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John Surtees, OBE (born 11 February 1934 in Tatsfield, Surrey) 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. He is also the ambassador of the Racing Steps Foundation.
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Surtees was the son of a south London motorcycle dealer.[1] He had his first professional outing in the sidecar of his father's Vincent, which they won. However, when race officials discovered Surtees's age, they were disqualified.[1] He entered his first race at 15 in a grasstrack competition. In 1950, when he was 16, he joined Vincent as an apprentice;[1][2] 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.[1]
In 1955, Norton race chief Joe Craig gave Surtees his first factory sponsored ride aboard the Nortons.[1] He finished the year by beating reigning world champion Duke at Silverstone and then at Brands Hatch.[1] 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.[3] 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.[4] In the 1957 season, the MV Agustas were no match for the Gileras and Surtees battled to a third place finish aboard a 1957 MV Agusta 500 Quattro.[1][3][5]
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.[1] 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.[3][6]
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.[2] 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.[2][7]
On September 25, 1965, Surtees had a life-threatening accident at the Mosport Circuit (Ontario, Canada) whilst practicing a Lola T70 sports racing car.[2] A front upright casting had broken. Surtees made a full recovery and competed with a T70 in the inaugural Can Am series in 1966, winning three races of six to become champion over other winners Dan Gurney (Lola), Mark Donohue (Lola) and Phil Hill (Chaparral) as well as the likes of Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon (both in McLarens).
The 1966 season saw the introduction of new, larger 3-litre engines to Formula One. Surtees's 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 24 Hours of Le Mans 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.[2][8] 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.[2] 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 Jack Brabham to take Honda's second F1 victory by 0.2 seconds. Surtees finished fourth in the 1967 drivers' championship.[7]
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.[2] 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.[9] The team was finally disbanded at the end of 1978.
For a while in the 1970s Surtees ran a motorcycle shop in West Wickham, Kent. He continues his involvement in motorcycling, participating in classic events with bikes from his stable of vintage racing machines. He also remains involved in single-seater racing cars and held the position of chairman of A1 Team Great Britain, in the A1 Grand Prix racing series from 2005-7. His son, Henry competed in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, Formula Renault UK Championship and the Formula BMW UK championship for Carlin Motorsport,[10] before he died whilst racing in the Formula 2 championship at Brands Hatch on 19 July 2009.[11]
In 1996, John Surtees was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.[12] The FIM honoured him as a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2003.[13] 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.[14]
Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Points | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
() (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Class | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Points | Rank | Wins |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1952 | 500cc | Norton | SUI - |
IOM - |
