In 1970, former World Champion John Surtees founded the eponymous Formula One team, entering single-seaters that he himself designed and drove. Despite the English driver's efforts, his cars failed to achieve significant results, and from the 1974 season onwards, the team's slow decline began. The withdrawal of sponsors who had supported the team's financial efforts for four seasons further worsened the situation. Due to these difficulties, the 1975 season was contested with the old Surtees TS16, a car already used without notable success in 1974.
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| SURTEES TS16, John Watson Paul Ricard, French GP 1975 |
As with all other single-seaters used by the Surtees team up to that point, the TS16 was designed by John Surtees himself. He assembled a car with a 2,438 mm wheelbase and a weight of 591 kg, built with an aluminum monocoque chassis housing the robust Ford Cosworth DFV V8 engine, paired with a five-speed Hewland FGA 400 gearbox. The TS16 featured a very simple mechanical setup for the 1975 grid, with a snowplow-style nose, long side pods housing the fuel tanks, radiators mounted transversely ahead of the rear wheels, and a large air intake positioned above the engine.
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| SURTEES TS16, John Watson Montecarlo, Monaco GP 1975 |
The team's chronic lack of funds prevented Surtees from developing his cars, and the only car entered for the 1975 Championship was entrusted to young British driver John Watson, who had previously raced for the Surtees team in Formula 2 in 1974. Only at the British Grand Prix did the team enter a second TS16, driven by local driver Dave Morgan, who, however, destroyed the car in an accident. Due to a shortage of spare parts, the Surtees team skipped the following Grand Prix, returning in Austria, where a second car was entered for local driver Edward Boisitz. However, Boisitz did not even take part in practice due to the lack of the necessary qualification to drive a Formula One car.
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| SURTEES TS16, John Watson Montjuïc, GP di Spagna 1975 |
Due to the unavailability of engines, the team also had to forfeit the last two races of the championship. The season ended with zero points, with Watson’s best result being an eighth-place finish in Spain. The only satisfaction of the season came with Watson’s second-place finish in the Race of Champions, a non-championship event.
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