Retro: The one who crushed the world championship

September 26, 1957. The big names of the Italian brands FB-Mondial, Gilera and Moto-Guzzi officially announced their withdrawal from the world championship. Faced with rising costs and the bad image of a sport which kills one driver per race on average this year, there is no other way out. For the 1958 season, therefore, only MV Agusta had any hope of winning titles, as the competition became weak.

One driver in particular made the most of this slow period in Grand Prix history. John
Surtees
. Let's take a look at these three seasons of outrageous domination.

The British does not come out of nowhere: he was the one who shook up the great Goeff Duke for a championship a few years ago, this gifted man capable of individual exploits. At the dawn of the 1958 season, he was already the 1956 500cc world champion and spearhead of the MV armada. The Italian firm has the best drivers and exceptional machines. When the late Carlo Ubbiali was in charge of the 125cc and 250cc, the 350cc and the category were Surtees' hunting grounds.

Everyone expected extreme domination from MV Agusta. But at this point, no one could have predicted it. Surtees won every race he took part in. In both categories. It was unheard of: only the Swedish round where MV Agusta was not represented – the racing service truck being too big for the ferry – escaped him.

The legend John Surtees.

In any case, John was already titled in both categories. However, Ubbiali struggled and had all the difficulties in the world to overcome his teammate Tarquinio Provini; they shared the titles in the two remaining categories. In the midst of this butchery that was the motorcycle grands prix of the 1950s – eight deaths in seven races – only one man stood tall. It was only the beginning: the Benellis and other Morinis could not hope to stop the forward march of the Samarate firm.

In 1959, Surtees delivered a true copy for the 1958 financial year. All the championship races, in both categories, were won by the same person. Imagine that following a withdrawal from Ducati and Aprilia, Pedro Acosta wins 100% of the races for four years in a row. After having garnered 25 victories out of 26 possible in two years –
Sweden 1958 except -, one could believe that the blow was going to fall again in 1960. The Briton showed signs of weakness in the first two 350cc rounds, being beaten by Gary Hocking then by John Hartle, his two teammates.
But still remaining well ranked, he did not worry about the championship.

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In 500cc on the other hand, everything was going well. By winning the
Tourist Trophy for the third time in a row, Surtees was once again showing who was boss. But the extraordinary series ended in Assen. His mechanics failed him before a fall eliminated any chance of a podium finish. After 11 consecutive victories in 500cc, the third greatest winning streak in history, Remo Venturi came to stop the progress of John, who was increasingly attracted to Formula 1. Despite some reliability concerns at the end of the year, the Englishman achieved another historic double. A unique performance in history, which will remain forever engraved in the annals.

For some time, Surtees had been eyeing the automobile and its premier category: Formula 1. After having scoured the grids for Lotus, Cooper and Lola, he won the world title in 1964 with Ferrari at the end of a sumptuous year. To date, he is the only one to have won a world title on two and four wheels.

Legendary driver, legendary performance. This fantastic series allowed the Tatsfield native to offer us absolutely incredible statistics. Records that are not ready to be broken.

Did you know about this particular period of motorcycling history? Tell me in the comments!

John Surtees won Formula 1 with Ferrari, but was a much better motorcycle driver.

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