rec.autos.simulators

Death at the Nurburgring! Surtees responsible!

Michae

Death at the Nurburgring! Surtees responsible!

by Michae » Wed, 20 Jan 1999 04:00:00

There I was in a three lap race at the dreaded Nordschleife. I had made a
bad start but catching up the field again down through Schwedenkreuz,
managed to tangle with a back marker going through the Aremberg hairpin
before the bridge. I spun out, but he carries on with nonchalant impunity.
***y Surtees! Now, I've got nothing against the real John Surtees, he
seems like a nice bloke. But in GPL in his dog-slow Honda, he's a nightmare
to overtake. Carried on with the lap - now in real banzai hot-lap mode. Got
a good exit out of Bergwerk and accelerated flat-out, pedal to the metal all
the way the undulating section at Kesselchen. I come over the blind crest in
the middle of the section at around 170 mph. Aarrghh! There's Surtees -
absolutely stationary in the middle of the track about 100yds in front of
me. There's nothing I can do - I brake from 170 to about 158 at the point of
impact. The white Honda is projected forwards about half a mile. My green
Lotus translates all its forward momemtum into a vertical moonshot. The car
hits the virtual roof at around 150ft, issuing a trail of black smoke,
spinning at around 1000rpm before crashing to the tarmac and burning
furiously.

I don't know about you - but I think I would have died.

And its not the first time I've tangled with Surtees, I can tell you.

- Michael

Mark Sadle

Death at the Nurburgring! Surtees responsible!

by Mark Sadle » Wed, 20 Jan 1999 04:00:00


>I don't know about you - but I think I would have died.

ROFL, I think you are right !!!
Robin Lor

Death at the Nurburgring! Surtees responsible!

by Robin Lor » Wed, 20 Jan 1999 04:00:00

Now you know why f1 is no longer held there!
Imagine the mayhem Ricardo Rosset could cause! (Not to mention one M.
Schumacher :o))

--

Robin.

http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Nurburgring and Grand Prix Legends

Remove nospam from e-mail address to reply


Bill Met

Death at the Nurburgring! Surtees responsible!

by Bill Met » Wed, 20 Jan 1999 04:00:00



>before the bridge. I spun out, but he carries on with nonchalant impunity.
>***y Surtees! Now, I've got nothing against the real John Surtees, he
>seems like a nice bloke. But in GPL in his dog-slow Honda, he's a nightmare

   I've never seen or read any interviews with Surtees.  However, in the
book I'm reading (Can-Am by Pete Lyons) he comes across as pretty
arrogant.  Amazingly, Papyrus seems to reflect this in the driving style
of GPL's Surtees. But, in the words of Dennis Miller "That's just my
opinion.  I could be wrong."

BTW - I did read somewhere that Surtees now spends a lot of his time doing
work for children's charities.  So I guess he can't be all THAT bad.
--
Bill Mette      | "A person is smart.  People are dumb."
MCSNet, Chicago |                        - K MiB

Michae

Death at the Nurburgring! Surtees responsible!

by Michae » Wed, 20 Jan 1999 04:00:00

I know! But surely they could have had a few more flag marshalls out there
waving yellow and white flags to indicate a slow car on the track. I should
complain to the virtual organisers of the virtual German GP:-)

- Michael

Greg Sutto

Death at the Nurburgring! Surtees responsible!

by Greg Sutto » Wed, 20 Jan 1999 04:00:00

I don't do Nurburgring yet, but at the circuits I do the marshalls never do a
good job with slow cars.  They do with stopped cars or accidents - maybe
slow cars are outside their remit?

So when I come blasting round the bend (last time was in the dip in
the esses at Kyalami) I'm not good enough to avoid them.

Greg.

Tony

Death at the Nurburgring! Surtees responsible!

by Tony » Wed, 20 Jan 1999 04:00:00




>>before the bridge. I spun out, but he carries on with nonchalant impunity.
>>***y Surtees! Now, I've got nothing against the real John Surtees, he
>>seems like a nice bloke. But in GPL in his dog-slow Honda, he's a
nightmare

>   I've never seen or read any interviews with Surtees.  However, in the
>book I'm reading (Can-Am by Pete Lyons) he comes across as pretty
>arrogant.  Amazingly, Papyrus seems to reflect this in the driving style
>of GPL's Surtees. But, in the words of Dennis Miller "That's just my
>opinion.  I could be wrong."

>BTW - I did read somewhere that Surtees now spends a lot of his time doing
>work for children's charities.  So I guess he can't be all THAT bad.
>--
>Bill Mette      | "A person is smart.  People are dumb."
>MCSNet, Chicago |                        - K MiB


A while back John Surtees wrote a very interesting autobiography. I'm not
sure if it's still in print, but it was quite an enjoyable read.

He always kind of struck me as a British version of Ritchie Ginther. A
little guy, but a very tough customer. He's also the only guy to win the
Formula One driving title, AND the Formula One Motorcycle title in the same
year.

Imagine someone doing THAT in 1999.

TB

Graeme Nas

Death at the Nurburgring! Surtees responsible!

by Graeme Nas » Thu, 21 Jan 1999 04:00:00

And he looks like the Pope too.......!

Cheers!
Graeme Nash


http://www.karisma1.demon.co.uk
ICQ# 11257824

1998 Xoom GP2 League Champion

Jeffrey Ha

Death at the Nurburgring! Surtees responsible!

by Jeffrey Ha » Thu, 21 Jan 1999 04:00:00


From the Cruel Sport by Robert Daley:
" In the 1961 Grand Prix of Italy, Bonnier swerved to avoid a flag
marshal in the road. Surtees couldn't swerve. His car went up the back
of Bonnier's car, over Bonnier's head, and left skid marks on
Bonnier's front cowling on the way down. Both cars retired. No one was
hurt. Surtees said to Bonnier, "I'll fix you for this. I'll fix you
permanently."
Whatever is said in moments of panic such as this one, no driver would
ever deliberately endanger another.  Their lives are in each other's
hands, and they know it. However, there are very few close friendships
amount the drivers, They often speak bitterly  of each other. Partly
this is because it is hard to forgive a man who has caused you to be
that frightened, hard to be fond of him ever again." ....

Jeff Haas

Arto Wik

Death at the Nurburgring! Surtees responsible!

by Arto Wik » Thu, 21 Jan 1999 04:00:00

I've got 3 documentary videotapes about J. Clark, G. Hill and J.
Brabham, and Surtees is interviewed on some of these. He seems to be
a nice guy at least at older age...

Arto

PS The film clips of -67 in the tapes look just like GPL... :-)

DPHI

Death at the Nurburgring! Surtees responsible!

by DPHI » Fri, 22 Jan 1999 04:00:00

While it's true that Surtees won World Championships in cars and on
motorcycles, he never performed this feat in the same year. John Surtees won 7
World Championships for Agusta between 1956 and 1960. His only Formula One
World Championship came in 1964 while driving for Ferrari.

Source:<http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/drivers/surtees.html>

-don


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