John Surtees, 1934-2017

John Surtees, the only motor sportsman ever to win world roadracing championships on two and four wheels, has died of respiratory failure, aged 83.

Surtees was one of a small elite group of rider/engineers who were uniquely useful to the factory teams for which they rode. He could not only extract the maximum performance from the machine but could also guide engineers to significant improvements that shortened lap times. He was a perfectionist, making a lightweight and competitive racer of an unlikely machine, the high-cam Vincent 500cc Grey Flash. He understood the physics that underlies motorsport.

"During my early racing days on the Vincent Grey Flash," Surtees said, "my cornering style was not much different from [pre-war; machine leaned in, body leaned out]. Certainly, I never leaned in farther than the machine. But when I changed to a featherbed Norton [he rode Norton singles through the early-to-mid 1950s] with its lower build and heeled it over as far as the Vincent, I found that the footrests and exhaust pipe grounded. If the suspension worked at the same time, the pipe tended to lift the machine and cause it to run wide. To counter this, I started to let my body stay down as the machine came up."

This was the beginning of the modern riding style, as seen in MotoGP today. “That small degree of lean in was used until I rode MV fours, when I exaggerated the style—even to the point of shifting my seat inward on some bends—but for a different reason,” Surtees said. “The idea is to keep the machine as upright as possible for maximum traction.” Surtees was the only rider to win three Senior TTs in succession. On MV Agustas, he won four 500cc and three 350cc titles.

As a factory team rider, he found what so many others have, that ambitious factory engineers like to try little changes without telling the rider. Because the rider's safety depends upon knowing exactly what the machine will do, this is a mortal threat. Surtees made it very clear that nothing, but nothing on the machine was to be changed without his knowledge. Over the years, we would hear the same from other strong-minded riders like Kenny Roberts and Mick Doohan.

Moving to GP cars in 1961 and to Ferrari in 1963, Surtees became Formula 1 champion on the red cars in 1964. Also successful in sports-car racing, he retired from driving in 1972, operating his own racing team until 1978. He was active for many years on the vintage racing scene.

It hurts to lose our heroes even though we know it can’t be otherwise. Their force goes forward in our memory and in our respect.