From Two Wheels to Four
1960s
1960: John is offered 'four wheel' drives in Formula Junior, F2 and F1 races. For the remainder of the season he divides his time between motorcycle and motor racing. On two wheels he wins seven out of 12 rounds to capture the 350 and 500cc World Championships again. And in the Isle of Man Senior TT he becomes 'the first race winner to average 100mph' (160.93 kph) with an actual average race speed of 102.44mph (164.86kph). On four wheels Lotus boss, Colin Chapman, urges him to sign as team No. 1 for 1961. John - concerned about potential driver friction - turns him down. But - frustrated by his restricted two-wheel race programme - he quits MV and joins the F1 Yeoman Credit Cooper team instead.
 1961: Signing on with the Yeoman Credit Cooper Team turns out to be a mistake. Despite engine and bodywork developments carried out by the team on their 'customer' T53 Coopers, the cars are no match for the works Coopers, let alone the other works teams. An early-season win at Goodwood is John's only win. Ferrari makes an approach but John tells the Scuderia 'not now, thank you'. In the Queen's Birthday Honours list he is awarded the MBE for services to motor cycle racing.
1962: Bowmaker takes over Yeoman Credit. Meanwhile, John persuades Eric Broadley to design a Lola-Climax forr the exclusive use of the team. John is often the quickest '4-cylinder driver' around. After a 'customer' V8 Climax arrives, he establishes himself as one of the grid's 'top four'. But poor reliability and an under-strength chassis rob him of top place finishes. Additional bracing solves the chassis problem and John finishes second in the next two GPs. He takes fourth place in the World Championship and - having served his F1 apprenticeship - prepares to join Ferrari.
1963: John finishes his stint at Yeoman Credit with two wins in the pre-season Tasman Series in a 2.7-litre Lola before taking up his Ferrari seat full time. But first time out with the Scuderia, he argues with team boss, Eugenio Dragoni. The self-important Dragoni hands the 250P sports car prepared by Surtees and Scarfiotti to team rivals Mairesse and Vaccarella only hours before the start of the Sebring 12-hour race. John prepares to walk out but is persuaded by Scarfiotti to compete. The pair wins. On the F1 front, John experiences mixed fortunes in the V6 156 with five retirements, a second place at the British GP, victory in Germany - his first GP win on four wheels - and fastest laps at Monaco, Silverstone and The Nürburgring.
 1964: Ferrari lacks the resources to mount successful challenges in both sports cars and F1. But it continues to compete in both. As a consequence, its F1 campaign suffers from insufficient development and testing. This is underlined by one finish out of the first four GPs. But by mid-season, with Le Mans out of the way, team performance picks up. John finishes third in the British GP, first again in Germany, first at Monza and second in the USA and Mexico. The result in Mexico clinches the World Championship for John and Ferrari. John becomes the only man to win World Championships on two wheels and four.
1965: John gets Ferrari's permission to form Team Surtees to mount a sports car racing programme of his own in parallel with the Scuderia's. The team - a tie-up between John and Lola Racing's Eric Broadley - produces the highly successful Lola T70-Chevrolet. At The Nürburgring 1000km, John and Scarfiotti win in the Ferrari 330 P2 prototype. But an under-powered V8 and a late, under-developed flat-12 wreck the F1 campaign. Following wins in the F2 Gold Cup race at Oulton Park in the UK and, 24 hours later, in the Player's Quebec sports car race at Ste Jovite, John's season comes to a premature and life-threatening end. In practice for the follow-on Canadian GP for sports cars, the suspension on his Lola T70 fails at 125mph resulting in a horrendous crash and near-fatal injuries.
 1966: At the Monza 1000km - John's post-accident comeback - he and Mike Parkes win in the 330P3. But Ferrari's F1 car for the new 3.0 litre formula is behind schedule. The V12 312 is "overweight and gutless". John wants to run the 2.4 litre V6 Dino 246 Tasman car until an improved V12 is ready. Team boss Dragoni - rattled by John's increasing influence in the Ferrari camp - mounts a 'dis-information' campaign to discredit him. Regardless of a Surtees win in appalling conditions in the Belgian GP, the scheming continues at Le Mans. Dragoni sabotages his race plan and John walks out to join the Cooper-Maserati team. He wins in Mexico and clinches second place in the World Championship. In the Can-Am series he scores five wins in the Lola T70 to become Can-Am Champion.
1967: John joins Honda to race and develop the RA273 V12 from his Team Surtees HQ. The engine is under-developed and the car is overweight. But John perseveres and gets permission to develop a new chassis with Lola's Eric Broadley. The resultant RA300 is lighter and more aerodynamic. John clinches a first-time-out, last-lap win at Monza. The Surtees / Broadley duo also develops a Lola T70-based coupé for Le Mans and front-running Lola T100 F2 cars. The coupé's Le Mans test weekend times scare Ferrari but the Aston Martin engines don't last the distance in the race.
 1968: Team Surtees and Honda co-develop a new chassis, the RA301, to take an updated Honda V12. John feels the team is on the verge of becoming a real championship contender. A smaller, all-new V12 is to follow. But, without any consultation, Honda cancels the project and sends over a top-secret substitute, the RA302. John declares the radical air/oil cooled V8 "unfit to race" without further development and soldiers on with the RA301. Cruel luck deprives him of almost certain wins in the Belgian and Italian GPs. In between the two events, Honda independently enters the type 302 for the French GP with disastrous consequences. The car spins off the track and catches fire, killing Jo Schlesser, its driver. At the end of the season Honda pulls out of GP racing. Outside of the F1 programme John purchases the Leda Cars Formula 5000 project for American actor James Garner who has plans to start his own race team.
1969: John is installed as No. 1 at BRM but runs into difficulties from the start. On paper the BRM V12 produces the right sort of muscle but on the track it fails to deliver. Progressive power loss is traced to poor water circulation …but not until late on in the season. Another wasted year! At Team Surtees, the enterprise takes on the role of car constructor in its own right after Leda's 'customer car' design is found to be in need of substantial development and the James Garner deal falls through. The team rectifies the design and construction shortcomings and renames the car as the Surtees TS5. Despite only competing in half the races, David Hobbs wins four rounds in the US Formula 5000 Championship in a Surtees-entered TS5 to finish runner-up in the series.
Pictures:
1) John in the Yeoman Credit Cooper T53-Climax 4 at Monaco in 1961
2) On the way to third place in the 1964 British GP at Brands Hatch
3) Surtees in the Cooper-Maserati leads Dan Gurney in the 1966 German GP
4) Spa 1968 in the Honda RA301
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