John Surtees to Lead Classic Vehicle Parade Fundraiser

Fri, 03 May 2013

Motorsports legend John Surtees will lead a parade of classic cars and motorcycles – including Surtees’ 1960 500cc Grand Prix Championship-winning MV Agusta – in his home town of Edenbridge, England.

Surtees is the only person to have ever won world championships in both Grand Prix motorcycle racing and Formula One, and the parade will feature cars and bikes from his time as both a racer and a racing team owner. Surtees himself will drive the Team Surtees TS7, a F1 car constructed by his own team that debuted at the 1970 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.

Team Surtees engineers will ride the 1960 MV Agusta GP race bike, the machine Surtees rode to his seventh and final motorcycle racing world championship, and a BMW Rennsport motorcycle Surtees raced for the factory team in the 1955 German Grand Prix at Nurburgring.

John Surtees’ 1955 BMW Rennsport factory GP race bike.

The parade will also feature the TS14 F1 car which Mike Hailwood – another motorcycle World Champion-turned F1 racer – rode for his first ever F1 podium, a second-place finish in the 1972 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Also joining the parade lap is Surtees’ TS15 Formula 2 car which won the F2 race at the 1973 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. McLaren Formula 1 team reserve driver Oliver Turvey will ride the TS14 while former Formula 3 British Champion Robbie Kerr will drive the TS15.

The event, which will be held May 27 as part of Edenbridge Fun Day, will raise funds for the Henry Surtees Foundation, a foundation named after Surtees’ son who died after being struck by a wheel during a Formula Two race at Brands Hatch in 2009. The foundation supports people with brain and other physical injuries from accidents and provides education and training for motorsports-related programs.

Also joining in the parade are a number of other classic cars and bikes including several vintage Lambretta and Vespa scooters and a rare 1938 Scott Prototype Clubman Special, one of only four ever built.

John Surtees on the championship-winning 1960 MV Agusta racer.The 1960 MV Agusta GP racerMike Hailwood’s Team Surtees TS14 F1 car.
Mike Hailwood’s Team Surtees TS14 F1 car.John Surtees’ 1970 TS7 F1 carJohn Surtees’ 1955 BMW Rennsport factory GP race bike.

[Source: Henry Surtees Foundation]

By Dennis Chung