John Surtees was born in February 11, 1934, in Tatsfield, Surrey. He is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver from England. He remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels.
John Surtees made his first professional contact with motor racing, in the sidecar of his father's Vincent, which they won. However when Surtees' age was discovered they were disqualified. In 1955 Norton race chief Joe Craig, gave Surtees his first factory sponsored ride. He finished the year by beating the world champion Duke twice, in Silverstone and Brands Hatch. But Norton was in financial trouble so Surtees not being sure about his future in the team accepted an offer from MV Agustas.
After Geoff Duke was banned for 6 months because of his support for a rider's strike over more start money, Surtees won the 500cc world championship. In 1957 Surtees was as competitive and finished 3rd. In 1958, 1959 and 1960 Surtees won 32 from the 39 races dominating the championships for three years and becaming the first man to win the Senior Isle of Man TT three years in succession.
In 1960 Surtees switched from motorcycles to cars making his formula one debut with a Lotus in the Monaco Grand Prix. He made a second place finish in only his second Grand Prix and won ple position in his third one. After spending the next year in the Cooper team and the 1962 season in the Lola team he joined Ferrari in 1963 and won the world championship for the team in 1964. Surtees left Ferrari during the 1966 season, after winning the 1966 British Grand Prix, leaving Jack Brabham to win the title. In 1967 he joined the Honda team and stayed there till 1968 before switching to BRM.
In 1970 he started his own racing team, Surtees Racing Organisation, and spend nine seasons competing in formula 5000, in formula 2 and in formula 1 as a constructor. He retired in 1972 when the team had their greatest success when Mike Hailwood won the European Formula 2 championship. The team was finally disband at 1978. In 1996, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. The FIM honored him as a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2003. John Surteescompeted in 113 races winning 6 of them and finishing 24 times on the podium. He won 8 pole positions and made 10 fastest laps scoring 180 points in his formula one career.
