John Surtees
The only man to conquer two and four wheels at the highest level.
John Norman Surtees (11 February 1934 – 10 March 2017) was a British racing driver and motorcycle road racer who competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing and Formula One. Surtees was a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion, with four titles in the premier 500cc class with MV Agusta. Surtees won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1964 with Ferrari, and remains the only driver to win World Championships on both two- and four-wheels; he won 38 motorcycle Grands Prix and six Formula One Grands Prix.
- Role
- Formula One Driver
- Affiliation
- Scuderia Ferrari (1963–1966)
- Major Achievement
- Only driver to win World Championships on two- and four-wheels
- Ferrari F1 Titles
- 1 (1964)
Verified Timeline
Lore & Background
Surtees won his first motorcycle world title in 1956, and followed with three consecutive doubles between 1958 and 1960, winning six World Championships in both the 500 and 350cc classes. He moved to Formula One and in 1964 became Formula One World Champion with Ferrari. He founded the Surtees Racing Organisation team that competed as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula 5000 from 1970 to 1978.
In Their Own Story
Before his full-time switch to cars in 1960 at age 26, Surtees had already made an impact with a second-place finish in only his second Formula One race and a pole position at his third. Joining Ferrari in 1963, he mastered the transition from motorcycles to four wheels. In 1967, after leaving Ferrari, he drove for Honda, where the RA300 slipstreamed Jack Brabham to take Honda's second F1 victory by a mere 0.2 seconds at the Italian Grand Prix. His career was not without peril; on September 25, 1965, at Mosport Park in Canada, a front upright casting broke on his Lola T70 sports car. The crash left him with one side of his body four inches shorter than the other, requiring doctors to physically stretch his shattered body nonsurgically until the discrepancy was under an inch. Despite this, he returned to competition, winning the final race of the 1966 season for Cooper-Maserati and claiming three wins in the inaugural 1966 Can-Am season with a T70.
Reader's Guide
Surtees drove for Scuderia Ferrari from 1963 to 1966, winning the World Championship in 1964. During his Ferrari tenure, car numbers were assigned by constructor standing, typically #5 or #6. He did not drive car #20 for Ferrari; that number is associated with his later Honda career.
Did You Know?
- Surtees is the only person to win World Championships on both two and four wheels.
- He won 32 out of 39 races in the 500 and 350cc classes between 1958 and 1960.
- Surtees quit Ferrari mid-1966 after a dispute over Le Mans driver pairings.
- He won the inaugural 1966 Can-Am championship in a Lola T70.
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