David Hunt (20 May 1960 – 11 October 2015) was an English

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

and younger brother of 1976

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

world champion

James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Shunt", Hunt won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with McLaren, and wo ...

. Hunt started racing at 15 and moved up to

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single-seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world have historically been an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

in 1981. He competed in the British Formula Three Championship for five seasons from

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

against the likes of

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Senna won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with McLaren, and—at the time of his death—held ...

, Martin Donnelly,

Martin Brundle Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Brundle won the World Sportscar Champions ...

and

Damon Hill Damon Graham Devereux Hill (born 17 September 1960) is an English former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Hill won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won 22 Grands Prix acr ...

. Hunt's major sponsor in British F3 was

Acorn Computers Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England in 1978 by Hermann Hauser, Christopher Curry (businessman), Chris Curry and Andy Hopper. The company produced a number of computers during the 1980s with asso ...

and, as part of his sponsorship deal, he served as a consultant to video game designer Geoff Crammond during the development of Revs. This was one of the first racing games designed to be highly realistic and helped spawn the

sim racing Sim racing is the collective term for racing games that attempt to accurately simulate auto racing, complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire wear and grip, and suspension settings. To be competitive in sim racing, a dr ...

genre. The game was based on the British F3 championship and, in addition to technical feedback to Crammond, Hunt contributed extensively to the game's manual. He advised the player on racing theory and car setup, and gave corner-by-corner guides on how to lap the game's circuits driving the Ralt RT3 featured. Hunt raced in the

International Formula 3000 The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become to ...

championship in

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

and in the same year tested for the Benetton Formula 1 team. He then quit racing. At the end of 1994 he sold his

multi-level marketing Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called network marketing or pyramid selling, is a controversial and sometimes illegal marketing strategy for the sale of products or services in which the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salarie ...

business, selling water filters, and purchased the bankrupt Lotus team to try to save it, but had no success. He continued to work on getting Lotus back into the top echelons of

motor sport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific terms ''automobile ...

until 2009, when he sold the rights to the Lotus name to the Litespeed Formula 3 team. Litespeed applied to compete in the 2010 Formula One season but was refused entry. However,

BMW Sauber The German automobile manufacturer/brand BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in . The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s (often under Form ...

later announced that they would withdraw from the sport at the conclusion of the 2009 season and the selection process was re-opened. A team ran by 1Malaysia and backed by the Malaysian government was given entry for 2010, using the name Lotus Racing under licence from Lotus Cars. In the summer of 2010, 1Malaysia bought Team Lotus Ventures Ltd from David Hunt, and used the name Team Lotus for the 2011 season.

Death

Hunt died in his sleep on the evening of Sunday, 11 October 2015, at the age of 55.

Career summary

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, David 1960 births 2015 deaths English racing drivers International Formula 3000 drivers British Formula 3000 Championship drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Formula One team owners David Price Racing drivers 20th-century English sportsmen