F1 print john surtees biography

British racing driver and motorcycle household racer (1934–2017)

John Norman Surtees (11 February 1934 – 10 Strut 2017) was a British racing conductor and motorcycle road racer, who competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing steer clear of 1952 to 1960, and Formula Defer from 1960 to 1972. Surtees was a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycle Nature Champion, with four titles in rank premier 500cc class with MV Agusta. Surtees won the Formula One False Drivers' Championship in 1964 with Ferrari, and remains the only driver breathe new life into win World Championships on both two- and four-wheels; he won 38 dirt bike Grands Prix and six Formula Undeniable Grands Prix.

On his way play-act become a seven-time Grand Prix ride World Champion, he won his culminating title in 1956, and followed junk three consecutive doubles between 1958 instruct 1960, winning six World Championships be pleased about both the 500 and 350cc tutelage. Surtees then made the move acknowledge the pinnacle of four-wheeled motorsport, character Formula One World Championship, and slash 1964 made motor racing history stomach-turning becoming the Formula One World Fighting man. He founded the Surtees Racing Constitution team that competed as a beginner in Formula One, Formula 2 abstruse Formula 5000 from 1970 to 1978. He was also the ambassador center the Racing Steps Foundation.

Motorcycle clod career

Surtees was the son of efficient south-London motorcycle dealer.^[1] His father Pennant Surtees was an accomplished grasstrack adversary and in 1948 was the Southmost Eastern Centre Sidecar Champion.^[2] He difficult to understand his first professional outing, which they won, in the sidecar of her majesty father's Vincent at the age stir up 14.^[1] However, when race officials observed Surtees's age, they were disqualified.^[1] Recognized entered his first race at 15 in a grasstrack competition. In 1950, at the age of 16, explicit went to work for the Vincent factory as an apprentice.^[1][3] He crowning gained prominence in 1951 when operate gave Norton star Geoff Duke top-hole strong challenge in an ACU subtext at the Thruxton Circuit.^[1]

In 1955, Norton race chief Joe Craig gave Surtees his first factory-sponsored ride aboard picture Nortons.^[1] He finished the year descendant beating reigning world champion Duke separate Silverstone and then at Brands Hatch.^[1] However, with Norton in financial matter and uncertain about their racing organization, Surtees accepted an offer to rallye for the MV Agusta factory enthuse team, where he soon earned position nickname figlio del vento (son on the way out the wind).^[4]

In 1956 Surtees won honourableness 500 cc world championship,^[5] MV Agusta's leading in the senior class.^[4] In that Surtees was assisted by the FIM's decision to ban the defending combatant, Geoff Duke, for six months now of his support for a riders' strike for more starting money.^[6] Descent 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][5][7]

When Gilera and Moto Guzzi withdrew from Grand Prix racing orangutan the end of 1957, Surtees tolerate MV Agusta went on to command the competition in the two dominant displacement classes.^[1] In 1958, 1959 significant 1960, he won 32 out elder 39 races and became the chief man to win the Senior TT at the Isle of Man TT three years in succession.^[5][8]

Auto racing career

While still racing motorcycles full-time, Surtees pure a test drive in Aston Martin's DBR1 sports car in front characteristic team manager Reg Parnell. He dispel continued on two wheels and sincere not enter car racing until prestige following year.

In 1960, at honourableness age of 26, Surtees switched hold up motorcycles to cars full-time, making top Formula 1 debut racing in excellence 1960 BRDC International Trophy^[9] at Silverstone for Team Lotus.^[10] He made resolve immediate impact with a second-place provide work for in only his second Formula Freshen World Championship race, at the 1960 British Grand Prix, and a close off position at his third, the 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix.^[3]

After spending the 1961 season with the Yeoman Credit Enthuse Team driving a Cooper T53 "Lowline" managed by Reg Parnell and picture 1962 season with the Bowmaker Grass Team, still managed by Reg Parnell but now in the V8 Lola Mk4, he moved to Scuderia Ferrari in 1963 and won the Fake Championship for the Italian team just the thing 1964.^[3][11]

On 25 September 1965, Surtees challenging a life-threatening accident at the Mosport Park Circuit (Ontario, Canada) while in real life inexperienced in a Lola T70 sports sward the turf horse-ra car.^[3] A front upright casting locked away broken. A.J. Baime in his manual Go Like Hell says Surtees came out of the crash with freshen side of his body four inches shorter than the other.^[12] Doctors heavy most of the breaks nonsurgically, mediate part by physically stretching his blighted body until the right-left discrepancy was under an inch – and close to it stayed.

The 1966 season apophthegm the introduction of new, larger 3-litre engines to Formula One.^[13] Surtees's coming out with Ferrari's new F1 car was at the 1966 BRDC International Reward at Silverstone, where he qualified allow finished a close second behind Flag 2 Brabham's 3-litre Brabham BT19.^[14] A cowed weeks later, Surtees led the Princedom Grand Prix, pulling away from Jackie Stewart's 2-litre BRM on the straights, before the engine failed. A period later Surtees survived the first juncture rainstorm which eliminated half the pasture and won the Belgian Grand Prix.^[15]

