07/03/2013
NEWS STORY
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The Royal Automobile Club has awarded the historic Segrave Trophy to John Surtees OBE. Previous winners include Geoffrey Duke, Donald Campbell, Stirling Moss, Bruce McLaren, Jackie Stewart, Mike Hailwood and Nigel Mansell.
The 2012 Segrave Trophy citation reads: For his outstanding career in two and four wheeled motorsport, including seven motorcycle world championship titles, culminating in the unique achievement of being the only man to win a motorcycle World Championship and the Formula One World Championship.
Speaking at the awards Tom Purves, Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club, said: "John is one of the most accomplished and versatile sportsmen of all time, winning seven motorcycle world championships and then victory in the 1964 Formula One World Championship. He is the only person in history to have won world championships on both two wheels and four yet, until today, John's name was not on the distinguished list of Segrave Trophy winners. This award is made to John not as recognition of a lifetime of achievement, but as a, somewhat overdue, recognition of a unique sporting triumph that would, doubtlessly, have been recognised at the time had it not been for Donald Campbell who broke the land and water speed records simultaneously the same year. It is therefore our great honour to salute John's successes, albeit perhaps a little later than we should have done".
Upon receiving the trophy, Surtees said "Donald Campbell achieved his success on land and water in the same year which perhaps overshadowed my having taken 4 years to put two and four wheel titles together. I am honoured, as I approach the fiftieth anniversary of my Formula One World Championship title, to receive this prestigious Trophy on behalf of not only myself but also the world of two and four wheel motorsport."
John started out his racing career as a passenger for his father - a top sidecar racer - and although they finished first the Surtees duo was disqualified when it was discovered that John was too young to compete within the rules. Undeterred, he began competing on motorbikes in road races, and at just 19 years old, he joined the celebrated Norton works team. Two years later he was given his break with the MV Agusta team and duly won the 500cc World Championship - the first of seven world titles he secured in just five years and which resulted in the award of an MBE.
In 1960, Surtees mixed two wheels with four by driving in Formula Junior, F1 as well as for MV Agusta. Despite an offer in 1961 to drive for Lotus in F1, Surtees opted for a Cooper run by Reg Parnell. He moved to Ferrari in 1963 and took his first Grand Prix victory, and went on to win the F1 World Championship the next season. Surtees became the only 'Grand Master' of both two and four wheels.
John's career continued beyond his Formula One Championship year and in 1966, he was second in the World Championship. He has raced motor cycles and just about every type of car with remarkable success in almost every discipline: Formula One, Can-Am Championship, F2, F5000 to Le Mans. As an engineer it is widely recognized that his input was a key part of bringing success to Ferrari in 1964.
As Vice President of the British Racing Drivers' Club and a consultant to Buckmore Park Kart Circuit, Surtees has worked tirelessly to encourage British racing talent, and was team principal for A1 Team Great Britain. In 2008 Surtees was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list for 'services to motorsport and charity'. He set up the Henry Surtees Foundation in memory of his son who was tragically killed in a freak accident while driving in a Formula 2 race at Brands Hatch in 2009. The Foundation aims 'to give more young people from the community at large an opportunity to experience the emotion, disciplines and learning that the world of motorsport can offer'.
The Trophy was commissioned by Lady Segrave in 1930, soon after her husband, Sir Henry Segrave died, after breaking the water speed record on Lake Windermere. It was her wish that the trophy would help celebrate and encourage those individuals who demonstrated outstanding skill, courage and initiative - the spirit of adventure - whether on land, sea or in the air.
The first recipient of the Segrave Trophy was Air Commodore Sir Charles Kingsford Smith for his transatlantic and England to Australia flights in 1930. The Segrave Trophy has been awarded on 62 occasions from 1930 to 2012. This year is the 63rd presentation of the Segrave Trophy.
In his lifetime, Segrave was a fighter pilot, Grand Prix race winner and the world speed record holder on both land and water. He was the first Briton to win a Grand Prix in a British car, the first person to hold both the land and water speed records simultaneously and he was also the first person to travel at over 200 mph.
On Friday 13 June 1930, Segrave captured the water speed record in Miss England II on Lake Windermere. However, on the next run the boat was pitched clear of the water and capsized, killing Victor Halliwell of the Rolls-Royce Company and injuring the boats' engineer Michael Willcocks. Sir Henry and Willcocks were both taken to hospital. Michael Willcocks survived but Sir Henry regained consciousness for a moment to be told by his wife that he had, indeed, broken the record before passing away a few moments later, aged just 33.