Henry Surtees

Henry Surtees
Nationality	British
Born	18 February 1991 Lingfield, Surrey, England
Died	19 July 2009 (aged 18) Whitechapel, London, England
FIA Formula Two Championship
Years active	2009
Teams	MotorSport Vision
Car no.	8
Starts	7
Wins	0
Poles	1
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	14th in 2009
Previous series
2008 2008 2007-08 2007-08 2007 2007 2006	British F3 Formula Renault WEC Formula Renault UK FRUK Winter Series Formula BMW ADAC Formula BMW UK Ginetta GT Juniors

Henry John Surtees (18 February 1991 – 19 July 2009) was a British racing driver and the son of John Surtees.

He was educated at Worth, an independent school in West Sussex.

Career

Formula BMW UK

Henry 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 very successful Carlin Motorsport team. The season was marred by penalties and a disqualification at Oulton Park.

Formula Renault

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. Surtees would go on to finish 12th in the championship, including a third-place finish during a wild race 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

Surtees competed in one race meeting during the 2008 season, in the final two races at Donington Park for Carlin Motorsport. Surtees revelled with a win and a second in his two races in the National Class.^[2]

Formula Two

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. Surtees' results placed him fourteenth in the championship, at the end of the season.

Death

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' helmet.^[4][5] The mass of the wheel assembly hitting his head was 29 kilograms (64 lb), but given the speed of his car (approximately 162 km/h) at the time the wheel struck, the impact yielded approximately 60,000 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. 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 dead later that day.^[7] His death was attributed to severe head injuries, inflicted by colliding with the wheel rather than the following crash with the barriers.^[8] Surtees' funeral took place on 30 July at Worth Abbey, near Turners Hill, West Sussex.^[9]

In June 2010, a group of Surtees' school friends swam the English Channel in stints to raise money for charity in his memory.

Henry Surtees Award

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.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2006	Ginetta GT Junior Championship		12	3	0	3	6	236	3rd
2007	Formula BMW ADAC	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg	2	0	0	0	0	24	29th
	Formula BMW UK	Carlin Motorsport	18	1	1	2	8	491	6th
	Formula Renault 2.0 UK		2	0	0	0	0	13	22nd
	Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series		4	0	0	0	0	35	13th
2008	British F3 National Class		2	1	0	0	2	35	11th
	Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup	Manor Competition	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
	Formula Renault 2.0 UK		20	0	0	0	1	203	12th
	Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series		4	1	1	0	3	113	2nd
2009	FIA Formula Two Championship	MotorSport Vision	8*	0	1	0	1	8	14th

† As Surtees was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

* Surtees died during round eight of the sixteen round series

Complete Formula Two results

(key) (races in bold indicate pole position) (races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Points
2009	7	VAL 1 7	VAL 2 12	BRN 1 Ret	BRN 2 Ret	SPA 1 15	SPA 2 Ret	BRH 1 3	BRH 2 Ret	DON 1	DON 2	OSC 1	OSC 2	IMO 1	IMO 2	CAT 1	CAT 2	14th	8

References

1. "Silverstone (Ntnl), 30/31 Aug 2008". Racing Steps Foundation. 31 August 2008. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
2. "Carlin rookies shine at Donington". crash.net. 14 October 2008. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
3. "Surtees name returns to Formula Two". FIA Formula Two Championship. 2 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
4. Cary, Tom (20 July 2009). "Henry Surtees' death shakes motorsport world". telegraph.co.uk. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
5. "F2 bosses to probe Surtees tragedy". thisissussex.co.uk. Kent and Sussex Courier. 22 July 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
6. 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 0.8kg hit him, Henry had 29kg.
7. "Surtees' son killed in race crash". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 20 July 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
8. Noble, Jonathan (19 July 2009). "Henry Surtees dies after F2 crash". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
9. "Funeral for racing driver Surtees". BBC News. BBC. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-30.

External links

• Henry Surtees' profile on Driver Database
• Henry Surtees fatal crash on YouTube