John Surtees passes away at the age of 83
John Surtees, the only man to win the World Championship on both two wheels and four, has passed away at the age of 83.
The son of a motorcycle racer, Surtees began his career in grass track racing at the age of 15. He scored his first World Championship race victory at 250cc level in 1954, and earned his first 500cc title with MV Agusta just two years later. He went on to win the 500cc title again in 1958, 1959 and 1960, while also taking the 350cc championship in all three seasons.
Surtees had ambitions to move to car racing, and he did so in 1960. After some exploratory non-championship F1 outings he made his Grand Prix debut with Team Lotus at Monaco, and then took an impressive second place on only his second outing at Silverstone and pole at his third race in Portugal.
He drove a Cooper for Reg Parnell in 1961, before switching to a Lola the following year, with which he scored two further second places. That helped to attract the attention of Enzo Ferrari, who offered him a seat for 1963. He earned his first GP win at the Nurburgring that year, and the following season victories helped to propel him to the World Championship.
A huge CanAm accident in September 1965 was a major setback, but he returned in 1966 to score a famous wet win at Spa. However, his relationship with Ferrari had soured and he left the team early in the season to join Cooper, for whom he would win in Mexico. He also won the inaugural CanAm title that year, with a Lola T70.
In 1967 he joined Honda, scoring a memorable final GP victory at Monza. The Japanese company withdrew at the end of 1968, and Surtees spent a year at BRM before entering his McLaren under the Team Surtees banner for the early races of 1970, while his own chassis was being built. The TS7 made its debut at Brands Hatch.
Surtees raced the TS9 the following year but gave up driving at the end of that season, although he would make one final appearance at the 1972 Italian GP. He continued to run Team Surtees – giving early opportunities to the likes of Carlos Pace and Jochen Mass – but financial pressures forced him to pull out of the sport at the end of 1978.
He remained close to the sport and, after his son Henry was born in 1991, began to support his career. Tragically the youngster was to lose his life in a F2 race at Brands Hatch in 2009, aged just 18.
His father subsequently set up the Henry Surtees Foundation, devoting the last eight years to raising funds.
http://www.foxsports.com/motor/story/john-surtees-passes-away-at-the-age-of-83-031017
