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| Full name | Surtees Racing Organisation |
|---|---|
| Base | Edenbridge,Kent, United Kingdom |
| Founder(s) | John Surtees |
| Noted staff | Len Terry |
| Noted drivers | |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | As a team 1970 South African Grand Prix As a constructor 1970 British Grand Prix |
| Races entered | As a team: 123 entries (122 starts) As a constructor: 119 entries (118 starts) |
| Engines | Cosworth DFV |
| Constructors' Championships | 0 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 0 |
| Podiums | 2 |
| Points | As a team: 54[a] As a constructor: 53 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 3 |
| Final entry | 1978 Canadian Grand Prix |
TheSurtees Racing Organisation was a race team that spent nine seasons (1970 to 1978) as a constructor inFormula One,Formula 2, andFormula 5000.
The team was formed byJohn Surtees, a four-time500cc motorcycle champion and the 1964Formula One champion in 1966 to compete in the newly formedCanadian-American Challenge Cup (CanAm) "unlimited"sports car racing series. Entering as an owner/driver, Surtees won the championship in its first year, driving aLola T70.
Surtees also fielded an entry in another newly formed series in 1969, becoming part ofFormula 5000 after taking over a project started byLen Terry and Roger Nathan,[1] and his team constructed its own cars for the first time. His team was successful, winning five races, consecutively atMondello Park,[2]Koksijde,[3]Zandvoort,[4]Snetterton[5] andHockenheim,[6] during a twelve race season.[7]
This inspired Surtees to expand toFormula One, and after having had a difficult season withBRM in 1969, he decided to become an owner/driver again. The team ran the full 1970 season, but Surtees was forced to run the first four races in an oldMcLaren due to a delay in the construction of his in-house F1 car. The newBP-sponsored car earned its first (and only) points that year in theCanadian Grand Prix.
Surtees added a second full-time car in1971 for German driverRolf Stommelen, and ran a third car for various drivers in a number of races. Three drivers, Surtees, Stommelen, and motorcycling championMike Hailwood earned three points each for the marque that year.
After the 1971 season, Surtees retired from full-time competition, and the team ended up with three new full-time drivers in1972. Hailwood returned to Surtees for a full year; joining him were AustralianTim Schenken and ItalianAndrea de Adamich, the latter of whom brought sponsorship money to the team. Hailwood produced Surtees' first podium finish that year in theItalian Grand Prix, finishing second toEmerson Fittipaldi. All three drivers scored points for the team, and Surtees finished fifth in the Constructors' Championship.
Schenken was replaced in 1973 by BrazilianCarlos Pace, and the team only ran two full-time cars after de Adamich left following the season opener. Pace finished third inAustria and fourth inGermany, but it was the only points finishes the team had all season, as Hailwood was left scoreless. Hailwood departed forMcLaren after the year, being replaced byJochen Mass in1974. It was a difficult year for Surtees, as Pace left the team in mid-season, and replacementDerek Bell struggled to qualify for races, capped by Austrian driverHelmut Koinigg's fatal crash at the1974 United States Grand Prix. A fourth place by Pace at his home track were the only points Surtees managed to get, and they failed to finish in the top ten in the Constructors' Championship.
Low on money for1975, the team pared back to a single car forJohn Watson (although a second car was entered forDave Morgan atSilverstone). The season was a tremendous struggle for Surtees, with no points scored, and the team missed three of the final four races. 1976 was much better, however, as Surtees landed a well-known, but otherwise controversial sponsorship deal withDurex condoms, and AustralianAlan Jones joined the team. Jones finished fifth inBelgium and atBrands Hatch, and fourth inJapan. A second car, withChesterfield sponsorship, was entered for AmericanBrett Lunger, while a customer car was raced by FrenchmanHenri Pescarolo during the second half of the season. With seven points, Surtees placed tenth in the Constructors' Championship.
Jones's success resulted in him leaving the team for the emergingShadow team, and money problems forced Surtees to run one car regularly again in 1977, this time forVittorio Brambilla. Brambilla's season was effective, also finishing in the points three times. Still, his good results did not prevent Surtees from further monetary troubles. In 1978, the team added a second car forpay driver, BritonRupert Keegan, but the money problems continued. A lack of decent results caused further problems.
Unable to get sufficient money, the team left F1 after the1978 season, despite having a car built for1979. After racing the car in theBritish Aurora championship (formerly F5000) briefly that year, Surtees Racing Organization was closed for good.
The first table below details the complete World Championship Grand Prix results for the Surtees "works" team. The second table includes results from privately owned Surtees cars in World Championship Grands Prix.
(key)
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engines | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Stichting Autoraces Nederland | TS7 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0V8 | F | RSA | ESP | MON | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | |||||||
| 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1972 | Team Gunston | TS9 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0V8 | G | ARG | RSA | ESP | MON | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | ||||||
| 16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Champcar Inc. | TS9B | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0V8 | G | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1974 | AAW Racing | TS16 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0V8 | F | ARG | BRA | RSA | ESP | BEL | MON | SWE | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | |||
| DNQ | Ret | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||
| 1976 | Team Norev Racing with BS Fabrications | TS19 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0V8 | G | BRA | RSA | USW | ESP | BEL | MON | SWE | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | CAN | USA | JPN | ||
| DNQ | Ret | Ret | DNQ | 9 | 11 | 17 | 19 | NC | ||||||||||||||
| ShellSport Whiting | TS16 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0V8 | G | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1977 | Melchester Racing | TS19 | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0V8 | G | ARG | BRA | RSA | USW | ESP | MON | BEL | SWE | FRA | GBR | GER | AUT | NED | ITA | USA | CAN | JPN | |
| DNPQ |
| Year | Chassis | Engine(s) | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Lola T70 Mk.2 | Chevrolet | MNT | BRD | CAN | LGS | RIV | STA | |||
| 1 | Ret | Ret | 12 | 1 | 1 | 1st | 27 | ||||
| 3 | 9th | 4 | |||||||||
| 1967 | Lola T70 Mk.2/3B | Chevrolet | ROA | BRD | MNT | LGS | RIV | STA | |||
| 3 | 4 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 1 | 3rd | 16 |