SURTEES CONFIRMS HIS FOUR-WHEELED CLASS
1960 AINTREE 200
8In April 1960 the International Aintree 200 was run for F2 instead of F1 machinery. Thirteen of the F1 circus were among a huge 31-strong field. It looked like F1, with Porsche ‘substituting' for BRM but no Ferrari yet.
Three Porsche 718/2s – two works plus Rob Walker's car for Stirling Moss – three works Lotus 18s and hordes of Coopers were the field. Moss's and Graham Hill's Porsches sandwiched Jack Brabham's Cooper on the front row, with Innes Ireland's Lotus back on row four.
The Coopers of Brabham and Roy Salvadori, both privately entered, led at first as Moss made a cautious start. Ireland's Lotus stormed through, taking second from Salvadori, but spun trying to take
Brabham's lead and dropped to ninth.
Ireland recovered to fourth just before team-mate Alan Stacey retired, but then suffered a puncture, leaving Hill to chase the Brabham/salvadori battle. At mid-point, both Coopers unexpectedly retired when a charging Moss had closed to within 5s. So with Moss now leading from Jo Bonnier and Hill, a 1-2-3 for Porsche looked certain, with the leading Cooper well back in the hands of ‘novice' John Surtees, taking part in his third car race.
Learning as he went, Surtees hauled himself into contention, equalling Moss's pole time and smashing the F2 record by 4.4s! At the finish he was 6s adrift of the Bonnier/hill duel, and had left Maurice Trintignant and other F1 drivers over 40s back. Moss's winning speed of 88.41mph would have given him fourth in the previous year's British Grand Prix!
This was ‘only F2' but it had produced a memorable race – and a shining new star. Surtees's achievement cannot be overstated. Lotus snatched him straight into F1, despite his commitment to MV Agusta for two motorcycle world titles.