Surtees takes historic Tunnel drive

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Former Formula One champion John Surtees became the first person to drive a sports car the full length of the Channel Tunnel in what he called a “casual drive”, leaving his car insurance company untroubled.

The motor racing champion on both two and four wheels kept to speeds below 31mph as he drove under the English Channel in a Ginetta G50EV electric sports car prototype. The drive took place to mark the opening of the service tunnel on Eurotunnel’s 15th anniversary.

Mr Surtees said he had kept a “stiff upper lip” since his son Henry, 18, was killed in a Formula Two race in July this year. Mr Surtees paid tribute to son, who had finished on the F2 podium for the first time the day before he died.

“He was a bubbly young man with a tremendous smile,” said Mr Surtees. "He was a lad who cared about people and was very determined in what he did, and someone who to us was very special.

The fact that so many of his school friends and on various sites so many people wanted to show their support and wanted to express their condolences when he died showed that.”

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