Hesketh Racing

Englishman Lord Hesketh, in partnership with Anthony 'Bubbles' Horsley as driver, entered various Formula Three events around Europe in 1972, with the mission objective 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.

Hesketh subsequently employed James Hunt, who had a reputation for being very fast, but also for writing off cars, and who, at the time, was unemployed. 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 even 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 for the rest of 1972, and bought Hunt a Surtees Formula Two car for 1973. Hunt then promptly wrote the car off at the Pau Grand Prix, and in typical style, 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.

The Ibec-Hesketh 308LM, also later referred to as the "Ibec P6" and the "Ibec 308LM Cobra", is a one-off sports prototype racing car that was built in 1978, and was designed by Postlethwaite around many components of the Hesketh 308 Formula One car. The car was funded by Lloyd's of London insurance broker Ian Bracey, who formed the Ian Bracey Engineering Company to oversee the project.

Unlike many privateer sports car entrants in the late 1970s, Bracey harboured serious hopes of winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. Rather than buy an only partially competitive off-the-peg chassis on which to build, Bracey commissioned former Hesketh chief designer Postlethwaite to design a brand new chassis around a detuned 3.0-litre Cosworth DFV engine. Postlethwaite used his Hesketh connections to buy both front and rear suspension components from the F1 team, and the building of the car was commenced in the Hesketh workshops. However, as the Hesketh racing team's fortunes dipped, the Ibec chassis dropped down the priority list and eventually Bracey moved production to Lyncar in Slough. Here, facing a tight deadline, the Lyncar team managed to complete the car in just over five weeks.[8]

The Ibec design, while bespoke, was not adventurous. The main chassis was formed by a riveted and bonded aluminium monocoque, behind which the DFV engine and Hewland FG400 gearbox were bolted as stressed chassis members. Suspension was by double wishbones at the front, with twin trailing arms, parallel lower links and single top links at the rear. The car was clothed in fibreglass bodywork which had been properly wind tunnel tested, and which proved highly effective at generating both downforce in corners and stability at high speed. The total cost of designing and building the 308LM was less than £100,000,[8] approximately £0.5 million at 2005 prices, more than most privateer teams, but far lower than many contemporary factory race programs.

The car's first competitive outing was, as planned, at the 1978 24 Hours of Le Mans race, driven by Ian Grob and Guy Edwards, with Bracey himself acting as reserve driver. Edwards's presence in the team had an additional benefit as his skills at sponsorship negotiation landed the small Ibec team with backing from the giant Chrysler corporation, despite the 308LM being Ford-powered. Edwards also qualified the Ibec in 13th position, at an average speed of 133 mph.[8] However, in the race itself the car suffered from mechanical troubles which dropped it to 42nd position after just a few hours. Despite recovering well from this early setback, in the 19th hour the DFV engine failed completely and the Ibec's race was over.

The Ibec 308LM also failed to finish at its one further Le Mans outing, in the 1981 event, driven by Tiff Needell and Tony Trimmer, before the car was converted for use in the UK Thundersports championship during the mid-1980s.

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
1973	March 731	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8		ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	NED	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA			N/A1	N/A1
			James Hunt						9		6	4	3		Ret	DNS	7	2
1974	March 731	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8		ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA			N/A1	N/A1
			James Hunt	Ret	9
	308					Ret	10	Ret	Ret	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	3	Ret	4	3			15	6th
			Ian Scheckter												DNQ
1975	308 308B 308C	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8		ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	USA				33	4th
			James Hunt	2	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	1	2	4	Ret	2	5	4
			Alan Jones				Ret	Ret	Ret	11
			Torsten Palm					DNQ		10
			Harald Ertl											8	Ret	9
			Brett Lunger												13	10	Ret
1976	308D	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8		BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA	JPN		0	NC
			Harald Ertl		15	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	8	Ret	16	DNS	13	8
			Guy Edwards					DNQ			17	Ret	15			DNS	20
			Rolf Stommelen												12
			Alex Ribeiro															12
1977	308E	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN	JPN	0	NC
			Rupert Keegan					Ret	12	Ret	13	10	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	9	8	Ret
			Harald Ertl					Ret	DNQ	9	16	DNQ
			Héctor Rebaque							DNQ	DNQ	DNQ		Ret	DNQ	DNQ
			Ian Ashley												DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	17	DNS
1978	308E	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN		0	NC
			Divina Galica	DNQ	DNQ
			Eddie Cheever			Ret
			Derek Daly				DNPQ	DNPQ	DNQ

^1 – Not entered as a constructor.