John Surtees CBE obituary
We pay tribute to the 1964 F1 World Champion
John Surtees, the only person to win F1 and motorcycle world titles, has died aged 83.
The son of a London motorcycle dealer, Surtees’ career began with Vincent, to which he was also apprenticed. Following some success on factory Nortons, Surtees accepted a contract with MV Agusta in 1955 and went on to win the 500cc World Championship the following year, then three years running from 1958-60 including three successive Isle of Man Senior TTS.
In 1959, following a crash at Silverstone, Surtees tried out some single-seater test-drives at Goodwood, and joined the Yeoman Credit team for 1961. Its cars were under-developed, but Surtees’ performance was enough to convince Enzo Ferrari to sign him for 1963.
Surtees’ Ferrari career began inauspiciously. Despite driving both the 250P sports-racer and 156 F1 car, he didn’t get on well with team boss Eugenio Dragoni and found the cars unreliable. When they did work, Surtees shone, with regular fastest laps plus a win at the Nürburgring. Greater concentration on F1 in 1964 brought World Championship victory.
In 1965 he set up Team Surtees, initially as a sports-racing outfit with Eric Broadley of Lola, but edged increasingly towards F1 as Surtees’ and Dragoni’s relationship turned increasingly bitter. After forays with Honda and BRM, Surtees developed its own single-seater multiformula cars for 1970. Despite promising early podium finishes and a win for Mike Hailwood in the 1972 European F2 Championship, Team Surtees never tasted victory in F1.
Following the death of his son Henry during a 2009 F2 race at Brands Hatch, Surtees set up the Henry Surtees Foundation, a charity dedicated to helping people recover from serious injuries.