Remembering when Classic & Sports Car joined John Surtees behind the wheel

By Lizzie Pope
From the archive
 | 16 Jul 2026
Classic & Sports Car – Remembering when Classic & Sports Car met John Surtees

One of the joys of an archive is the opportunity to hear voices from the past – and Classic & Sports Car’s archive is no exception.

Whether you’re seeking those we’ve lost or just those with a great tale to tell, it’s a rich resource, including interviews with Ercole Spada (April 2013), Tom Karen (April 2016), Tom Kristensen (October 2022), Giorgetto Giugiaro (November 2001), Walter Hassan (March 1994), Stuart Turner (July 1990 and January 2016), Jackie Oliver (June 2019), Gordon Spice (August 2019) and Markku Alén (March 2020) and, in our very first magazine, we set the bar rather high when we sat down with Stirling Moss.

Our once-regular Classic lives, inside-back-page Q&A ticked off a few more famous faces, too, including Derek Bell (April 2001), Rosemary Smith (November 2003), George Barris (June 2004), John Haynes (May 2001) and Gordon Murray (September 2002).

You really are spoilt for choice.

Classic & Sports Car – Remembering when Classic & Sports Car met John Surtees

The Team Surtees TS20 F1 car joined a Jaguar, a Lamborghini, a Suzuki and more in Classic and Sportscar’s December 1992 issue

For my pick, I am rewinding to the December 1992 edition of Classic and Sportscar (as it was then).

Here, from p64 and across five pages, Willie Green was in conversation with the man who no-one can seemingly mention without stating that he remains the only person to have been world champion on four wheels and two, so let’s not buck that trend.

This is by no means the only time John Surtees, or one of his cars, has featured in our magazine.

On this occasion, it is the TS20, the not wildly successful, Ford Cosworth DFV-powered Formula One car campaigned by his eponymous équipe in 1978, designed by Surtees and Ken Sears.

Classic & Sports Car – Remembering when Classic & Sports Car met John Surtees

John Surtees shared stories from his career as an F1 team owner

To be precise, it’s Surtees TS20/03, the last TS20, in which René Arnoux achieved ninth at that year’s United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen and DNFed at the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal.

“We didn’t come out smelling of roses, but he confirmed that the car wasn’t that bad,” quips Surtees.

The feature is in a curious format. It opens with a long, free-flowing recollection from Surtees, giving the background to and development of the TS20, starting from 1977.

It’s not short on detail and is refreshingly candid: “Vittorio [Brambilla] was so busy crashing cars, in fact, that testing and development was virtually non-existent”.

Classic & Sports Car – Remembering when Classic & Sports Car met John Surtees

Historic racing driver Willie Green described what it’s like to be behind the wheel of this Team Surtees TS20 F1 car

Then Green brings it up to date. This is clearly a car he’s raced in historics, his insight into springs, dampers, gear ratios and more providing an intriguing deep dive.

“I’m still learning,” says Green in closing. “At Silverstone recently, I was coming out of Copse at 10,000rpm in fourth in the dry.

“In the race it was the same revs – but in fifth, in the damp!”

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