Surtees

The Surtees Racing Organisation was a race team that spent nine seasons (1970 to 1978) as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2, and Formula 5000.

History

The team was formed by John Surtees, a four-time 500cc motorcycle champion and the 1964 Formula One champion. Surtees formed the team in 1966 for the newly formed CanAm series (an unlimited sports car series), winning the championship as an owner/driver in its first year. He fielded an entry in another newly formed series in 1969, becoming part of Formula 5000 after taking over the failed Leda F5000 project, and his team constructed its own cars for the first time. His team was successful, winning five races, consecutively, during a twelve race season.

This inspired Surtees to expand to Formula One, and after having had a difficult season with BRM in 1969, he decided to become an owner/driver again. The team ran the full 1970 season, but Surtees, himself, was forced to run the first four races in an old McLaren because of a delay in the construction of his in-house F1 car. The new BP-sponsored car earned its first (and only) points that year in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Surtees (disambiguation)

Surtees may refer to:

Surtees (surname)

Surtees is a family name derived from "sur-Tees" or "sur-Tays". The name originates from the rivers Tees or Tay in County Durham, England and most likely originates from the Anglo-Norman nobility's practice of naming yourself after where you have settled. "Sur" is a French conjunction meaning "upon" or "from" and be found in the word surname as well as many French placenames like Vic-sur-Aisne.

Variants

Variants include Surtes, Surties, Suyrtayse, Surteys.

Notable people

Notable people with this surname include: