John Surtees: 'Speed - you've either got it or you haven't'

John Surtees, the only person to have won grand prix titles on both two and four wheels, has died at the age of 83.

Surtees won seven motorcycle world championships between 1956 and 1960 - three in 350cc and four in the premier 500cc class - while riding for MV Agusta, before winning the 1964 Formula One crown for Ferrari.

"I grew up with motorcycling after the war, when my father showed me how to maintain bikes and then I began racing them," said Surtees, who won 38 motorcycle GPs and six F1 GPs.

During a 2004 interview with Crash.net, Surtees reflected on his historic F1 switch:

"I changed when I was just coming up to 26-years of age and still getting better. I probably had another ten years left in motorcycling, so that was something very important [to the four-wheel success].

"I jumped into the same cars that had been driven by Stirling Moss and a number of other top drivers and I was able to go just as quick.

"Speed, in the end, is not something that you find; you've either got it or you haven't."

Surtees, who retired from F1 and motorsport in 1972, added:

"In my day you had to do all the feedback and basically get the feel from the seat of your pants or the tips of your fingers, today you have all the telemetry.

"They can even point out where you may have made a mistake while you're going round the track. All the modern technology must aid you to get together your program quicker than learning it the hard way, as I did."

Surtees was made a MotoGP Legend at the 2003 British Grand Prix.

Crash.net joins the motorsport community in offering condolences to the family friends of John Surtees.

John Surtees - motorcycle grand prix career:
First Grand Prix: 1952 Ulster 500cc
First Podium: 1955 Ulster 250cc
First Grand Prix victory: 1955 Ulster 250cc
Grand Prix victories: 38
2nd places finishes: 4
3rd place finishes: 3
Podiums: 45
World Championship wins: 7