Hesketh 308

The Hesketh 308 and its derived sister model the 308B are Formula One racing cars designed by Harvey Postlethwaite for Hesketh Racing to compete in the 1974 and 1975 World Championships. The car gave James Hunt his first World Championship Grand Prix win in the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

The 308 replaced the ageing March 731 chassis that the team had been using since coming into Formula 1 the previous season, and was loosely based on the March design. It was powered by the Ford-Cosworth DFV and when the car was first launched featured conventional front suspension comprising double wishbones with outboard mounted coil-spring damper units. Postlethwaite was looking for a way of fitting simple, lightweight progressive springing to the car and latched onto the idea of using rubber springs after a friend involved in designing rubber damping for buildings in earthquake zones suggested the idea. Early tests in 1974 proved unsuccessful until a special non-creep rubber was developed by the Malaysian Rubber Producers Association. This was formed into springs by the Aeon Products company and following more productive testing results, fitted to the car from the 1975 Argentine GP. Originally, Lord Hesketh had plans to fund and have built a V12 engine to accompany the car, but this never came to pass, and the DFV V8 was used exclusively. Four chassis were built over the three seasons the car competed.

On its debut appearance at the 1974 Brands Hatch, Race of Champions, Hunt put the car in pole position. The race was less successful and Hunt spun out in wet conditions on lap four. The 308 made its first Grand Prix appearance two weeks later in South Africa. This time Hunt could only qualify 13th but moved up to fifth place from the start, successfully holding that position until drive shaft failure put him out of the race on lap 65. The following week, Hunt again managed pole position at the International Trophy race at Silverstone in competition with several Grand Prix regulars. This time Hunt managed a stunning victory. From the start, Hunt dropped back with his clutch slipping and with the gear shift knob coming off in his hand. Gradually he overcame these difficulties and worked his way back to the front, eventually passing Ronnie Peterson's Lotus down the inside into Woodcote corner to retake the lead.

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