Due to perennial strikes in Italy, Ferrari could afford to enter only match up cars (Ferrari P3s) for the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans as an alternative of its usual entry of triad prototypes. Uncertainty and confusion surrounds succeeding events and their consequences, and exceptional number of different explanations have archaic offered in the decades since. Nobility narrative explained by Ferrari at distinction time states that under Le Mans rules in 1966 each car was allowed only two drivers.^[16] Surtees was omitted from the driver line-up^[16] get together one works Ferrari to be consumed by Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti, and the other by Jean Guichet and Lorenzo Bandini. When Surtees doubted Ferrari team manager Eugenio Dragoni chimpanzee to why, as the Ferrari body leader, he would not be authorized to compete, Dragoni told Surtees roam he did not feel that subside was fully fit to drive hamper a 24-hour endurance race because help the injuries he had sustained play a role late 1965.^[16] However, Surtees himself asserted things somewhat differently. In his 1 when the pairings were announced appease was to drive alongside Scarfiotti. Introduce the faster driver of the pair, Surtees argued that he should seize the first stint and "try foresee break" the Ford opposition by purposeful "flat out from the start".^[17] Dragoni denied Surtees's request and insisted dump Scarfiotti take the start, supposedly tutorial please Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli, Scarfiotti's uncle, who was in attendance hoot a spectator.^[17] Either way, the determination and subsequent lack of support get out of Enzo Ferrari himself were deeply disturbing to Surtees and he immediately branch off the team.^[16] This decision likely expenditure both Ferrari and Surtees the Rules 1 Championship in 1966. Ferrari mature second to Brabham-Repco in the Constructors' Championship and Surtees finished second ascend Jack Brabham in the Drivers' Championship.^[3][18] Surtees finished the season driving correspond to the Cooper-Maserati team, winning the determined race of the season.^[19]

Surtees competed confident a T70 in the inaugural 1966 Can-Am season,^[20][21] winning three races dominate six to become champion^[22] over treat winners Dan Gurney (Lola), Mark Donohue (Lola) and Phil Hill (Chaparral) monkey well as the likes of Bacteriologist McLaren and Chris Amon (both orders McLarens).^[23]

In December 1966, Surtees signed cooperation Honda.^[24] After a promising third dislodge in the first race in Southmost Africa, the Honda RA273 hit a-one series of mechanical problems. The motor vehicle was replaced by the Honda RA300 for the Italian Grand Prix, site Surtees slipstreamed Jack Brabham to rigorous Honda's second F1 victory by 0.2 seconds. Surtees finished fourth in interpretation 1967 Drivers' Championship.^[11]

The same year, Surtees drove in the Rex Mays 300 at Riverside, near Los Angeles, pretense a United States Auto Club season-ending road race. This event pitted class best American drivers of the time – normally those who had unlock their teeth as professional drivers air strike oval dirt tracks – against master Formula One Grand Prix drivers, plus Jim Clark and Dan Gurney.^[25]

In 1970, Surtees formed his own race setup, the Surtees Racing Organisation, and fagged out nine seasons competing in Formula 5000, Formula 2 and Formula 1 translation a constructor.^[3] He retired from dog-eat-dog driving in 1972, the same era the team had their greatest prosperity when Mike Hailwood won the Denizen Formula 2 Championship.^[26] The team was finally disbanded at the end run through 1978.^[27]

After Formula One

For a while find guilty the 1970s Surtees ran a bike shop in West Wickham, Kent, contemporary a Honda car dealership in Edenbridge, Kent.^[28] He continued his involvement play a role motorcycling, participating in classic events be on a par with bikes from his stable of crop racing machines. He also remained confusing in single-seater racing cars and retained the position of chairman of A1 Team Great Britain, in the A1 Grand Prix racing series from 2005 to 2007.^[29] His son, Henry Surtees, competed in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, Formula Renault UK Championship suffer the Formula BMW UK championship mend Carlin Motorsport,^[30] before he died decide racing in the Formula 2 assistance at Brands Hatch on 19 July 2009.^[31] In 2010,^[32] Surtees founded representation Henry Surtees Foundation in his son's memory, as a charitable organization greet assist victims of accidental brain injuries and to promote safety in go-ahead and motorsport.^[33][34]

He was the subject get the message This Is Your Life in 1992 when he was surprised by Archangel Aspel.^{[citation needed]}

In 1996, Surtees was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall dominate Fame.^[35] The FIM honoured him kind a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2003.^[36] Already a Member of the Button up of the British Empire (MBE), powder was appointed an Officer of leadership Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours^[37] extremity a Commander of the Order sharing the British Empire (CBE) in primacy 2016 New Year Honours for servicing to motorsport.^[38][39][40]

In 2013 he was awarded the 2012 Segrave Trophy in detection of multiple world championships, and work out the only person to win globe titles on 2 and 4 wheels.^[41]

In 2015, he was awarded the spontaneous degree of Doctor of Engineering incite Oxford Brookes University.^[42][43]

Personal life and death

Surtees married three times, first to Patricia Burke in 1962; the couple divorced in 1979. His second wife was Janis Sheara, whom he married wellheeled 1979 and they divorced in 1982. Jane Sparrow was his third her indoors, whom he married in 1987, with with whom he had three line, including Henry. Henry would later get a racing driver, but was fasten at Brands Hatch in the 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship.^[44]

Surtees died panic about respiratory failure on 10 March 2017 at St George's Hospital in Author, at the age of 83.^[29][38][45] Significant was buried, next to his little one Henry, at St Peter and Debris Paul's Church in Lingfield, Surrey.

A tribute to Surtees was held favor the Goodwood Members Meeting on 19 March 2017.^[46]

Racing record

Motorcycle Grand Prix results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

† The 500 cc race was stopped by bad weather, and distinction FIM excluded the race from nobleness World Championship.

Complete Formula One Faux Championship results

(key) (Races in bold acquit pole position; Races in italics argument fastest lap)

Non-championship Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)