Difference between revisions of "John Surtees"
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|Last race || [[1960 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season|1960]] 500cc [[Italian motorcycle Grand Prix|Nations Grand Prix]] | |Last race || [[1960 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season|1960]] 500cc [[Italian motorcycle Grand Prix|Nations Grand Prix]] | ||
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==Motorcycle racing career== | ==Motorcycle racing career== | ||
| − | Surtees was the son of a south [[London]] motorcycle dealer. | + | Surtees was the son of a south [[London]] motorcycle dealer. He had his first professional outing in the sidecar of his father's [[Vincent Motorcycle|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 (motorcycle)|Norton]] star [[Geoff Duke]] a strong challenge in an [[AutoCycle Union|ACU]] race at the [[Thruxton Circuit]]. |
| − | In 1955, [[Norton Motorcycle Company|Norton]] race chief Joe Craig gave Surtees his first factory sponsored ride aboard the Nortons. | + | In 1955, [[Norton Motorcycle Company|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 Circuit|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 Agusta]]s. |
| − | In 1956 Surtees won the [[List of Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champions|500cc world championship]]. | + | In 1956 Surtees won the [[List of Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champions|500cc world championship]]. In this he was assisted by the [[Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme|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 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season|1957]] season, the MV Agustas were no match for the [[Gilera]]s and Surtees battled to a third place finish aboard a 1957 MV Agusta 500 Quattro. |
| − | When [[Gilera]] and [[Moto Guzzi]] pulled out of Grand Prix racing at the end of [[1957 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season|1957]], Surtees and MV Agusta went on to dominate the competition in the two big classes. | + | When [[Gilera]] and [[Moto Guzzi]] pulled out of Grand Prix racing at the end of [[1957 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season|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. |
[[File:1965-05-23 07b John Surtees, Ferrari 330P2.jpg|thumb|left|John Surtees at the 1965 [[1000 km Nürburgring]].]] | [[File:1965-05-23 07b John Surtees, Ferrari 330P2.jpg|thumb|left|John Surtees at the 1965 [[1000 km Nürburgring]].]] | ||
[[File:1965-07-30 Surtees u. Forghieri.JPG|thumb|left|John Surtees (left) and [[Mauro Forghieri]] in 1965]] | [[File:1965-07-30 Surtees u. Forghieri.JPG|thumb|left|John Surtees (left) and [[Mauro Forghieri]] in 1965]] | ||
| + | |||
==Racing car career== | ==Racing car career== | ||
| − | In [[1960 Formula One season|1960]], at the age of 26, Surtees switched from motorcycles to cars full time, making his Formula 1 debut racing for [[Team Lotus|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]]. | + | In [[1960 Formula One season|1960]], at the age of 26, Surtees switched from motorcycles to cars full time, making his Formula 1 debut racing for [[Team Lotus|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 Formula One season|1961]] season with the [[Cooper Car Company|Cooper]] racing team and the [[1962 Formula One season|1962]] season with [[Reg Parnell Racing]], he moved to [[Scuderia Ferrari]] in 1963 and won the World Championship for the Italian team in [[1964 Formula One season|1964]]. |
| − | On September 25, 1965, Surtees had a life-threatening accident at the Mosport Circuit (Ontario, Canada) whilst practicing a Lola T70 sports racing car. | + | On September 25, 1965, Surtees had a life-threatening accident at the Mosport Circuit (Ontario, Canada) whilst practicing a Lola T70 sports racing car. 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 Formula One season|1966 season]] saw the introduction of 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 [[1966 Belgian Grand Prix|Belgian Grand Prix]]. | The [[1966 Formula One season|1966 season]] saw the introduction of 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 [[1966 Belgian Grand Prix|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. | + | 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. Surtees finished the season driving for the [[Cooper Car Company|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 F1|Honda]] team for the [[1967 Formula One season|1967 season]]. | + | Surtees moved to the new Japanese [[Honda F1|Honda]] team for the [[1967 Formula One season|1967 season]]. He took pole position for the non-championship [[Race of Champions (Brands Hatch)|Race of Champions]] at Brands Hatch, but the car's V12 engine suffered from reliability problems in the race. At the [[1967 Italian Grand Prix|Italian Grand Prix]] Surtees [[Drafting (aerodynamics)|slipstreamed]] Denny Hulme to take Honda's second 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 International Raceway|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]]. | The same year, Surtees drove in the ''Rex Mays 300'' at [[Riverside International Raceway|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 Formula One season|1970]], Surtees formed his own race team, the [[Surtees|Surtees Racing Organisation]], and spent nine seasons competing in [[Formula 5000]], [[Formula 2]] and Formula 1 as a constructor. | + | In [[1970 Formula One season|1970]], Surtees formed his own race team, the [[Surtees|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 Formula One season|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 Formula One season|1978]]. |
