British racing driver
Henry John Surtees
(18 February 1991 ? 19 July 2009) was a British racing driver and the son of
John Surtees
. He died during a
Formula Two
race at
Brands Hatch
when he was struck by a wheel which came off another car which had spun into a wall.
Career
[
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]
Formula BMW UK
[
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]
Surtees finished his debut season in the championship 7th in the overall points standings, and second in the Rookie Cup. During a season in which the second half was dominated by fellow rookie
Marcus Ericsson
, Surtees claimed one pole position (
Thruxton
), one race win (
Donington Park
) and two fastest laps (
Rockingham
and
Snetterton
) while driving for the
Carlin Motorsport
team. The season was marred by penalties and a disqualification at
Oulton Park
.
Formula Renault
[
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]
Surtees racing at
Snetterton
in 2008
After two races in 2007, Surtees moved up full-time to the
Formula Renault UK
series in
2008
with
Manor Competition
. He finished 12th in the championship, including a third-place finish at
Silverstone's National Circuit
.
[1]
He also competed in the Winter Series again, having finished 13th in 2007. He battled James Calado for the title, with Calado coming out on top.
Formula Three
[
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]
Surtees competed in one race meeting during the
2008 season
, in the final two races at
Donington Park
for
Carlin Motorsport
. Surtees took a win and a second in his two races in the National Class.
[2]
Formula Two
[
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]
Surtees signed up to the revived
FIA Formula Two Championship
ahead of the
2009 season
on 2 January 2009. He drove car number seven in the series.
[3]
He scored a podium in the first of the two races at
Brands Hatch
, coming third, and achieved a pole position at
Brno
. His results placed him fourteenth in the championship, at the end of the season.
Death
[
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]
Wikinews has related news:
Surtees at
Brands Hatch
the day before his fatal accident.
At
Brands Hatch
on 19 July 2009, during a Formula Two race, Surtees was hit on the head by a wheel from the car of
Jack Clarke
after Clarke spun into the wall exiting Westfield Bend. The wheel broke its tether and bounced back across the track into the following group of cars and collided with Surtees's helmet.
[4]
[5]
The mass of the wheel assembly hitting his head was 29 kilograms (64 lb), and given that his car was travelling at 161 kilometres per hour (100 mph) at the time the wheel struck, the impact yielded approximately 30,000 joules of kinetic energy.
[6]
The car continued straight ahead into the barrier on the approach to Sheene Curve, also losing a wheel, and came to rest at the end of the curve with its remaining rear wheel still spinning and the engine at its RPM limiter. This indicated that Surtees had lost consciousness, with his foot still pressing the accelerator.
Surtees was extricated from the car and taken to the circuit's medical centre, where he was stabilized before being transferred to the
Royal London Hospital
. He was pronounced
brain dead
later that day.
[7]
He was 18 years old. Surtees's death was attributed to severe head injuries, inflicted by colliding with Clarke's wheel, rather than the subsequent crash with the barriers.
[8]
His parents elected to donate his organs for transplant, a decision which was credited with saving five lives.
[9]
Surtees' funeral took place on 30 July at
Worth Abbey
, near
Turners Hill
,
West Sussex
.
[10]
Surtees was buried at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church in
Lingfield, Surrey
; in 2017, his father John was buried next to him.
Legacy
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]
In June 2010, a group of Surtees's school friends swam the
English Channel
in stints to raise money for charity in his memory. A cafe at his former school was also named The Pit Stop in memory of him.
Additional wheel tethers
[
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]
Surtees' death along with an increasing number of accidents where wheels were torn off their mountings led to the number of wheel tethers being doubled to two per wheel for the
2011 Formula One World Championship
season.
[11]
Halo cockpit protection
[
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]
The FIA introduced a mandatory titanium-carbon fibre
[12]
[13]
"
halo
" cockpit protection structure for the
2018 Formula One
and
Formula 2
championships. Surtees's fatal impact was one of many simulated with the halo device, and the FIA concluded that Surtees's outcome likely would have been improved by the presence of a halo.
