EN ROUTE TO WORLD TITLES
To temporarily leap forward to the end of the 1955 season is to glimpse at just how hot a property John Surtees had rapidly become.
With Norton’s end-of-season retirement from racing about to happen, a trio of motorcycle manufacturers were courting Surtees to ride for them; Gilera, Moto Guzzi and BMW.
That 1955 season was so impactful in how the world saw John, that things would never be the same again.
It started when Norton’s race boss Joe Craig gave in to Surtees’ demands for a proper racebike and gave him a 500cc Manx Norton.
The decision was to be proved almost instantly prudent
