On-line petition opens to knight John Surtees

[Wizzo]

John Surtees remains the only man ever to win the World Motorbike Championship as well as Formula 1. Ardent fan Richard Hennessey initiated the plan by applying to the Number 10 website which hosts petitions for the government.

To register your support for John Surtees go to http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/sir-john-surtees

The following extract is taken from the No 10 website to support the petition

John Surtees is truly unique in motorsport. Riding for the celebrated MV Augusta team, he won seven World Championships between 1956 and 1960.

Then – with nothing left to prove – he made the transition from two wheels to four, winning the Formula One World Championship with Ferrari in 1964. To this day his feat of winning World Championships on two and four wheels remains unparalleled.

During his remarkable racing career he won 290 of the 621 races he entered and claimed a further 103 podium finishes, recording 48 fastest laps and 100 record laps along the way.

[Steven Roy]

I disapprove of the entire honours system but as with Jackie Stewart and Sid Watkins I will sign this petition on the basis that the system exists and when you see some of the people who have received honours for next to nothing or civil servants who get them for doing their job and keeping their mouths shut then it is clear Surtees should be honoured.  He is unfortunate that he achieved what he did before either sport had any real mass media exposure.

It is inconceivable that anyone achieving what he did to day would not be knighted.  Redgrave and Pinsent got knighted for winning a few races in a rowing boat.  The entire England cricket team was honoured for winning a couple of matches against Australia.  Neither of these comes close to what Surtees achieved.

[Chameleon]

I was a fan of John Surtees' throughout the sixties - I consider him to have been at least as quick a driver as Jim Clark.  This knighthood is long overdue.