4 minute read
Horse power
Racing driver Freddie Hunt may be following in his famous father’s tracks, but he’ll always have a passion for polo, writes Lucy Watson
Any mention of Freddie Hunt will instinctively move towards talk of his father, James – the illustrious playboy racer and subject of the 2013 blockbuster film Rush. And naturally so: as the winner of the 1976 Formula One World Championship, he’s famed for his exhilarating speed and his antics both on and off the track – earning him the nickname ‘Hunt the Shunt’ – and Freddie is heading in the same direction, competing in Euro NASCAR and setting his sights on Le Mans. Though it seems Hunt Jr is carving his own path through the world of racing in pursuit of his father’s legacy, his background isn’t in the typical karts and cars of budding race-drivers, but in polo.
As James chose to retire from the track in 1979 – several years prior to Freddie’s birth – and tragically died before Freddie was six years old, it was only natural the younger Hunt’s interests should follow his mother’s. In keeping with her passions, Sarah Lomax was key in shaping Freddie and his brother Tom’s early forays with ponies. And so keen was she that for a full year, Freddie was forbidden from using a saddle in order to improve his riding. ‘Horses were always my life,’ he admits. ‘Mum was from a horse-racing background, so naturally I was brought up around horses. In fact, one of my earliest memories is riding bareback with my brother, together on one pony, when one of us slid off and pulled the other with him into a big puddle. I must have been about three or four.’
By 14, Freddie’s love of horses had led him to polo, and then, naturally, to Argentina. ‘Though I started riding at three years old, it was at 15, when I first went to Argentina, that I really learnt how to ride properly,’ he explains. ‘The only thing that can teach someone to ride well is the horse itself – five hours a day in the saddle for years, and then you’ll become a real horseman.’ From there he went professional, leaving school at 16 (he admits he wasn’t the most academically gifted of children) to pursue a career he loved. He played low-goal for Cowdray Park, amongst other clubs, returning to Argentina each winter to school his young horses.
It wasn’t until 2006 – when ageing horses coincided with an impulsive lap at the Goodwood Festival of Speed – that racing began to seem like a viable option for Freddie, and a swift career change took place. This led him to drive
Opposite and below Freddie photographed in West Sussex; wearing a TAG Heuer special-edition timepiece inspired by his father, James Hunt
for Joe Tandy Racing in the British Formula Ford, and then Buchbinder Racing in the ADAC Formel Masters and ADAC Cruze Cup. After an injury in 2013, Freddie recently returned to the track, teaming up with Mike Newton’s Tiga racing to test-drive and develop a Le Mans LMP2 car. And, in a rather serendipitous move, he has also signed with M&N Racing to drive alongside Mathias Lauda – the son of James’s rival, Niki Lauda.
Freddie was always aware of his father’s legacy, but it was only once he entered the world of racing that he really started to understand how extensive that influence really was – and still is. ‘I knew he’d won the World Championship, but I didn’t actually realise how loved and how famous he was. After Rush, the awareness of the Hunt name has grown a lot. A hell of a lot.’ As a tribute to his father, Freddie continues to wear red, blue and yellow (the colours on James’s helmet, which were those of his former school), and in hindsight admits his father may have had more of an influence on his early career choices than he previously realised. ‘I was never destined to sit in an office. From a young age I was climbing trees, doing crazy things, in and out of hospital – that’s the way I am,’ he recalls. ‘I’d driven vehicles long before I’d passed my test – quad bikes and motorbikes, tearing round the farm. And it was always with my foot flat to the floor. We had motorbikes when we were kids and we’d do time trials racing laps round the garden, so I’d always loved to drive things fast, and – naturally – when I’m on the horse, ride fast. I think it is hereditary.’
Polo was Freddie’s first outlet for his love of speed, and though at 29 his career is now more track than field, he is never far from the sport. ‘It’s not for the faint-hearted, but polo is one of the greatest sports around, in my opinion,’ he says, explaining how he’s always drawn back for the odd chukka. ‘The only problem is that it’s so damn expensive to keep the horses!’