[14]
The utility of the halo, controversial when introduced, was borne out in the
2018 Belgian Grand Prix
, when a wheel from the spinning and airborne car of
Fernando Alonso
solidly struck the halo structure of
Charles Leclerc
's car. The halo was credited with potentially preventing a serious injury to Leclerc, if not outright saving his life.
[15]
[16]
Henry Surtees Award
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]
In 2010, the Henry Surtees Award was launched, to be awarded annually for the most outstanding performance by a rising motor racer. Its first winner was
Formula Renault UK
champion
Tom Blomqvist
.
Henry Surtees Foundation
[
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]
Also in 2010,
[17]
the Henry Surtees Foundation was founded as a charitable organisation by his father John, to assist victims of accidental brain injuries and to promote safety in driving and motorsport.
[9]
[18]
Racing record
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Career summary
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]
† As Surtees was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
* Surtees died during round eight of the sixteen-round series.
Complete FIA Formula Two Championship results
[
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]
(
key
) (races in
bold
indicate pole position) (races in
italics
indicate fastest lap)
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Silverstone (Ntnl), 30/31 Aug 2008"
. Racing Steps Foundation. 31 August 2008. Archived from
the original
on 15 March 2017
. Retrieved
1 March
2009
.
- ^
"Carlin rookies shine at Donington"
. crash.net. 14 October 2008
. Retrieved
1 March
2009
.
- ^
"Surtees name returns to Formula Two"
.
FIA Formula Two Championship
. 2 January 2009. Archived from
the original
on 20 February 2009
. Retrieved
7 January
2009
.
- ^
Cary, Tom (20 July 2009).
"Henry Surtees's death shakes motorsport world"
.
The Daily Telegraph
. Retrieved
24 July
2009
.
- ^
"F2 bosses to probe Surtees tragedy"
.
thisissussex.co.uk
.
Kent and Sussex Courier
. 22 July 2009. Archived from
the original
on 13 September 2012
. Retrieved
24 July
2009
.
- ^
English, Steven; Glendenning, Mark (31 December 2009). "Loved and lost: Henry Surtees 1991-2009; Tribute by John Surtees".
Autosport
. Vol. 198, no. 13. pp. 42?43.
People talked about Felipe Massa's accident in Hungary the following week. He had 0.8 kg hit him, Henry had 29 kg.
- ^
"Surtees's son killed in race crash"
.
BBC News
. 20 July 2009
. Retrieved
24 July
2009
.
- ^
Noble, Jonathan (19 July 2009).
"Henry Surtees dies after F2 crash"
.
autosport.com
.
Haymarket Publications
. Retrieved
19 July
2009
.
- ^
a
b
"Obituary: John Surtees"
.
Sunday Times Driving
. 20 March 2017
. Retrieved
28 August
2018
.
- ^
"Funeral for racing driver Surtees"
.
BBC News
.
BBC
. 30 July 2009
. Retrieved
30 July
2009
.
- ^
Gent, James (28 July 2010).
"Extra wheel tether to be added for 2011"
.
Autosport.com
. Retrieved
30 August
2020
.
- ^
"All you need to know about Halo"
.
ESPN.com
. Retrieved
7 March
2018
.
- ^
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (7 February 2018),
F1 Explained: The Halo
,
archived
from the original on 12 December 2021
, retrieved
7 March
2018
- ^
Cooper, Adam.
"Six key myths about F1's halo cockpit protection device busted"
.
Autosport.com
. Retrieved
10 November
2017
.
- ^
"Incredible pictures capture the moment halo device saves Formula One driver's life"
.
NewsComAu
. Retrieved
28 August
2018
.
- ^
MarketScreener.
"Renault : Much-maligned halo may have saved Leclerc's life after horror crash with Alonso | MarketScreener"
. Retrieved
28 August
2018
.
- ^
"HENRY SURTEES FOUNDATION - Overview (free company information from Companies House)"
.
beta.companieshouse.gov.uk
. Retrieved
28 August
2018
.
- ^
"Henry Surtees Foundation"
.
henrysurteesfoundation.com
. Retrieved
28 August
2018
.
- ^
"Henry Surtees"
. Driver Database
. Retrieved
3 September
2023
.
- ^
"Henry Surtees"
.
Motor Sport
. Retrieved
3 September
2023
.
External links
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]