John Surtees

John Norman Surtees (11 February 1934 – 10 March 2017) was a British racing driver and motorcycle road racer who competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from 1952 to 1960, and Formula One from 1960 to 1972. Surtees was a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion, with four titles in the premier 500cc class with MV Agusta. Surtees won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1964 with Ferrari, and remains the only driver to win World Championships on both two- and four-wheels; he won 38 motorcycle Grands Prix and six Formula One Grands Prix.

On his way to become a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion, Surtees won his first title in 1956, and followed with three consecutive doubles between 1958 and 1960, winning six World Championships in both the 500 and 350cc classes. Surtees then made the move to the pinnacle of four-wheeled motorsport, the Formula One World Championship, and in 1964 made motor racing history by becoming the Formula One World Champion. He founded the Surtees Racing Organisation team that competed as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula 5000 from 1970 to 1978. He was also the ambassador of the Racing Steps Foundation.

Surtees was the son of a south-London motorcycle dealer. His father Jack Surtees was an accomplished grasstrack competitor and in 1948 was the South Eastern Centre Sidecar Champion. He had his first professional outing, which they won, in the sidecar of his father's Vincent at the age of 14. However, when race officials discovered Surtees's age, they were disqualified. He entered his first race at 15 in a grasstrack competition. In 1950, at the age of 16, he went to work for the Vincent factory as an apprentice. He first gained prominence in 1951 when he gave Norton star Geoff Duke a strong challenge in an ACU race at the Thruxton Circuit.