John Surtees
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| John Surtees | |
| |
| Formula One World Championship Career | |
| Nationality | Error creating thumbnail: sh: /usr/sfw/bin/convert: No such file or directory British |
|---|---|
| Active years | 1960 - 1972 |
| Team(s) | Lotus, Cooper, Lola, Ferrari, Honda, BRM, McLaren, Surtees |
| Grands Prix | 113 (111 starts) |
| Championships | 1 (1964) |
| Wins | 6 |
| Podium finishes | 24 |
| Career Points | 180 |
| Pole positions | 8 |
| Fastest laps | 10 |
| First Grand Prix | 1960 Monaco Grand Prix |
| First win | 1963 German Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1967 Italian Grand Prix |
| Last Grand Prix | 1972 Italian Grand Prix |
| John Surtees | |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans Career | |
| Nationality | |
|---|---|
| Active years | 1963 – 1965, 1967 |
| Team(s) | Scuderia Ferrari Lola Cars/Team Surtees |
| Best Finish | 3rd (1964) |
| Class Wins | 0 |
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. John went back in 1966 to the Can Am series and became champion defeating The Chapparalls.
John had made a remarkable recovery and was back behind the wheel of the new 3 litre Ferrari, famous for its white snake like exhaust pipes. The 1966 season, cars could have 3 litre engines. Johns debut with the new car was at the Daily Express trophy at Silverstone. The new car looked good and promising but the obvious teething problems played through.
A few weeks later the car was even better, leading the Monaco Grand Prix, pulling far away from the BRM of Jackie Stewart on the straights, alas the car's engine didn't last. a fortnight later Johh triumphed with the car in the Belgian GP. Johns Performance there made people realise 1966 was going to be John's 2nd title and another constructors crown for Ferrari. This was not to be.
John turned up at the 1966 Le Mans 24 hours expecting to be partnered with Michael Parks, instead Rommello Dragonie had put big John with Ludavic Scarfioti. John was not happy and quit Ferrai.
For the rest of the 1966 John was with the Cooper Maserati team, picking up a few victories and just being pipped to the title by Jack Brabham.
1967 saw John with the team from the Rising Sun, Honda. Early signs the Honda was going to be a contender for the Crown. The excitement of the last minute of practice for The 1967 Race Of Champions at Brands Hatch, John clinching Pole position in unfavourable weather conditions. The Honda looked set to thrash the rest of the field and would have done but for the V12 still needing treatment for reliability.
The 1967 Italian Grand Prix, proved to be one of the most exciting races ever, with John slipstreaming Denny Hulme to win by a margin. Honda were new to the world of GP, so what they had pulled off looked like they were a voice of the future. Maybe if John had stayed with them.
Also in 1967, 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, he 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 competition 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]
Complete World Championship Formula One results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
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
| Preceded by: Jim Clark | Formula One World Champion{{#if:| Representative for {{{district}}}|}}{{#if:1964| 1964|}}{{#if:| with {{{regent1}}}|}} {{#if:| ({{{years1}}})|}}{{#if:| {{{regent2}}}|}} {{#if:| ({{{years2}}})|}}{{#if:| {{{regent3}}}|}} {{#if:| ({{{years3}}})|}}{{#if:| Served alongside: {{{alongside}}}|}} | Succeeded by: Jim Clark |
| Preceded by: Inaugural | Can-Am Champion{{#if:| Representative for {{{district}}}|}}{{#if:1966| 1966|}}{{#if:| with {{{regent1}}}|}} {{#if:| ({{{years1}}})|}}{{#if:| {{{regent2}}}|}} {{#if:| ({{{years2}}})|}}{{#if:| {{{regent3}}}|}} {{#if:| ({{{years3}}})|}}{{#if:| Served alongside: {{{alongside}}}|}} | Succeeded by: Bruce McLaren |
| Preceded by: Jim Clark | Hawthorn Memorial Trophy{{#if:| Representative for {{{district}}}|}}{{#if:1964| 1964|}}{{#if:| with {{{regent1}}}|}} {{#if:| ({{{years1}}})|}}{{#if:| {{{regent2}}}|}} {{#if:| ({{{years2}}})|}}{{#if:| {{{regent3}}}|}} {{#if:| ({{{years3}}})|}}{{#if:| Served alongside: {{{alongside}}}|}} | Succeeded by: Jim Clark |
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