He was one of the great heroes of motor racing’s golden age: James Hunt. Just as fearless on the track as he was at the bar, he was known for his excessive lifestyle and eccentricity. Thanks in part to his mane of blond hair, he was regarded as the ”rock star of Formula 1”. And his lifestyle provided plenty of talking points in other ways too: he smoked, drank, never turned down a party, and his racing suit bore the words: ”Sex – Breakfast of Champions”. That someone like that might have the odd quirk or two? It’s almost logical. Hunt, at any rate, always cut the toes off his shoes.
His success proved him right: in total, the Englishman won ten Grand Prix races; in 1976, he became Formula 1 World Champion with McLaren, edging out Niki Lauda by a single point in the final race of a dramatic season. This duel also went down in pop history and was immortalised in Ron Howard’s 2013 Hollywood film ”Rush”, starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl in the lead roles.