John Surtees
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John Surtees, OBE (born February 11 1934) is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver from England. He remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels.
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Motorcycle racing career
Born in Tatsfield, Surrey, Surtees was the son of a south London motorcycle dealer. He had his first professional outing in the sidecar of his father's Vincent, which they won. However, when race officials discovered Surtees' age, they were disqualified. He entered his first race at 15 in a grasstrack competition. In 1950, when he was 16, he joined Vincent as an apprentice; whilst with them he bought his first car, a Jowett Jupiter. He made his first headlines in 1951 when he gave Norton star Geoff Duke a strong challenge in an ACU race at the Thruxton Circuit.
In 1955, Norton race chief Joe Craig gave Surtees his first factory sponsored ride aboard the Nortons. He finished the year by beating reigning world champion Duke at Silverstone and then at Brands Hatch. However, with Norton in financial trouble and uncertain about their racing plans, Surtees accepted an offer to race MV Agustas.
In 1956 Surtees won the 500cc world championship. In this he was assisted by the FIM's decision to ban Geoff Duke for six months because of his support for a riders' strike for more starting money. In the 1957 season, the MV Agustas were no match for the Gileras and Surtees battled to a third place finish.
When Gilera and Moto Guzzi pulled out of Grand Prix racing at the end of 1957, Surtees and MV Agusta went on to dominate the competition in the two big classes. In 1958, 1959 and 1960, he won 32 out of 39 races and became the first man to win the Senior TT at the Isle of Man TT three years in succession.
Racing car career
In 1960, at the age of 26, Surtees switched from motorcycles to cars full time, making his Formula 1 debut racing for Lotus in the Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo. He made an immediate impact with a second place finish in only his second Formula One race, at the 1960 British Grand Prix, and a pole position at his third race, the 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix. After spending the 1961 season with the Cooper racing team and the 1962 season with Reg Parnell Racing, he moved to Scuderia Ferrari in 1963 and won the World Championship for the Italian team in 1964.
On September 25, 1965, Surtees had a life-threatening accident at the Mosport Circuit (Ontario, Canada) whilst practicing a Lola Can-Am car. The front wishbone had broken. Surtees made a full recovery and went back in 1966 to the Can Am series and became champion defeating the Chaparrals.
The 1966 season saw the introduction of a new, larger 3-litre engines to Formula One. Surtees' debut with Ferrari's new F1 car was at the 1966 BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone, where he qualified and finished a close second behind Jack Brabham's 3-litre Brabham BT19. A few weeks later, Surtees led the Monaco Grand Prix, pulling away from Jackie Stewart's 2-litre BRM on the straights, before the engine failed. A fortnight later Surtees survived the first lap rainstorm which eliminated half the field and won the Belgian Grand Prix.
Surtees arrived at the 1966 Le Mans 24 hours expecting to be partnered with Mike Parkes, instead Ferrari team manager Eugenio Dragoni had put "big John" with Ludovico Scarfiotti. Surtees was not happy and quit Ferrari. Surtees finished the season driving for the Cooper-Maserati team, winning the last race of the season and finishing second in the drivers' championship, 14 points behind Brabham.
Surtees moved to the new Japanese Honda team for the 1967 season. He took pole position for the non-championship Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, but the car's V12 engine suffered from reliability problems in the race. At the Italian Grand Prix Surtees slipstreamed Denny Hulme to take Honda's first F1 victory by 0.2 seconds. Surtees finished fourth in the 1967 drivers' championship.
The same year, Surtees drove in the Rex Mays 300 at Riverside, near Los Angeles, in a United States Auto Club season-ending road race. This event pitted the best American drivers of the day — normally those who had cut their teeth as professional drivers on oval dirt tracks — against veteran Formula One Grand Prix drivers, including Jim Clark and Dan Gurney.
In 1970, Surtees formed his own race team, the Surtees Racing Organisation, and spent nine seasons competing in Formula 5000, Formula 2 and Formula 1 as a constructor. He retired from competitive driving in 1972, the same year the team had their greatest success when Mike Hailwood won the European Formula 2 Championship. The team was finally disbanded at the end of 1978.
