​While he chases the Formula 1 world championship this season, it would be hard to imagine George Russell crisscrossing the country between grands prix with the presenter of BBC Radio 1’s breakfast show as his co-driver. Yet 50 years ago Britain’s top Grand Prix star at the time, James Hunt, did exactly that—joining Noel Edmonds for a nationwide rally with the radio host providing co-driving duties.
The venture did not go smoothly. On 9 July 1976, the pair crashed into a tree during a stage at Hockering Wood in Norfolk. Edmonds later recalled on a Secret Norfolk episode for BBC Sounds that Hunt was a “wondrous man,” even though their partnership could occasionally feel like “a nightmare” to navigate.
Edmonds and Hunt competed in the event aboard a modified Vauxhall Magnum, part of the Texaco-sponsored Tour of Britain. Texaco, who also backed Hunt’s McLaren team that summer, believed it would be a superb idea for their title-contending driver to take part, despite (or perhaps because of) the unlikely pairing. Edmonds, at the time one of the country’s biggest radio stars, was also an enthusiastic amateur racer.
“Texaco thought it would be a great idea, as the title sponsor, for their man James to compete,” Edmonds explained. “It was the most unlikely combination.” The duo drove a modified Vauxhall Magnum saloon on a tour that blended circuit racing with rallying, featuring stages across the country on a mix of dedicated raceways and private roads.
Hunt would go on to win the 1976 Formula 1 World Championship, cementing his status as one of the era’s icons. In Norfolk, 15-year-old motor racing enthusiast Philip Yull—then living in the county—followed the local leg of the event with keen interest. He even had a brief glimpse of Hunt as the stage at the Snetterton circuit unfolded.
“The previous Sunday, James Hunt had won the French Grand Prix,” Yull recalled. “In the context of the Formula One world, it seems almost unimaginable now. You can’t picture George Russell in the modern equivalent of Hunt’s car, likely a Vauxhall Astra, tearing through a wooded Norfolk road on a concrete surface.”
After Snetterton, the contenders moved to Hockering Wood, west of Norwich, for a rally stage that Yull describes as notorious among locals. “It’s a set of narrow World War II-era concrete roads,” he notes. “It was an RAF bomb-storage site. The road’s narrowness and the trees lining it frightened drivers; it was widely regarded as a car-breaker.”
At the time, Edmonds was best known as the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show host. As co-driver, his job was to relay information on upcoming twists, turns, and obstacles, and to advise on optimal speeds using pre-prepared notes. Yet he sensed Hunt’s skepticism about his abilities. “He looked at me and thought, ‘this hairy DJ off the radio is not going to get us through this,’” Edmonds later reflected, underscoring the contrast between Hunt’s world of high-stakes racing and Edmonds’ radio persona.