John Surtees in the Ferrari 158 which won him the Formula 1 world championship in 1964 during the 2010 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
John Surtees has an infectious laugh and the broadest of grins but there is also sadness in his eyes as he prepares for a year of events marking the 50th anniversary of his Formula One championship win. The former Ferrari driver’s past triumphs are entwined with personal tragedy as motorsport fetes Britain’s oldest surviving F1 champion and the only man to have won world titles on two wheels and four.
Surtees, who turns 80 next month after competing through some of the most dangerous years of grand prix racing, is using the attention to help promote a foundation set up after the death of his 18-year-old son Henry in a freak racing accident at Brands Hatch in 2009.
The foundation, whose motto is ‘finding hope in loss’, raises funds for accident care and community support and to help youngsters develop life skills through motorsport-related programmes.
“In a way I suppose I’m only involved in celebrating 50 years because of the fact that I’m using it also as a vehicle to assist in developing the foundation,” Surtees told Reuters in an interview at the Autosport International show, where several of the cars and bikes he raced with are displayed. “Normally, I think I’d rather just drift around in the background.”
The Briton, always known for forthright opinions on motorsport and an equally direct glare, is hardly the shrinking violet or one to put his feet up but he has no need to shout about his achievements: They speak for themselves. Between 1956 and 1960, he won seven motorcycling championships (three in 350cc and the others in the top 500cc category). In the 1960 season, he raced in grands prix on both two wheels and four and was also Isle of Man TT winner.
In recent years, Italian MotoGP great Valentino Rossi tested a Ferrari F1 car but never made the switch and the chances of anyone ever again emulating Surtees would appear remote. He disagrees, however.
“I don’t think it’s impossible by any means,” he said. “I still look upon it as quite a natural thing because certainly when I sat in the car for the first time I was immediately able to go quick. As quick as anyone else had driven those cars.
“Today the way one can ride a modern bike, with the tyres and some of the controls which are available, the aids you have got... probably bike and car have come even closer in the relationship.
“So if someone achieves their goals in motorcycling at a certain time and says ‘Hmm, perhaps I will try new challenges’ it may happen. But obviously not if they are over the hill. When I changed I probably still had 10 years left in me which could have been at the top of motorcycling.”
Too Sensitive
In Surtees’ day, what mattered was what was shown on the stopwatch. He was given the opportunity to drive cars because of his speed on bikes and he delivered immediate and eye-opening results.
If motorcycling was his first love, part of him will always belong to Maranello and Ferrari - then as now the most glamorous team on the grid.
“We had a variety of life which the present Formula One driver doesn’t have, but we didn’t have the number of races they have,” he said, comparing the eras. “It has been turned into a major commercial operation.