| + | |||
==After Formula One== | ==After Formula One== | ||
[[File:Surtees2.jpg|thumb|right|John Surtees in 2006]] | [[File:Surtees2.jpg|thumb|right|John Surtees in 2006]] | ||
| − | 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 Surtees|Henry]] competed in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, Formula Renault UK Championship and the [[Formula BMW]] UK championship for [[Carlin Motorsport]], | + | 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 Surtees|Henry]] competed in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, Formula Renault UK Championship and the [[Formula BMW]] UK championship for [[Carlin Motorsport]], before he died whilst racing in the Formula 2 championship at Brands Hatch on 19 July 2009. |
| − | In 1996, John Surtees was inducted into the [[International Motorsports Hall of Fame]]. | + | In 1996, John Surtees was inducted into the [[International Motorsports Hall of Fame]]. The FIM honoured him as a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2003. 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. |
| − | == Motorcycle Grand Prix results | + | == Motorcycle Grand Prix results== |
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" | {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" | ||
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Revision as of 09:28, 9 November 2009
| |
| John Surtees | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  British
|
| Years | 1952 - 1960 |
| Teams | Norton, MV Agusta |
| Races | 49 |
| Championships | 350cc - 1958,1959,1960 500cc- 1956,1958,1959,1960 |
| Wins | 38 |
| Podiums | 45 |
| Points | |
| Poles | N/A |
| Fastest laps | 34 |
| First race | 1952 500cc Ulster Grand Prix |
| First win | 1955 250cc Ulster Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1960 500cc Nations Grand Prix |
| Last race | 1960 500cc Nations Grand Prix |
| Years | F1 1960 - F1 1972 |
| Team(s) | Lotus, Cooper, Lola, Ferrari, Honda, BRM, McLaren, Surtees |
| Races | 113 (111 starts) |
| Championships | 1 (1964) |
| Wins | 6 |
| Podiums | 24 |
| Points | 180 |
| Poles | 8 |
| Fastest laps | 10 |
| First race | 1960 Monaco Grand Prix |
| First win | 1963 German Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1967 Italian Grand Prix |
| Last race | 1972 Italian Grand Prix |
| Years | 24hLM 1963 – 24hLM 1965, 24hLM 1967 | |
| Team(s) | Scuderia Ferrari Lola Cars/Team Surtees | |
| Best Finish = 3rd (24hLM 1964) | Class Wins | 0 |
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.
Motorcycle racing career
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 aboard a 1957 MV Agusta 500 Quattro.
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 T70 sports racing car. 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' 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. 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 second 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
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, before he died whilst racing in the Formula 2 championship at Brands Hatch on 19 July 2009.
In 1996, John Surtees was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. The FIM honoured him as a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2003. 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.
Motorcycle Grand Prix results
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Points | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
(key) (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 - |
BEL - |
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 |
Complete World Championship Formula One results[1]
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
External links
- John Surtees official web site
- Biography from GrandPrix.com
- Biography from F1db.com
- Sky Sport video documentary on John Surtees
- John Surtees Isle of Man TT statistics at iomtt.com
Template:500 cc/MotoGP Motorcycle World Champions
Template:350 cc Motorcycle World Champions
.png){kind=small}
- 500cc World Championship riders
- 350cc World Championship riders
- 250cc World Championship riders
- 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
- English Formula One drivers
- English motorcycle racers
- English racecar drivers
- Ferrari Formula One drivers
- Formula One drivers and team owners
- International Motorsports Hall of Fame
- Isle of Man TT Riders
- Motorcycle racers who have driven F1 cars