FORMER motor sports star John Surtees said he had been keeping a “stiff upper lip” since the death of his 18-year-old son, after he was struck on the head by a wheel during a Formula Two race.
Speaking as he made history yesterday by becoming the first person to drive a sports car the full length of the Channel Tunnel, Surtees said he and his family had been touched by the support they had received since Henry was killed in the accident at Brands Hatch on July 19.
He also paid tribute to his son, who had claimed his first F2 podium finish just the day before he died.
He said: “He was a bubbly young man with a tremendous smile.” Surtees, the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels, drove a Ginetta G50EV electric sports car prototype made by British car marque Ginetta along Eurotunnel’s service tunnel, which was opened for the first time to mark its 15th anniversary.
But he was forced to keep within the tunnel’s 31mph speed limit.
