As most of you know, I started out my motorsports journey as a car racing fan. It began when Australia’s Jack Brabham won the F1 World Championship in 1959. I followed car racing slavishly until around 1976, a couple of years after I had bought my first motorcycle. The changeover took place after I attended my first bike racing meeting, the Australian TT at Laverton in February of that year.
I count myself fortunate to have seen what I regard as being the best of both aspects of the sport. I saw the greats race, Jack Brabham, Jimmy Clark, Jochen Rindt, etc. And the same can be said of motorcycle racing, though my involvement is much longer.
As in any sport, the emphasis is always on being the best so it is interesting that I have, over those years, seen the best as well as seeing some records created, some of which remain to this day. And some of those are records that will likely never be broken regardless of the passage of time.
For example, in 1964, Donald Campbell broke the Land Speed Record on Lake Eyre in South Australia. That record has, of course, been broken many times since but I wonder if you know that, in the closing minutes, yes, minutes of 1964, he also set a new Water Speed Record on a lake in Western Australia. He thus became the first man to break both the speed records in the same calendar year (just). And that record remains to this day and is likely never to be broken.
And, in that same year, Britain’s John Surtees became the first man to become a Formula One World Champion after previously having won a number of World Championships as a motorcycle racer. That is another record which has not been broken since and is unlikely to be broken any time soon.
As an F1 fan in the early 60s, John, or “Big John,” as the Japanese fans called him, was one of my favourite drivers. I can’t really tell you why, especially as he was a Ferrari driver and I’ve never really been a Ferrari fan, but there it is. Here’s John’s biography.
John was an old-school racer and a man of principle. When he left Ferrari under rather acrimonious circumstances he raced for a couple of other less-funded teams till he found a home in Honda’s early F1 effort. It is now history that, when Honda introduced the RA302 with its magnesium chassis and air-cooled engine, John refused to race it after testing it, saying that it was dangerous. Despite threats from management he stood by the decision and Honda offered the drive to the French driver, Jo Schlesser. A French driver in the French Grand Prix was too good a chance to miss. Sadly, the car was as dangerous as John had warned and, during the race, it crashed and poor Jo was burnt to death as the magnesium chassis caught fire with marshals being unable to extinguish the blaze.
John went on to found his own F1 team and finally retired from racing in 1978.
Big John also raced in the Can-Am series in America and Canada as well as in endurance racing in Europe in events like the Le Mans 24 hour race. He was a true professional who was good at everything that he did. Of course I must say that, before coming to F1 he won 7, yes, SEVEN motorcycle World Championships. His place in history is assured because, in these days of specialisation, it is virtually impossible that anyone is going to win a motorcycle title and a car title ever.
And, in 1984, John was invited to come to Australia to compete in an historic motorcycle road race meeting at Sydney’s Amaroo Park. I was living at Baulkham Hills at the time so it wasn’t difficult for me to ride out to Annangrove and catch the meeting. I took with me a copy of John’s book that he had written 20-odd years before and which I had purchased from a second hand book shop in Seven Hills. John was gracious enough to sign it for me and it’s now a treasured possession.
I often consider that I have lived a very privileged life and meeting Bog John certainly is an example of that privilege.
Oh, and I might add that this month marks this blog’s 15th birthday, who’d have thought it?
