The Hesketh 308E is a Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 racing car model built by the Hesketh Racing team in . The car was designed by Frank Dernie

Frank Dernie

Frank Dernie is a veteran British engineer with extensive Formula One motorsport experience.-Career:Dernie was brought up in Lancashire and educated at Kirkham Grammar School before he studied engineering at the Imperial College London university...

 and Nigel Stroud and was the last car built by the Hesketh team before it folded at the end of . The 308E was a relatively conservative design, with an aluminium monocoque chassis built around the common Cosworth DFV

Cosworth DFV

The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. Named Four Valve because of the four valves per cylinder, and Double as it was a V8 development of the earlier, four-cylinder FVA , making it a Double Four Valve engine...

 engine and Hewland

Hewland

Founded by Mike Hewland in 1957, Hewland is a British engineering company specialising in racing-car gearboxes. Hewland was the first company to manufacture a bespoke racing-car gearbox....

 gearbox combination. However, the 308E gained particular notoriety owing to Hesketh's team sponsors in 1977 – Penthouse

Penthouse (magazine)

Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...

 and Rizla

Rizla

RizLa+ , known in English as Rizla is a brand of rolling papers and cigarette tubes or blanks in which tobacco is rolled or stuffed to form handmade cigarettes....

 – 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

Rupert Keegan

Rupert Keegan is a former racing driver from England. He participated in 37 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 8 May 1977. He scored no championship points....

 managed to qualify the car at every race entered although its best finish was only seventh place at the Austrian Grand Prix

1977 Austrian Grand Prix

The 1977 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at the Österreichring on August 14, 1977. It was the tenth Austrian Grand Prix since the race was first held in 1963. It was held over 54 laps of the six kilometre venue for a race distance of 320 kilometres...

. For 1978 the team reverted to rather less controversial sponsorship from the Olympus Corporation

Olympus Corporation

is a Japan-based manufacturer of optics and reprography products. Olympus was established on 12 October 1919, initially specializing in microscope and thermometer businesses. Its global headquarters are in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, while its USA operations are based in Center Valley, Pennsylvania,...

, 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

British Formula One Series

The British Formula One Series, often abbreviated to British F1, was a Formula One motor racing championship held in the United Kingdom. It was often referred to as the Aurora AFX Formula One series due to the Aurora company's sponsorship of the series for three of the four seasons.The long...

.