After Formula One
In 1996, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. The FIM honored him as a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2003. He continues his involvement in motorcycling, participating in classic bike events with bikes from his stable of vintage racing machines. He also remains involved in single-seater racing cars and currently holds the position of chairman of A1 Team Great Britain, in the A1 Grand Prix racing series. His son, Henry, currently competes in the Formula BMW UK series for Carlin Motorsport.[1]
Already a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.[2]
Motorcycle Grand Prix Statistics
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Points | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Year | Class | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Points | Rank | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | 500cc | Norton | SWI |
IOM |
NED |
BEL |
W.GER |
ULS 1 |
NAT |
ESP |
1 | 18th | 0 |
| 1955 | 250cc | NSU | FRA |
IOM |
W.GER |
BEL |
NED |
ULS 8 |
NAT |
8 | 7th | 1 | |
| 350cc | Norton | IOM 3 |
W.GER 4 |
BEL |
NED |
ULS 4 |
NAT |
11 | 6th | 0 | |||
| 1956 | 350cc | MV Agusta | IOM |
NED 6 |
BEL 8 |
W.GER |
ULS |
NAT |
14 | 4th | 1 | ||
| 500cc | MV Agusta | IOM 8 |
NED 8 |
BEL 8 |
W.GER |
ULS |
NAT |
24 | 1st | 3 | |||
| 1957 | 350cc | MV Agusta | W.GER |
IOM 3 |
NED |
BEL |
ULS |
NAT |
3 | 10th | 0 | ||
| 500cc | MV Agusta | W.GER |
IOM 6 |
NED 8 |
BEL |
ULS |
NAT 3 |
17 | 3rd | 1 | |||
| 1958 | 350cc | MV Agusta | IOM 8 |
NED 8 |
BEL 8 |
W.GER 8 |
SWE |
ULS 8 |
NAT 8 |
48 | 1st | 6 | |
| 500cc | MV Agusta | IOM 8 |
NED 8 |
BEL 8 |
W.GER 8 |
SWE |
ULS 8 |
NAT 8 |
48 | 1st | 6 | ||
| 1959 | 350cc | MV Agusta | FRA 8 |
IOM 8 |
W.GER 8 |
SWE 8 |
ULS 8 |
NAT 8 |
48 | 1st | 6 | ||
| 500cc | MV Agusta | FRA 8 |
IOM 8 |
W.GER 8 |
NED 8 |
BEL 8 |
ULS 8 |
NAT 8 |
56 | 1st | 7 | ||
| 1960 | 350cc | MV Agusta | FRA 4 |
IOM 6 |
NED 8 |
ULS 8 |
NAT |
26 | 1st | 2 | |||
| 500cc | MV Agusta | FRA 8 |
IOM 8 |
NED |
BEL 8 |
W.GER 8 |
ULS 6 |
NAT 8 |
46 | 1st | 5 |
Complete World Championship Formula One results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Team Lotus | Lotus 18 | Climax Straight-4 | ARG |
MON Ret |
500 |
NED |
BEL |
FRA |
GBR 2 |
POR Ret |
ITA |
USA Ret |
14th | 6 | |||
| 1961 | Yeoman Credit Racing Team |
Cooper T53 | Climax Straight-4 | MON Ret |
NED 7 |
BEL 5 |
FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
GER 5 |
ITA Ret |
USA Ret |
12th | 4 | |||||
| 1962 | Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team | Lola Mk4 | Climax V8 | NED Ret |
MON 4 |
BEL 5 |
FRA 5 |
GBR 2 |
GER 2 |
USA Ret |
RSA Ret |
4th | 19 | |||||
| Lola Mk4A | ITA Ret |
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| 1963 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 156 | Ferrari V6 | MON 4 |
BEL Ret |
NED 3 |
FRA Ret |
GBR 2 |
GER 1 |
ITA Ret |
USA Ret |
MEX DSQ |
RSA Ret |
4th | 22 | |||
| 1964 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 158 | Ferrari V8 | MON Ret |
NED 2 |
BEL Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR 3 |
GER 1 |
AUT Ret |
ITA 1 |
