Legendary GP racer John Surtees has died.
Surtees died in hospital late last week; he’d been admitted in February for a respiratory ailment. He was 83.
Surtees won the Senior TT at the Isle of Man for three consecutive years, the only racer to do so. He dominated GP racing in the late 1950s, winning the 500 cc title in 195, 1958, 1959 and 1960. He won the 350 cc title in 1958, 1959 and 1960. In the 1958-1960 timespan, he won 32 of the 39 motorcycle races he entered.
Surtees then moved to cars, where he had a second successful racing career, winning the Formula One championship in 1964. Overall, his F1 career had six wins in 111 starts, and he formed his own team in 1970. He left F1 in 1972, the year that Mike Hailwood won the F2 championship racing for Surtees’ team.
You can get a glimpse of Surtees’ skills in the video clip above.
