Gear Up For A Look Inside The Former Home Of F1 Legend John Surtees

The only person in motoring history to win World Championships on both two and four wheels, John Surtees CBE is a legend of the motorsport world. And now his former home – a charming farmhouse in the Kent countryside – is for sale. Take a look inside. 

Who Was John Surtees?

With a motorcycle dealer and grasstrack competitor for a father, it was pretty much destined that John Surtees would one day make his name in the world of motorsport. Born in 1934, he got his first taste for racing when he competed alongside his father in the sidecar of his Vincent motorcycle – a race that the pair were later disqualified from when officials discovered John was just 14.

Not one to be deterred, he officially entered his first grasstrack competition at aged 15, and by 16 he was off to work at the Vincent factory as an apprentice. From there, the rising star started to make a name for himself. In 1951, Surtees gained prominence when he gave Norton’s racer Geoff Duke a strong challenge in an ACU race at the Thruxton Circuit. By 1955, Surtees had received his first factory-sponsored ride courtesy of motorcycle-maker Norton, and by the end of the year he was beating Geoff Duke (the reigning world champion) at rallies. 

It was from here (with Norton in financial trouble and uncertain about the future of their racing plans) that Surtees made the move to the MV Augusta factory racing team – where he earned the moniker figlio del vento, son of the wind. In 1958, 1959 and 1960, he won 32 out of 39 races and went on to become a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion, winning a total of 38 motorcycle Grands Prix across his career.

Having dominated the world of motorbikes, it seems that Surtees needed a new challenge to keep him occupied, as so upgraded from two wheels to four. He went on to win the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship in 1964 with Ferrari. And despite a life-threatening accident in 1965 which left one side of his body four inches shorter than the other, continued to win a total of six Formula One Grands Prix across the course of his career. 

Eventually putting down the brakes, Surtees transferred to managing his own racing team, the Surtees Racing Organisation, in 1970 and officially retired from competitive driving just two years later. Whiling away the rest of his days in motorcycle shop in West Wickham, Kent and a Honda car dealership in his hometown of Edenbridge, he passed away in 2017, aged 83. 

Inside His Former Home

Nestled in the quiet Kent countryside, Surtees’s former home is located just moments from Monza House in Edenbridge – where the headquarters of Team Surtees was based for more than five decades. So synonymous is the area with his career and legacy, that in 2014 thousands of fans lined the streets of Edenbridge as Surtees marked the 50th anniversary of his F1 World Championship in a parade featuring his historic Ferrari 158, F1 vehicles and more than 200 classic cars. 

The home itself is a Grade II listed farmhouse, hidden back behind a gated driveway and set within 23 acres of private grounds with far-reaching views across the surrounding landscape. Outside, a lake, streams, trout pond, swimming pool, pool house, jacuzzi, paddocks, woodland and streams complete the rural idyll. 

Within, the eight-bedroom property is revving with period charm: think, exposed timbers, inglenook fireplaces and leaded-light windows. Arranged across three floors, the ground level spans the double-aspect drawing room, formal dining room and traditional country kitchen – complete with a traditional AGA and wine cellar. Up above, the principal bedroom and ensuite bathrooms, plus additional bedroom accommodation, can be found. 

On the market for £3.5 million. Find out more at johndwood.co.uk