NED - |
BEL - |
GER - |
ULS 6 |
NAT - |
ESP - |
1 | 18th | 0 | |
1954 | 350cc | Norton | FRA - |
IOM 11 |
ULS - |
BEL - |
NED - |
GER - |
SUI - |
NAT - |
ESP - |
0 | - | 0 |
500cc | Norton | FRA - |
IOM 15 |
ULS - |
BEL - |
NED - |
GER - |
SUI - |
NAT - |
ESP - |
0 | - | 0 | |
1955 | 250cc | NSU | FRA - |
IOM - |
GER - |
NED - |
ULS 1 |
NAT - |
8 | 7th | 1 | |||
350cc | Norton | IOM 4 |
GER 3 |
BEL - |
NED - |
ULS 3 |
NAT - |
11 | 6th | 0 | ||||
500cc | Norton | ESP - |
FRA - |
IOM 29 |
GER - |
BEL - |
NED - |
ULS - |
NAT - |
0 | - | 0 | ||
1956 | 350cc | MV Agusta | IOM - |
NED 2 |
BEL 1 |
GER - |
ULS - |
NAT - |
14 | 4th | 1 | |||
500cc | MV Agusta | IOM 1 |
NED 1 |
BEL 1 |
GER - |
ULS - |
NAT - |
24 | 1st | 3 | ||||
1957 | 350cc | MV Agusta | GER - |
IOM 4 |
NED - |
BEL - |
ULS - |
NAT - |
3 | 10th | 0 | |||
500cc | MV Agusta | GER - |
IOM 2 |
NED 1 |
BEL - |
ULS - |
NAT 4 |
17 | 3rd | 1 | ||||
1958 | 350cc | MV Agusta | IOM 1 |
NED 1 |
BEL 1 |
GER 1 |
SWE - |
ULS 1 |
NAT 1 |
48 | 1st | 6 | ||
500cc | MV Agusta | IOM 1 |
NED 1 |
BEL 1 |
GER 1 |
SWE - |
ULS 1 |
NAT 1 |
48 | 1st | 6 | |||
1959 | 350cc | MV Agusta | FRA 1 |
IOM 1 |
GER 1 |
SWE 1 |
ULS 1 |
NAT 1 |
48 | 1st | 6 | |||
500cc | MV Agusta | FRA 1 |
IOM 1 |
GER 1 |
NED 1 |
BEL 1 |
ULS 1 |
NAT 1 |
56 | 1st | 7 | |||
1960 | 350cc | MV Agusta | FRA 3 |
IOM 2 |
NED 1 |
ULS 1 |
NAT - |
26 | 1st | 2 | ||||
500cc | MV Agusta | FRA 1 |
IOM 1 |
NED - |
BEL 1 |
GER 1 |
ULS 2 |
NAT 1 |
46 | 1st | 5 |
(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 |
|||||||||||||||||
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 |
||||||||||||||||
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 |
|||||||||||
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 |
|||||||||
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 |
|||||||||||||||
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 |
|||||||
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 |
||||||||||||
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 |
|||||||||||
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 |
NC | 0 |
() (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 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1961 | Yeoman Credit Racing Team |
Cooper T53 | Climax Straight-4 | LOM 3 |
GLV 1 |
PAU |
BRX Ret |
VIE |
AIN 4 |
SYR Ret |
NAP |
LON |
SIL Ret |
SOL |
KAN 3 |
DAN Ret |
MOD Ret |
FLG 10 |
OUL Ret |
LEW |
VAL |
RAN |
NAT |
RSA |
1962 | Bowmaker-Yeoman Racing Team | Lola Mk4 | Climax V8 | CAP |
BRX |
LOM Ret |
LAV Ret |
GLV Ret |
PAU |
AIN Ret |
INT 3 |
NAP |
MAL 1 |
CLP | RMS Ret |
SOL WD |
KAN Ret |
MED | DAN Ret |
OUL Ret |
MEX Ret |
RAN 3 |
NAT |
|
1963 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 156 | Ferrari V6 | LOM |
GLV |
PAU | IMO WD |
SYR WD |
AIN |
INT Ret |
ROM | SOL |
KAN |
MED 1 |
AUT | OUL |
RAN 1 |
|||||||
1964 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 158 | Ferrari V8 | DMT |
NWT | SYR 1 |
AIN WD |
INT Ret |
SOL 2 |
MED | RAN | |||||||||||||
1965 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 158 | Ferrari V8 | ROC Ret |
SYR 2 |
SMT |
INT 2 |
MED |
RAN |
|||||||||||||||
1966 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 312/66 | Ferrari V12 | RSA |
SYR 1 |
INT 2 |
OUL |
|||||||||||||||||
1967 | Honda Racing | Honda RA273 | Honda V12 | ROC Ret |
SPC |
INT |
SYR |
OUL |
ESP |
|||||||||||||||
1970 | Team Surtees | McLaren M7C | Cosworth V8 | ROC Ret |
INT |
OUL 1 |
||||||||||||||||||
1971 | Brooke Bond Oxo / Team Surtees | Surtees TS9 | Cosworth V8 | ARG | ROC | QUE | SPR | INT 12 |
RIN 3 |
OUL | VIC 6 |
|||||||||||||
1972 | Team Surtees | Surtees TS14 | Cosworth V8 | ROC | BRA |
INT 3 |
OUL | REP | VIC |
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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