Hesketh Racing was a Formula One constructor from the United Kingdom, which competed from 1973 to 1978.

The team competed in 52 World Championship Grands Prix, winning one and achieving eight further podium finishes. Its best placing in the World Constructors' Championship was fourth in 1975.

Hesketh gave James Hunt his Formula One debut, and he brought the team most of its success, and only win. Alan Jones also began his Formula One career in a privately entered Hesketh.

Lord Hesketh, in partnership with Anthony 'Bubbles' Horsley as driver, entered various Formula Three events around Europe in 1972, aiming simply to have as much fun as possible. Due partly to Horsley's lack of experience, there were few results. Hesketh ran his race team out of the stables at his Easton Neston family estate in Northamptonshire.

Hesketh subsequently employed James Hunt, who had a reputation for being very fast but also for crashing frequently, and who was unemployed at the time. Hesketh took on Hunt as one of his drivers for F3.

The Hesketh team had a growing reputation for their playboy style, arriving at races in Rolls-Royce cars, drinking champagne regardless of their results, and checking the entire team into five-star hotels. The team had a patch specially made for Hunt's driving suit which read: "Sex – The Breakfast of Champions".

By the middle of the season, Hunt and Horsley had written off both of the team's Formula Three cars. Horsley decided to leave the cockpit, switching to the team's management. Hesketh rented a Formula Two March car for the rest of 1972, and bought Hunt a Surtees Formula Two car for 1973. Hunt then wrote the car off at the Pau Grand Prix. Hesketh worked out that the cost involved in competing in the top flight was hardly more expensive than F2, and decided to move the team up to Formula One.

308/308b

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.

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.

For 1975 the 308 was updated to 308B specifications, with revised bodywork and repositioned oil radiators. The car was even more competitive.

308c

The Hesketh 308C was a Formula One racing car designed by Harvey Postlethwaite and used by Hesketh Racing in the latter stages of the 1975 Formula One season. The car featured the rubber suspension which Postlethwaite had pioneered on the preceding 308B model and a Ford-Cosworth DFV engine. In 1976, the car was acquired by Wolf–Williams Racing and rebranded as the Wolf–Williams FW05.

The 308C wasn't seen until the latter part of the 1975 season. Like the 308B on which it was based, the 308C was very narrow at the front, tapering out to wide and low sidepods, with the main radiators in front of the rear wheels. The rubber suspension was inboard, and operated by rocker arms. It was entered by Hesketh Racing for Englishman James Hunt to drive. The 308C made its debut at the Italian Grand Prix and Hunt finished fifth. For the final race of the 1975 season, in the United States the Englishman finished fourth.

The 308c had a Ford Cosworth DFV 2,993 cc 90° V8, naturally aspirated, mid-mounted engine.

Before the start of the 1976 season, Canadian oil millionaire Walter Wolf bought 60% of Frank Williams Racing Cars and the team became Wolf–Williams Racing. However, Frank Williams was retained as team manager. Soon afterwards, Harvey Postlethwaite arrived as chief engineer. Simultaneously Wolf bought the assets of the Hesketh team that had recently withdrawn from F1. The team was based in the Williams facility at Reading but used most of the cars and equipment once owned by Hesketh Racing. The team inherited the Hesketh 308C car used by Hesketh Racing during the final races of 1975, rebranding it as the Wolf–Williams FW05 and the Williams FW04 was similarly rebranded as the Wolf–Williams FW04, although it was only used in the opening race of the season, the 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix.

At season's end, Wolf decided to restructure the team, removing Frank Williams from the manager's job and putting in former Team Lotus manager Peter Warr. Disillusioned, Williams left the team altogether, to set up Williams Grand Prix Engineering with Patrick Head in 1977. Wolf bought 100% of Wolf–Williams Racing and the team became Walter Wolf Racing.

308d

The Hesketh 308D is a Formula One racing car built by the Hesketh Racing team in 1976. The car was based on the Hesketh 308 originally designed by Harvey Postlethwaite, and was powered by a 3-litre V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine.

Anthony 'Bubbles' Horsley updated the 308 to the 308D to continue as Hesketh Racing after Postlethwaite moved to Walter Wolf Racing. Nigel Stroud was team chief engineer and Harald Ertl was signed to drive the 308D for the 1976 season, with the team being sponsored by Penthouse and Rizla. Guy Edwards joined in a second 308D car from the Belgian Grand Prix, and Alex Ribeiro brought in some funds later in the year. The team scored no World Championship points in 1976, with Ertl's 7th place at the British Grand Prix being the team's best result of the year.

308e

The Hesketh 308E is a Formula One racing car model built by the Hesketh Racing team in 1977. The car was designed by Frank Dernie and Nigel Stroud and was the last car built by the Hesketh team before it folded at the end of 1978.

The 308E was a relatively conservative design, with an aluminium monocoque chassis built around the common Cosworth DFV engine and Hewland gearbox combination. However, the 308E gained particular notoriety owing to Hesketh's team sponsors in 1977 – Penthouse and Rizla – and the resultant livery which incorporated a large rendering of a scantily clad Penthouse Pet embracing a Rizla packet. During this year, driver Rupert Keegan managed to qualify the car at every race entered although its best finish was only seventh place at the Austrian Grand Prix. For 1978 the team reverted to rather less controversial sponsorship from the Olympus Corporation, although results were less dependable. Following Hesketh's withdrawal from the F1 World Championship the remaining 308Es were run for various competitors in the British Aurora AFX championship.

As the saying goes, ‘A candle that burns twice as bright burns for half as long’. Potential sponsors were nervous about an association with the rock ‘n’ roll, glamour team and hell-raising, pin-up driver. With finances dwindling, Lord Hesketh had no choice but to shut the operation down.

Hesketh Racing is not active as a competitive Formula One team, having ceased operations in its original form at the end of the 1975 season due to financial constraints. The team continued in a diminished capacity until 1978 without its founder, Lord Alexander Hesketh.

The Lord Hesketh went into politics and held a number of offices under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, during his Parliamentary career. James Hunt moved to McLaren and won the Formula 1 Driver's World Championship in 1976.

A separate company, Hesketh Motorcycles, was relaunched by British entrepreneur Paul Sleeman and continues in business.

Hesketh V1000

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