a formidable competitor. When he got the McLaren drive, I knew James was likely to be out to break my balls and, sure enough, he turned into my biggest opponent that year.

'When we went into the final race, I suppose I was feeling a bit tense after watching James eat into my points lead, a bit like I suspect Fernando Alonso was feeling recently at the hands of Michael Schumacher. On race morning, it started raining like you can't believe. At one point it seemed as though the race might have to be cancelled.

'Eventually, though, we started. I hit a puddle going into the first corner, got into a big slide and suddenly thought, "I can't do this". In my view conditions were just too dangerous. I pulled into the pits at the end of the opening lap.'

Hunt finished third after a late pit stop and won the title by a single point. Britain had a new hero.

'James was the perfect gift for the media,' says Taylor. 'His personality alone was a huge factor in raising interest in motor racing, never mind the incredible story of the 1976 season. That final race was one of those single sporting occasions that galvanise people and sparks an awareness of a particular sport. The interest of many young race fans dates from the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994. And those of an older generation recall James Hunt winning the championship in Fuji as the starting point of their curiosity in motor racing.'

The 1976 Japanese Grand Prix was also a turning point for the broadcast media. Television coverage was expanded and BBC Radio sent Taylor to all of the European races, a prelude to the live coverage of every grand prix today on television and Radio Five Live. Newspapers, which had previously been hard-pressed merely to publish the results, devoted more space and provided the beginnings of detailed reportage on each of this year's 18 races.

The only regret is that Hunt is not around to enjoy the long-term repercussions of his extraordinary year. The 1976 world champion died of a heart attack in June 1993. He was 45.