114 John Surtess CBE
John Surtess CBE
DRIVERS + MOTORING PERSONALITIES ALBUM
DRIVERS + MOTORING PERSONALITIES ALBUM
www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/albums/72157632173986649
Show goers were treated to a talk and question and answers session from John Surtess. Still sharp and entertaining he regailled the audience with stories and anecdotes from his career on two and four wheels.
John Surtees, CBE (11 February 1934 – 10 March 2017) was an English Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver. He was a four-time 500 cc motorcycle World Champion – winning that title in 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1960 – the Formula One World Champion in 1964, and remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels. He founded the Surtees Racing Organisation team that competed as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula 5000 from 1970 to 1978. He was also the ambassador of the Racing Steps Foundation.
Surtees was the son of a south-London motorcycle dealer, Jack Surtess, himself an accomplished grasstrack competitor and in 1948 was the South Eastern Centre Sidecar Champion. Johns Motorsport debut came at the age of 14 in the sidecar of his Fathers Vincent, the duo won their race but were disqualified when race officials were made aware of Johns age. He entered his first race at 15 in a grasstrack competition. In 1950, at the age of 16, he went to work for the Vincent factory as an apprentice. He first came to prominence in 1951 when he gave Norton star Geoff Duke a strong challenge in an ACU race at the Thruxton Circuit. In 1955 he joined the Norton works team finishing the year with wins at Silvcerstone and Brands Hatch ahead of Champion Geoff Duke. The following year with Norton under financial pressure he moved to MV Augusta earning the nickname figlio del vento (son of the wind). In 1956 he won the first of his four 500cc World Championships. 1957 was dominated by Gilera but with their withdrawal from racing at the end of the season Surtees and MV Agusta went on to dominate the competition in the two larger displacement 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.
In 1960, at the age of 26, Surtees switched from motorcycles to cars full-time, making his Formula 1 debut racing for Team Lotus He made an immediate impact with a second-place finish in only his second Formula One World Championship race, at the 1960 British Grand Prix, and a pole position at his third, the 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix. He spent the 1961 and 1962 seasons racingfor Reg Parnell, with the Yeoman Credit Racing Team driving a Cooper T53 "Lowline" in 1961 and a V8 Lola Mk4, and the Bowmaker Racing Team. He moved to Ferrari for 1963 winning the World Drivers Title in 1964.
On 25 September 1965, he suffered major injuries following a crach at Mosport in a Lola T70. The injuries resulting in one side of his body reduced to four inches shorter than the other Doctors set most of the breaks nonsurgically, in part by physically stretching his shattered body until the right-left discrepancy was under an inch – and there it stayed. For 1966 F1 regulations now specified a capacity increase to 3 litre and inevitably there were teething problems with the new cars. Surtess finished a close second to Jack Brabham in the International Trophy but his Ferrari suffered mechanical problems in Monaco, while leading the race. He won an incident packed Belgian GP at Spa. But for Le Mans Ferrari entered only two P3 cars, and a dispute between Surtess and team manager Eugenio Dragoni led to him not being selected to drive. Subsequent lack of support from Enzo Ferrari himself were deeply upsetting to Surtees and he immediately quit the team. This decision likely cost both Ferrari and Surtees the Formula 1 Championship in 1966. Ferrari finished second to Brabham-Repco in the Constructors' Championship and Surtees finished second to Jack Brabham in the Drivers' Championship, he finished the season driving for the Cooper-Maserati team, winning the last race of the season.
Surtees competed with a T70 in the inaugural 1966 Can-Am season winning three of the six races and clinching the Championship.
For 1967 he signed for the new Honda Grand Prix team, after a third in South Africa the Honda RA273 hit a series of mechanical problems, and had to be replaced by the revised Honda RA300 for the Italian Grand Prix, where Surtees slipstreamed Jack Brabham to take Honda's second F1 victory, despite Hondas early season problems he finished fourth in the Drivers Championship.