1st | 40 | |||||
| North American Racing Team | USA 2 |
MEX 2 |
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| 1965 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 158 | Ferrari V8 | RSA 2 |
MON 4 |
BEL Ret |
FRA 3 |
5th | 17 | |||||||||
| Ferrari 1512 | Ferrari Flat-12 | GBR 3 |
NED 7 |
GER Ret |
ITA Ret |
USA |
MEX |
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| 1966 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 312/66 | Ferrari V12 | MON Ret |
BEL 1 |
2nd | 28 | |||||||||||
| Cooper Car Company | Cooper T81 | Maserati V12 | FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
NED Ret |
GER 2 |
ITA Ret |
USA 3 |
MEX 1 |
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| 1967 | Honda Racing | Honda RA273 | Honda V12 | RSA 3 |
MON Ret |
NED Ret |
BEL Ret |
FRA |
GBR 6 |
GER 4 |
CAN |
4th | 20 | |||||
| Honda RA300 | ITA 1 |
USA Ret |
MEX 4 |
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| 1968 | Honda Racing | Honda RA300 | Honda V12 | RSA 8 |
7th | 12 | ||||||||||||
| Honda RA301 | ESP Ret |
MON Ret |
BEL Ret |
NED Ret |
FRA 2 |
GBR 5 |
GER Ret |
ITA Ret |
CAN Ret |
USA 3 |
MEX Ret |
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| 1969 | Owen Racing Organisation | BRM P138 | BRM V12 | RSA Ret |
ESP 5 |
MON Ret |
NED 9 |
FRA |
11th | 6 | ||||||||
| BRM P139 | GBR Ret |
GER DNS |
ITA NC |
CAN Ret |
USA 3 |
MEX Ret |
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| 1970 | Team Surtees | McLaren M7C | Cosworth V8 | RSA Ret |
ESP Ret |
MON Ret |
BEL |
NED 6 |
FRA |
18th | 3 | |||||||
| Surtees TS7 | GBR Ret |
GER 9 |
AUT Ret |
ITA Ret |
CAN 5 |
USA Ret |
MEX 8 |
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| 1971 | Brooke Bond Oxo / Team Surtees | Surtees TS9 | Cosworth V8 | RSA Ret |
ESP 11 |
MON 7 |
NED 5 |
FRA 8 |
GBR 6 |
GER 7 |
AUT Ret |
ITA Ret |
CAN 11 |
USA 17 |
19th | 3 | ||
| 1972 | Team Surtees | Surtees TS14 | Cosworth V8 | ARG |
RSA |
ESP |
MON |
BEL |
FRA |
GBR |
GER |
AUT |
ITA Ret |
CAN |
USA DNS |
- | 0 |
Footnotes
- ↑ "How to become F1 champion". Sarah Holt. www.bbc.co.uk (2007-08-22). Retrieved on 2007-08-22.
- ↑ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 58729, page 13, 14 June 2008.
References
- 50 Years Of Moto Grand Prix (1st edition). Hazelton Publishing Ltd, 1999. ISBN 1-874557-83-7
External links
- Biography from GrandPrix.com
- Biography from F1db.com
- John Surtees statistics
- Sky Sport video documentary on John Surtees
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Geoff Duke |
500cc Motorcycle World Champion 1956 |
Succeeded by Libero Liberati |
| Preceded by Libero Liberati |
500cc Motorcycle World Champion 1958-1960 |
Succeeded by Gary Hocking |
| Preceded by Jim Clark |
Formula One World Champion 1964 |
Succeeded by Jim Clark |
| Preceded by Inaugural |
Can-Am Champion 1966 |
Succeeded by Bruce McLaren |
| Awards and achievements | ||
| Preceded by Ian Black |
BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1959 |
Succeeded by David Broome |
| Preceded by Jim Clark |
Hawthorn Memorial Trophy 1964 |
Succeeded by Jim Clark |
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