Noel Edmonds recalls rally crash with F1 star Hunt
John Curtis/ShutterstockWhile he fights for the Formula 1 world title this season, it would be unthinkable for George Russell to go rallying between races with the presenter of the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show.
But 50 years ago, Britain's top Grand Prix star of the time, James Hunt, did just that - taking part in a round-the-country rally with Noel Edmonds as his co-driver.
Things did not go smoothly, though, when on 9 July 1976 the pair crashed into a tree during a stage of the competition held at Hockering Wood in Norfolk.
Edmonds told an episode of the Secret Norfolk series on BBC Sounds that Hunt was a "wondrous man", although he admitted their partnership was at times "made of nightmares".
LAT Images/Getty ImagesThe "Tour of Britain" event was sponsored by oil company Texaco, who also backed the McLaren team for which Hunt was battling for the F1 world title in the summer of 1976.
Edmonds was then one of the biggest radio stars in the country, but also a keen amateur racing driver.
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"Texaco thought it would be a great idea, as the title sponsor, for their man James to compete," said Edmonds. "It was the most unlikely combination."
Edmonds and Hunt were paired-up in a modified Vauxhall Magnum saloon car. The tour combined both circuit racing and rallying, with stages around the country on a mixture of dedicated racetracks and private roads.
Philip Yull was, at the time, a 15-year-old motor racing enthusiast living in Norfolk, who eagerly followed the county's section of the event.
He even briefly met Hunt when attending the stage held at the local Snetterton circuit.
"The previous Sunday, James Hunt had won the French Grand Prix," Yull remembered.
"In the context of the Formula One world now, it is completely alien. You cannot imagine George Russell getting in the modern equivalent the car Hunt was driving, which would probably be a Vauxhall Astra, hurtling through a wood on concrete roads in Norfolk."
After Snetterton, the competitors headed to Hockering Wood, to the west of Norwich, for a rallying stage which Yull said was notorious among local drivers.
"It's a series of narrow concrete roads built in World War Two," he recalls.
"It was an RAF bomb storage area. It struck fear into the drivers because the road was so narrow, and lined with trees. It was known as a car-breaker."
As co-driver, Edmonds' role on the rallying stages was to provide information on upcoming twists, turns and obstacles and the best speeds at which to take them, using pre-prepared notes.
But he didn't think Hunt was convinced about his credentials.
"He looked at me and obviously thought, 'this hairy DJ off the radio is not going to cut it.' I think that's why we crashed, actually. Because he didn't believe what I said.
"And we went straight on into a pine forest, and it was one hell of a thump."
The pair were uninjured but the crash made headline news in various newspapers, and although the car was patched-up they dropped out of the event not long after.
Hunt was probably not too disappointed, as he would go on to take the F1 World Championship that year after a season-long fight with Austrian driver Niki Lauda.
Looking back 50 years on, Edmonds feels Hunt's hell-for-leather style, which served him so well on the Grand Prix circuit, made the end of their event inevitable when speeding through the trees.
"If James had trusted me, we'd have got round that corner.
"I mean, we'd have probably hit something eventually."
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