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
In 1996, Surtees was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Already a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to motorsport In 2013 he was awarded the 2012 Segrave Trophy in recognition of multiple world championships, and being the only person to win world titles on 2 and 4 wheels
Thankyou for a massive 57,330,860 views
Shot 28.10.2016 at The Alexandra Palace, London REF 124-114
114 John Surtess CBE
John Surtess CBE
DRIVERS + MOTORING PERSONALITIES ALBUM
DRIVERS + MOTORING PERSONALITIES ALBUM
www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/albums/72157632173986649
Show goers were treated to a talk and question and answers session from John Surtess. Still sharp and entertaining he regailled the audience with stories and anecdotes from his career on two and four wheels.
John Surtees, CBE (11 February 1934 – 10 March 2017) was an English Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver. He was a four-time 500 cc motorcycle World Champion – winning that title in 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1960 – the Formula One World Champion in 1964, and remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels. He founded the Surtees Racing Organisation team that competed as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula 5000 from 1970 to 1978. He was also the ambassador of the Racing Steps Foundation.
Surtees was the son of a south-London motorcycle dealer, Jack Surtess, himself an accomplished grasstrack competitor and in 1948 was the South Eastern Centre Sidecar Champion. Johns Motorsport debut came at the age of 14 in the sidecar of his Fathers Vincent, the duo won their race but were disqualified when race officials were made aware of Johns age. He entered his first race at 15 in a grasstrack competition. In 1950, at the age of 16, he went to work for the Vincent factory as an apprentice. He first came to prominence in 1951 when he gave Norton star Geoff Duke a strong challenge in an ACU race at the Thruxton Circuit. In 1955 he joined the Norton works team finishing the year with wins at Silvcerstone and Brands Hatch ahead of Champion Geoff Duke. The following year with Norton under financial pressure he moved to MV Augusta earning the nickname figlio del vento (son of the wind). In 1956 he won the first of his four 500cc World Championships. 1957 was dominated by Gilera but with their withdrawal from racing at the end of the season Surtees and MV Agusta went on to dominate the competition in the two larger displacement 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.
In 1960, at the age of 26, Surtees switched from motorcycles to cars full-time, making his Formula 1 debut racing for Team Lotus He made an immediate impact with a second-place finish in only his second Formula One World Championship race, at the 1960 British Grand Prix, and a pole position at his third, the 1960 Portuguese Grand Prix. He spent the 1961 and 1962 seasons racingfor Reg Parnell, with the Yeoman Credit Racing Team driving a Cooper T53 "Lowline" in 1961 and a V8 Lola Mk4, and the Bowmaker Racing Team. He moved to Ferrari for 1963 winning the World Drivers Title in 1964.
On 25 September 1965, he suffered major injuries following a crach at Mosport in a Lola T70. The injuries resulting in one side of his body reduced to four inches shorter than the other Doctors set most of the breaks nonsurgically, in part by physically stretching his shattered body until the right-left discrepancy was under an inch – and there it stayed. For 1966 F1 regulations now specified a capacity increase to 3 litre and inevitably there were teething problems with the new cars. Surtess finished a close second to Jack Brabham in the International Trophy but his Ferrari suffered mechanical problems in Monaco, while leading the race. He won an incident packed Belgian GP at Spa. But for Le Mans Ferrari entered only two P3 cars, and a dispute between Surtess and team manager Eugenio Dragoni led to him not being selected to drive. Subsequent lack of support from Enzo Ferrari himself were deeply upsetting to Surtees and he immediately quit the team. This decision likely cost both Ferrari and Surtees the Formula 1 Championship in 1966. Ferrari finished second to Brabham-Repco in the Constructors' Championship and Surtees finished second to Jack Brabham in the Drivers' Championship, he finished the season driving for the Cooper-Maserati team, winning the last race of the season.
Surtees competed with a T70 in the inaugural 1966 Can-Am season winning three of the six races and clinching the Championship.
For 1967 he signed for the new Honda Grand Prix team, after a third in South Africa the Honda RA273 hit a series of mechanical problems, and had to be replaced by the revised Honda RA300 for the Italian Grand Prix, where Surtees slipstreamed Jack Brabham to take Honda's second F1 victory, despite Hondas early season problems he finished fourth in the Drivers Championship.
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
In 1996, Surtees was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Already a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to motorsport In 2013 he was awarded the 2012 Segrave Trophy in recognition of multiple world championships, and being the only person to win world titles on 2 and 4 wheels
Thankyou for a massive 57,330,860 views
Shot 28.10.2016 at The Alexandra Palace, London REF 124-114