Yahoo Autos John Surtees, the Only Man to Win the F1 and Motorcycle World Championships, Has Died
Motorsport legend John Surtees has passed away from a respiratory condition in an English hospital. He was 83.
For those who didn't know Surtees, he was true racing royalty. The Brit won the GP motorcycle world championship four times–1956, 58, 59, and 60– and the F1 world championship for Ferrari in 1964. To this day he is still the only person to have won world championships on two and four wheels.
Surtees raced GP motorcycles from 1952 until 1960, which is when he switched to cars. In just his second race he finished on the podium for Team Lotus. He joined Ferrari in 1963, which netted his first win at the German Grand Prix and the world championship the following year.
In 1965 he had a terrible crash while practicing in a Can Am car at Mosport, one that supposedly left his body four inches shorter on one side. Doctors apparently stretched his broken bones back into shape, leaving the difference in height at just one inch.
What may have been the most controversial event in Surtees's career was Le Mans in 1966, when he wasn't allowed by Ferrari to drive at Le Mans. Ferrari lost to Ford, and Surtees immediately quit the team due to the slight.
Surtees was the oldest living F1 world champion. He will be missed.
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