Surtees TS14 to make an F1 comeback
The Surtees TS14 - the last car to be driven by John Surtees in a Formula 1 Grand Prix - is set to make a comeback.
In a deal struck with commercial airline pilot and historic racer Chris Perkins, Surtees has released one of the five TS14s built by his TS Research and Development operation.
The car, chassis number 03, has been kept in storage by Surtees since its final outing in 1973. It will now be restored by Perkins and raced in The Masters Series for historic F1 cars.
When completed, it will be the only one of its type on the international historics circuit. The remaining TS14s are still in storage.
 The car - driven in eight GPs in 1973 by Brazilian Carlos Pace - will be finished in its original blue, green and yellow Brasil Export livery (see picture).
The Brazilian driver, who died in a light aeroplane accident near Sao Paulo in 1977, drove sister TS14 chassis no 04 to third and fourth places in the 1973 German and Austrian GPs - the car's best placings.
He also recorded fastest laps in the two races. His best finish in chassis no 03 was eighth in the Belgian GP.
Perkins, a seasoned competitor in historic events, hopes to improve on Pace's best result in the car. "I'm delighted to havee done this deal with John and hope to put in similar front-running performances to those recorded by Pace in its sister chassis," he said.
Perkins has previously restored and raced the ex-Alan Jones Surtees TS19 and two Surtees TS16s. He currently owns the ex-John Watson TS16-04/04 which he drove to first place in the historic Masters races at the Old Timer Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in 2005 and Brands Hatch in 2006.
Weeks later, in the same car, he finished third in the prestigious Grand Prix de Monaco Historique. It was his second visit to the principality's podium. In 2002 he finished third in the event behind then-current F1 driver Alex Yoong and top British historic racer, Martin Stretton.
"The TS14 is a story of what could have been," Surtees laments today. "With better team funding and a dedicated tyre development programme we could have achieved far more with the car. Certainly with drivers of the calibre of Pace and Hailwood behind the wheel it could easily have been a Grand Prix winner.
"Perhaps Chris Perkins can improve on our record when he takes part in the increasingly popular historic F1 scene."
Picture: Carlos Pace in the Surtees TS14 at Silverstone
14 May 2007
|