A week ago, news broke that the motorsport world lost one of its most successful and talented drivers, John Surtees. The Brit was a champion in the highest levels of motorcycle and motorcar racing, a feat that nobody had achieved before and nobody has matched since.

Motorcycles were a part of Surtees’ life from day one. A son of a motorcycle dealer, he entered his first race at 15 and aged just 17 he challenged Geoff Duke, a six-time TT winner, all the way around the high-speed Thruxton Circuit.

Having rode primarily for Norton in the odd TT in the early fifties, things were looking on the up for Surtees as he won his first Grand Prix in Northern Ireland in 1955. Unfortunately, the Norton team fell into financial difficulty and Surtees had to move on later that year.

That said, every cloud has a silver lining, as the following year he rode for MV Augusta. Figlio del vento (son of the wind), as he was nicknamed and went on to win the 1956 500cc title with the Italian team, the first of seven championships with the constructor, including a hat-trick of doubles in 350cc and 500cc.

There are more successful motorcyclists, Agostini, Nieto, Rossi, Hailwood and Ubbiali all won more TT titles, but Surtees’ domination is something seldom seen in sport. His stats, quite frankly, are ridiculous, for example, in 1958 and 1959 he won all the motorcycle Grands Prix that he entered. In addition, he stood on the podium 45 times from 51 starts and 38 of those were wins. Had he continued on two wheels, it’s hard to see his form dropping, however it was motorcar racing that now beckoned.

After dabbling in Formula 1 with Lotus in 1960, whilst winning his final motorcycle championships, Surtees made the switch to four wheels full time for 1961 with Cooper. He achieved respectable finishes in his first season and in an era with the likes of Clark, Brabham, Hill and Moss.

He built on this for the following year, claiming his first podium in F1 at Aintree and a year later, now driving for Ferrari, he won his first Formula 1 Grand Prix, at the Nurburgring. This was very much a sign of things to come as Surtees went on to finish every race on the podium in 1964 as claimed his first and only F1 world drivers championship.

Nobody has repeated the pinnacle in both codes and it may never happen. With the increased professionalism in motorsport in general it’s nigh-on impossible for an athlete to be competitive at the top level of motorcycle and open-wheel racing at the same time. He also accomplished this during a time when racing was at its most dangerous, a period where it was not uncommon to have driver fatalities during a season.

After founding an F1 team in his own name in 1970, Surtees retired from competitive racing two years later. The 1972 season was to be Surtees Racing Organisation’s most successful, finishing fifth in the constructors’ championship with their best finish being second place at Monza.

Interestingly, that came courtesy of Mike Hailwood, who was also a TT champion. They employed some quality F1 drivers as well, Jochen Mass, Carlos Pace, Alan Jones and Rene Arnoux all donned the Surtees overalls. However, after several years floundering at the back of the grid the Surtees team folded in 1978 but they had achieved four fastest laps and two podiums, which for an independent team was quite an achievement.

Perhaps Surtees’ biggest legacy outside of racing is his ambassadorship of the Racing Steps Foundation, whose hard work helps to support young drivers coming through the British feeder series. Their graduates include Oliver Turvey, James Calado and Oliver Rowland.

Simply put, John Surtees, is a legend of motorsport in every sense of the word. There have been 33 winners of the Formula 1 world championship and 27 have won the 500cc category of motorcycle racing but Surtees stands alone as a member of both these prestigious clubs.